A week with Brian and Jenny - whale watching and more

We have lovely neighbours, just one house up, who we fortunately see regularly; but not as regularly as in the past week. Maybe we have been playing catch-up. Brian and Jenny moved to Esperance from Broome, where Brian had worked in the tourism industry. Here in Esperance, they have the Brumby’s bakery franchise. 

But the tourism bug is still with Brian --- he and Jenny love to travel; he is also very savvy about all the wonderful “must see” places in and around Esperance, and he has kindly extended his personal services to us, taking our foursome in their 4-wheel drive packed with folding chairs, drinks and a Jenny-special picnic lunch hamper.

As with many things in life, our outing started with a mix up. Brian and Jenny had intended to invite us with a group that were going to Cape Arid to watch whales on the previous week, but wires got crossed and we did not hear about it. So we made an arrangement to go out again middle of the week just past. The weather forecast was not promising at all, but on the day, it started out fine and so off we went.

Cape Arid is 100 km east of Esperance, near the beginning (or end, depending on which way you are coming) of the Great Australian Bight. 

Lots of wild flowers everywhere --- striking yellow, red, pink, mauve and purple bushes of various shapes and sizes were still in bloom. The area is a combination of hard granite headlands with the lovely fine white sand beaches so typical of the Esperance region.

 Most of the road is bitumen, but the last stretch is better driven with a 4WD vehicle, which Brian and Jenny have; actually, we are one of a few couples in Esperance who do not have a 4WD (and a dog and a caravan and a boat!!!). 

 One thing that Australia is known for is its outdoor eating facilities, 

 

as well as public toilets.

 There is even a government website listing all the public conveniences, with maps of how to find them! Can you imagine, 100 km away from town (Esperance), and there are free BBQ facilities, rainwater tanks, as well as nice clean loos! What a country!

With its unspoilt natural beauty, the area lends itself to camping and fishing, and a number of large national parks surround Esperance.

 From the lookout we scanned the bay but saw no large black bobbing objects in the water. 

As we moved round the head to another location, we saw a part of a flipper emerge, then another. What a thrill! The whales were just lolling about, raising a flipper as if to wave at us. 

 Then they dived, so that the tail fan was clearly visible. Often the whales are close to shore – literally 20 metres away; today they were a lot further out. We drove down towards the ocean shore and walked along the bush track to a protected bay with a great outlook. These were great southern right whales; black, sleek and graceful; but they do not jump out of the water.

 The wind was catching the tops of the waves, giving a lovely spray effect on these rocks.

We realised what a special treat this whale-sighting was; as we had to be back in Esperance by 2 p.m. for Brian’s nap (he was baking that night) we headed towards Thomas River, a few kilometres away, where we planned to have lunch.

What a life! Parked on the beach, sitting in traditional Aussie beach chairs, eating lovely Brumby’s rolls, cold roast lamb and salad.

 But back to the whales...... Part way through lunch we saw a large flipper appear. But the sky had suddenly turned dark and a few drops of rain descended.  Should we pack up and run before the forecast downpour?  Muna’s wisdom said it was a passing cloud, and we continued our whale-watching undeterred; sure enough, the cloud simply sailed by without dumping its load and left us to our idyllic blue sky. 

Then we saw that there was not one whale, but a pod. We raced over to the headland and were delighted to see them frolicking about, clearly enjoying their life of ease. All of a sudden, two small humpback whales swam towards the main pod, jumping out of the water and splashing about as they approached.

Then we saw a monster of a great southern right whale swimming around near a reef – much, much larger than the others. It did not dive so it was not possible to take photos, but its dark shape was clearly visible.

After an hour of wonderful entertainment, we packed up and headed home, just as the rain came in, and in time for the baker’s (and Allan’s) naps.

The following Saturday, while Jenny was working in the shop, Brian joined us for lunch to watch the grand final of the AFL (Aussie rules) – the best football game in the world (Aaaah!! I can hear sighs and murmours of dissent coming from all over the world) but it simply is! I like to watch the American NFL (gridiron) and we get several games a week during the season, and a good game of soccer and rugby are nice to watch. But there is nothing like AFL. Fortunately Brian’s team won and there was much rejoicing.

Seeing our lovely neighbours twice in a few days was fun, and it was even more unexpected when they were invited – and then promptly invited us – to join in an Aussie farm bonfire. We arrived an hour before sunset and Joanne (a friend of the property owners)  showed us where some field mushrooms were growing. 

