It was 15 years ago (more or less) that, on my first trip to Australia, I proposed to Delia. Fortunately for me and for the remaining two weeks of our time in Aus, she accepted. I had originally planned to propose in the Pinnacles park itself but ended up lining up a bottle of sparkling wine at the Hotel restaurant that evening.
So, back again, on our 13th wedding anniversary weekend we found ourselves at the very same hotel restaurant drinking sparkling wine again. During the intervening 15 years the hotel had undergone expansion, as had Cervantes itself. When we actually ventured to the Pinnacles park, it too had undergone some changes in the form of a large “Discovery Centre” and a board walk viewing platform.
However it seemed that little progress had been made in deciding the origin of these strange features – “lost aboriginals’ fingers trying to escape quicksand” seemed almost as unlikely an explanation, to me, as the more scientific idea of it being a fossil forest. We spent several hours watching and photographing the sunset. I had hoped to get some shots of the arc of the galaxy (and the core which can be seen here in Aus); however I was to be disappointed due to the clouds and a full moon.
The Lobster Shack in Cervantes provided a wonderful lunch the following day and is probably the highlight of the small town aside from its natural attractions of sun, sea and sand. That evening we enjoyed a lovely Indian Ocean sunset (without Pinnacles but with sparkling Shiraz) and met the couple whose silhouettes I had shot the previous evening – one actually turned out to be the manager of a Perth camera shop that I had been to several times.
The next day we returned to our abandoned puppy (ok, we had arranged a house sitter whom Siena adored. At 7 years old she scarcely counts as a puppy either).
I helped steward at the Photo Exhibition in the Perth Royal Show last week. The Show shares similarities to the Royal Welsh Shows of which I have attended many. The main difference was the preponderance of stalls selling show bags. These are expensive hauls of, mostly, confectionery of various brands ranging from $5 to $125. The show-ring had similar events to agricultural shows the world over (I guess) as well a local cake makers, flower show as well as poultry, rabbits, pigs, even camels.
We (Delia) continue to keep an eye on the local housing market though we are trying to increase our deposit for now. We did view a house that had such a view (see below) that we felt we had to make an offer. We offered an amount reasonable for the size and condition of the villa but we were not successful. Probably for the best since we would have been running around like headless chickens trying to get a mortgage.
