Jane and Mark down under

Friday 5 April We arrived home in the early hours after flights from Singapore to Frankfurt and a connecting flight to Birmingham. After a good night's sleep the priority was to get Jimmie from the kennels....the boy's not been pining for us and has put on a bit of weight. After unpacking and other chores it was great to do one of our favourite walks to Swithland Reservoir - still light after 6 pm now that we are in British Summer time. It's a bit cold for April and freezing compared with Australia and Singapore.  It's a good job that Jane bought a wool/possum fibre beret in New Zealand......there's a funny story attached to this which I'm sure will be retold a number of times! It's great to be back home  and have lots of happy memories of a fantastic trip!   We saw some lovely places and superb wildlife.  We thoroughly enjoyed our stays with Sue, Gavin in Sydney and Pippa and David in Wellington and caught up with other friends as well....

Wednesday 3 April  - A final few shots of our Mandurah surroundings before setting off for Perth and a flight back to Singapore. We had breakfast outside on a beautiful morning.    It was only an hour's drive to Perth so time for a selfie. Thursday 4 April Singapore airport was our final overnight stop on the holiday, just to break the journey.  A few things to see as well.  Pippa had told us about the butterfly garden and there's also a sunflower garden. The butterfly garden was more impressive... and then in the main concourse, there is an orchid garden. Apart from this we were amazed at the temperatures...over 30C outside but Mark wore his coat all morning in the lounge while I kept warm by last minute shopping!

We left Cape Lodge near Margaret River late morning after a leisurely breakfast and a few photos.  The weather was back to its best.  This was the view when I looked out of our window first thing. These photos were taken on our walk back from the restaurant.    The picture with Mark in it would have been a bit better if I had n't stepped on part of an ant's nest while taking it.... no lasting damage fortunately. A final shot of the terrace.  Our next stop, Mandurah, is about 70 km from Perth Airport and is an ideal stop over.    After a 2 hour 30 minute drive we cooled off in the resort pool - very pleasant.   We've just walked back after a thai meal in the town.  Lovely views from the jetty near our apartment.

Cloudy and a drop in temperature today but a pleasant view from our lakeside room.  The Lodge restaurant is at the other end of the lake - we had a fine breakfast. We drove the entire length of the Cape - Augusta is the southern most town and Dunsborough is the most northerly.  It's just over 60 miles north to south. After a brief stop at Margaret River we went to Cape Leewin lighthouse...this is where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet.    On a stormy day the waves are tremendous....today it was pretty benign. We found a few things to amuse us.  Australia goes in for odd art....this is one of 85 maroon marauders that were positioned across the region in 2010.   The sign stated that `Cow parade' was the world's largest public art event. The `cows' were auctioned off for charity. The lighthouse was manned until 1998. By British standards it was n't that big or old, dating back to 1895. We drove north through the Boranup K...