photographyperthwa

Day 1 – Victoria Park to Lesley (a roadside rest area)

Due to fitting in so many things and packing at the last moment we didn’t leave home until about 4.00 p.m. The traffic was slow moving as you would expect at that time of day and by the time we were in the forest on Brookton Highway we were losing the light and decided to stay the night at a rest area. It had been raining a little on the way, but stopped once we were parked up.

We had a hot meal of heated up leftovers. It wasn’t very cold and we didn’t need the heating until about 9.00 p.m. I had a wash and was in bed by 10.30 p.m. The bedding felt cold, though it soon heated up. We have a sheet, then Marie’s quilt, then a doona, then on top a double sleeping bag. It works for the colder overnights we have had on this trip.

Day 2 – Lesley to Boyagin Rock to Pingelly

We slept well and took our time in the morning, enjoying walking into the forest a little way, taking in bird sounds and the variety of plants. It is a jarrah forest, with tall, but not massive, trees.

Leaving at 11.00 a.m. we drove to Boyagin Rock. It was rather cold with misty rain when we arrived, so we had lunch before going out on the walk. It was an interesting walk with changes in vegetation and ups and downs on the way to the beginning of the climb. We felt satisfied by reaching the top of the lower rock and did not continue up to the very top. Stephen checked it out and it involved climbing over rocks (it’s Level 4 walk).

We reached Pingelly at about 5.00 p.m. I had phoned during the day to say we would arrive then and as the checkin is at the craft shop in the Main Street that closes at 4.30 p.m. we would normally have had to call a number, but the shop keeper had stayed back. I’m glad we were on time, but it’s also because the days are short at the moment and we didn’t want to arrive after dark.

The Pingelly Caravan Park is a small, council run park, with everything you really need and nothing extra. It was quite brightly lit overnight, but we had everything closed up to keep out the cold, so it didn’t bother us. Our overhead hatch was open at the lowest setting and we had the bedroom windows on the open, but locked, setting, with the blinds only slightly open, just so we had a bit of air flow. We used a little fan heater instead of the diesel heater.

For our evening meal we went to the Pingelly Pub. The staff were friendly and they have a surprisingly varied menu. We chose the Thai Green Curry, which was very spicy, and an apple pie with ice cream, all very delicious. The pub isn’t fancy, but we were sitting near an open fire and felt really happy. We had tried the pub closest to the caravan park, but their chef was off sick and there were no meals to be had.

Day 3 – Pingelly to Aldersyde

After chores (toilet emptying, filling with water) we went out to Tutanning Reserve. Stephen had read up about it and there is a research station there, but it’s a sort of step wise reserve running between farms and we were at the wrong end. We went for a short walk, then had lunch and a rest. The reserve was quite dry and we didn’t hear many birds, but was still interesting to visit. You can stay at the research station, but it caters for groups, so not really our thing.

I chose the next place to spend the night. It’s just a big parking area next to a hall, with toilets available 24/7. Although it’s a village centre, there is just a town hall next to grain silos. There were fairy lights on the hall for a little while after dark. I put the drone up to help us with putting out the Starlink, and it was useful as Ken Peachey moved the solar panel slightly when they were attempting to fix the leak, so we have to put the Starlink out on the driver’s side only now. We ended up with a good signal, plus we have an updated photo of the roof.

The leak was mostly fixed, but when we had very heavy rain there was still some seepage, so we will be taking her back on July 1st for them to try again. We don’t know if we can do a longer trip this winter as it depends on how Mark is going. But, that would be after Ken Peachey have finished. I also want to ask them to remove the blue capping on the C section as it’s become very shabby. It’s a tricky job as though the blue part lifts easily you also have to remove the sticky part underneath.

Days 4 and 5 – Beverley

We decided to spend our last couple of nights in Beverley. There is a lovely free camping area on the Avon River, with a short walk over the bridge into the town. We had a couple of neighbours, but were able to be well spread out. It was Thursday night and there was a food van that got very busy with many people stopping in for food, as well as us free camping folk. We had a burger and chips, nice because it was an easy meal.

