The canal had frozen to a depth of 30 cms as we left Nancy.
We were to travel from minus 5 degrees to almost plus 40 in thirty hours.
We were off to Perth, Western Australia.
We left on the 20th February by train, travelling to Frankfurt Airport where we boarded our plane to Perth via Singapore. We arrived in Perth at about 1.00am and against all odds we arrived on time, collected our bags quickly and passed through customs in a flash. A taxi to Rohan and Olivia’s home in Marangaroo and we were in bed by 2.30am. A good sleep and we were up early Thursday morning ready to go.
We had things to do in Perth and the next few weeks were organised with visits to medics, banks and business matters as well as visits to friends who we had not seen for over a year. We needed transport so we bought a small second hand car as we could not borrow the family’s all the time. The purchase of our little Hyundai gave us the flexibility to get around comfortably and proved to be a very sensible action.
It was lovely to be with the family and playing the role of grandparents has given us lots of memories of our stay. Daniel James had been born only three weeks before we arrived so there were opportunities to be close and see him growing. Two year old Emma has accepted her younger brother and is developing into a delightful little girl. She has a well formed sense of humour and a lovely outgoing personality.
We were surprised how some things have changed in the short time we have been away. The city of Perth has a completely different skyline with two or three new buildings. The highway to the airport is under total rebuild. Roe street and the railway line to West Perth is being completely re-organised. New buildings everywhere and compared with what we have seen of Europe, the place has a great air of color and prosperity.
We visited family and enjoyed the company of friends, keen to hear what they were up to and share experiences. All too soon it was time to repack our bags and head back to Matilda. We needed some time to do some sorely needed repairs and painting to have her ready for another season of European cruising. We were fortunate that we were able to sell our little Hyundai (for some dollars more than we paid for it – but I did wash it) to a keen student who had his mechanic check it out. We advertised it on the Gumtree – (another new experience for us) and it was gone in two days.
With an afternoon departure from Perth we were back in Nancy the next afternoon. Sounds quick when you say it like that but actually 30 hours travelling, the same as our departure but in reverse.
Spring is in the air on our return. Neither Marg or I have been aware of the true seasons In Australia, Perth has only two seasons, warm and wet - and - hot and dry, most of Australia is the same. The seasons here are truly distinct and our arrival back was at the time a dusting of green on the trees and the blooming of daffodils and tulips with the other bulbs that need the frozen ground to set them. Colour is coming everywhere.
Our plan was now to do some painting and minor repairs to Matilda. We bought a boat that we thought had been freshly painted but we found that it had been a cheap makeover and the paint did not last a season. More work for us as it all had to be taken off to do the job properly.
Not much time now before we are away again and with visitors due soon there are still things we need to do. We also have a worry that there are some unscheduled canal closures that we have to plan around. There will be more of this later, so,
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