Author: JellyfishKing

The AFL Grand Final was held in Perth this year due to Covid-19 restrictions in Victoria and other states. “Great news!” I hear you say. Yes, it is for those lucky enough to secure a ticket. Gordon, my long suffering Dockers supporter mate and I, unfortunately weren’t part of the lucky 61,000 people to get a ticket. But we knew we had to watch it together, albeit on TV. Gordon suggested we travel to the South-west to watch it in the relaxing surroundings of Eight Willows Retreat. We had been to Eight Willows before and our mutual friend and resort owner, Mike was offering us a very nice discount. So why not!

We arranged to meet Friday night for dinner at the resort, have a nice lunch on Saturday and watch the game with a few bevvies back at the chalet. Nice a simple and relaxing. Probably not worth writing a blog entry.

Gordon, Cristy and their Granddaughter Catalina arrived early Friday afternoon and got settled in with a few beers – I assume Catalina just had milk. I left work around 2.30 and soon got a phone call from Gordon saying that he is getting pains in his back. We both laughed it off and diagnosed more beer was in order. I picked up Jane from her office and we excitedly made our way down the Forrest Highway for the three hour drive. Just outside of Perth we received a message from Gordon that the extra beers didn’t in fact relieve the pain and had gotten so much worse that Cristy was taking him to Margaret River Hospital Emergency Department. We were shocked.

Gordon has recently been diagnosed with Melanoma cancer in his brain and lung, with another cancer on the other lung. He has been receiving immunotherapy for the last month and a half. The side-effects of this treatment are quite horrendous. Having a nice relaxing weekend away was going to be a tonic for Gordon’s spirits. A visit to the ED was the last thing he needed right now!

We pressed on, anxious to find out more about the situation.

Another hour down the highway we got another call. Gordon was being transferred to Busselton Hospital for a CT Scan. “Oh dear, this is not looking great”, we were thinking. Gordon asked if we could pick him up from there on the way through to the resort. We arrived at Busselton Hospital at around 6.30pm. An hour later Gordon emerged from the ED, looking quite frustrated and said “let’s get out of here”. The results of the CT scan would be phoned through later that night. They had given him pain relievers and he was keen to get back to the resort for the barbeque and more beers (and wine).

After a nice meal of lamb chops, sausages and salad, the hospital did ring with the results of the CT scan. Gordon had a blood clot in his lung. They had prescribed blood thinning medication and it would be available at Margaret River hospital in the morning. The fact that they didn’t insist that he return to the hospital was a good sign, however.

Saturday morning were up about 8.30am for a “cook-up” breakfast at our chalet. Bacon, eggs, tomato and toast was just the ticket to get us going. After a quick shower Jane and I drove Gordon to Margaret River to pick up the prescription. On arrival at the ED, the triage nurse claimed to have no knowledge of the prescription. Another frustration that Gordon didn’t need. About 30 minutes later they managed to find a doctor that understood the situation and wrote the prescription. We filled the prescription, and had (the worst) coffee and (and best) hot chocolate in Margaret River. We then made out way back to Eight Willows to prepare for lunch.

We had lunch at Flutes Restaurant within the grounds of the Brookland Valley winery. This is a long-time favourite of Gordon’s but Jane and I haven’t had the pleasure. We all decided to dress in white and have a photoshoot in the stunning surrounds.

After the ordeals of the past 18 hours we were hanging out for a good time. We were not disappointed. Lunch was superb. The service was great and food delicious, complimented by the vineyard’s own wines (Verse 1 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc)

After lunch we explored the grounds and took some photos.

Back to the chalets for a nap before the “Big Dance“.

The AFL Grand Final is the last game of the season and determines the best team of the year. Clearly the best team is not playing in the Grand Final this year, but that’s another discussion. The Melbourne Demons take on the Western Bulldogs, both Victorian teams. It’s a shame that no Western Australian teams (no, the Western Bulldogs are not a western team – don’t get me started) are playing in the first ever grand final played in Perth. It promised to be am interesting game nonetheless.

Despite a close first half the Demons finished very strongly to win comfortable in the end for a well deserved victory.

Watching the game, Gordon wasn’t his usual exuberant self and we could tell he was suffering again. After the game we left Gordon to rest and retired back to our chalet for a jacuzzi bath and some TV before bed.

Sunday morning Gordon did indeed feel better and reciprocated the bacon and eggs breakfast. They checked out soon after and drove home. We anxiously await advice from his Oncologist on the impact of the blood clotting.