Of course, it was the afternoon by the time we got to the reserve. There was a bit of a road going into the reserve, but no obvious path to the top. We were taking video, but I stopped when climbing as there were lots of stones and I wanted to get there safely. When we got to the top it was hard to see the views as there were so many trees.

We walked up the road a bit and stood at a farm gate to enjoy the beautiful views. We are not sure of the name of the reserve, it was spelt both Poison and Poisen (French for fish, according to Stephen). Anyway, we had a lovely afternoon there.

In the evening we walked to the Freemason Hotel for a meal. We arrived at the same time as another couple from the free camp. We had already seen them at the bakery. Anyway, we decided to sit together. I noticed that the other couple from the free camp were also having dinner there, but in a different section. We spent a lovely time eating fairly good food and getting to know our neighbours. We were fortunately that they like to get to bed early so we finished up at about 8.00 p.m.

Day 6 – Beverley to Victoria Park

We made a slow start in the morning on Saturday. It was a grey morning and seemed to be getting colder as the morning progressed, so we weren’t sad to be going home. We left in the late morning and stopped for lunch at Christmas Tree well, which is about half way. It was getting dark when we arrived home, which I don’t mind when we are driving in the city, but try to avoid in country areas due to risk of hitting wildlife.

We’ve adjusted quite well since arriving home. I realise that the reason it feels strange to be here in cold weather is because we usually leave on a trip in early June, so I don’t really have experience of being in Perth at this time of year.

We shot quite a lot of video whilst we were away and I will process that into a short episode for Youtube.

We had these views from the balcony of our cottage at Rottnest. We decided before going that this was probaby going to be our last annual trip. But, the wonderful location, the convenience of a comparatively modern two bedroom layout, and perhaps the Island itself has changed our minds. We haven’t actually had a choice of place to stay when booking, and we’ve made the best of whatever we were given as we were always on the water front. But this time was different.

We travelled from the Hillarys Ferry Terminal. This was where Eversley has always caught the ferry from her long years as a Rottnest Guide and is convenient given where she lives. But, we were going to Fremantle, lugging our bags on buses and trains, which was definitely a slog. At Hillarys we have free long stay parking and the place for dropping off and picking up our bags is just on the edge of the carpark. It was a sunny day with not much of a swell, so a calm ride.

Another tradition we have is to go to the Dome to wait for the keys to our cottage to be available. As we arrived at about 10.15 a.m. and the keys aren’t available until 2.00 p.m. (though they have given them to us earlier in the past) we have quite a long wait. A brunch, catching up on each other’s news, then some reading help to pass the time. Both Eversley and I had shopping trolleys, me because I didn’t want to wear a heavy backpack and E because she takes food, which meant we weren’t feeling all that mobile. Stephen was also carrying a heavier than ususal backpack.

Monday and Tuesday were fine and mostly sunny, so we felt fortunate to have good weather so late in Autumn. It felt very welcoming.

Almost immediately we entered our cottage we began to have second thoughts about this being our last trip. Walking in to the wonderful view, and seeing the fairly large balcony, with a sofa and dining setting, we felt absolutely wowed. There were pelicans gliding in the shallows and we anticipated beatiful sunrises and even sunsets, though we are on the wrong side of the island to see the sun go down.

Stephen and I usually shop for most things once we get to the island, rather than trying to carry food from home. We had our breakfast cereals, but bought apples, yogurt, bread, butter, milk, nibbles and a salad and small BBQ pack of meat for our evening meal.

Eversley prepared her own food and we sat down together to enjoy our meal. Although we didn’t see the sunset the evening light was beautiful.

The internet through our phones was a bit intermittent, but I had bought the Starlink and it worked sitting on the balcony, despite recording many obstructions. We didn’t leave it out overnight or when we were away from the cottage, but worked out how to use it’s own cord to secure it to the railing. It was a two person job to put it out and take it in because it was plugged into a powerpoint in our bedroom and the cord could then be passed across to the balcony. It held up even when there was a storm on Wednesday evening.

