Monday Sept 15th to Saturday Sept 20th, 2025

We have been back at the farm for almost a week and I am going to recap the week for everybody.

Monday – The weather had been warming up on our road trip but it is back to cool and rainy weather. Today there are wind gusts up to 35 MPH and the temperature feels like 37 Fahrenheit. So a bit cold.

Michelle & Merv had an appointment at their new home in town this am so we tagged along. They did more measurements of the main bedroom trying to figure out where things will go. After the walk through we visited the grocery store and grabbed some supplies for the next week. We don’t want too much since we’ll be leaving Saturday night but the family is coming to dinner on Friday so we do need some things.

We did some laundry and then in the afternoon Kathy, Michelle and I went out to visit some of the artist studios that are showcasing their art. Every spring (it is spring here) they have an “open artist studio” where local artists open their home or studios for 2 weeks for people to come and look and purchase their art. They have a huge book that you can get all over town that showcases the artists and what kind of art they do and some pictures of their work. It also lists them by area and has maps so you can see where they are located. One of the ladies that works on the flower farm as a florist doing the arrangements they sell is in the showcase for the first time. Michelle made her some fresh pumpkin scones (what we would call biscuits) and wanted to go visit to show support. It is a great way to see the area and also see all different types of homes/studios.

The artist/florist/masseuse we were visiting, Kari, does pencil sketches both black and white and color. Her main drawings are of birds and she does them from memory. Since this is her first year she did not have a lot of product. She also is not well known enough that all her pictures are originals. At this point she does not have prints of her pictures. The open studio had just been open since Saturday and since there is not much product if purchased they mark them with a red dot but leave the pictures hanging until the end of the 2 weeks. Kari already had a lot of her work sold and was working on a picture when we arrived.

Some of Kari’s work.

We visited for a little bit and then we went to a few more studios while we were in the area. Fun to look but nothing that we needed to purchase.

We had dinner at home and then we are all enjoying watching the Tokyo world track and field championships.

Tuesday – There was one artist that I was really interested in because he makes lots of rings in silver and he has different imprints on the bands like whales, mantas, kangaroos etc. I had seen a ring with kangaroos all around it that I thought would be a good momento of the trip. Merv opted to stay home and do some work around the yard so off the girls went with map in hand. During the course of the day we visited over 9 studios. Some studios had multiple artists in them so one stop but 3 to 5 different works. We drove all around and got to see lots of the countryside. I did find a couple of different rings that I treated myself to.

The rings are 2 different studios. The one with the kangaroos was the only one of that design and it was in my size so meant to be.

One of the studios we visited was close to the ocean so we took a quick visit down to see the water. It was quite rough but the water color was beautiful.

Wyadup Rocks

We had lunch in Busselton at another bakery with a nice assortment of hot and cold items and then we visited a few more studios.

One of the local artists, who has become quite popular is on the left. He uses these characters in a lot of his works. On the right we have a local plant that they call a kangaroo paw because “it looks like a kangaroo paw”. We loved the bright red and green color.

We had a few rain showers during the day but they managed to hold off while we were out and about. We had a great double rainbow when we got back to the farm.

The buildings in the back are some of the sheds for the flower farm. Dinner at home and more of the truck & field championships.

Wednesday – Today we were going to go into Margaret River, about 20 minutes up the road so Merv & Michelle could have lunch with a friend while we wandered around town but the friend was not feeling well so we decided to make it a day at home. We did go up to the flower shed to see some of the work being done since it is a picking day for shipping out.

The picture in the middle and right are the King Protea which is the main flower grown on the farm. They say once cut the bloom lasts for at least 3 weeks.

I took a walk around the farm trying to find some kangaroos or pretty birds but did not see much so I took some more flower pictures.

I am across the street from the main farm at more acreage that they have planted. You can see Merv & Michell’s house which is the roof line in front and then their son Jade’s house to the back left and then one of the harvesting sheds with coolers.

Dinner at home and more of the Tokyo games.

Thursday – Today we took another car ride that was through some scenic countryside for something to do and for one of our last looks of Western Australia. The scenery was beautiful rolling green farm land but no real places to stop and take photos so just a drive to enjoy.

