Across the country
Our latest visit to Western Australia was timed to coincide with Louka's twin cousins' tenth birthday. However, they had a men only party, so Louka and I saw nothing of it.
Louka was very good (ie quiet) on the plane to Perth, so long as we let her climb up and down the stairs to the upstairs lounge. On the way home, after a three-hour wait at the airport, she fell asleep for the first half of the flight, but was very irritable for the rest of the way.
In Perth, we had a barbecue breakfast in Kings Park with Graham's mum, brother and sister and their families, to which my friend Merv and his partner turned up later. It was a bit chilly at first, but later the sun came out. Louka fell asleep on the grass.
We caught up with Graham's friends Leonie and Tom, and their baby daughter Alice. She is very cute, very well-behaved (while we were there) and looks very like her dad. Louka had fun playing with their big box of toys and "posting" anything that would fit between the boards of the back deck.
While the "men" had their party, the women and children had dinner at Josie's place. Louka ate quite a lot of olives and not much else, as she is wont to do if they are available. Then we joined the men at the café for birthday cake and coffee. There wasn't any sign of anything weird and manly, like dancing round naked with tomahawks. They must have cleaned everything up.
As usual, we took Louka's cousin Kofi to Hillary's Boat Harbour. We took swimming togs, but it was cold and windy so we went to the aquarium, not the beach.
We went out for dinner with Graham's dad and sister to a grill restaurant. Louka really hoed into the garlic bread and ribs.
For me, the high point of the visit was a trip to see the tree-top walk near Walpole on the south coast. Originally Graham's mum suggested driving there and back on consecutive days, but later decided we should stay two nights and have a whole day there (which I'd definitely recommend). This made it worthwhile to find somewhere nice and interesting to stay, and since I was given the job of finding accommodation I did a quick online search and came up with Tree Elle Retreat. It's the sort of place that's worth going to for itself, not just somewhere to stay. You stay in a separate house, set in lovely gardens and with views of bush and water. There's a fresh loaf waiting in the bread cooker and extra bread mix, fresh eggs, butter, milk and other food in the kitchen. You can pick veggies and fruit from their gardens, and play with the horses, ponies, cows, sheep, turkeys, geese, hens, ducks, rabbits and guinea-pigs. I'm not sure if you'd call it a farmstay as it doesn't quite feel like a serious farm, but it couldn't be better for a little child like Louka. And the sofas and beds are very comfortable.
Oh, the tree-top walk was quite spectacular, but Louka preferred the on-the-ground walk where she could look at flowers, climb stairs and walk right inside the hollow bases of the big tingle trees.
Louka is generally ok in the car these days, but she didn't like the amount of driving on our holiday. One interesting thing I noticed was that when she was crying and screaming, I was sometimes able to sing her to sleep! If only that would work at other times.
Louka was very good (ie quiet) on the plane to Perth, so long as we let her climb up and down the stairs to the upstairs lounge. On the way home, after a three-hour wait at the airport, she fell asleep for the first half of the flight, but was very irritable for the rest of the way.
In Perth, we had a barbecue breakfast in Kings Park with Graham's mum, brother and sister and their families, to which my friend Merv and his partner turned up later. It was a bit chilly at first, but later the sun came out. Louka fell asleep on the grass.
We caught up with Graham's friends Leonie and Tom, and their baby daughter Alice. She is very cute, very well-behaved (while we were there) and looks very like her dad. Louka had fun playing with their big box of toys and "posting" anything that would fit between the boards of the back deck.
While the "men" had their party, the women and children had dinner at Josie's place. Louka ate quite a lot of olives and not much else, as she is wont to do if they are available. Then we joined the men at the café for birthday cake and coffee. There wasn't any sign of anything weird and manly, like dancing round naked with tomahawks. They must have cleaned everything up.
As usual, we took Louka's cousin Kofi to Hillary's Boat Harbour. We took swimming togs, but it was cold and windy so we went to the aquarium, not the beach.
We went out for dinner with Graham's dad and sister to a grill restaurant. Louka really hoed into the garlic bread and ribs.
For me, the high point of the visit was a trip to see the tree-top walk near Walpole on the south coast. Originally Graham's mum suggested driving there and back on consecutive days, but later decided we should stay two nights and have a whole day there (which I'd definitely recommend). This made it worthwhile to find somewhere nice and interesting to stay, and since I was given the job of finding accommodation I did a quick online search and came up with Tree Elle Retreat. It's the sort of place that's worth going to for itself, not just somewhere to stay. You stay in a separate house, set in lovely gardens and with views of bush and water. There's a fresh loaf waiting in the bread cooker and extra bread mix, fresh eggs, butter, milk and other food in the kitchen. You can pick veggies and fruit from their gardens, and play with the horses, ponies, cows, sheep, turkeys, geese, hens, ducks, rabbits and guinea-pigs. I'm not sure if you'd call it a farmstay as it doesn't quite feel like a serious farm, but it couldn't be better for a little child like Louka. And the sofas and beds are very comfortable.
Oh, the tree-top walk was quite spectacular, but Louka preferred the on-the-ground walk where she could look at flowers, climb stairs and walk right inside the hollow bases of the big tingle trees.
Louka is generally ok in the car these days, but she didn't like the amount of driving on our holiday. One interesting thing I noticed was that when she was crying and screaming, I was sometimes able to sing her to sleep! If only that would work at other times.
posted by Liz + Louka at 11:50 am
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