Stephen and I decided we would pay for the now very expensive hop on hop off bus around the island. Even as pensioners we paid $30 each. E. decided that this was definitely over the top and there was enough to do around the settlement. It was unexpectedly crowded as well and we had to queue and wait for a second bus. We got to the stop in the late morning when the day tourists had arrived, our mistake.

At least we had ended up nearly at the top of the queue and were able to have the seats of our choice. Not that Stephen stayed on very long, he got off to go for a walk, with a view to travelling the rest of the way later.

I stayed on the bus until Cathedral Rock where I walked out along the boardwalk. The views are very different on the further side of the Island.

On the way home through the settlement I stopped for a coffee and vegetable pastie at the bakery. On my recommendation Stephen picked up a pastie on his way back to the cottage a bit later.

In the evening we walked to our favourite pub, SunSets, which has views of the setting sun over the lakes. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy for the sun, but we enjoyed the ambience and some slightly unusual food, a baked cabbage half with sauce and half a rotisseried chicken with gravy. These dishes were good for sharing between the three of us. There is a fire place and although it wasn’t cold it still makes a good atmosphere.

On Wednesday morning we had a wonderful brightly coloured sunrise, which I missed. Despite two people being up I managed to sleep in. Stephen gave me this photo.

On Wednesday we spent the whole day half expecting a storm to arrive, especially in the afternoon. It didn’t actually come through until about 9.00 p.m. It went on for so long that we decided to bring the Starlink in whilst there was a risk of getting the plug wet, but I think it was OK. The Starlink itself is weatherproof.

We had lunch at Frankies, sharing two different pizzas. After lunch we each went our own way, me to check out the very expensive shop (nothing appealed, so it was more like going to an art gallery) and the others to the museum.

In the evening we had a meal at home, toast and baked beans and some microwaved vegetables. Eversley supplied the veggies and baked beans, we provided the bread and butter. We had also been sharing our supplies of nibbles and chocolates over the three evenings.

On my way back from the settlement after lunch I got some closeups of pelicans and quokkas.

On Thursday morning we packed up our cases for the pickup at 8.00 a.m., then had a fairly relaxed breakfast before our checkout time of 9.00 a.m. At the settlement we went to SunSets for coffee. We looked after Stephen’s gear whilst he went for a walk to the lookout. We had a fairly rough journey back to Hillarys, as mentioned above. As we all love tradition, we picked up our bags and took them back to our cars, then had lunch at the Dome. This is only the second year for this tradition, but it’s enough to feel an important part of the Island adventure.

Have to say, we love being in the queue, but 1.5 hours was rather long. I think they were still getting into the swing of processing us through. Plus, we didn’t get there until just before the gates opened. This was due to a number of things, including a call to Matt, a toilet stop in North Dandalup and a couple of long traffic holdups due to large machinery being transported with stops to allow for traffic flow.

I’ve just realised that my Worpress page no longer has links for comments and a subscribe button. A quick run through on the setup page hasn’t given me any clues. Even reverting to a previous template hasn’t helped. More work is needed so it’s on the todo list.

Back to Fairbridge:

We had chosen to camp on the oval because of our experience from Nanga when we had a huge downpour, but the oval didn’t end up having puddles and mud, the water just drained away. On arriving there we were directed into a parking spot against a fence. What we didn’t realise was that we would have a caravan and car parked directly in front of us. Although it was not our plan to drive anywhere during the festival it still felt wrong to not be able to drive out if necessary.

There were a surprising number of huge touring caravans nearby, which doesn’t feel normal for a folk event. However, people have to go with what they have and we can’t all have small, shabby camping set ups.

I had brought enough food to feed ourselves at the Festival, though we planned to buy some meals at the food stalls. But, we felt like a rest, so had my homemade soup and bread for lunch, abd then had a rest.

