Di & Peter Ryan cajoled us into joining them in their Dunsborough time-share for a week. Not only was Lea was loath to leave the grandchildren for that long – she was anxious about being in the cold south of Western Australia and fretfully packed for a freeze! We settled on an extra long weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the R & R, the adventure all the better being in the company of good friends. The weather perfect! Although George was at school with Peter, they didn’t keep in touch. It was George’s Dad striking up a friendship with Di in Marandellas due to her ability to speak Italian that started it all… Lea was introduced to Di and her two small sons while up on a visit from Cape Town. They made an immediate connection and as fate would have it, Di’s parents lived a road away from our Muizenberg home. We lost touch after they immigrated to Australia in the early 80’s and quite by chance met up again in Perth as we prepared to locate to Kakadu.
Cruising to Dunsborough as passengers set the tone for a most relaxing four days that felt far longer when we looked back on all that unfolded. In spite of us knowing the area well we happily fell into viewing it from the Ryan’s perspective. Our gain was a complimentary breakfast laid on to inveigle Di & Peter into investing into more time share – they paid in kind by attending a business meeting while we walked off breakfast on the beach. Mid-morning, we set off on the first of our tours of the wineries, galleries and restaurants that characterise much of the Margaret River area. We never think to visit a winery yet with Di & Peter’s knowledge we spent wonderful hours roaming their favourite wineries… Although it must be said the gardens or galleries attached or the décor within were what really caught our eyes. Laurance Winery not only boasted a fine rose garden set amongst arches created with the timbers of an old jetty it had eye catching chandeliers made of wine glasses and elegant toilets with large and humorous art works that had you lingering far longer than necessary.
Di, Peter and Lea with The Saracen
Saracen Estate revived memories of European tastes and as we rarely know anyone we were all the more surprised to bump into Bev Pearce at the wine tasting bar. Woody Nook provided a lunch that delighted our taste buds with their innovative menu, especially the crisp beetroot jam. Happs pottery could so easily have been given a miss yet George was intrigued to see paintings done from coloured beeswax while Lea was enamoured by the extraordinarily rich glazing processes using leaf prints. Simmo’s Delicious Dilemmas produced huge ice creams in a cone with Simmo blithely expressing the need to get rid of the old ice-cream knowing he’d never see us again… which still raises a good giggle in memory of his largesse. Back at Wyndom Resort with feet up, we ended the night listening to a DVD filming Andre Rieu in concert in Vienna.
The wonder of the Karri forests of the south is never lost on us.
A trip through the Boranup Forest to a gallery that contained the most magnificent pieces of woodwork (including a $36 000 table cut from a piece of burl) aside from the many paintings by local artists. We visited Watershed Winery and the impressive Voyager Estate developed by Peter Wright, a WA iron-ore magnate who had so enjoyed the wineries of South Africa that he based his estate on Cape Dutch architecture, surrounded by superb rose gardens, immaculately groomed hedges and lawns, white-washed walls, reflection ponds & cobblestone pathways – really most beautiful within its Western Australian setting. The annual Stomp had been held the previous day and one of the Gardeners was quick to tell us we were not seeing the place at its best – pointing out the damage caused by people unable to resist walking atop the hedges!
Views of Voyager Estate
Homeward bound, we called in to see the work of Pat Negus, a botanical artist with a permanent exhibition of her one hundred paintings “wildflowers of the Margaret River region” in the Chapel of Flowers, quaintly built of rustic mud brick and timber on their property, Swallow’s Welcome. Judging from the visitor’s book this is a very popular place for intimate weddings. Pat’s work reminded us of May Gibbs, with her attention to detail. Our night ended with Helmut Lotti - this is a magical way to enjoy the sights and sounds of a music concert set in Brussels.
A team photo overlooking Yallingup Beach
Our last day gallivanting with Di & Pete took us to Yallingup beach with a short walk along part of the Cape to Cape trail as far as Smith’s beach, and a visit to Canal Rocks.
Canal Rocks – an intriguing place with the sea surging through an interesting series of canal like fractures, joints and faults in the jumble of gneiss rocks that jut out into the ocean.
We drove back to Dunsborough via our favourite Bunker Bay to see the café and elite resort that has since been established there. Popped into Wise winery and drove along the scenic Myalup beach road - Time flies when you are having fun with kindred spirits, and we reluctantly climbed aboard the TransWA coach for the four hour journey back to Perth.
Mother’s Day began with a pancake breakfast cooked by Paul before we were joined by Paul’s parents Kay and Alan, thereafter we all headed to Tomato Lake, for coffee under the trees. The peace we’d found on our first visit here last month had disappeared as many large families had chosen to gather for the day in these attractive surrounds to celebrate with their mothers too.