We checked out around 11.15am, as we were planning to meet Mary Ann, Alex and Marcus for lunch before we headed for home. Mary Ann and Alex were camping in Augusta for the weekend. We met half way at the Colonial Brewery in Bramley (just outside Margaret River). We arrived without a booking and luckily they fitted us in. Lunch was nice and it was great to catch up with them, albeit rushed.

The weekend was umm… different. Parts were a lot of fun, but we were always worried for our mate. Many thanks to Mike for fitting us into the resort, on short notice on a busy long weekend, The highlight was the lunch at Flutes. It was a wonderful afternoon and we will be back there for sure. On the other hand, I won’t be fussed if I never see the inside of any South-West hospitals again!

Another refund from our Covid-19 failed Greece trip landed in our bank account last week. Feeling sorry for ourselves, we decided to spend it on some luxury in the Southwest of Western Australia at the Pullman Bunker Bay resort.

Bunker Bay is about 260 km south of Perth, 10 minutes from Dunsborough, near Cape Naturaliste.

The Pullman resort is 5 star luxury, and at $450 (AUD) per night we were expecting something special.

After a cold and rainy three hour drive we arrived Sunday afternoon. We stopped at the Bunbury Farmers Market to stock up on some snacks. This is becoming a habit every time we drive through Bunbury – going there – and coming home. We also arrived to hear that there was a Covid-19 positive case in Perth. Stage 1 Restrictions had been put in place for the Perth and Peel regions. We were outside the Perth/Peel regions so we thought we were lucky to escape. The regulations stated, however, that visitors from Perth were still required to wear masks in public.

We were checked in by the very friendly Shane. Our villa was quite close to the reception and car park so we didn’t require the golf-cart transport that other distant villas would have needed.

Seeing it was cold and wet outside, we cracked open a bottle of red and enjoyed the big bath. The villa was very spacious with a kitchen, sitting area and large bathroom. We decided to have dinner at the hotel’s restaurant Other Side of the Moon. We arrived early and had nice cocktails at the bar. Dinner was a little disappointing. I ordered the Marron, which was an unusual selection for me. I had to wrestle with the claws to extract a tiny morsel of meat, The tail meat was removed from the shell in a nice sauce, although it was a little dry. At $56 it should have been perfect though. Jane ordered the Swordfish. She described it as “okay”. We retired early at watched Netflix.

I awoke early on Monday and decided to wander down to the beach for the sunrise. It wasn’t too cold and there was a nice amount of cloud promising a good sunrise. I walked to the end of the bay where there were nice rocks. I set up my tripod and waited for the magic. It was a lovely sunrise and I got some great photos.

I arrived back at the villa hungry and hassled Jane to wake up. Our accommodation included buffet breakfast. The breakfast was quite comprehensive, the highlight being small eggs benedict portions.

After breakfast the weather was still good so we set off to explore the bays up Cape Naturaliste. We visited Castle rock, Meelup beach, Eagle Bay, Bunker Bay, We had a little photo shoot at Point Picquet.

We stopped for a beer and chips at Bunker Beach House. This was a lovely little place over looking the bay that serves breakfast and lunch. Lunch here on a warm summer’s day would be spectacular. One to keep in the memory banks.

News was coming in that there were more Covid-19 cases in Perth and the government implemented a four day lockdown for the Perth & Peel region (not Bunker Bay).

We travelled into Dunsborough for dinner at Bamboo Spice. This was a small Thai restaurant. We shared a Massaman Curry and Papaya salad. The food was delicious.

When we arrived back at the resort the clouds had all but disappeared affording a fantastic view of the stars. I decided to get the tripod out and try some Astrophotography. It was a great opportunity being away from the city where there’s always too much light pollution. Even still it was difficult to find an area that was dark enough to trigger Google camera’s Astrophotography mode. Success though. I’m quite happy with the result.

No sunrise wake up on Tuesday. It was straight to coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we explored the hotel grounds. The weather was quite nice. The sun showed itself occasionally through the clouds and it wasn’t too windy, so I decided to fly the drone on the beach. I asked Jane to strip off to her bathing suit for some top-down photos. She was freezing but obliged for the sake of art.

