It would be remiss of me not to mention that the Wallabies turned the tables on the Lions last night, scoring the only try after a series of scrum caused penalties in a scrappy game, winning 16:15; leveling the test series until next week, an excellent outcome. I accept that this is sickeningly PC of me to make such a statement.
The Tour de France kicked off in Corsica with the Australian team support bus getting caught up under the finishing posts and upsetting everyone. But again, in true PC mode, everyone was given the same time so no one could complain about unfair treatment.
What a night!
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| Cormorant drying his wings |
And all the while poor old Nelson Mandela holds on to life, albeit with medical support, while the world waits for the next big news.
We extended yet again, for a further three days for the price of two. Who would not when there is so much to do and see here?
The weather today has been wonderful, the temperature up to 21 degrees and not a cloud in sight. Despite the excellent weather, we spent the morning about camp, me trying to devour the weekend papers, while Chris attended to maintenance matters. It was time again to flush the waste pipes of the caravan and I did assist in a small way, turning the tap on and off, however only he could repack the spare wheel and diesel canisters on the roof. The latter are now lying down which means we might squeeze into more of those covered shopping mall car parks while they stay empty.
After lunch we ventured out to take the air, as they say, starting with a walk around the Big Swamp. This reserve is not far from the caravan park and adjacent to the Wildlife Park highly recommended by the camp manager this morning. We poked our noses in the gate to check out the entry fees. At $8.50 this is probably quite acceptable for those who have never seen the wildlife of Australia, however we have seen so much for free in the wild. But I would be a little disappointed if I learned the place was full of quendas, quokkas and quolls, all very shy and absent from our list of seen animals.
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| Bunbury's Big Swamp |
Instead, we walked the two kilometre circuit of the conservation wetland, out to the end of one boardwalk, and out to the bird hide on another. We passed through stunted melaleucas, red flowering bottle brushes and yellow flowering wattles and saw black swans, swamp hens, coots, cormorants, crows, kookaburras, willy wagtails and an egret, but no turtles or snakes which are about at the moment. It is interesting to note that we have seen more black swans here than in the Swan River for which it was named.
Our next destination was the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery housed in the distinct
pink former convent in the centre of the city. The galleries are situated all about
the rambling old building which was completed in 1897, and today one of them
was in the midst of change; the normal state of affairs for art galleries when
we call. However we enjoyed those exhibitions that were open to view; A Case of Déjà Vu by Thomas Horeau, a
Perth artist and brilliant colourist, another titled Star, a variety of unimpressive work, and Time and Footprints by Dominic Trovato, again impressing us with
his skill with colour.
Bunbury was very quiet today although the main street was a lovely sight with its brightly coloured sail shaped flags hanging from the light posts in the bright sunlight. The city boasts a population of 31,865, with nearly 25,000 more in the greater region. The Leschenault Inlet in which Bunbury is situated, was one of the many discoveries by Nicholas Baudin who sailed about the west and south of Australia in 1803, at the same time as Matthew Flinders. I have reported this ad nauseaum so shall say no more except to say that Baudin’s ship was the Geographe, hence the name of the bay to the west of the city, Geographe Bay.
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| Bunbury Regional Art Gallery |
Bunbury, or rather Lieutenant Henry William St. Pierre Bunbury was one of Stirling’s men and blazed a trail through from Pinjarra, where we were before travelling on here, and was given, as a reward, the honour of lending his name to what had previously been known as Port Leschenault. That same Bunbury recorded in his diary of the day that he thought the district would become a thriving and important part of the colony. And indeed it has, now the regional capital and gateway to Western Australia’s South West.
We drove a few blocks and parked beside the Leshenault Inlet, then walked along the path that follows the shore right around, across a couple of bridges and through the mangroves. Actually we only walked a couple of kilometres before heading back. Chris suggested we should do the full five kilometre circuit another day in the morning, however I am sure we will run out of days and it is not sitting on my must-do list.
Back at camp we caught up with Larissa and the children on Skype, in time to wish them good night as they headed to bed. It was good to hear from them and catch up with their latest news which included holiday plans for October this year and July next. We have not planned beyond Wednesday!
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