Before Swancon I went to stay with the lovely and interesting Glenda Larke and her husband Ramly in Mandurah. It had been a while since I had caught up with Glenda in Mandurah so it was great to see her, catch up on all that had been happening and just to relax. Funny, but Glenda kept saying ‘wait to you get to my age and you forget things.’ I forget stuff now. When she said that I was thinking…oh no…it’s going to get worse.
For those of you who know Glenda, you understand her interest in bird watching, in politics, her amazing life living in Malaysia and in other exciting places around the world. I could just chat to Glenda and listen for hours and hours. Once when I visited her in Kuala Lumpur we talked and laughed until my face was numb!
Anyway, this post is mostly photos of the trip we did to some interesting places south of Mandurah, Lake Clifton, Harvey, Pinjarra, Ravenwood and the drive home. While with Glenda I started beta reading the third book in her Forsaken Lands Trilogy. Yes I am being smug! I am cruel like that.
The first photo is a dwarf banksia near Glenda’s house and that Ramly took a fancy to. We ended up getting one for Ramly to plant in the garden on the way to the airport.
Birthday candle banksia
The next photo is a shot of the Peel Inlet. 
And there was a pelican on a light.
Glenda thought it was a good idea to see the sun setting over the ocean, something that is peculiar to the west. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but this shot was quite interesting with the sun reflecting off the wet sand.
Sunset Halls Head Beach. WA
Eroded rocks at Halls Head Beach
Edit: I’ve since been told that these rocks are fossilised trees. I thought they looked tree-like.
Eroded rocks at Halls Head Beach
Eroded rocks at Halls Head Beach
Here is a shot of Glenda at Halls Head Beach.
Then we went to Lake Clifton to look at the thrombolites, which was quite fascinating.
Thrombilites Lake Clifton
Lake Clifton
The colour in this Lake Clifton shot is spectacular.
After Lake Clifton we drove to Harvey, then Pinjarra and then stopped at Ravenwood and had a drink by the river.
We looked at this bridge with old Jarrah timber supports, a sort of meshing of old and new. I believe this was in Harvey.
Jarrah supports under bridge in Harvey
Jarrah supports under bridge in Harvey.
We had some lunch/snack at Stirling Cottage. Here is a shot of a Kookaburra in a tree. I wonder if you can see him.
Shot of the river at Ravenwood
After we did the tripping around, we came into Perth for Swancon, starting with the Guest of Honour dinner where we got to meet John Scalzi, Kylie Chan and Anthony Peacey. That’s the subject of the next post.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 