Later we walked around the village, checking out the venues. We had food from one of the stalls, a very meat heavy dish that we couldn’t quite finish even though we were sharing one meal. Our first music session was at the chapel, one of our favourites as it has good sound, though narrow, uncomfortable pews. Of the groups we liked the session with Kavisha best.

In the morning before breakfast we took a short walk to look over the campground, then over the farm.On the way back I bought a coffee.

Overall, we enjoyed moving around between venues. Some of the music wasn’t really to our taste, but we enjoyed Bluegrass Parkway, the Fremantle to Freedom (escape of Finians) presentation, the World Slide Summit with Lucky Oceans and Prasshech Borkar, the Gospel Concert in the chapel on Sunday morning, and the final concert with a couple of acts that we hadn’t seen when they were on the programme and were worry we missed previously. They were Emily Galineau, jazz violinist and the group Apolline, very young musicians who love traditional folk music and are excellent musicians. There were other items we enjoyed, too many to mention.

We were able to catch up with many old friends and acquaintances, people we still see at other folk festivals as well. It felt like the festival goers were mostly older generations, say 50 and above, but there was a programme for children and a separate event space for teenagers, so it catered for all ages.

It rained quite heavily over Friday night and we ended up with water dripping from our air conditioner. It started at the rear fins, move to one side, then the front, then the other side. At one point we had two bowls on the dining table and still didn’t catch all of the water.

Many campers appeared to have been caught short with the heavy rain as well and were having to dry out their bedding and camp stretchers. A pop top nearby had to add an extra tarp to the roof. And that was only in our small section. At least our drips went onto the table and not onto our bed. The air conditioner has had a slight drip after very heavy rain when parked at home. The difference seems to be the slope, at Fairbridge it had a slight slope towards the back and at home there is a slight slope towards the front.

Would we go back to Fairbridge next year? Yes, in many ways it was as good as in years past, particularly the early years when it was a much smaller festival. We are hoping it remains small as it feels more friendly and it’s not such a rush around to see the different acts because of having fewer venues.

We used to camp in a nearby field and it was a much longer walk back to our van, so being on the oval worked out well.

Very windy at Mullaloo Beach Saturday night

On Saturday the 28th we headed for Pinaroo Point for an overnight, as we’ve done many times before over quite a few years. Things changed when the new restaurant was built and ‘no camping’ signs went up, so we modified our stay by going to the nearby Whitfords Nodes carpark to park overnight, returning to Pinaroo Point early in the morning.

We decided to check in at Whitfords Nodes on our way and, as we half expected, there are ‘no camping’ signs throughout the car park. I suggested we go up to Mullaloo Beach to watch the sunset and have our dinner (tuna bake). It was extremely windy and a mistake really as Pinaroo Point would have been more sheltered. We couldn’t see much of the view because we had to use the blinds to block out glare from the sun.

We considered going to a caravan park, but as it was after 6.00 p.m. we concluded that offices would not be open and, as it was a long weekend, all places would be fully booked. Still, I came up with the idea of going to the nearest 24hr Macdonalds and parking in their carpark. The Macdonalds in Joondalup is on the edge of the shopping centre, with a Hungry Jacks, KFC and a 24hr service station.

We parked opposite the Macdonalds in the shopping centre carpark as it was a bit quieter than actually in the fast food carpark. We walked up to the service station for an icecream and Stephen asked if we could stay overnight there. They suggested parking nearby, probably just where we had parked.

We kept the van mostly closed up, with the roof hatch open at it’s lowest setting and our bedroom windows on the locked, but slightly open setting. The wind was still very strong and we actually had good airflow. This wouldn’t have worked as well on a hot night.

Thankfully it was quiet and we had a good night’s sleep. Still, we didn’t linger there, but headed off at 7.30 a.m. for the 10km drive to Pinaroo Point. After a walk and morning wash we went over to the restaurant. We were warned there was a 40 minute wait for food, so opted for hot drinks and delicious savoury muffins from the kiosk. The news had just come in that the US and Israel were attacking Iran, so we listened to the news and commentry for a while.

