Wednesday 12 September – We managed to get away from Cervantes a bit before nine and were here in Gwelup by about 11.30, so quite a short drive today.  But it was very different.  Zola brought us right down the coast road which was really lovely.  Though we have obviously been through that part of W.A. a bit early for the full flush of the wildflowers, there was still a lovely show of wattles (shorter species than the ones we are used to), two or three types of other yellow flowers and a few white ones among them.  As I said to Grant as we were driving along – we certainly know we are in Australia as the paddocks were largely green and gold!  We did come across an occasional pink or purple flower, and some examples of a tallish plant with orange flowers, so we enjoyed what we saw.  And as we got to within an hour or so of our destination there were literally thousands of blackboys (plants, that is – not humans!) – they looked amazing.

A very small sampling of the blackboys we saw.

Once we got to the park here – Karrinyup Resort – we were shown our site on the map, and it turned out to be very tiny, among all the smaller type mobile homes/combivans.  As I had booked this six months ago, Grant went back to the office and said we wanted a bigger site, as this one was only wide enough for the van, and the car would have to be parked on the very narrow road in front of the van.  And as he had taken a bit of a reconnaissance walk and discovered an alternative, he said; ‘How about site 150?’  The girl who had dealt with us when we arrived wasn’t very warm and friendly, and told him that they did have a lot of vans coming in today, and almost made him feel as if she was doing us a favour by giving us the tiny one! Eventually she told Grant to drive the van to beside the playground and someone would be there to help us.

So we duly drove to the designated position …. and there was Digby – a young bloke (probably in his early twenties) on his bike.  Well he was just the opposite to Grumpy in Reception, greeting us happily, suggesting five or six alternatives and herbing off ahead of us on his bike to each site for us to sus them out.  He was very efficient, very chatty and very helpful.  In fact I think he should be given the job in reception and she should be relegated to tea making duties!  We chose one right beside one of the ornamental lakes in the park, so our neighbours on that side are the moorhens and chicks living on the pond.

Now happily ensconsed in our position of choice, we set up, had a cuppa, then lunch and a read before setting off to find the venue for Saturday’s wedding.  Now during last night we had a couple of brief showers of rain, and this morning when we woke it was quite overcast and not too promising.  But as the day went on the sky cleared, and the breeze grew stronger, and by the time we were ready to find the venue, the sun was shining, but there was quite a chilly breeze – I had a jacket on for most of the day, and even Grant had his on for a chunk of the day, too.

We found the pavilion at Scarborough Beach quite easily and it is only about a ten minute drive from here, and the hotel we are staying in on Saturday night is directly over the road from the pavilion – all very convenient, with the Surf Club (where they are having the reception) right next door to the pavilion.  We went for a wander and checked out the pavilion which consists of about six or eight rows of wide concrete steps/seats curving to form an amphitheatre - very large, with three rows of steps with chromed handrails leading down into the semi-circle.  In the middle of the semi-circle was an oval concrete area which I imagine will be the spot where we will have the ceremony.  The whole thing is ‘roofed’ with while sails, so it looks very beachy, and with the backdrop to the bridal party being the beautiful blue water, it is a lovely setting.  But the wind was dreadful – cold, strong and coming in from the water, so let’s hope that abates by the weekend!!  It isn’t showing any signs of fading yet – our van is flapping a bit, so tonight might be a test for the roof stay that kept falling last windy night. 

From there we wandered over the road to the Rendezvous Hotel where we enquired about guest parking, then walked along to check out which building adjacent to the pavilion was the     Surf Club.  So now we are in the know and won’t get lost on Saturday.

We had a bit of a drive along the beach in each direction (very pretty and very touristy) before driving back to the park where we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

I rang Aunty Gwenda tonight and she has invited us for lunch tomorrow, so it will be good to see her.  We haven’t seen her for six or seven years, and she is about 83 now. 

So that has been today, but I do have to hark back to yesterday as I forgot to mention the plight of one lot of travellers we came across.  Driving down to Cervantes, I noticed some flashing lights ahead so slowed a bit, till Grant said to slow further as something had happened up ahead of us.  As we crept past we saw the result of what Grant thinks would probably have been a front tyre blow-out on a car pulling a van.  They had been travelling in the opposite direction to us, and pretty serious skid marks were right across from that side of the road to our side where the remains of the van were scattered just off the bitumen.  The van was shredded and the contents were just everywhere.  At a quick glance the car seemed to be okay, and there didn’t seem to be anyone hurt, as there was a police car there, and several kilometres further on we passed two tow trucks heading to the accident, but there was no sign of an ambulance.  Hopefully the people were okay, but what a mess!!!  And of course everything that was in their van was widely scattered.  That was definitely one trip come to a sudden end.