Grief

Our darling daughter has lost her longed for baby.  We cast our minds back a few months when she called us in great excitement to tell us that she was expecting her first child.  That excitement was to be all too short lived as it very quickly became apparent that her pregnancy was not going to plan.  The baby was failing to thrive and all sorts of tests were carried out to rule out genetic disorders.  It seemed that the placenta was flawed and although she made it to 26 weeks the baby was not growing so it was decided to induce her.  The baby died before she could be born.  The family are devastated, we are here in Australia and she is in England and never was the distance so great.  We are going back in May for a visit, planned to coincide with the baby's anticipated birth date and sadly just couldn't afford to go now too.  I want to rail at the injustice of it all.  RIP Matilda.

Adventures in Bunbury

Since my blog is rather grandly titled Cath's Australian Adventure, so far there has been little in the way of adventure going on here so to correct that omission, some tales of our latest forays further afield in this beautiful country are called for.  To celebrate our 45th wedding anniversay recently, sapphire for those who didn't know, we decided to take our camper to visit Bunbury.  It's about 2.5 hours south of Perth and is one of those towns that you tend to bypass on the way to somewhere else.  So after hitching up Sheila the camper (proudly Australian made) we headed for Koombana Bay Holiday Park.  We were impressed with this park, the only downside being its situation right alongside a fairly busy main road.  The powered sites run parallel to the fence on this road so the noise was a bothersome, particularly the boy racers in the middle of the night.  It's beautifully kept with a large 'village green' with trees and shrubs offering very welcome shade.  The Park is situated directly across the road from Koombana Bay, a perfect place for children and nervous swimmers alike.  For those who are not familiar with the beautiful Indian Ocean it needs to be treated with great respect.  Apart from the sharks which have visited these shores rather too many times this summer, there are the rips which can carry the unwary out to sea in a trice and the surf which can 'dump' the unsuspecting paddler in the most unpleasant way.  Having been a dumping victim I'm not keen to repeat the experience.  Koombana is a tranquil, wave free spot - just how I like it. 

Koombana Bay bathed in moonlight

To celebrate the big anniversary we booked a table at Vat2 which is situated further around Koombana Bay, by the marina.  It's an idyllic spot with lovely views over the marina particularly from the terrace tables.  It was a Sunday night and though the terrace was quite busy the restaurant itself was not so the ambience was a little lacking.  For anyone who has ever tried to get a meal beyond 8.30 in WA you will know that you are about as welcome as a slice of ham in a vegetarian sandwich.  I've experienced worse than this but our friendly waiter left after our first course and it wasn't quite the same afterwards.  (The dubious honour of the worst place was at a restaurant in Kalbarri where the service was painfully slow and despite a 7.00 pm booking at 8.30 we were still waiting for dessert.  This didn't deter the staff from stacking chairs on tables all around us and cleaning the floor!) The prices were pretty steep I felt, $52 for fish of the day which whilst quite nice, was a little dry and certainly not worth the price paid. 

Vat2 - view from the terrace

The anniversary boy

My fish dish

A little way from Bunbury is Australind, situated right next to the Leschenault estuary.  A tranquil oasis with lovely walks and pretty beaches.

Leschenault Estuary, Australind

Baby George's Quilt

Baby George is nearly 4 months old (where had that time gone) and is about ready to move from his moses basket to a big boy's cot.  With winter approaching I thought I would have a go at making him a quilt.  I've little or no experience in quilt making which is unfortunate given that many Australian ladies are so very talented.  I used a design I found in a favourite journal Innovative Machine Embroidery Textile Art Volume 17 No 11.  For the applique squares I used 6 animal designs from Designs by JuJu.  I didn't put a enough  thought into my fabric/applique selection as I chose a plain blue homespun and a very pretty circus print both from Spotlight.  If I had my wits about me I would have chosen some circus themed appliques but unfortunately I didn't think of this until I had finished my quilt.  Typical!  All went fairly well, apart that is, from my darling hubby deciding to switch the embroidery machine off mid design prior to going to bed.  As it's not calibrated too well I was unable to go back to where it left off so an hour's work was wasted.  The air was blue for a while I can tell you.  I'm not too good at the quilting business and I think I will have to go and have some lessons with Faye at Ocean Keys Sewing Centre.  She is such a mine of information and with amazing skills I know she can put me right. Anyway, I quilted it in the ditch and sewed the binding on by hand and here it is.