After a walk along the beach and back by the path we had lunch (more tuna bake). We left for home at about 2.00 p.m. as we had Matt coming for tea and wanted to relax before he arrived.

When looking out to sea at Pinaroo Point we noticed what appeared to be reefs and some metal towers. It’s called the North Metro artifical reef and the way it is constructed it looks like a large M, jutting outwards from the shore. The purpose appears to be to create habitat for fish. This is new since our last visit here, possibly a year ago.

We weren’t tempted to swim at Pinaroo Point, it was a bit cold, despite being sunny, and there was a lot of seaweed in the water and on the beach.

On our way to Pumphrey’s Bridge we had coffee and a snack at the Manjimup Heritgage Park Cafe as a part of our policy of making journeying more than just a drive. Weve been there before. I explored the gift shop and bought Matt yet another keyring attachment for his duffle bag.

At Pumphrey’s Bridge we set up on the edge of the oval in the shade. There were some people camped next to the pavilion with children playing on the oval. As well, there were a couple of caravans parked down near the river.

We enjoyed a little walk in the evening as the temperature cooled. When we stepped out to see the stars after dark it was as wonderful and clear as we had hoped, with a really good view of the stars. When we were at Boyup Brook we had seen the International Space Station going over, it was especially bright and Stephen had checked out the time it would be visible. But, Pumphrey’s Bridge is definitely a better location for star gazing. We both stayed out there for quite a while. We regretted not bringing our Seestar to get some images of deep sky objects.

The moon rose later and in the photo it looks quite orange. All the photos are from my iphone, so not that good, though the computational power of the phone makes night photos possible. I used my red torch to take some photos as well.

Stephen had gone online to book our stay for one night, it costs $11 per vehicle, very cheap, and there are proper flushing toilets, so quite good value. We decided to stay for another night on Sunday, but that turned out to be a mistake. It was a hot day and we ran the air conditioning for as long as possible before we were in shade from the nearby trees, sometimes sitting outside, and wetting our hair, and in my case, my clothes. But, by the end of the day we felt quite exhausted and didn’t actually do any stargazing. Lesson learnt: we won’t do that again.

It didn’t cool down until around 5.00 a.m. We had left the Starlink running, as well as a fan, and the 12v system stopped working at about 5.30 a.m. I thought the batteries had shut down, but as the sun came up everything came back. I ran the engine for about half an hour to ensure that all of our 12v systems would keep working. We got up by 6.00 a.m. and were on the road by about 8.30.

BTW, we had little to no phone signal and were worried about possibly having to evacuate the area due to a bushfire. That is why we ran the Starlink all night, normally we switch off at bed time.

On the way home we diverted slightly to take in the Bakery/roadhouse at Bannister. It was early for morning tea, but we felt that after the scare with the 12v we needed a boost. As well as cakes and pies they bake fresh bread and we bought a soughdough spelt loaf that was delicious. It only lasted a day once we arrived home.

I haven’t plugged the Sherwood into power since we’ve been home and the solar is keeping the batteries full. We had a shower of rain which got rid of some of the dust on the panels.

I took this snippet when we were on one of our walks at Pemberton. I’m using my old video campera which has avery zoomy lens, ideal for capturing birdlife.

We spent three nights in this campground, two pre booked, the third night was booked whilst we were there as we wanted to spend more time in the area. We couldn’t get the same site, so had to move from No. 5 to No. 4 yesterday morning.

On the first day we walked to the Big Brook Dam and found an attractive bird hide where we stayed for a while and had snacks. The return walk seemed shorter, perhaps because everything was familiar and we weren’t pausing to explore and take photos.

After lunch and a rest we walked to the Arboretum, which is close to the campground. Although there are signs for the different types of trees the area does not appear to be well maintained. There is no map showing where to look for the different species of trees, it’s a matter of just finding out what is there as you walk around.

Yesterday, after moving to the new site, we went into town for shopping and drinking water before going out to the Beedlelup Falls. There is a lovely lakeside (dam really) restaurant that is part of the RAC Resort and Caravan Park. We had lunch first, then walked around the lake, visiting the falls on the way. There is some water falling, but it would obviously be better after rain.

