Loving the Question: Spring in the Air

Dear reader

Please don't think I am going to make a habit of this but I have done it again. For the second time this year I have initiated...I suggested ... to my husband.. ummmm...voluntarily ... that we go for a walk together. I can hear your aghast cries of "Noooooooo, what were you thinking?" But once again it wasn't too bad. Sigh.

The first time was when we were in the Lakes District in England in August, and it wasn't too hot or crowded where we were and there were some Roman ruins I was hoping to see that he wasn't too keen on looking for ... but when I was holding the map and saw they were in the direction of a bit of wetland area as well, one thing led to another and I took a deep breath and said..."You may never hear this from my lips again, but shall we go for a ramble around the top of the lake and the wetlands?". Do take note that I expect fireworks and a public holiday to commemorate the event next year - August 15th.

Anyway, we went and we saw ruins - in a field with cows wandering about and cow-pats to avoid! Low-key but still quite thrilling for us colonials to see, you never forget your first time!! Followed by walking across some wetlands in a drizzle, through some lush fields and saw some gorgeous stonewalls and ducks and stuff. You know, very typical English and charming. All in all a great success and much enjoyed by my poor walk-starved husband. He was quite chuffed.

So, fast forward to this recent weekend when, looking for something nice to do together, I read that the Kalamunda Shire Council had organised a Zig-Zag walk (for the 8th year - clearly I had ignored all previous invitations). Said walk-starved husband jumped at the chance to get out in the spring air and see some Aussie scenery and wildflowers, and I felt that I could cope with being driven to the top of a hill and walking down for 3km. This is the view from the bottom of the walk.

And...it was delightful. We took our 18 year old daughter and my sister in law as well and had a lovely time. Not too physically demanding at all (my major baulk factor), beautiful views of the Swan coastal plain, lovely flora and fauna too. This is a leschenaultia flower - a rare example of blue colouring in nature.

The flowers and grass trees were gorgeous - see? The top one is a burnt out stump from a bushfire that went through the area last year. The lower one is a flowering spike about 2m tall and oozing sap to attract insects.

There were little displays set up periodically to break the walking so we had bluegrass bands, free Milo and massages, local plant displays, riding on camels, animal displays where I handled a carpet python (lovely), patted two joey kangaroos, saw a bettong, a black cockatoo, a masked owl and a barn owl, and also touched an echidna for the first time.

We had lunch in a small but very busy French cafe in Kalamunda and returned home with yummy patisserie for dessert that night. The organisation of the event was terrific. Top marks to the KSC for their efforts.

We had also been to the beach on Saturday for a wander and some lunch, and of course Don threw the body in at Cottesloe beach. We really do live in a gorgeous part of the world.