A Warm Winter Welcome !
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2007
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Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Scarborough,
Australia
Monday, June 2, 2008
Today, Western Australia recognized Foundation Day which meant it was a public holiday! As a result, families and friends took advantage of the long weekend and the great weather to head to their most popular recreational past time, the beach! Elsie and I also followed the temptation with an afternoon at the beach! However, the weekend didn't start out this inviting!
In fact, Saturday, the last day of Autumn saw the most severe thunderstorm come through the Perth area since we arrived last Sept/07. The storm was predicted and rolled in about 11am off from the Indian Ocean's northwest and brought tons of thunder & lightning, heavy winds and approx 44mm's of rain. Given it was Saturday and first day of a long weekend, one could only imagine the many weddings planned for this day
Surfing & Fishing at Brighton Beach !
. It would've been a day to remember! On Sunday, less than 24 hours later, the skies had cleared to welcome winter to this wonderland called Western Australia! With the temperature at a comfortable 23C, we decided to enjoy a comfortable walk along the ocean from Scarborough beach to Brighton beach. Thousands of others also took advantage of the dramatic change in weather to enjoy an afternoon at the beach! Later that afternoon, we enjoyed WA's first sunset of the winter season from Brighton beach!
As a wonderful conclusion to this wild weekend, three large Southern Right Whales were spotted about 200 meters of the shores of Scarborough Beach early this morning! With scores of people observing them from the shores and a television helicopter hovering above, the whales followed the shore to Hillary's Boat Harbour before heading out to the open waters of the Indian Ocean! Although whales of this size are not unusual in this area at this time of year, coming this close to shore is usually a highlight!
"Welcome to our Warm Winter Wonderland!"
Cheers, Rick & Elsie!