It was a harder walk than the first day’s walk, with quite a lot of climbing. So it was a very good feeling to arrive back at our van. We used the restaurant toilets, banking on the fact that if challenged, we had been eating there a couple of hours before.

The nights were cold and the days quite cool, very good for walking, especially as there is so much shade. There were quite a few vans at the campground, changing each day, of course. Apparently, you can stay for at least a couple of weeks. There is a drop toilet which was quite OK until this morning when there was an invasion of blow flies, perhaps someone had left the toilet seat up.

Moving north, and inland today meant that we have had quite a hot afternoon here at Boyup Brook. The air conditioning is very welcome. As our plan is to go further north and inland, we will have to be prepared for hot days, though it should be cool at night.

We took two walks on Saturday. The first was along the Cape to Cape to the south, which took us away from the coast. It was cloudy and we wore our jackets as it was fairly cool.

We’ve been having good weather so far, with nights cool enough to use our warm doona and mostly sunny days. It’s been very windy, which appears to be partly why it hasn’t been hot. It’s now Monday, and quite warm here at Hamelin Bay, thank goodness for air conditioning. We expect it to cool down again in the late afternoon.

In the late afternoon we packed up and went down to the beach near Contos Campground. We stayed in the carpark until about 6.00 p.m. We had views of the ocean, but the sun was pretty glary and we had to have the blind up, so no view that way. The walk down to the beach might be about 500m, not far, and we sat on some rocks to wait for the sunset. The waves were pretty rough and I wouldn’t have gone in for a swim, but there were young people surfing and it appeared to be safe, no obvious rips.

We arrived back at our campsite before dark and found that having left our chairs out had been a good idea in that no one had taken our spot. Although the booking is for a specific section of the campground, we were in Quenda, you don’t book a specific site, so we felt it wasn’t guaranteed. We had to use the ramps to makes us level and it was good to have some light to adjust the ramps.

On Sunday morning we drove down to Hamelin Bay, having made a small stop at the Lake Cave (no cafe) and then at the 100 year forest. We had booked the caravan park in the morning before leaving Contos and we have quite a good site, though, as with Contos, we are under trees and our Starlink signal can be intermittent, there are just no clear areas for it to work well. Still, it does seem to work better with obstructions than in the past, the whole system has constant updates.

Last night we rang Matt and had a catchup, then walked down to the beach to the lookouts. With no cloud it wasn’t going to be a spectacular sunset, so we came back and cooked sausages for tea. I cooked outside, something I don’t do very often, but there are no midges and only a few insects, so it was quite comfortable and meant we didn’t steam up the inside.

We had a good night’s sleep, using the fan next to our bed for the first time. It was the warmest night we’ve had and the first time we’ve slept without the doona.

On our second evening at Hamlin Bay we walked down to the beach and I went down to the shore where people were interacting with stingrays. There are notices that say they should not, especially as they can be dangerous, but not everyone takes it seriously. I didn’t feel tempted to pat one myself!

Ok, exaggerating slightly here. After finshing our WARMSS and Trinity School for Seniors commitments, then going to the first of the Monday night choir rehearsals, we set off on Tuesday for the south. We’ve been in the habit of going all the way to Albany in January, but this time Stephen wanted to revisit the Margaret River area and continue from there. So, that is what we are doing.

Our first night was at Dardanup, and fairly easy distance from Perth, taking into account that we don’t get away early on the first day. We want to make sure we have everything we need and haven’t forgotten any of the security items with leaving the house. Our neighbours will be home whilst we are away, and that means it feels more secure.

We did not visit the Dardanup Bakery in the morning on our way out. It changed from being a German bakery to being a largely donut and pie bakery, which probably gets lots of custom, but is not our preference. They have a new (to us) dump point, which we used, plus there are new public toilets as well. The Hall, where we stayed, has 24hr flushing toilets.

