Monthly Wrap-Up - April & Signs

Joining Tom for his SIGNS meme. Check his blog for other signs from around the world!

Wednesday 2nd - with 2 colleagues retiring at the end of June, we started interviewing people for the jobs during this week.

Saturday 5th - went with Dr S to the French Movie Festival - "The stolen painting" at Luna Leederville. Inspired by a true story, we really enjoyed the movie.

Thursday 10th - We had a meeting with our financial advisor to confirm our plans to retire this year - Jose in May, as his latest project - the Thornlie to Cockburn train line - was coming to an end and he didn't want to start a new one, and me in September. And of course to get any last minute advice before the end of the financial year on June 30th.

That evening, Jose and I attended a free workshop provided by the City of Melville council - "Grow a verge garden". Very informative and we got some inspiration and ideas to revamp our front garden some time in the near future.

Friday 11th - I visited Grace and had lunch with her. We hadn't seen each other for ages so it was nice to catch-up. Later in the afternoon on my way home, I went to pay a quick visit to a friend who is now living in a private room in a Aged care home.

We sat in her balcony having a cup of tea and this kookaburra landed on the balcony. My friend says they are frequent visitors, probably residing in the park behind the Aged care home.

               

Saturday 12th - Farewell dinner for a Portuguese couple - Jose and Fatima, who have decided to return to Portugal to be closer to their ageing parents. Dinner with a few of their friends was at a Mediterranean restaurant - "Our Table" in the suburb of Bedford.

Seafood Risotto

Sunday 13th - on a 26C day Autumn day, Jose and I went to Fremantle to visit the Sculptures at Bathers Beach.

This car was the most popular exhibit

View of Bathers Beach

Then we enjoyed a snack of a bucket of prawns and sweet potato chips at a seafront restaurant.

                    

On the way to the car we stopped for photos at various Fremantle iconic statues.

The fishermen with their fish baskets and Bon Scott, AC/DC vocalist

Bella - bronze statue by Greg James

Wednesday 16th -  went to pick olives for about 2 hours with another lady from our "Community Harvest" group. All together, 5 of us picked 103kgs this week, which we then had processed into olive oil.

After that went for an eye-test as I had experience "eye floaters" for the first time the day before, which was a bit scary. Nothing wrong, just "part of ageing" I was told by the very young optometrist. Oh golly, the ailments are piling up, how much fun!!

Then off to work at 1pm!

Thursday 17th - Jose and I drove to Waroona, a country town about 1h20 south west of Perth, where we spent the long weekend Easter break. We stayed at the Drakesbrook hotel.  Very basic room , 70's decor, although the mattress was reasonably comfortable and the room was clean. It was attached to one of the town's pubs, where we had dinner when we arrived that night - fish and chips for me and pizza for Jose. 

 

Friday 18th - after a bland bacon and eggs breakfast at one of the cafes we drove to  Waroona Dam, originally built in 1931. You can swim and practice water sports there, but it was basically empty.

We carried on south to the town of Yarloop, which was established in 1894, with timber and farming - (dairy and fruit) being the mainstays of the local economy.

In January 2016, a bushfire burnt 69000ha, destroyed more than 160 homes and caused two deaths. The town has about 400 residents - but we actually didn't see a single soul.

Metal statues in a local park

As we sat in the car a long train roared past. A few ancient cars in a shed

Onto Harvey next, a town known in Western Australia for the dairy industry, beef and oranges. The town hosts a major agricultural show in April each year. It has about 2800 residents.

A cement chair with "painted stamps" and Welcome to Harvey sign


The Big Orange at Harvey

We visited the Harvey Dam, a popular tourist destination with picnic facilities and historical information. You can cross the dam's wall on foot.

   We found a little gazebo and sat there having a snack enjoying the views.

A quick stop to photograph cow art at Brunswick Junction.

A mural of a cow and flowers made with mosaics

Then a short drive to Bunbury, a small port city 175km (109ml) south of Perth where we had coffee and cake.

A short walk around the seaside, although it was a bit windy. It's a town full of street art too, but I have photographed lots of it in earlier visits although I still found 2 or 3 murals I hadn't seen before!

The town's main attraction is a metal statue 5mt high, 6mt wide installed in Koombana Bay, in February 2019, called "Wardandi Boodja" - it portrays an Aboriginal man, and is the work of Western Australian regional artists Nicole and Alex Mickle.

Our route from Waroona to Bunbury

Saturday 19th - breakfast at another Waroona cafe, then a walk around the town to see the many pieces of art.

This cow in front of the Tourist office gets dressed up in various outfit through the year.

A lot of totem poles decorated with words, with various designs and with crochet.

A beautiful park in the centre of town with art and murals, barbecues, kids play areas...

The red tailed black cockatoo, which abound in the area (we didn't see any), 

shown here as a wooden sculpture.

Lunch at "The Rec" Hotel/Pub. Food was nice and the atmosphere too.

A 1933 building on the main road in Waroona

Chicken wings for Jose and Nachos con carne for me - In the park across the pub mask hung on branches of trees

Next we walked along the main road to visit the "Magic Barn", a pink house, with a fairy garden opened to the public for free. There's a lovely patio with tables and chairs, swings for the kids, cubbies, toys and trikes they kids can use while you have a coffee, an ice-cream or a toasted sandwich. They also have guinea pigs which delight the kids.

The whole town of Waroona has many "fairies" painted all over which the kids can discover while walking around.

 

After we walked back to our car and drove to Drakesbrook Winery, 15 minutes away.

There was a nice deck over a pond, ducks and guinea fowls roaming around.

A lot of people buying wines and the a pretty and friendly Bengal cat.

We just walked around the property and left.

 

Then we drove west towards the sea to Preston Beach.

A stop at Miami Bakehouse for Jose to have a coffee and for me to check out the Kang Art - 16 life sized kangaroos painted by local West Australian artists, displayed in an outdoor gallery.

Then onto Myalup Beach, just down the road.

The sun was setting on our return to the hotel

Sunday 20th - A half an hour drive north to Mandurah. Jose had booked lunch at an Indian restaurant at the marina. Mandurah is know for the dolphins that can be seen frollicking in the bay.

It was a beautiful Autumn day, and we went for a walk around the marina after lunch.

Big things in Mandurah - dolphins, crab, lobster and Chinese lucky cat

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the charming country town of Pinjarra to go buy a couple snacks for dinner, as we didn't feel like eating much.

Again I discovered lots of murals on the main street. We walked to the river and crossed the suspension bridge over the Murray River....well I couldn't go past the middle as it rocked too much and I felt uncomfortable with that.

The bridge was inaugurated in 1985 and provides a pedestrian link from the east side residential area to the town centre.

There is a 1,2km heritage walking trail along the main street to visit historic buildings that played an important role in the early settlement of Pinjarra.

The Court house below is one of the buildings. Although the current edifice was built in 1935, the site was used for court and justice services in the first court house which dated from 1864.

 

Monday 21st - Checked out of the hotel and had breakfast at the local Pinjarra bakery - known for their pies, but too early for pies! We had croissants and coffee, hot chocolate for me. Then we drove home.

                


Monday 28th - A new staff member - J - that had been interviewed at the beginning of the month started working at clinic.

She's familiar with our medical software, but of course needs to become familiar with the ins and outs of the different doctors.

The only drawback is she lives 70km away, taking over 1 hour to drive each way, which I find it might eventually take a toll! I certainly wouldn't do it, I can imagine I would be filling up the petrol tank every second day!