Photo excursion - Sculpture by the Sea 2012

Yay! Made it to Sculpture by the Sea at Cottesloe beach yesterday...lugged a macro lense with me because I wanted a different, narrowed take on the sculptures. 

Check out the Sculpture by the Sea website to get the big picture :)

♥ 

Morning on the beach

So I'm housesitting and totally loving it. The guest bed is a lush cloud so a little sleep-in is a must on this gorgeous Sunday morning. 

I hop out of bed only because I'm ravenous and have been looking forward to breakfast at John Street Cafe in Cottesloe. After the vegetarian lot and a coffee, I head down the street towards the beach.

John St

Cottesloe beach

It's super sunny and it's really comforting in that sense, but I have to remind myself that it is the middle of winter and I hug myself against the chill as I stroll towards the groyne. I sit on the rocks for a while and stare at the blue green ocean and there's no where else I'd rather be. 

Seagulls swoosh past, waves crash around me and 2 dolphins swim past.

Taking the scenic route back to the car, I revel in the sand squishing between my toes and manage to get seaweed on my jeans. Good look :)

obligatory footprint shot

Vitamin D and happiness levels are back up and I think I'm ready for the working week ahead.

♥

Photo excursion - Chittering Valley

It's a public holiday and a perfectly sunny winter's day. The breeze is constant and the temperature is in the high teens.
This is just a snippet of Chittering Valley, an hour's drive north of Perth. 

Blue skies and crunchy gravel

Smokey...loving the smell of wood fires

Vineyards. farms and orchards galore

yellow-y olive-y brown grey greens

Epic clouds and cows

pretty prints

Rundown rusticness

Trigger happy, as usual. Photo credit: mattyp

I marvel at windmills, look out for lego-like tractors in the distance, spot some horses and catch a glimpse of an emu.

♥

You never forget how to ride a bicycle

April has just flown by. Hang on...we're in April? 
Where has the time gone? 

I must've either been:
(a) extremely busy
(b) an awesome procrastinator
(c) having fun
(d) all of the above, or
(e) none of the above

The answer is more likely to be (b).

But I prefer (c).

Mum loves seeing the water

Going back in time

Feels like I should be wearing a head scarf and huge sunnies a la Audrey Hepburn

Camera in hand, I'm relying on dad to keep us upright and dry :)

Mum and sis going way too fast

Quad-cycle

Fun. Brought to you by About Bike Hire.

Yeah, DEFINITELY prefer (c).

♥

The hills are alive

waterless waterfall

It was a public holiday on Monday and we had a family outing in the Perth hills. First stop, John Forrest National Park, off Great Eastern Highway. As we got out of the car, two kangaroos hopped across the car park... they were the only animals we would see for the rest of the day.

We decided to take the Heritage Trail to check out a waterfall and tunnel. We'd been warned that there was no water at the waterfall but I didn't mind, I was actually excited about the idea of standing on rocks that would normally have water gushing over it.

Plants in dry, desert-y, muted greens and grasstrees flanked the trail. Every step was accompanied by the crunch of loose rocks and pebbles underfoot and calm blue skies overhead.

2.2km later, we found refuge in the Swan View Tunnel. It was a little eerie but the echo of our voices soon drowned everything out. Bits of the train track were visible through the ballast and I could sense history in those walls. 

We rested and recharged soon after, and trudged back to base. I'd love to be back again when wildflowers are in bloom and to take on the other trails. 

After lunch in Mundaring a.k.a. the heart of the hills, we visited idyllic Mundaring Weir. The dam is a magnificent structure and the view from the dam wall was breathtaking, best enjoyed in silence...

After a bit of camwhoring, we headed home via the Zig Zag in Kalamunda. It's a scenic drive that provides a panoramic view of Perth. The roads are narrow and there are a few hairpin turns. 

I can now understand how things might get even more exciting and hair-raising here late in the night.

An awesome day trip to places I'd never been to! :)
♥