I started writing this post about Paul and I and what Christmas means to us, but in the telling of the why, I found myself thinking back to the Christmases of my childhood…..

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Australian states have each been able to choose the way they individually reacted to the pandemic. Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, took a more severe approach than all of the other premiers – he locked our borders down and locked them down hard, and has been unrelenting. He’s encountered the wrath of our countries Prime Minister, and the wrath of several of the premiers from the other states. He’s hated by many throughout the country, and is often portrayed as a tyrant overseas and in many parts of Australia. Many people believe West Australian’s have been living without liberty in conditions akin to prison camps. I’m here to tell you NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

The reality is the people who live in Western Australia, and I’m lucky to be one of them, enjoy unbelievable freedom, with one exception. We can’t travel freely to other states, and people from other states can’t travel here. That’s been hard on families with members separated by international or state borders, and as you would expect, Mr McGowan has lost popularity with some of those people. Whilst I can understand the frustration of the residents who desperately want to visit their grand-children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters, and sons who live either overseas, or across an Australian border, most West Australians, including me, have been VERY, VERY HAPPY within the borders of this great big state. Our state has been almost free of community transmission of Covid for most of the time since we first heard the words, ’Coronavirus’, and ’pandemic’.

With virtually no community transmission, businesses have enjoyed far less interruptions to service than elsewhere in the country and overseas. Our mining sector, and WA is a big mining state, has enjoyed the freedom of being able to operate almost as per normal. Our state’s economy has been booming, and consequently has significantly contributed to keeping the whole country afloat. And Mr McGowan, well he’s written himself into the political history books. He’s the most popular State Premier Australia has ever had, and why wouldn’t he be – he’s kept us all safe. Not only have we felt safe but we’ve enjoyed amazing freedoms to enjoy life pretty much as it was before Covid was even a twinkly in a bats eye, the only exception being that we must remain with our state borders, and no visitors from elsewhere.

The announcement many have been waiting for has come. We’re to open up as from 5th February. Paul and I are double vacced, and our booster vac is booked. But we’re scared, very scared. We know that once those borders open we can kiss our freedom goodbye. A bit of a paradox I suppose you could say. I’ve loved living in our safe bubble, and hearing what’s happening with Omicron overseas, and interstate – well, I hope Mr McGowen reconsiders. Apologies to those who for family reasons welcomed the news, I understand your frustration. Stay safe everyone.

I received an email from my sister-in-law in NZ recently. Having noticed that I hadn’t posted a blog for several weeks Marie had become concerned that perhaps one of us wasn’t well. I thought I’d perhaps better tell the world that we are both indeed very well.

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My daughter, having recently been to some sort of styling course, decided we needed a mother and daughter shopping trip. Before I tell you about the shopping, I’ll firstly tell you what I know about the course that inspired it. Alice firstly had her colours done, and then was taught how to style for her body shape. Next she was taught how to shop sustainably, which in honour of reducing land fill from the rag trade, means either classic good clothing that will last a life time, or/and shopping at re-cycling shops. As she and I have similar skin tones (pink), she sent me her colour swatch and said I’d probably also suit the colours from the summer spectrum.

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Perth and the south west of WA has had what seems like a never ending winter. Finally, a nice week-end so time to get out into the great outdoors. What better way to do that than in the company of good friends, sharing deliciously fresh, tasty, but simple food at a picnic table overlooking a million dollar view.

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For our final full day in Nannup we decided to pay Whimwood Winery a visit. Located in the Blackwood Valley on the Balingup/Nannup Road, we just had time to get there for our booked time of 11.45am after having been to the Four Aces. It’s an early time for lunch, but it was the only time slot available.

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This 3.3 km circuit walk took us a few hours to walk, not because it was a difficult walk, but because we were on the lookout for orchids. Being a wildflower walk, this circuit is on gravelly soil a good distance from the river. The best of WAs wildflowers don’t seem to thrive, or even survive in the rich soils near riverbanks. The fact that such delicate beauty can only be found in stony, seemingly barren soil is what makes them so fascinating. This walk did have shade trees though and plenty of them. The day was pleasantly warm so the shade was appreciated.

First we we greeted by the tall, graceful stems of several green and red kangaroo paws.

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I’ve always loved the majestic Karri trees in WA’s south west. They’re within the top twenty tallest trees in the world, and one of the tallest in Australia. I’ve probably driven past the sign post to The Four Aces before, but not knowing what the Four Aces were, I’ve never stopped to look. Thanks to the ‘Experience Nannup’ app, I now know what they are, and knowing they’re four, very tall, very well matched karri trees all in a perfect row – well I just had to go and have a look.

We were the only ones in the car park, so had the short walk circuit (less than 1 km) to ourselves.

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What a fabulous walk! Our campsite overlooks the river so this walk track is accessible only a few metres away from our caravan door. During our time in Nannup we’ve walked Tills along the river bank several times each day.

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