27 August 2022 Saturday – Perth

Up at 6.00am & no breakfast as we are off to the Jarrahdale Parkrun, Denise is an avid Parkrunner & is out running every Saturday morning with Craig typically volunteering. Jarrahdale is around half an hour drive & is a lovely small rural community out in the bush. The running track is nicely laid out & well maintained wending through the park. We meet the fellow Parkrun people, they all seem very nice & just before we start we get a shower of rain.

The fast runners disappear into the distance & Tereza & I follow all the runners along the trail in the company of Craig, who is the official tail walker, to ensure that all runners are safe. The trail is very pleasant winding through the bush near a running creek, there are lots of wattle out in flower & lots of other flowering native plants. We are joined by more rain for a while & soon the fastest runners come back the other way to start the second loop of the track. There is a large collection of grass trees amongst the Jarrah trees & other eucalypts, looking a treat in the rain. We pass the remnants of the sawmilling era with the old manager residence being still intact & very prominent.

We do two laps of the circuit & finish the Parkrun under the trunk of an amazing tree that leans in an arch over the track. It is now time for breakfast & we head up the road to the Jarrahdale Bakery & have a delicious breakfast & coffee with the fellow Parkrun people. We get an email from Parkrun telling us that we have both finished first in our age category. (the only ones in our age category)

Back to Craig & Denise’s place for a freshen up then we head off to Fremantle to the Western Australian Maritime Museum, full of the history & beautiful boats, such as the iconic Australia II, winner of the America’s Cup & some of the old sailing boats that so many started out sailing in the Swan River. The history of immigration through the port of Fremantle was also very interesting & Tereza caught up with a couple of immigrants outside the museum.

Handily, right next to the Maritime Museum is the Gage Roads Brewery & we popped in there for a tasting paddle & a snack, again, very nice. The brewery is located in an old cargo shed & was absolutely packed, it is very popular. We sat outside next to the Swan River & watched the boats as they motored up & down the river. Back home & Denise cooked some delicious pizza for dinner & we had their daughter Jess & her husband join us. It was lovely catching up as we had not seen Jess for such a long time and we also celebrated her 27^th birthday. Another great day.