Paul excelled himself by cooking the dinner before dashing off for the night to watch soccer with his parents. Lea was given instructions to “watch the pot” which she conscientiously did until the last ten minutes of cooking time when she inadvertently turned the heat up instead of down. Before long a burnt smell permeated the house and hung around for days reminding Lea of the error of her ways. We rescued the best of the Hunters Stew and it was eaten despite its strange aroma. A wonderfully indulgent ‘Pamper package’ for Mother’s day certainly put Lea right a few days later.
TALE of a Willie…
One morning George and his granddaughter were engrossed in discussion about a spider’s web on the front balcony when he felt something alight on his head. As he reached to feel… a willie wagtail popped down beside them. Their delight at the close proximity of this friendly little bird was enormous until Harley dog chased it off. Many occasions followed when Willie would unexpectedly arrive to check out garden activities, even sitting on George’s outstretched finger. Spending time in the garden with Talia anticipating a visit from this personable little feathered friend became a pattern, yet never occurred when camera was ready. A street party revealed Willie was a neighbourhood attraction – always curious to observe gardening chores up close ad personal – poor George wasn’t the bird whisperer after all. This wagtail was known as Willie the Tart!
Our time in Perth was fast running out - a social occasion was kindly hosted in the home of Di and Peter Ryan with their large screen television for a premier showing of Keith and Colleen’s film, Honey Hunters of Niassa. A “bring and share” dinner beforehand produced delicious pot luck and added to the evening not to mention how our gathering of friends produced unexpected links in all directions and brought a random act of kindness to light! Ros and Rodney are new immigrants to Perth and were taken aback to recognise Eggy, as the Australian stranger who impulsively gave them a bunch of flowers at a market as a welcoming gesture. Ros is one of four girls - Not only have our paths crossed in different countries since childhood, there is a family bond spanning three generations between the Jackson / Howman lines into which many of us gathered this night come from, making time together richer for the history. Besides Ros and Rod, were her cousins Ady, Roy & Bev. Jean Rogers too links back to school and a long friendship between parents. As rubber tramps rolling around gathering little moss we value our connections to the past.
Birds of a feather make for lots of talking at the showing of “Honey Hunters of Niassa”!
Our last week with family is always fraught with the emotions of impending farewells and filling the days as normally as possible is helpful …we scurried up to the local church on Referendum Day to record our YES/NO preference to Daylight Saving in Western Australia, the fourth occasion this subject has come up and yet again it was a resounding NO. Strange how the decades bring up the same old turkey, making it easy to ignore – yet voting in Australia is compulsory and we would not wish the fine!
The arrival of Rod and Gill Zank from South Africa to spend time with their Perth grandchildren had Saxon invite them over for a BBQ - A most unusual event to have three out of four sets of in-laws in one place. Pity we didn’t record the Begg, Gee and Zank rendezvous on camera. Talia hankered for another bus ride. Her grandparents happily obliged by catching the bus down to Perth Zoo to spend the morning ambling around this botanically impressive environment with her.
Talia with the Zoo pelicans
Lea hoped the day out in fresh air would help ward off cold symptoms that were threatening to take her down. The question had to be asked whether she was fighting a losing battle against the flu jab or simply a culmination of playgroup germs... She ended up closeted away for the next two days for fear of spreading a vicious head cold while cursing the loss of precious baby time. Late winter rains, howling winds and hail arrived as we completed our packing for South Africa. The weather matched our moods!
Lea’s mother so aptly said “No goodbyes only the next hellos…”
Just over two year later we landed back in hazy Cape Town to be met by sister, Holly and niece Talya and taken back to Somerset West where we spent the last week of May quietly doing odd jobs around the house for Holly while she was busy teaching. Having another art teacher readily available, George was rapidly drawn back to his watercolours. He set about drawing, using right brain techniques, while enjoying the warmth of wintry days and his view of The Helderberg, a favourite mountain from his childhood. Not that this pleasant weather lasted long as by the end of the week heavy downpours and howling winds ensured we knew winter was here. Holly whipped Lea off for a bi-annual check with Wendy the chiropractor and Beryl the masseur to get her spine back into alignment. Whew! That took some doing this time round. Then it was time for the fortnightly weekend home, for our host and brother-in-law Bernd, from his job so far away in Johannesburg. George and Bernd got stuck into making a privacy trellis … nothing could draw them away from this .
Even safety glasses now that’s a first!
Holly and Lea attended a cello recital as their cousin Bev was playing the piano accompaniment. For all the years, this is the first time Lea has ever been able to hear her concert playing cousin’s beautifully sensitive touch. After the recital Bev, Tom and daughter Cindy came home for hot soup.
