Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:57 am
My travelogue is now 4 days behind. But I'm so tired, I don't think I can write tonight. We've decided to do only the bare minimum tomorrow - return rental car, bbq at lunch, most likely dinner out with other meeting attendees. Dh has added a trip to the beach in there as well, so much for bare minimum. We also need to buy milk and probably a few other groceries.
We are only here three more days. Then we move on to New Zealand. But first the meeting which is Tuesday and Wednesday.
This morning we did a load of laundry. I had sent dh to the laundromat but he didn't get past the verandah. He ended up washing the clothes using our friends' machine and we hung it all up to dry on the line by the cottage. At that point it was 9:45 and I hadn't completely packed for the day but we tore out of the cottage and took the car to the port, leaving it without getting a parking chit. We confirmed there was space on the 11 ferry so dh went to park the car in all-day parking and pay for that. I bought the tickets for the ferry. Turned out the 10:15, which was boarding, still had space so we were among the last 5 people to board.
Once on the island we checked in at the information booth and ended up taking the train ride Oliver Hill. That was at 12:30, it was 11:15 so we walked to find a quokka (small rat-like marsupial) and then picked up a picnic lunch (remember we had rushed out so all I had grabbed was peanuts.)
We walked over to the train 'station' to check out where it was and there was a bench there in the shade so I ate my lunch and we enjoyed the quiet. We had expected the island to be crowded (summer Sunday) but it wasn't crowded by North American standards.
The train arrived, we boarded and enjoyed the 30 minute ride up to the remnants of the WWII protection for the harbour at Fremantle. We didn't do the tour there, instead we had 5 minutes to run around taking pictures of the island from this high vantage point, then headed back on the train.
Dh had a turn 'driving' it and we enjoyed the swallows that raced alongside. It turns out the vibration of the train stirs up the insects so the swallows were enjoying a great feed.
Once back at the Settlement, we walked along a trail looking for a good beach. It was a long walk at the height of the summer sun. I wanted a place I could sit in shade while dh enjoyed the water and that was found at the last beach. We changed into our suits, dh stepped in the water and pronounced it cold and we spent about 10 minutes in the water before walking back up to the change rooms, showering off the salt and dh changed back. I didn't have a bra with me so I left my suit on to let it dry so I could put my clothes on over it.
We sat in the shade, enjoying our peanuts while looking over the water while our towels dried and then decided to head back to the settlement. It had taken an hour to walk to beach but there was a bus leaving in 5 minutes. We gathered up everything quickly and made the bus, a last minute decision that worked out very well.
Then we decided to do standby for the earlier ferry and got back at 5 instead of 7.
The crossing was rough. Since we were the last on, there weren't seats together but we were near each other. I was with a family of 5 from Sydney area on a 4 week drive around the country (not completely around, they'll come down to Alice Springs, not go on from Darwin to Cairns and Brisbane.)
Their youngest went quiet and worried very quickly and so we talked and talked and kept those who were seasick distracted. The father was very green but I had showed him where to press on the wrists to control the nauseousness. I had my seabands on and they were a saviour. Lots of people were ill on the crossing so it was rough.
As dh and I walked back to the car he confessed the sea was about as rough as he could take it and he felt quite ill. He was glad we came before we had eaten. He is still feeling it a bit when he moves suddenly so something in his equilibrium is off.
We drove to the grocery store and picked up a cooked chicken, garlic bread and veggies for our dinner. It was a surprise to find it was stuffed (they don't do that anywhere else around the world we've bought one.)
We brought the clothes in off the line and then had dinner, listening to a funny podcast while we ate. We haven't laughed that hard in a while - it felt good.
We've decided to head to bed early since we are both knackered. It is just 9 here but dh is in the shower and I'll get to my teeth in a minute.