Tuesday 12th August, 2025

The day began with me doing various household tasks and packing up for a picnic lunch in the Sherwood. Stephen worked hard on his music for the Western Australian Symphony Chorus, which has a concert at the end of this month. Tuesdays is when they rehearse and he was making sure he was well prepared.

We set off for Serpentine Falls at about 11.30 a.m. It’s only half an hour drive from Victoria Park. On arrival we went on the walk down to the falls. The brook was running fast and, as I’ve seen on other photos recently, the falls was in good flow, thanks to all the rain we’ve had.

We had managed to find a fairly flat parking space close to the disabled parking, which was good us for having our lunch. The carpark was very busy indeed, lots of people, like us, taking advantage of a rare sunny day. We had leftover mash and meatballs, heated up, and salad and cordial.

After lunch we had a bit of rest, then walked up to the lookout. There is a view of the falls, but it entailed walking downhill again, so we gave up on that idea and just enjoyed looking over the city. There were some people on a shaded rock and after they left we went there too. It was quiet for a while until some children, freshly out of school, came to clamber on the rock. They had accompanying adults who apologised, but we assured them that we had had enough peace it we enjoyed seeing the children. But, the peace when they left was very much appreciated too.

There were quite a few wildflowers, including donkey orchids, on the walk to the lookout and I took some very bad photos of them. Oh well, at least it was fun.

When we arrived home it was time for Stephen to scramble to get ready for choir. He made a cheese sandwich to eat on the bus. I sorted out things in the Sherwood and brough in our dishes and the electric frying pan for washing.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day. We so much appreciate having such a beautiful place to go that is reasonably close to where we live, with views and wildlife, mainly birds, but probably other animals we didn’t see. It was very refreshing and should keep us fairly topped up until we go away.

Yesterday we went out in the Suburu to fill up the gas bottle at BCF. I was able to get a couple of flannelette shirts for $15 each, quite a bargain as they look to be good quality. We then went to the RAC to have a headlight globe replaced. We had to pay for the globe, but the installation was free. Afterwards we went to the Kent St Weir for lunch and a short walk. Although it was sunny it was fairly cold. After all, it’s still winter.

In the evening we went to see the finals of a prize giving for singing students at the WA Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), which is still in Mt Lawley until the end of the year. We heard six students perform and felt that any one of them deserved to win. There were two categories, classical and music theatre. The students I chose didn’t win, but I hope they are able to have careers. One of the presenters said that being in the arts is now one of the most secure jobs as it can’t be replaced by IA. Let’s hope this turns out to be true.

We drove to Mt Lawley, although we can catch buses straight through, as I felt it would be more comfortable afterwards to drive home. But when Edith Cowan University moves into the city next year we will catch buses always. We are looking forward to having WAAPA so close. There are free concerts during the day and lots of other theatrical events by the students.