Wildflowers

August through to Late September is wildflower season in Western Australia. Parts of the state are famous for being literally carpeted with a myriad of flowers, from the ‘backyard’ everlastings to rare orchids, Banksias and the mysterious Leschenaultia “wreath” flowers. I decided to take a day trip up north where the wildflowers start and see what I could find. My friend had been to…

Canola dreaming.

It’s been reasonably wet this year (reports say below average, but I dont see how..) so all the flowers and canola fields are out in force. Like everything in Western Australia, one has to make an effort to go see things.  Nothing is really just around the corner. So I fuelled up the car and headed off on a little round trip inland to…

Alien Abduction (and pics from England 2019 Trip)

No, I didn’t get abducted by aliens (although I have a cool foggy pic). But where have I even been? Do blog platforms have relevance anymore, given the transition to face-o-gram or snap-tock?  I think as a society we are increasingly crippled by inattention disorder – the addictive quest for new and shiny stimulus. If it takes longer than a minute to consume, it’s…

Summer in England 2018 – Cambridge and Flying Home

After I dropped Henry off back at his place and said my goodbyes, I popped into Cambridge to see a good buddy of mine What’s funny is she’s an Aussie who I’ve known online for years, but I had to wait to get England to meet her for the first time as she moved to Brisbane before we could catch up! she’s only been…

Summer in England 2018 – Running

I decided to change my running shoes as the ones I got last year are really for running on the road/paths, and I no longer do that – my running, even in the UK, is all trails. So I picked up some rather snazzy Hoka One One (pronounced on-ey on-ey) which are more cushioned and also famously good for Achilles issues, and went out…

Summer in England 2018 – Ightham Mote

I decided that we needed to combine some exercise with lunch and some local history. We’ve been here before when Henry was very small and Ella puked ice cream on the immaculately manicured lawns. Good times So Henry and I set off to walk the 2.5 miles from my parents house to Ightham Mote

Summer in England 2018 – Part 3: Fossil Hunting

I’ve been meaning to go to the North Kent Coast to hunt for fossils in the Eocene (50-55 million year old) London Clay The trouble is, the clay beaches aren’t the most attractive that Kent has to offer, they’re kind of a pain to get to. But armed with some basic tools, my hammer and some bags, we set off aiming for the falling…

Summer in England 2018 – Part 2

Of course, the weather breaks within days of me arriving! So we’re stuck inside for a day or so, but soon get bored and go out for a walk. Classic holiday – Oldbury Woods.

Summer in England 2017 – final post

Sorry for the slight delay – I have succumbed to the rather nasty flu that is doing the rounds here in Perth.. I dropped the kids back off in Suffolk and said our goodbyes and given a minor miracle with the lack of weekend traffic, was back home in Kent nice and early with time to kill for a change. The weather was beautiful…

Summer in England 2017 – part 7 – White Cliffs of Dover

Whilst Deal was fun in a kind of ‘faded English seaside town with castles’ kind of a way, we were a bit unsatisfied and it was only just early afternoon and the sun was shining. As we drove through Dover, I saw a sign for ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ and made an executive decision.. detour time. So we went up the steep hill past…