So our shipment arrived, all is unpacked, well except for some stuff we don’t need right now, my Steve arrived home from work Thursday so we had a long weekend of playing with our bikes and kayaks.

Right well where shall I start? Well the first mission was to find a way of getting our kayaks from our house and onto the water, first solution was an inflatable roof rack, wobbly but ok for surf boards and one kayak, so sadly only one kayak went on the roof and we headed to the canoe club where I could use a club boat. This was on Friday, we had a great paddle, the sun was hot, we meandered down stream for quite a bit further then we had been previously, in fact we paddled quite close to our house.

I was on the look out for a pelican but we didn’t see one but we did see tiny fish jumping out of the water millions of jellyfish, there must have been one every square foot of water or less. I just looked them up and found they don’t sting, they’re known as the Australian spotted Jellyfish, here is a blog about them with some fab photos, these photos are of the bigger ones, I like the baby ones which are the size of a cherry.

And on the way back we were treated to an aerial display, planes zooming over head doing loop the loop in formation which was great entertainment and I think we had the best seats sat in our kayaks just bobbing on the river.

Saturday we decided to investigate a better roof racking system and found one where we could fit both boats on the jeep, so after some assembling the boats were on and we were all set to head off on an adventure first thing Sunday morning.

Sunday morning as planned was very sunny, warm with clear blue skies. After consulting the map and some sites about where to go kayaking in Perth we decided to try the Canning River East of Perth CBD. After some navigating and probably only a 20 minute drive from our house we had parked and were unloading our boats. This was so easy, park up, take boats off, walk a few metres to the waters edge and plop our boats in and off we go!

We meandered up the river in our new boats, through tangled masses of trees, mini islands, we paddled past dried brown yukky through to bright lush green vegetation, past parks with trains full of kids smiling and waving at us the driver beeping the horn every now and then. We spotted herons, ducks, fish and lots of birds which we didn’t even know what they were.

We took a picnic packed with ice in a cool bag which was still super cold, we stopped at the park and enjoyed it, lay in the sun and relaxed it was so nice, so hassle free it was fantastic. After 4 hours or so we we’re hot and looking forward to a long cold ginger beer & coffee which we found at a cafe just opposite our put in on the river.

Now that was what I call a FUN paddle.

Monday morning we were slightly tired and achey from the paddle the previous day but after an early morning walk, coffee and fresh breakfast we decided to go exploring closer to home on our bikes.

First stop was an incredible view upstream of the Swan river, just 4 mins ride from our place.

I think our house hunting hit upon some serious luck when we found our place, we’re beginning to feel extremely lucky to have found and to have secured it, it just feels so Mediterranean, Perth is known for this but living on the river like this with it’s crystal clear water, white sand, knobbly cliffs, Mediterranean style villas and boats moored, it really does feel it.

After this we headed East again along the cycle path through wildlife reserves, cliff top winding paths through trees, wildlife signs pointing out the fauna and animals to be found inside, each brand we cornered opened out to another spectacular view of the river.

We stopped for a chilled coffee and cake at Toscannis my new favourite cafe carrying on the Mediterranean theme. After that we headed back into the wind home for a snooze. We woke about 4pm and decided to go for another paddle, it was like being a kid again, like it was the last day of the summer holidays and you just want to play all day.

We decided one of these little beaches along the river was perfect for putting our kayaks in so we headed back down and got on the water just as the sun was starting to set.

We paddled upstream, past huge villas overlooking the river, knobbly cliffs and then I saw a Pelican, hurray! It was huge! Just stood on so ething in the water a couple of metres away from  the shore and several more from me thank good ness, his beak was not full of fish but it was huge and looked like it could do some serious damage. After the Pelican we had to paddle around a sand bar which was about a km long, the sun was really setting now, the light was amazing. The trees and houses on the west we’re silhouetted with a peachy light behind them, gradually running to a tint of yellow to mostly white to blue to blue with stars, it was very smiler to the Salt exhibition pictures I posted about a few weeks ago by Murray Fredricks, check it out here if you missed it and to see what I mean.

Then we noticed a man, dressed in black walking along the sand bar, from where we were sat on the water it really did look like he was walking on water, I so wish I had a camera with me now, Pelican, sunset, Man walking on water, arghhhh!

After the sand bar we were paddling towards the CBD and it was getting darker and darker so we turned, headed back past the sandbar, towards the canoe club, ferry glided across the waves and wind at funny angles so we didn’t end up going around in circles’ or just being blown by the wind. We could just make out the beach we left from and made it back just in time before it got too dark. With boats back on the jeep we went home for a well earned Thai green curry & Jasmine rice.

Now it’s tuesday, Steve is back to work and so am I, I have hoovered, mopped, done the washing now I need to make a food plan, go shopping and start making diner.

We can’t wait for next weekend