Even though the weather forecast was for heavy rain and strong winds, we couldn’t put off travelling further south any longer. The last time we visited Perth was Easter 2005 for the wedding of our friends Anna and Ed who we met in the UK when Anna and I taught English at the same school in Wiltshire. Anna is from Perth and the wedding took place at the Sandalford Winery in The Swan Valley to the East of Perth.
It had been pouring with rain on their wedding day too but I’m sure Perth must see the sun sometimes. We had a great catch up with them over the weekend and also enjoyed sitting on soft furnishings again.
Their cats Jazzie and Mischief weren’t as pleased to see us, as Winston has had a hatred of felines since he was a puppy. He became finely attuned to the bells on their collars and went berserk at the slightest tinkle.
Winston was a hit with their young son Danny though but the poor lad developed puffy eyes after intensive Winston snuggling.
Kings Park in Perth ticked all of the Bradshaw’s boxes for a stop. Loads of parking space for the campervan and parking is free. The majority of the park and botanic gardens are dog friendly – only the Federation Walkway is closed to dogs. The café is also dog friendly and you can sit and have a coffee taking in the extensive views of the city and the Swan River. The gardens are immaculate and there was an army of gardeners working around the park. We were lucky with the weather too, as the rain held off for the morning.
We found a fantastic caravan park called Queen’s Grove Caravan Village in South East Perth. All the amenities are brand new and the park is spotless. The heavy rain and wind arrived on Monday morning when we were booked into the Fiat garage to get the handbrake issue finally fixed. Luckily they were happy to let Winston sit in their warm waiting room too. He turned out to be an excellent meet and greet Spoodle. New windscreen tomorrow. It will feel strange not to look at a squiggly windscreen crack anymore when driving along. We thought we had better get it replaced before crossing the Nullarbor because it’s probably only one large stone away from shattering.
