Inaugural concert & its a wrap for PB this hols

 

21/1/2026 12 Viewway, Nedlands

Music concert flyer designed by Suzy

And another one

Back home and back at work. Already kicking myself about all the things I "should" have done when on leave but did not do -like writing this blog! 

Re-winding back a week or so..... 

After returning to Peaceful Bay post-tooth treatment, we had a delightful couple of days just hanging out, swimming, walking, etc. Most of the usual suspects (Wayne/Warren/the Houses/ Trevor etc) had by this point turned up and settled in, so lots of chatting too. 

As it was windy at the bay, Warren took some of us on his very large boat down the Nornalup River. We moored at the Walpole Jetty and went to lunch at the pub, with Wayne and Julie joining us via car. Then Wayne, Warren and I boated back, just the three of us siblings (the others drove). Its been a long time since we hung out like this! 

Suzy and Jess on the boat

Mark hanging on!

So beautiful out in the Walpole estuary

Just missing Kayelene!

Our PB holidays always have different phases and the next phase was our visitor phase....  Bruce and Carol came down as usual and stayed in the chalet. We had lots of lovely evenings hanging out with them, listening to music etc. Bruce is a great cook and one night Mark cooked marron for us all, which was excellent. Too much red wine consumed as per usual!

Carol helping me figure out where to stick my latest birds

A classic PB scene- Suzy working on her cartoons, Carol reading a book, and Warren chatting

Mark cooking the marron

Mean time, Suzy shot to fame on tik tok, clocking up over 200,000 views and thousands of likes for her quirky and cute cartoons. We were very happy that Talia came down for the weekend, and Melissa continues to love being in Japan.

Melissa enjoying Japan's cheap food, sights, and amazing shopping

Parkers having coffee up at the coffee shop (and Tim House in their too) after a swim

More Parkers

Talia arrives!

Suzy's cartoon that started it all (this is the first panel of 4; see below). Her tiktok is zizzy @ susterbuster

Our final phase was the music concert put on by Mark and his mates (Gavin, plus Tony, Merina and Janet). It was 3-7pm on Saturday Jan 17th. At exactly 3pm, start time, it was totally pouring with rain - the worst we have had since being down there. I think all our hearts sank at that point as the venue has no cover.

But by 3.30pm the rain had cleared, and people started to arrive. I must admit probably 50% of the audience were Parkers or somehow connected to Parkers (Wayne, Julie, Jess, Matilda, Warren, Cynthia, the Houses, Trevor, Chrissie, Tony, Perrin, Perrin's mum Jane and their kids, Bruce, Carol) but there were also people we didnt know. All up, maybe 40 people came, which everyone was pretty happy with especially in light of the weather.  Mark's local songs (eg one on Peaceful Bay) went down super well and Talia even joined in on one song! Carol and Jess were amazingly inspiring audience members, and there was lots of enthusiasm for this being the 'inaugral' event and doing it again next year!  We probably just need a better plan in the case of rain :-)

Concert in progress, praying rain holds off

Mark enjoying himself

Carol being friendly

More Parkers

Sharon and Bruce

Talia with Lilac Road singers

Various Parkers and a few strangers

Last, it was the dreaded 'pack up', a very long drive back to Perth, unpacking, and back to work the next day. I am still a little bit in the mourning phase as we just had such a lovely time down there (also this week the weather is perfect in PB but really hot here - 40plus!). I feel very fortunate to have the life we have!