Catch ups, Cats, and Fires

 12 Viewway, Nedlands, Sunday 16/11/2025

 I am home watching some pretty awful tv, winding down before bed. Mark is off singing, Suzy isnt feeling too well, Talia is out with friends, and Melissa is at Alex's (boyfriend) house. I've just driven back from a girls weekend in Dunsborough, hence my tv-watching.

View from our walk near Castle Rock

Let me start from the beginning of the week. 

Work wise, I cannot think of anything too significant. We are still waiting on ‘the decision’… Mean time, Florian and Caroline, two of my postdocs from a few years ago, both visited this week. About 15 of us had some catch up drinks at Garum on the Tuesday night, which was lovely. 

Drinks at Garum

On Thursday night, Talia and I went to Cats at the Crown theatre. We were in the front row and the "cats" kept coming in through the side doors and scaring us! The singing and dancing were amazing; the plot less so. It was great to have the evening with Talia. She is gradually getting over Oscar, and she is the only one in the family who actually appreciates musicals.

Talia in a cat pose

On Friday afternoon we got the news Didi was being flown up from Albany via the Royal Flying Doctor service. She got an infection in her liver that didnt get better. It feels a scary time. 

As there was nothing I could do because Didi was in the air, I went to Elena's 55th birthday party where I caught up with Tracey Horten (the previous UWA Business School Dean who recruited me!) and a few others I know. It was a fun night. One thing about Elena - she always brings together a diverse and interesting group of people. 

Saturday morning I was up early for swimming, then tried to call/ see Didi - but as I am not 'next of kin' I didnt get very far... So I departed early for Dunsborough for a weekend with the bookclub girls, leaving before 9am. I had a smooth trip. When I arrived, we went for lunch at Goanna's, then did one of my favourite walks in Dunsborough to Castle Rock. The vegetation was the most lush I have ever seen it, with still plenty of flowers around plus a kangaroo and qanda.

 After the walk we went to a winery. While we were having a wine tasting, we heard a bang, and looked outside to see a plume of black smoke. It turned out the very large lawnmower used to mow the premises had caught on fire! The winery owner called the firebrigade, although it looked like the fire would die down as fortunately all the long grass had been mowed! 

Liz, Sue, Nas

Tractor mower on fire at the winery

It was then back to Sue's, via an art gallery, to have a relaxing soak in the spa before dinner at a Thai restaurant and then a movie. Sue and Jonathan own this most amazing 2 storey fancy house in Dunsborough surrounded by trees with views over the bay. Very nice place to hang out in.

This morning (Sunday), after breakfast we had a walk along the beach at Bunker Bay then a swim at Eagle Bay (freezing!) followed by picnic lunch and then long drive home. Would you believe we saw a car on the other side of the freeway driving along-  oblivious to the fact that underneath there was a huge ball of fire with a trail of smoke behind? As it was on the other side of the freeway we had no idea what happened to it, but it did not look good...  What is it about Dunsborough and fires? In our last girls trip to Dunsborough there was a large fire in the town, which meant we had to delay our departure.

Anyway after the whirlwind weekend, I am now home. Back to the messy chaos of the Parker-Griffin house. The weekend away definitely helped get my mind off work for a bit :-)

Picnic lunch at Dunsborough foreshore

Cool sculptures on the foreshore