You can’t hear the hiss of the hull as our yacht, Dusky Dolphin, powers through the waves, driven by her sails. You can smell the salty tang in the air. You can’t bask in the warm sun on your skin.

But you can imagine that’s what we enjoyed during our overnight trip to Rotto and back this weekend.

Sailed by a mother and calf humpback whale just near Rottnest!

Enjoyed the terns in Stark Bay doing their mating dances in the sky.

Savoured the ospreys swoops and calls around the bay and headlands.

Shared company with fellow cruisers who were also there.

Slept soundly, rocked gently by the swells.

Rob got lots of photos so I just had to take one of him taking yet another photo.

It was a good weekend!

This morning I felt that I had enough energy (since our move back to home) to go for a good walk AND go to the gym! So it was back west to the walk that I so enjoyed when we were staying at the rental house in Floreat. I parked outside the house, walked further west up the 2-hill climb to the water tower (where I saw the pair of pink and grey galahs accompanied by the calls of many rainbow-bee-eaters), south then east up to Reabold Hill, west out to the lookout across the sea to Rottnest (where I took the vista pic), back east to Tullow Road (where I saw the hawk) and up to Roscommon Hill from the east so I walked over the 2 Roscommon peaks. After standing on the west peak, where I had seen so many days end, it was back to the car and then to the gym.

It was good to go back and be grateful for our time there:-)

On 22nd October we moved back home from Floreat. Our home is now bright and sparkling and new and clean, so as we unpack the boxes I just have to clean each item before placing it where it feels it now belongs. For many things they don’t belong any more and have been repacked and sent to the white elephant stall at Tom’s school fete later this month.

But I was surprised how I was drawn to our usual walks once more, always seeing how the non-human life was going! This owl is a mother we have seen for 2 years now. She is in the final stages of sitting over her chick, as it will fledge soon. Last week we were gifted with a “fly-past” of 2 ospreys! Mother and young flew past, the young calling and the mother occasionally urging as she taught it to fly well and true. No more sightings so their nest in the pine tree is already falling into disrepair.

And we have already heard the mopoke owl, who lives in the trees by the lake, calling in the cool of the night. We had one living around the garden of our rental house which we really enjoyed – – touch of home at least:-)

Life is good, back home.

Tom and Thea LOVE the new bathroom! Tom helped me find the right plug fitting for it, and Thea enjoyed her first hair-wash. Best of all it’s a “bubble (ie spa) bath” according to Tom!

Tom and Thea LOVE their very own new room in our old house:-)

Taken by Jackie and Jen, Elwyn’s cricket team captain and cricket team mate, who are visiting Oz and NZ. They called the picture “Little Wrigglers”! Rob and I took them for a short sail after this, and even though they have never been sailing before and it was quite windy and choppy, they were just fine!

This evening, when I walked up Roscommon Hill to farewell the day @ sunset, who should be there but the little cat – the little mother who lives in our house at Floreat! I had been worrying how she would go after we leave the house on Friday to return home to Derby Road. But she had obviously been out foraging, and I realised that she and her babies would be just fine.

So we stood some distance apart, enjoying the end of the day together:-)

This morning we shared morning tea at Zamia Cafe with Blaine and Thea – Thea wore her Swiss tee shirt that Elwyn had sent her and looked very pretty:-)

With Tristan away Blaine needed some adult company!

Elwyn has just published a panorama of the mountains in the Swiss Alps, around Zermatt, where she did a challenging trek last month.

She shares the family ability to take excellent photos:-)

Another strange thing happened at our rental house today.

I was reading to Thea in her and Tom’s bedroom, and we heard a tiny cat voice meowing. Blaine thought it sounded like a very young kitten. After much searching we tracked it down to underneath the house, but we could not fit in to rescue it. I rang a number of organisations including the RSPCA but no-one was interested. So sadly we agreed that we would have to let nature take her course.

Later that day, as I sat working at my desk after Blaine and Thea had left, I spied the pretty little cat which often trots around our yard, and she was carrying a meowing kitten in her mouth! Transfixed, I watched her carry the little bundle to the back of the garage, then up the wall and into the roof space where she has lived until she gave birth to her litter!

How amazing! Although we leave this house on the 26th, I’ve been leaving little pieces of meat out for her each night. At least that’s some nights she won’t have to hunt for food.

What a brave little mother!

This morning we made the most of living near Herdsman Lake and walked part of the way around it. There were so many birds – several types of dusks, swans, the Herdsman harrier, coots, moorhens…but this sight of the heron was the most pciturescque:-)