Shane recommended to eat at the Blue Manna restaurant in Dunsborough. The only booking we could get was 4.45pm. This was later changed to 5.15pm. It was worth it! The food was sensational. Jane and I shared a tasting plate to start consisting of fish taco, scallop and salmon sashimi. We also has a couple of oysters each. We then shared the “special of the day” pork ribs with a Balinese sauce with chilli and satay. We were hesitant to choose that dish because in our heads those flavours didn’t seem like they’d work. The waitress assured us it was delicious, so we went for it. It didn’t disappoint – It was very good. We will definitely return to the Blue Manna whenever we’re in the Busselton – Margaret River area (which is quite often these days).

Wednesday was our last day. A lazy wake up and into the restaurant for breakfast. We had one more walk around the hotel grounds. We were packed and ready to go at 11am. First stop Bunbury Farmers Market (again).

After we loaded the car with fresh Bunbury produce we took a detour to visit the Wellington Dam. A mural painted on the dam wall has just been finished and I was keen to see it. The 8,000-square-metre mural is thought by organisers to be the largest in the world. I got the drone out to fly around and over.

We arrived home about 4pm.

It was a nice relaxing break for us. We decided to spend a bit of cash to compensate ourselves for the lack of overseas trips. The resort was nice – the drinks and food was great. The scenery on Cape Naturaliste is always a treat no matter the time of year.

Check out my Instagram pages for more photos:

@jellyfishking_photography

@jellyfishking_drone

Final thoughts on the Pullman Bunker Bay Resort: The resort is certainly immense and luxurious. The room was spacious and well appointed. The breakfast was good enough. The staff were relatively efficient but somewhat unfriendly. Perhaps I’m comparing the staff too much to the Parmelia Hilton Perth, where we enjoyed a weekender mid June. The staff at the Parmelia we’re ultra-friendly without exception. The staff member that checked us in, Shane (IG: @thoughlocaleyes) was very friendly and provided us with a map of his recommendations for places to eat and photography spots. Overall the resort is luxurious without being spectacular. For $450/night it really should be spectacular. I probably wouldn’t stay there again, unless they cut the room rate in half.

When our good friends Clive and Susan invited us on a trip to Augusta I thought “great, I’d love a few days playing golf at the top-ranked course in Golf Digest‘s 2009 list of America’s 100 greatest courses”. When Clive sent me the details, I realised to my horror it was camping in the Western Australia’s south-west town of Augusta.

–Insert usual thing about Covid-19 and complain about not being able to travel overseas blah blah–

We’re not campers. We don’t have any gear, except for the 2 tin cups Clive gave us for Christmas. Jane was super keen, so we agreed to join them, it was Susan’s 60th birthday celebration after all. Other friends were also coming to give it a party atmosphere.

Augusta is on the very south-west tip of Australia. It’s nestled on the banks of the Blackwood river just before it empties into the junction of the Southern and Indian oceans.

We left Perth Thursday morning for the three and a half hour drive. After stopping for lunch at the Rose Hotel in Bunbury, we arrived around 3pm at Flinders Bay Caravan Park for our four day stay. Clive and Susan were already there and helped us erect our tent. I mentioned before we didn’t have any camping gear, but we borrowed a some items from friends. We did in fact have an air mattress and sleeping bags. Thanks to Mary Ann and Alex for the tent and Annabelle and Steve for the portable fridge. Mary Ann and Alex were to join us on this trip, but cancelled due the ill health of Mary Ann’s sister, Rosie in the Philippines. Sadly, Rosie passed away on Friday.

Susan made a nice stir-fry for dinner in their “camp-kitchen”. After dinner we finished the night with wine, whiskey and cigars.

Friday morning we had breakfast with Clive and Susan. Coffee, bacon and eggs on toast, courtesy of Susan. After breakfast we made our way to the beach, a short walk from the caravan park. The weather was warm, but very windy. That didn’t stop Clive, Susan and Jane going for a swim. It was too cold for me so I took some photos around the rock pools. Unfortunately it was too windy to fly the drone.

After the beach we returned to the caravan park for a shower, then into town for lunch at the Augusta Hotel. Jane and I shared fish and chips, while Clive and Susan had burgers. The view was lovely, overlooking the Blackwood river. The food was nice and the cricket was on TV.

We picked up some supplies from the local IGA and headed back to the caravan park … for a nap.

When we were suitable refreshed we re-joined Clive and Susan to find Janice and her son, James had also arrived. Then a bit later Jenalyn, Sean and their kids arrived. After they were set up, we decided to have an dinner early to secure the BBQ spot overlooking the beach.

