Spring contd...

Unfortunately, the summer-like weather I mentioned in my last post has come and gone. It was phenomenal while it lasted though and Bristol was practically vibrating with all the frenetic activity and energy on display. We've never seen the harbour area so busy. Many new activities became available, including bungee jumping from a crane. We weren't tempted to try it.

All the students were out lounging along the harbour walls with a few hundred of their closest friends.

A lot of the historic boats moored in the harbour, including the 'Matthew' replica and 'Pyronaut', were offering harbour tours and it was nice to see them moving around. The small steam train was also plying the sidewalk, offering rides.

That evening, it was fun to see a 'silent disco', a 'thing' we had never heard of. We were enjoying a warm evening's quiet stroll along the harbourside when we noticed a huge crowd of people, each with fluorescent headsets lighting up the night, bobbing around to the same beat. It looked very weird, but, they were having a great time and so were we, not being bombarded with unwanted noise.

Temperatures soon cooled off, but, the sun did remain for a couple of days and provided us the opportunity to revisit Leigh Woods, in search of bluebells. They had blossomed in the warmth and were everywhere.

There were many others out in the woods as well. We came across a woman walking her six! dogs. These two Westies were lollygagging behind the rest of their pack.

We followed up the bluebell search with a walk down into the Avon Gorge and back into town along the Avon river.

In North America, nothing says spring like seeing that first robin. The robins here are not the big, oversize American Robin, which is actually a thrush, but, the petite, rotund and very lovely European robin.

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A Taste of Summer

After leaving the brutal heat and white-hot, late summer, skies of Western Australia behind we flew back into the tail end of a rather cold, wet, miserable and prolonged winter in the UK. During our brief absence, we had missed two(!) snowstorms in Bristol, dropped by the weather system known as "the beast from the east" (no, not Putin, but, the cold winter winds from Siberia and environs) and there were still a few leftover dirty snowdrifts about, piled up in shaded corners. A couple of weeks went by with no change in the weather until, all of a sudden this week we have not spring, but, an early taste of summer. Today, it is the hottest April day in about seventy years. It felt and looked amazing, a clear, brilliant blue sky with a soft, warm wind that wafted a hot air balloon right by our windows.

By lunchtime, masses of office workers and students were lounging on newly green lawns by the river, enjoying the warmth underneath budding leaves and blossoms.  Everybody seemed to have a smile on their face.

Of course, it won't last, but, we're trying to make the most of it. We went for a walk into Leigh Woods, a renowned bluebell spotting locale. They were all there, but, they'll still need a week or so to fully bloom. We had to make do with other spring displays.

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Freo

Fremantle, Western Australia, or, as the locals like to call it, 'Freo', is adjacent to the perhaps better-known city name of Perth. Fremantle harbour is the port for Perth and is located where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean. It was first settled in 1829 while Perth proper, which is located much further inland up the Swan River, didn't gain city status until 1856.

We'd initially hoped to spend quite some time at Fremantle in Gjoa, but, Gjoa is still further up the coast at Carnarvon for the moment. So, when we had a day left after selling our van before flying out, we decided to play tourist for the day and pay Freo a visit.

It was a lovely place in which to while away a few hours. The business district is very welcoming with many excellent coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores and bakeries housed in pretty historic buildings.

After a fine breakfast, we headed down to the waterfront. There are a couple of distinct areas. The historic waterfront is known as 'the bathing beach'. This is where the settlers were first landed in Fremantle and initially settled.

A little further along is a newly refurbished fishing harbour area with restaurants, amusements and street art installations.

We enjoyed visiting both the WA Museum Shipwreck Galleries and the Maritime Museum.

Viewing what's left of the shipwrecked Batavia and its cargo was stunning, learning about the horrible mutiny and horrific massacre associated with the wreck no less so. The stone arch in the photo below was part of the cargo destined for the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and was to be a welcome arch for the city of Batavia (Jakarta). There were many other fascinating relics on display.

The Maritime Museum was no less interesting. We were intrigued by the sailboat, 'Parry Endeavour' displayed there.

We've only recently learned of Jon Sanders, a true Australian (and world) sailing legend. He has just returned from his tenth circumnavigation of the world and we missed meeting him by only a few days when he arrived in Carnarvon shortly after we left. Parry Endeavour was the boat in which he completed his single-handed, non-stop, triple circumnavigation. The Guinness World Book of Records cites this as "the longest distance sailed non-stop by any vessel" (71,023 nautical miles). He spent 657 days, 21 hours and 18 minutes continuously at sea, completing three non-stop solo circumnavigations. I cannot imagine this length of time spent at sea, it's almost two years! The boat did have its fibreglass strengthened before departure and some keel adjustments made, but, for all intents and purposes, it looked just like an 'ordinary' fibreglass boat, nothing special. A closeup revealed the incredible wear and tear and also some pulpit damage.

Jon has a blog where he states his motto is: "Why be ordinary when I can be original!" His last entry talks about (bold emphasis is mine) his arrival into Carnarvon, where Gjoa is now. He also describes the coastline around Shark Bay and the local wind conditions, all very true as we've experienced recently!

"Shark Bay is situated on the mid-west coast of Australia. Windy! Trust me, it is windy. Especially in spring and summer (near enough – blows south to north). 

You don’t need a compass along that coast; for starters, trees grow bent, surprisingly, south to north. 

No person in his right mind should be sailing a yacht the other way (spring and summer), north to south. We do; although not anymore for this black duck – I hope. There are daily strong wind warnings against the Leeuwin Current, with the added sea confusion caused by the dangerous Zuytdorp Cliffs."

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