It rained all night last night and woke up to a rather cold morning. I'm glad Sivan was here in Perth with mostly good weather. Chilled out today while Gadi had to buy some extra pieces for our satellite dish. Did a supermarket shop in the afternoon and went to sit at the beach in Cottesloe to watch the kite surfers do their thing in the wild late afternoon surf. We spent some time in the evening looking at maps and trying to decide whether to travel a little ...

Today our daughter flew home in the afternoon, so after she was packed we took her out to enjoy the warm Perth sun at a cafe on Cottesloe Beach. We sat outside (Cadbury too) enjoying the sun's heat on our backs and indulging in some delicious orange cake, scones with amazing raspberry preserves and cream, and coffees and a mango banana smoothie. Drove to the airport with my friend and her son, who was flying back to Melbourne with Sivan. Said quick goodbyes out ...

The others headed into the city today to have a look around and I enjoyed some time out at home. In the afternoon Sivan came back and she and I went for a drive north along the coast from Cottesloe to Scarborough, stopping to play on the sand with Cadbury and enjoy watching the kite surfers and surfers catching waves. In Scarborough we stopped for ice cream and sat chatting and watching the sun sink low in the sky on her last evening in Perth. Tomorrow afterno...

Today we drove to the Swan Valley in the afternoon, first to the cute town of Guildford, with its visitor centre, old cottage, museum and jail. Then we started the food and wine loop, stopping at the Margaret River Chocolate Company to taste chocolate as well as chocolate liquor and a range of other local sweet and savory produce. We stopped at All Saints Anglican Church set in the Swan River, the oldest church in WA, and walked through the old, well tended grave...

The weather in Perth once again played games just like it does in Melbourne. We decided to head to Fremantle to enjoy the cool Freo atmosphere, it's marina cafe scene, historic buildings and museums. Visited the maritime museum and learnt about the common diseases and the rudimentary and often crude medicine that was practised aboard the immigrant ships. Discovered that one night with Venus could lead to a lifetime with mercury, as many ship hands contracted ven...