Yes.. spring has come and gone and unfortunately I missed the best time of the year..
Well that’s not exactly true…. as I did actually take a holiday for the first time in about 10 years and got to enjoy an Autumn in Europe, UK and Ireland.
Funny how you have preconceived ideas of places and we were definitely expecting cool and wet conditions for this time of the year. I’m not sure how this happened but we managed to take our spring with us. In 7 weeks away we did not encounter any rain…apart from a half day drizzle in Napoli. Not even in London or Ireland. I was gobsmacked if not disappointed as I was really looking forward to seeing the London rain.. well maybe only for half a day!
Yes I got to put on a tourist hat for a change and experienced some amazing places over 7 weeks and it has certainly put a different slant on life and my tours down under.
Firstly I’ll never complain it ever being crowded in Margaret River. After experiencing the London tube, Cinque Terre and Rome to mention a few iconic destinations I have come to the conclusion that my home patch is yet to be discovered by the masses. So that’s a good thing as I can slowly adapt and continue to show people who have found me in a calm and relaxed manner.
We arrived home end of October and thankfully it was a late Spring flowering so was able to show people many Native Orchids and the Coastal ridge was still a kaleidoscope of wild flowers… Pink, Purple and yellow which lasted until about mid November. It Rained here almost the entire time we were away. The gods were certainly on our side and I tried to tell the Pope that but we missed him by a day…
One thing that hit me most of all when I arrived back home was how bright our blue sky is and the sweet smell of the wild flowers and of course the fragrance of the eucalyptus forests.
Two days later I was driving to a remote Jarrah forest that grows all the way to an ancient lava cliff faced shore line. Some of the most pristine forest and wildflower drives one can ever imagine. Looking towards this cliff face from the sea our early French explorers saw this shore line as a very baron and inhospitable part of the western Australian coastline. That was back in the late 1700’s. If only they knew that it is one of only a handful biodiversity hot spots on our planet. Soon I was breathing air straight off the Antarctic, an aphrodisiac in itself. Not a human sole to be seen. The whole forest, flowers and coast line to myself.
I was home.
Next day I was back showing people from not so unfamiliar parts of the world which I can now relate to very well, where they live how they live and what they would like to experience in my world.
Who said travel doesn’t broaden your horizons.
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