Sunday 23rd July 2023

 Sunday 23^rd July

SHE SAID:

Geoff & I had arranged to meet Wayne & Wendy, friends from Kalgoorlie, just north of Salmon Gums at 9am. This meant we had to leave the house at 7.30am; anyhow we managed it!!!

Another orchid nut, Eric, from Esperance, also joined us for an orchid hunt along the road to Peak Charles. I was a little disappointed that we saw very little. As I have mentioned before everything is very behind this year. Orchids I’d seen flowering in early & mid-July 2 years ago were still in tight bud or non-existent!

Things picked up at Grass Patch with Sigmoid & Esperance King Spiders found, & maybe 5 different Snail types. None of which I think are formally ID-ed.

We rounded out the day at The Pier Hotel for drinks & dinner.

Groovy train in Salmon Gums

A friendly Roo whilst orchiding!

HE SAID:

We were up before dawn (ugh) and off to Peak Charles. The roads were better than I had expected after all the rain, and we had no problems, except for the scarcity of orchids.

Dinner at the Pier Hotel was Wayne's idea but we were happy to go along. There was Guinness on tap so I managed a couple of those. A big surprise to me was that are charging $35 for a chicken parmy. Rip off!

The 4th Ashes test ended in a tame draw, with no play on day 5 due to bucketing rain. So, for any England cricket fans who can actually read, the score is still 2 - 1 to Australia. We'll see what the weather does at The Oval in the 5th test, but for now the best England can do is draw the series, meaning that Australia, as current holder of The Ashes, retains them.