We ate and drank to well after dark, until we were all tired. It seemed like a late night, but I think we were all in bed before 10pm.

Saturday was Susan’s 60th Birthday. We got up early for bacon and eggs again. We all went to the beach for a girls birthday photo shoot.

Back at the caravan park, after a shower we congregated at Clive’s campsite for Susan’s birthday lunch. It consisted of French Champagne, chicken, cheeses and meats. Lots of laughs were had and as the champagne, beer and wine flowed the BS became thicker and richer. The celebrations went on until after sunset when we all retired. Tomorrow was the long drive home.

The drive home took longer than usual because part of the freeway was closed due to a bush fire.

Anyway we all got back to our nice beds and showers on Sunday afternoon. Everyone had a good time. It was nice to celebrate Susan’s Birthday in nice surroundings and with great friends. …although golf in Augusta, Georgia, USA would have been spectacular!

I should point out, firstly, I didn’t actually travel from Guilderton to York.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts Australia’s borders are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so we’re taking the time to rediscover Western Australia. We took a long weekend and made short trips to Guilderton, North and York, East.

Guilderton

Guilderton is one hour (100km) North of Perth and is situated at the mouth of the Moore River.

It’s a sleepy tourist town with a caravan park and quite a few holiday homes. It doesn’t really cater for couples with its larger scale accommodation offerings, hence our day trip only. I guess we could camped if we really wanted to stay. It would be nice to come back with another family ans spend more time exploring the river and surrounding spots such as Lancelin.

Jane and I shared fish and chips from the General Store. At $11 it was delicious and ample enough for two. We sat on a bench overlooking the river. A couple of ducks waddled up and demanded their share.

The real attraction of the place is the river and beach. A boardwalk around the escarpment offers spectacular views over the river mouth. Of course the lookout wasn’t high enough for me so I got the drone out.

Further inland another boardwalk traverses the river.

York

On Monday we left early for our day trip to York. York is situated in the “wheatbelt” of Western Australia about 150km east of Perth. Its quite close to Toodyay, where we visited in July. The main reason we wanted to go is that the canola fields are blooming.

There has been some grumblings of the local farmers say that tourists are coming a trampling all their crops. There are some that allow visitors in for a fee. Jane and I preferred to find out own locations. So we found our own location and we ventured inside (umm… yeah trespassed) the fields and immersed ourselves in the yellow fields. We were careful not to harm any plants. Of course the drone came out to fly above the sea of gold.

Video here

Canola is also known as Rape Seed. Edible oil is made from the seed of the plant and is popular around the world for its Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids content and it also helps to cut cholesterol levels.

The best place to see the canola fields in the road between York and Northam, called the Northam-York Road of course. We took some gravel side roads to find a field that was remote and unfenced.

The azure water of the Mediterranean sea laps gently against the hull of our yacht. We sip our gin & tonics while our topless partners sun themselves on the deck. Its a beautiful warm day moored just of the coast on the island of Mykonos…

…is what I should be saying right now.

But sadly our Greece trip was ruined, like just about everything this year by Covid-19.

Instead we spent a few days in the South West of Western Australia at Eight Willows Retreat. We’re only allowed to travel within Western Australia until further notice. I guess we shouldn’t complain, at least we’re allowed to travel somewhere, unlike many other parts of the world. We have stayed at Eight Willows before and decided to come back for a 3 day family get away. Bettina didn’t want to give up any work, so it was just Bianca joining Jane and myself.

We booked a 2 bedroom villa right at the back of the property.

As you can see I’m now the proud owner of a drone. I bought the Mavic Air 2 drone a few weeks ago and I’ve been dying to use it over come spectacular coast line.

We arrived Thursday afternoon, unpacked and settled in. That evening we headed to Canal Rocks to catch the sunset. We had some rain as we travelled down from Perth, but the evening broke up and the sunset was nice.

After the sun went down we headed into Dunsborough to have dinner at Clancy’s Fish Pub. Jane and I shared the seafood platter. Even though it said “for one”, it was ample for two of us. Even Bianca had some. I tried one of the local beers – Asam Boi Gose from Beerfarm. Its an unusually delicious sweet and sour Asian style beer.

We got back the unit for night cap and a spa bath for two.

We woke up lazily on Friday morning and after some bacon and eggs we headed to Injidup Bay for more flying around. It was a beautiful sunny day. I hadn’t been to Injidup before. It is renowned for its “Natural Spa” formation, where the waves come crashing over the rocks and empty like a waterfall into a rock pool.

