Friday 14 September – What a lovely day today has been – probably about 25 degrees and only a gentle breeze this afternoon, so we will keep our fingers crossed for a repeat of the same tomorrow.  After breakfast this morning we caught up with Ross and Dot again (they arrived here yesterday afternoon) before making our way to Kings Park – Perth’s very well-known tourist feature, and one we discovered to be very well used by the locals as well.  We stopped at a few of the car park areas within the Park and walked through the natural bush areas, another family area which had a wonderful range of activities for kids, and then the Botanical Gardens section.

The bush area was a carpet of freesias, which really surprised me, though they were pretty common throughout the park.  There were heaps of kangaroo paws, banksias, beautiful trees and colourful plantings of every colour.  The view of the city of Perth from the War memorial was lovely, as were the views from the elevated walk, and the lovely pools and ponds with little waterfalls in the water garden area.. The carparks were crowded, and we took about five laps of the main carpark before we cracked it for a spot.  I can imagine how busy it must be on weekends.

   Some of the beautiful wildflowers.

We left the park in the early afternoon and called at the Karrinyup shopping centre for a few supplies before coming home for lunch. 

After lunch I got things organised for the wedding rehearsal, then we sat outside with a cuppa and a magazine for a while, as by now the rehearsal had been postponed half an hour.  Next thing we were greeted by a couple of Newboroughites – Jan and Doug Pavitt who have been staying here for a month.  They come here every year.  Grant mentioned yesterday that he thought a fellow he saw walking away from the toilet block was Doug, but he didn’t think any more of it.  Then this afternoon Jan was leaving the toilets near us and recognised my voice, so she went back and said to Doug that they had better come for a walk to see us.  We had noticed two caravans side by side in the park that had been sold by Ian Grants Caravans in Traralgon, and it turns out it was them and Jan’s brother and his wife.

While they were here Ross came round too, for a yarn, so we were able to chat for about half an hour before we had to go to Scarborough Beach.  We got through rehearsal, though a few arrangements still have to be finalised, so hopefully it will all go smoothly tomorrow.  They are all pretty excited, naturally.  This time tomorrow night the reception will be in full swing, Beck and Steve will be married and my job will have been done.