From the Rose Maze in Kojonup……….

(Day Pod 29^th March 2020

I was standing in the cockpit this morning, wearing my swimsuit and wrapped in a beach towel, contemplating an early swim, when dark clouds moved over the yard. So Rob and I went for a walk instead. We cleared the little beaches and bays around Emu Point and came to the long beach at the head of King George Sound where there were well spaced folk and their oblivious dogs enjoying the fresh air. I peered out across the bay towards the horizon and Southern Ocean, our exit one day, but my mood was not one of yearning, instead I was looking to see if the blue whale, sighted in the sound last week, was still there. I didn’t see it, but it was enough to know that this example of the largest animal in the world had at least paid a visit and was maybe still around.

Yesterday we met Kim and Oscar. Kim was sitting in the open rear doorway of her vehicle while Oscar, a Toby lookalike, (our liver and white, much loved, gone but not forgotten, French Springer Spaniel) was deciding whether he should go for a swim or chase a few seagulls on land instead. “I won’t touch him in case you don’t want us to,” I said. This was difficult because Oscar was by now licking my hand. “Go on,” Kim said “Don’t worry.” Which was just what I hoped she’d say. We chatted and she offered help if we needed it when she heard we were living aboard. We said we were fortunate enough to have the loan of a car. She walks Oscar there most days so we look forward to seeing them both again.)

During the one magical day we had with Malcolm and Christine we went to the Rose Maze in Kojonup. The scent of the roses was delightful and well worth the brief hay fever attack it gave me. The maze was created as the coming together of a community of First Australians and wadjela, as White Folk are known, and Malcolm and his willing team of wood working students made all the wooden fences, gates and seats. Their stories are told on the plaques in the form of excerpts from the journals of some of the women.