They have had a lot of rain this year so everything is nice and green.

We had lunch in a quaint cafe in a very small town. It was a beautiful day for a drive and on the way back to the farm Merv stopped at a couple of fields for me to get some more kangaroo pictures.

You can see all the ones in front and then a bunch more behind the next fence. Each field can have hundreds in them.

Kangaroos have a very short gestation period. It is not unusual to have a joey in the oven, 1 in the pouch and a smaller one hopping around. The gestation period is 31 to 34 days. With no sort of control and being protected the kangaroos are everywhere.

Dinner at home and then more of the Tokyo games.

Friday – Today is Kathy’s birthday so for 1 week out of the year we are the same age but that ends today. The big plan for today was to go to the Busselton jetty which is the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. It is 1.12 miles long. Michelle has a book all about the history of the Busselton jetty and I was going to just thumb through it but ended up reading all of it. The jetty, which is what we would call a pier, was very busy back in the 1800s when they transported a lot of timber out of this region. They even built a railroad to get the timber from the shore to the boats. Today the jetty is a tourist site. There are cruise ships that come to Busselton but they anchor and then tender everyone in. The water is not deep enough to support the larger ships of today.

You can sign up for a tour that includes a train ride to the end of the jetty and back, a visit to the underwater observatory at the end of the jetty and then an interactive museum. Our tickets were for 10 a.m. so we were up and out by 9:30. We had a little bit of rain on our train ride but it did not last long.

The jetty buildings and the train that travels about 5 miles an hour out to the end. The ride is about 20 minutes so we rode out and then walked back.

At the end of the jetty you walked down a winding stairway that took you to different viewing points until you were about 25 feet underwater. The jetty is also a very popular dive site and has an underwater dive trail with underwater sculptures to swim around.

The timber piles are well crusted with sea life and they have a friendly sea lion, called Cecelia who hangs around by one of the view points and puts on a show.

At the end of the jetty they have paintings on the pier of whales, true to size. They were done by the same artist as the picture from earlier of the blue cartoon character, Ian Mutch

The blue whale picture and then me at the end of the pier. New York is 18874 km or 11, 727 miles.

On our walk back we found Allie’s landing which I assume was named just for me.

After the jetty we went to the interactive museum that just had a few displays but one included VR goggles that showed you what it was like under the jetty. It had 360 degree views from a divers perspective, sort of disorienting.

Merv, Kathy and Michelle with their VR goggles on.

Once we were done at the jetty we grabbed some sandwiches at a local bakery in town and then back to the farm to eat them. The family was coming to dinner tonight and Michelle had some preparations to do prior to their arrival.

Going clockwise around the table starting to Kathy’s left, you have Jade, Merv & Michelle’s son who runs the farm, Drew, their daughter Jaz’s partner (Jaz is in London on business), Michelle, Joni, their granddaughter, Merv, Jasper, their grand son and Laura who is married to Jade and the mother of Joni and Jasper.

While the dinner was for Kathy’s birthday they also celebrated all the other birthdays they had missed this year while being away. Michelle made a cake (the 4th one she has made since we have been here) and chocolate covered strawberries, there were even candles and singing.

After dinner we watched more of the Tokyo games after kitchen clean up.

Saturday – Our plans for today are doing the last loads of laundry, cleaning up and packing. Plus emptying out everything from the fridge either by eating it or giving it to Jade & Laura. Tonight, around 9:30pm we will load up the car and Merv will drive us to Perth to catch a 3:30am flight to Bali. The flight is 3.5 hours long and the hotel will meet us at the airport and take us to the Indigo resort in Seminyak for the next 3 plus weeks. We will arrive just in time for breakfast and have a leisurely day relaxing, maybe napping…

We have had a great time here in Western Australia. Merv & Michelle have been the ultimate hosts inviting us into their home, showing us all around the state, showing us the flower farm business and introducing us to their family. We have had an amazing time and cannot thank them enough for their hospitality. They have extended their hospitality to Bali where they have included us in their resort plans.

Michelle’s simple flower arrangement with 2 Banksia flowers and an old gin bottle recycled as a vase.

We will post more from Bali once we get settled in.