It wasn’t nearly long enough, but it was so good to have my friend from New South Wales, Mary Lewis come and stay for a few days. We had a great time together, just as we did last year when I spent two weeks with her. We managed to shop till we dropped at five charity shops, two quilting shops and Spotlight………funny how every shop seemed to have something that we just had to buy! Another time, we went up the hills east of Perth to Kalamunda and Gooseberry Hill and we visited the Margaret River Chocolate Factory in the Swan Valley. Perhaps the best time though was when I took her to visit Ian and Dale Rollerson of “The Thread Studio” where Ian wisely left us alone with empty baskets – I mean to say, the longer we browsed, the more we bought!! I have to admit to being into the three figures by the time I had to pay for my lot!! But what fun!! Even better fun when it came time to play with our spoils!
We also went for a drink at The Rose and Crown hotel which is the oldest hotel in Western Australia still in existence and which was built by convict labour in 1841. The original cellars which include a very deep well and also a bricked in tunnel which used to run down to the Swan River (where boats used to bring the goods and barrels from Perth before the roads were built) have now been opened as the “Cellar Bar”. It feels as if you have been transported back in time down there!!
The Hills were alive with the sound of………..no, not music, birds. Hundreds of bird sounds from the trees in the National Park at Gooseberry Hill. You can just see the buildings of the Perth CBD in the distance.
This photo is of Mary and me, down in the cellars of the Rose and Crown Hotel in Guildford.