Our next stop was Margaret River where we stayed at the RAC Caravan Park in the National Park for two nights. It is close to the main road and roundabout, so there is some traffic noise, and it is only a short walk into the town. But, it is beautifully located amongst tall trees, with a rustic feel. We used a small open air kitchen for washing up and both took advantage of the shower block near us.

On Wednesday we took a short walk through the forest to the brook. We couldn’t see the water, just the thicker greenery that suggested water. There was abundant birdlife, tricky to get in video or photos, but we stood for quite some time to enjoy watching.

I did some handwashing in the morning and as it was quite a warm afternoon everything was dry before sunset.

On Friday it was time to move again. We went into Margaret River to have coffee and do some shopping, then went to Witchcliffe to have lunch at a newly renovated bar/cafe called Dear Darnells. Although the building itself is interesting the pub food was just pub food, a tasty chicken Parmi and lots of chips.

We have two nights booked at Contos Campground in the Quenda Loop. We’ve stayed here before and it has good access to part of the Cape to Cape walk, with views of the ocean. There is also a beach, though rather than walking there we plan to take the Sherwood and have our dinner and stay for the sunset.

We took the walk in the northerly direction last night, hoping to find a lookout with bench that Stephen remembered from a previous visit. We found a lookout, but no bench, so perhaps it’s further along the path. I didn’t remember the lookout bench from this location, but searching for Boronup in my photos revealed that he was correct.

I was particularly tired last night and had a really good night’s sleep, so feeling energised for today.

14th to 18th January, 2026

WA Renaissance Music Summer School

As one colleague, S, posted to the Whatsapp group, it was going to be WARMSS Wednesday, HOTSS Thursday and then WARMSS for the rest, weather wise. We felt particularly grateful for the mild weather that week as there was a three day heatwave the following week and that would have made things quite difficult.

On Wednesday 7th January I took the Sherwood to Autospark Myaree to have new solar panels put on the roof. They had to do some extra work to fit the new panels on the brackets used for the older system, but they and we did not want any new holes in our roof. The system is supposed to be 20W less than the old system of 440W, but we have had one day when the system reported 449W. They are new, clean and a good brand, Redarc, so I’m almost believing that was accurate.

We had a new head unit and reversing camera fitted, bringing our Hilux in line with most other cars. It includes Apple Carplay. The reversing camera with lines is an incredible addition. We do have a rather dim full time rear view camera, but it only allowed us to have an approximate idea of what was behind when reversing, I mainly use the side mirrors and Stephen using hand gestures.

We also had a small fan installed in the bed area so that we don’t have to carry a fan that goes on the kitchen bench. As we have very little storage in the Sherwood this is much appreciated and we will have a chance to try it out next week when we head south.

We took the Sherwood along on the first three days of the Music School. The venue was Aquinas College, about a 15 minute drive from here, and it turned out to be ideal, with large and small air conditioned venues for singing, a rather nice staff common room, where people could have their meals and hang out in the breaks. They provided snacks in one of the main rooms and Hugh, who teaches at Aquinas, drove some participants to nearby venues to buy food. As we had overseas and interstate participants, plus people coming long distances, they did not necessarily have the facilities and time to do what we did, that is, prepare food for each day in the mornings before heading off.

The Sherwood provided a fridge for food, plus a private hang out space for having meals. On the hot day we were able to run the airconditioning for lunch and dinner without depleting the batteries. As we were going home each night I thought we could charge the batteries overnight if necessary, but the solar system stepped up production and covered our needs.

The main course ran from 10.00 a.m. until 8.00 p.m. at night, with breaks for lunch and dinner. This sounds really hard, but we had sufficient variety in terms of a large tutti choir, then breaking into two halves, then into smaller groups, with five music staff to take the various groups and give them a break from conducting.

There was one session where the staff talked about making music their career, and they did another session where they sang some music new to them and demonstrated that actually getting things right all the time wasn’t possible, even with their experience and ability to read the music. I think this was to help us feel more confident, and it worked.