We drove back to Margaret River and had lunch at the Cheeky Monkey Brewery.

The Chicken Wings were fantastic. The garden setting was very nice too.

We stopped in at the Churchview winery to sample some of their offering on the way back back to the retreat. They had a nice (cheap) Shiraz and an interesting Zinfandel.

After a short rest we made our back to Margaret river for dinner at La Scarpetta Trattoria. This Italian restaurant is a local favourite and we had to wait over an hour for a table. We walked up the Settler’s Tavern for a drink while we waited. The food at La Scarpetta was delicious. We could see why the were so popular. The staff were efficient and very friendly.

Back to bed after another spa bath. Driving home tomorrow stopping at the Bunbury Farmers Market on the way of course.

Yeah its not Greece…but Western Australia is a pretty fine place to be nonetheless.

We had big travel plans this year. Three small trips to Bali and a three week extravaganza in Greece and Italy. including one week sailing around the Greek Isles (Cyclades). Enter Mr Covid.

2020 WTAF

With lock-downs easing in (Western) Australia we decided for the rest of the year we’ll travel around our own “back yard”. Well there’s no choice really. But of course we’re blessed to live in such a beautiful place as Western Australia – so quit yer whingin‘.

Day one – get your motor runnin’, head out on the highway…

We’d just bought a new car (2019 Mazda6 for those interested) and we were itching for a long drive. We decided to spend a weekend in the Avon Valley. On the spur of the moment we thought “lets go ballooning”. The have hot-air balloon charters from Northam. But we were too late and the weekend was already booked out. We decided to push on and booked a lovely Airbnb in Toodyay. Toodyay, situated in the heart of the Avon Valley is a small country town 100km east of Perth. Its an easy one and a half hour drive from Perth though the rolling green farmland.

The Studio was a nice little guesthouse in Toodyay booked though Airbnb. It was hosted by a lovely lady, Caroline who lived in the house attached to the Studio.

We arrived around lunchtime and unpacked – we’d seemed to packed enough for our european holiday rather than a sleepy weekender! Into the town for a pub-lunch. We shared a fish and chips at the Freemasons Hotel, one of the two pubs in Toodyay. Lunch was nice – the chef served the single serve of fish and chips on two dishes for us, which was a nice touch. After lunch we went back to the studio for a nap…hey I did say is was a sleepy weekender. We got up hungry again (Jane) and went back into town for dinner at the Spice & Grill. We shared a Prawn Curry. It was nice without being spectacular.

Day Two – what’s open?

Caroline met us on Sunday morning and told us of the history of the place and suggested some attractions in the surrounding towns. We decided to take Caroline’s advice to drive to New Norcia via Bolgart. Caroline suggested a nice cafe in Bolgart called “Trees“. We hadn’t had breakfast, so we were getting pretty peckish. Sadly Trees was closed when we got there. In fact there wasn’t a soul to been seen in the whole town. We pushed on to New Norcia. The drive was a pleasure through the rolling farmland. We were keeping an eye out for a nice spot to take some photos. Turning off the Bindi Bindi-Toodyay road we crossed the Railway. Jane likes railway track photos so we stopped for a photo shoot.

Jane was inspired by Gucci’s latest fashion looks and wanted to try to recreate the look.

When we got to the Great Northern Highway we we aghast to discover the road to New Norcia was closed. The GPS Navigator recalculated the journey to over an hour that took us through Bindoon. At this stage Jane was getting hangry and we decided to stop in Bindoon Bakehaus for a pie.

We travelled back to Toodyay through the Julimar State Forest, another one of Caroline’s suggestions. The new Mazda handled the winding narrow road beautifully. We detoured off the main road down a small track for another photoshoot.

We reached Toodyay and decided to press on through to Northam. Northam is a larger town about 25 km south east. I wanted to see the Silo Art. The Silo Art Trail is a series of painted grain silos throughout the whole of Australia. The silos in Northam were painted by London artist Phlegm and Atlanta native HENSE in April 2015.

In the town itself we stopped for a snack and drink. We found a Dome Cafe with a nice little surprise. It has a modern wine bar attached. We had a couple of cocktails and a side of chips. I had a gin and tonic with green chilli which was delicious. Jane had a couple of drinks including a margarita and passionfruit mimosa.

