The Rellies and the Bells

The Australians love to shorten their words and add ie or ies to them (a Bar-B-Que is called a Barbie) and hence your relatives become your Rellies. On Sunday Dan and I headed south to Pinjarra to visit with John and Ann Dunne. Rellies of Dan’s mom (Eileen [Dunne] Ballesty). They are a wonderful couple and shouted us (treated us) lunch out on the Pier while we were there. It was great to meet them and hear about their lives and their adventures in WA (Western Australia). We wished we could have stayed longer but Dan had to head back into Perth for some early evening meetings.

Monday Dan whisked off to meetings early and I headed off to explore the city. I immediately keyed in on the shopping district (I had packed for a bit warmer weather so I NEEDED a few things - hehehe) and wandered the shops for a couple of hours – can’t tell you the last time I did THAT without kids in tow!! I shouted myself lunch (no one else was going to pay!) at a cute little café and then got on with mentally mapping the city. I had seen some sculptures coming into the city that I wanted to photograph, so I headed eastward until coming upon them and then south to the ferry pier to get timetables for tomorrow’s trip across to South Perth and the Zoo. At the pier I came upon the Swan Bells.

The Swan Bells are a huge Bells tower sitting on the edge of the Swan River. They are one of the largest musical instruments in the world and 12 of the 18 bells in the tower have been ringing since the 15th century. Loud, melodic and beautifully designed.

Five hours after heading out from the hotel I decided I’d walked enough for one day and arrived back to pick up Dan and head off (walking again) for some great Vietnamese noodles for supper. - J