On Friday and Sunday we went down to Fremantle for an Evensong at St John’s Church and the final concert at St Patrick’s Bascilica. On Friday we still had the Sherwood, though I was anxious about leaving it in a public car park. We had an extra half an hour at lunch time to drive there, and, as usual, we had lunch in the Sherwood, and changed into our black clothes for the public part.

We had rehearsal for about 1.5 hours before each performance at the actual venues, if singing at a church service can be termed a performance.

On Saturday we were to sing at St Mary’s Cathedral, and that day we took the car to Acquinas, then went home for lunch and changing, then drove to St Mary’s. The time was a bit tight for going there by bus and there was plenty of parking for us as we were there long before the congregation. Each ‘performance’ had different music that we had been working on at the college. St Mary’s has the most reverberance of the venues. It’s challenging to listen to, but very good for singing as we felt our voices really soared in the beautiful space.

The participants at the summer school were mainly people in the WASO chorus. Fortunately I know many of them slightly and some a bit better because of singing at Bentley Hospital. I opted to sing second soprano, as I feared having to sing really high, but in fact the 1st and 2nd lines were often overlapping and 1st would have been easier to sing. On the other hand, I was sitting with M, who I know quite well, and enjoy her company. We both had difficulty with our part in the small group. We had been given the music prior to the course and thought we had done plenty of work, but it was more difficult singing with the others. We had the shameful experience of being the only small group where the staff joined us for various parts in the final concert. At least it went well!

As part of the course we could opt for a singing lesson. We were assigned a staff member, and both Stephen and I had Hugh, who is the choir director for the WASO chorus. I was very nervous, but Hugh was lovely and sang with me (using falsetto) to get me going. He tested my range and said I was able to sing as a 1st Soprano. He also helped with breathing, visualising ‘throwing’ the voice to get more volume, and how to stand.

He was also kind and very supportive with us when conducting the choirs, and is my favourite, though the others were kind and supportive as well. Andrew taught us a rythmn exercise that we were all able to do, usually when choir conductors do these exercises they are too difficult and you come to dread them. Everyone else loved it too, and he had to do it a few times so people could record on their phones.

The party was at Clancy’s Fish Pub over the road from the Bascilica. They ordered food and we had one drink voucher. Stephen and I called Matt on WhatsApp during our time there.

We communicated throughout the course on WhatsApp, and many participants are still posting to the group, wanting to get together for more renaissance music, and reporting earworms from the course, something I am finding as well.

The five day course should have been incredibly tiring for us, but something about the energy of it seemed to keep us going, though the last half hour up to 8.00 p.m. was definitely an effort. On Thursday night I stayed for the Compline service they ran each evening, whilst Stephen went back to the Sherwood to rest. It was worthwhile to have the experience, but I didn’t then feel I wanted to go back the next evening.

I was concerned at the beginning of the course as I still had acute back pain with the pinched nerve and general deterioration that showed up on a CT scan. However, I can report that my back is much, much better. I mainly sat on padded straight backed chairs, sitting very upright for the singing, and this is one of the best things for reducing the pain. We were quite active as we had to stand for some of the time and also moved between the venues for the different parts of the course.

I feel I am definitely past the acute stage, now in the more chronic stage where I need to be careful and only have pain in the evenings. I had an MRI just before the course, but the result seem pretty similar to the CT scan. My GP has advised to see a specialist and I have an appointment on the 11th February. She said that we now have a baseline for the damage and if I have another acute phase (the last one was over two months) they will know if the problem is getting worse.

Originally we were thinking of going down to Albany for a couple of weeks from Tuesday, but Stephen flagged that he would like to do something different this year and we have decided to go to the Margaret River area and perhaps as far as Denmark.

We won’t be able to take advantage of the mostly cool Albany weather, but we can run the air conditioning off grid, or opt for a powered site if necessary. Our research suggests that we will mostly have to pay for camping, but there are many options that are cheaper than caravan parks, plus what looks like a very nice RAC caravan park in a National Park near Margaret River that I’d like to try.