Some were huge – as big as my iPhone.

We filled several buckets (Allan subsequently enjoyed them barbequed, in a cheesy sauce on toast and on a pizza) and then headed back for our picnic dinner – along with some commando mossies (mosquitoes) also looking for theirs.  Of course, they were particularly attracted to Muna and to a lesser extent to Allan and Brian, but interestingly were not interested in Jenny. The insect repellent was thankfully located and liberally applied, and then the bonfire (bits of old timber, miscellaneous junk and fallen logs from around the farm) was ignited.

 Someone found a blue-tongued lizard – he liked the smell of the BBQ as well!

 A flock of birds flew overhead, 

 and then we were treated to an aerobatic show by a red and yellow biplane flying just overhead.

It circled us many times, dipping very low (the pilot seemingly enjoying the bonfire and the wafting BBQ smells!).  Soon after the red orb of the sun sunk below the horizon, a full moon rose spectacularly above the opposite horizon – huge and golden like a beautiful round of cheese. Sadly, Allan only had his iPhone to capture the rising moon and flying plane, which alas did not do them justice.

With dinner over, the kids had fun toasting marsh mellows and lighting the sparklers some loving person provided to round off their very exciting bonfire night.  The adults moved closer to the bonfire as the mosquitoes became more vicious. When the embers died down, 

we packed up, carefully avoiding the cowpats in the dark, and headed home.

There followed a few days of beautiful spring weather to remind us why we love living in Esperance.  Then Allan took up a long-standing invitation from Brian to join him at the bakery for part of the Friday night shift to see how all their bread is made. It is warm in a bakery and a nice place to be on a cool night, especially as a spectator --- no doubt the hard-working bakers find it very hot!!!  But it is really fascinating to see bags full of flour turn into dough, then into yummy rolls and loaves. This machine below is amazing – you put in 15 to 20kg of dough, squeeze the handle, press the button, and presto – you have 20 identically sized pieces ready for the loaves baking tins.  

This other gadget turns dough into rolls. You start with placing the bread dough in the

machine, give it a few seconds, and out come lovely rounded shapes 

 ready for the proving cabinet and then the ovens.

The end result of several hours baking is great looking breads and pastries ready for sale in a few hours. Yawn! it is midnight, and I am off to bed, and leave Brian to continue his good works.

Such lovely neighbours we have, but this is so typical of Esperance. At the bonfire we met some lovely folk who live near by. One lady was walking back from the beach a couple of days after, and so we had a chance to catch-up again.  We met another couple who have visited Jordan and just loved it; we hope to invite them over for dinner and get to know them better.  Jenny has also found an Israeli neighbour whom we hope to meet soon.

Well, so long from Esperance, until our next blog post keep well and be happy.

P.S. For those who missed Muna’s photo in the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper, I insert it again here.

Tulips in Kulikup

-->

As a child, I hated being dragged around parks and even into people’s homes during “home opens”. The worst was in the township of Bowral, in the Australian state of New South Wales where my parents went to see the spring flowers in many gardens, and they especially loved the tulip display (yuk!).

It was a low point in the year, but an annual pilgrimage for my parents. But with wisdom that (hopefully) comes with age, Muna and I now love to visit gardens. Over the past year we have been photographing wildflowers around our hometown of Esperance in southeast Western Australia as well as the golden yellow canola fields.

 When we lived in Perth, we would try to visit the tulip display at Araluen in the hills east of Perth, where they have a magnificent display that covers large areas. This time, however, we heard about a new display with over 100,000 tulips at Kulikup, near Boyup Brook (yes you need to Google that to find it).

 Along the way we found some interesting characters.

 We stayed with a dear friend, Edna Wallace, who lives in Bridgetown, and took her to the display - she had wanted to go for several years but had no way of getting there.

I loved the entrance area to the display, which is a private concern created by a florist who needed to diversify from her husband's sheep and wool farming business. This weather rock is never wrong in predicting the weather:

Araluen has a massed display of several species of tulips - Kulikup has many different varieties; these are being propagated for sale as bulbs or fresh flowers for Perth and southwest of Western Australia. For a $10 entry fee, you also receive a lovely Devonshire tea.

This old farm wagon has been put to good use and the following photos show some of the magnificent flowers that took our breath away. 

There are also daffodils in many shapes and colours.

The rest of this blog post shows aspects of this amazing display - what a wonderful day we had.