It was getting towards dinner time, so we continued our journey to Grass Valley. A good friend of ours recommended the Grass Valley Tavern so we aimed the Mazda there. Of course the “theme of the day” was honoured and it was closed. Oh well back to Toodyay for dinner at the other pub the Victoria.

We shared a Chicken Burger and wings. It was pretty average. Wearily we made out way back to the studio for an early bedtime.

Day three – home

Monday morning we stayed long enough for Jane’s work (online) meeting. I packed our European trip’s luggage into the Mazda for the 100km trip home.

Although there were some disappointments with the trip, we both appreciated the weekend away. The Avon Valley is a beautiful region and we’ll definitely be back, perhaps we’ll get to the ballooning after all.

We were lucky enough to be invited to spend a couple of days at Eight Willows Retreat by its owners and good friends Mike and Dorilyn.

Eight Willows is situated in Wilyabrup in Western Australia. Its about half way between Busselton and Margaret River. I’m lucky to live only three hours drive from this beautiful part of the world.

Jane and I arrived on Sunday afternoon and had the first day to ourselves. Being mates with the owners has its perks and we were treated to the “Residence“, which is the biggest house on the property. It is beautifully appointed with 4 large bedrooms, two bathrooms a massive kitchen, dining and living area.

Sunday afternoon we arrived , unpacked and explored the grounds.

Function Centre

Master Bedroom

Nap time

Kitchen in the Residence

Jordan at reception recommended an Italian place for dinner at Margaret River, so we made our way 24 kms south to La Scarpetta Trattoria. We couldn’t find parking close, so we parked further up the Bussell Highway. As we entered the restaurant, we realised it was actually Pizzica Pizzeria underneath the main La Scarpetta restaurant. We thought why not? we were already here. We ordered a pizza which turned out to be not that great.

Sneaky entrance to the Pizzeria

Margaret River town looking pretty as ever

We got ice creams on the way back. We opened a bottle of wine and watched TV before we were both dozing off. Country life caught up with us and we retired to bed.

The next morning we slept in (why not? again). We got up about 10 o’clock and decided to visit one of out favourite wineries, Woody Nook for a late breakfast. This was the third time Jane and I had been there. We always bought their Port, Nookie Delight. The breakfast was terrific and before we left we decided to reacquaint ourselves with their wines. We loved the Verdelho and as it was on special for $150/carton, we couldn’t resist – Christmas presents sorted! We also grabbed a few bottles of Nookie Delight.

We arrived back at Eight Willows just after midday to find Mike and Dorilyn and their kids, Shaun and Stephanie (Fifi) had arrived in their caravan. It seemed strange to learn that the first night of their caravan holiday was spent in a 4 1/2 star resort. They were travelling onto Denmark, Esperance and Kalgoorlie before heading back to Perth for Christmas. Having grown up in Singapore, it will be a great experience for Shaun and Fifi to see some Aussie countryside.

After Mike and Dorilyn settled in we went for a walk up the back of the property to the winery next door, Knotting Hill. We sampled a few (well actually all) of their wines and bought two cartons between us. Jane loved the Muscat, so we bought a bottle for our port barrel. We noticed there was a tour group of Germans(?) and Americans there. We left at the same time, us on foot and them in a bus. Next stop was the Grove Distillery. It was just across the road.

When we arrived the tour bus was right behind us – we almost beat them on foot (and half sloshed). The Grove is not so typical on the area, as it specialises in spirits, such as Gin, Whisky and Rum. As we we were a little pooped from our walk we ordered Gin and Tonics all round. It was very refreshing. Mike and I followed up with some straight Rums. Mike had the Dark Rum, while I had the Spiced Rum.

We walked back through the bush to the resort.

We arrived at the function room and had a few drinks by the lake, while Mike talked to the staff. Shaun had his drone whizzing around. I was quite interested because I’m going to get one when we go sailing the Greek Islands next August. I looked so cool, I’m already drooling.

Back at the Residence, we had a barbecue for dinner (with a few wines of course). Mike cooked up a mountain of steaks and lamb chops. We filled our bellies and swapped BS stories about the afterlife. We went to bed relatively early as we both had long drives in the morning.

Up early for bacon and farm fresh eggs – and packing. We were both ready to leave at 8 am. Jane and I back to Perth. Mike, Dorilyn and the kids to Denmark (WA not Europe).

We can’t thank Mike and Dorilyn enough for the opportunity to stay at Eight Willows. Their generosity is so expansive. We’re indeed very lucky to call them our friends.