We like to give the Sherwood a run during breaks between our trips. We took our bathers hoping the beach would be suitable for swimming, plus we like Clancy’s Fish Bar kiosk and cafe for breakfast.

The waves were a big larger than we wanted, but we took turns to go in and found if we went out beyond the breakers it was still shallow enough to stand and enjoy being in the water. We couldn’t see any lifesavers around, but there were people doing laps further out, so it felt relatively safe. We also saw a helicopter patrol, which was reassuring, even if we were both out of the water by then. But, there were some kids swimming.

Stephen was steadier on his feet in the waves than he usually is, that was also reassuring. I had worried about him going in, but he was fine. We really enjoyed it. We don’t really swim, as such, but just bounced around with the waves and generally enjoyed being in sea water. Our last swim was at our local pool, which was nice too, but it was lovely being at a fairly uncrowded beach on a day that wasn’t hot, but still warm enough to enjoy.

I went back to the Sherwood to shower, dress and blow dry my hair. I left a lot of sand on the floor, which I cleaned up the next day. We hadn’t put the hot water heater on, so it was a cold shower, but Stephen said the public showers were cold water only as well.

Then we went for breakfast and decided to share a big breakfast, one of our favourite cafe meals. It’s about $31, but really good value, with doubles of everything, so easy to share across two plates. I’d ordered an extra slice of toast, but we agreed later it was a bit much, the slices were a generous size and there were two of them included with the meal. Note to self for next time. We felt we had over eaten afterwards.

The cafe is very open to the fresh air, with sections where you can be sheltered. We could actually see the Sherwood from our table.

Why City Beach? It has heaps and heaps of parking, with some of it shaded by peppermints. It has a range of cafes, though we haven’t strayed from our favourite so far. It’s very easy to get there and doesn’t go past schools with all their traffic congestion with parents dropping kids off. Cottesloe is really bad. It’s also the easiest journey from here, onto the Graham Farmer Freeway, through the tunnel, then onto Cambridge Street, which changes it’s name, but basically leads straight there.

We visited M and G yesterday to have a look at their new second hand caravan. We were trying to plan a trip together, but have settled on an overnight pub stay at Quindanning to take place on a Sunday night, when we have cooler weather. That might be soon, or we might need to wait. It’s a fairly short drive from Perth and the pub is a lovely, older style building with lots of wooden panelling and beams.