Therese has just departed after spending four  days in Perth giving me the opportunity to be a tourist again.  On Thursday instead of just driving through the Swan Valley like previously I actually had the chance to discover what the Swan Valley has to offer.

The Swan Valley is a 20 minute drive east of Perth, it's the oldest wine growing region in Western Australia with many of the vineyards still owned by descendants of the european emigrants. It's also the home to breweries and other food products.

Our first stop was the information centre where a volunteer gave us great advise on which establishments to visit. Meeting this volunteer was the beginning of a day where all the people we meet were very passionate about their products and enthusiastic in sharing their knowledge with us.

The day was full of tasting and learn all about coffee, chocolate, wine, cheese, honey, olives and even tasting lavender scones.

Our first stop after the information centre was at Yahava Koffee Works where an Italian gentleman gave us a variety of coffees to taste and  an insight into roasting coffee beans (cracked 1, 2 or 3) and how to use an espresso coffee maker.  We learnt that the coffee bean that's roasted to a crack 1 or 2 is lighter in colour and has more caffeine than the much richer and darker coffee bean that's roasted longer to a crack 3.

Another wonderful experience was at the Olive Farm, which is actually a vineyard but produce marinate olives as a secondary product, not only was the wine beautiful but they were very happy to share their secrets on marinating olives.  The two honey farms we visited taught us all about the queen bee, bee hives, honey and the use of honey for medicinal purposes. All of this exposure lead us to purchasing many fine products to enjoy at home.

All in all it was a great day, where lunch was provided by the way of samples  and our thirst quenched by the taste of wine, coffee and honey sparkled water.

Beautiful vines at Lacaster Vineyard

Yahava Koffee Works 

House of Honey and the rare Jarrah honey

Windarra Honey

Creative Inspiration

Today is one of the first wet, cooler days we've had since living in Perth, it's been a top of 19 degree's; not what we could call a winters day but certainly a different day to what we've gotten used to in Perth. As golf was cancelled this morning and I'd been on a long walk yesterday I decided to attend the Craft & Quilt Fair at the Exhibition Centre Perth. The fair was truly amazing where many talented people from all over Australia showed their craft and provided lots of inspiration.

I went there today expecting to spend just a few hours but by the end of the day I had been fortunate enough to attend 4 half hour workshops with each workshop providing information on a new technique that I can use in my quilting. Things I had never heard of such as shrinking fabric after quilting so as to provide another dimension to the piece and the use of biase to make quilting so much easier.

There was also a quilting exhibition with a section having a theme called The Seven Deadly Sins and other  quilts that were all pieces of art.  All in all it was very inspiring and I've got loads of ideas to use with the quilt I'm currently making and for future use.

One of the award winning quilts for the 7 Deadly Sins

Another award winner

An interpretation of Seven Deadly Sins

This quilt was called Lunch at Mums

More Walking

The weather in Perth is now changing with the mornings and evenings requiring a long sleeve top but by 10am it's time to peel off the layers and get back into something sleeveless as the days are still magnificent.  When we first moved over to Perth the weather was 36 each day and during this time I made a commitment to Tim that each weekend I'd go into the surf. But this weekend I couldn't do it, the wind and the water were just too cool for me so I'll have to get a wetsuit if I'm going to join Tim in the surf all year round.

This last week I've been much more sensible and have gone for two walks instead of one long walk, each walk has been around 12 -15 kilometers and I feel fine. Both involved walking in different directions along the Swan River and included Kings Park, which I'm still discovering.

Tuesday I walked around the perimeter of Kings Park across to the Swan River and ended in a south westerly direction from Matilda Bay towards Nedlands and then headed inland through suburbia, it wasn't very interesting and as I left early in the morning it was quiet cool. On Thursday I walked through Kings Park and around to Matilda Bay but then headed north west towards Riverside Drive, over near the WACA Oval and through the city. This was a much nicer walk as I didn't leave until after 10am and I was entertained along the way by my music and having a chat to one of our beautiful daughters.

Unfortunately my walking is now impacting on my swimming, I belong to a masters swimming group called Snappers who meet twice a week but with all my other activities I think I'll have to reduce the swimming to once a week at least until the I've completed the walk in August (what a life!).

Last night Tim & I had our first taste of some night life over here that's comparable to Sydney. We went down to Fremantle where we discovered a vibrant area, alive with an assortment of restaurants and drinking establishments.  We ended up going see a movie called Mad Bastards which is at a cinema chain called Luna Palace - I'm sure it's linked to Palace cinema's in Sydney as Luna have all the art house movies and film festivals.

Matilda Bay with the city in the distance

Nedlands Rugby Club and oval

On the Swan River

Exercise equipment along the Swan - you'll find these at most beaches and parklands

First church built in Perth in 1843 - a catholic church not on the top of a hill but the most recently built church is on the top.

Town Hall Perth

Shopping arcade in Perth

An elderly lady who looked very cute

A Walk Around The Swan

I'm now in training for a 135km walk over 7 days in August; as it's May I need to get my walking boots on and start walking.  Yesterday I decided to start my walking plan by going out and walking approximately 20km, how silly am I as today I'm feeling it from the bottom of my toes to the top of my head. It was another beautiful day in Perth with big blue skies, temperature around 26 with very little breeze blowing and the scenery was breathtaking making this a very easy walk.

I decided to walk up and over Kings Park, around the entertainment centre in Perth, across to the Swan River, then around the Swan River crossing the Causeway and coming around South Perth which is situated on the opposite side of the river and then up and over Kings Park - it was very beautiful. I even saw Dolphins, on the southern bank of the river opposite the city, there were 3 fins that came out of the water three times, I was truly shocked and stopped a person walking in the opposite direction to confirm what I saw.  Apparently the Dolphins are often in the river and also frequent a place call Matilda Bay, so I think next week my walk will lead me to this spot.

The Swan River is a large river that at one point is 4km wide and meanders over 175kms until it reaches the mouth at Fremantle Harbour.

From the banks of the Swan River at Perth looking over at South Perth

 Close to The Causeway

Looking across to South Perth near The Causeway

WA emblem

South Perth

East View  from the Narrow Bridge

Jacobs Ladder approximately 220 steps leading up to Kings Park 

Within Kings Park on the way home