Saturday night was the party – about 40 of my aunt Beryl’s closest friends and family gathered to celebrate her 80th birthday.  It was a lovely night when we had a chance to catch up with relatives long unseen, and meet their partners and kids.  There was a cupcake cake, speeches, and lots of reminiscing.  .

After more rain overnight (but no more noise from the mill thank goodness), the sun finally appeared and we went for a Sunday morning walk.  Our immediate area is old industrial and many of the houses are cottages or converted factories (like the one we’re staying in).

A short walk towards the Swan River, which flows a couple of hundred metres away, and its all new apartments overlooking the water and outdoing each other in their grandeur. There’s a clifftop bike/walking path around Rocky Bay which gives sweeping views of the river and provides stickybeaking opportunities at how the other half lives.

After that we piled in the car and headed along the coast, checking out the beaches from Cottesloe to Hillarys.  We decided Hillarys was too crowded and overpriced for lunch, so we found a real fish and chip shop which sold us fresh mackerel and a huge pile of chips.  Delicious.

Next stop was cousin Mark’s place, where the family gathered for Ian’s genealogical presentation.  He’s done a lot of work tracing the family tree on the maternal and paternal sides of Beryl’s family, and he unearthed two very different stories, a la “Who do you think you are”.  One side can be traced back 19 generations, to the 1300s, through Irish nobility living in grand estates and castles; the other (yes, mine) can be traced to an impoverished coal mining village in Somerset.  From there, my dad’s direct ancestors emigrated to Heathcote, drawn like so many others by the promise of untold wealth from gold.  Is it a coincidence that I’m so interested in mining and its history? Or that my cousin works for a mining company as an explosives expert? Cue music and closing credits …

We rounded out our WA visit with a trip to beautiful Kings Park – what an amazing place in the middle of the city.  My brother said “what a great place for a golf course”.  I said “what a great place for an orienteering event”.  It’s all about perspective.

Next was a sightseeing trip aboard a double decker bus which took us through the city, Northbridge, Crown and the WACA before returning us to Kings Park.  Finally it was a delicious al fresco Italian lunch in Freo, a great spot for people watching, before boarding the plane to come home. Sigh …