After our trip to Perth Mint, London Court and Lake Monger Reserve, we headed to Kings Park, all the while praying that it wouldn't rain on us. Our prayers were only partially answered. But because of that, we saw something that we totally didn't expect (thanks to the rain!). Hint - the pictures above! :)
As we walked the trail, I was aware that the glass bridge was going to close, so we kind of raced over to it as we went down the trail. We spotted some magpies along the way...and that brought flashbacks of me being chased by one of them. I was kind of wary of them (and am still wary of them now!), so I sprinted away from them. I went up the bridge before - and it's documented here.
Anyway, up the bridge we went!
Winds were very strong that day, and it felt even stronger while atop the bridge. It wasn't really raining on our side YET...but in the distance, we could see heavy rains drenching the other side of the river. We were hoping that the rains wouldn't come over to our side.
We were kind of fortunate - the skies were half-grey and half-blue. So there wasn't much rain. But the winds were pretty scary! And I was so afraid of losing anything down the sides of the bridge, so I clung tightly to my stuff as much as possible.
Oh and here we are - the heavy rains on the other side. The water was VERY choppy, and when we started the day, we were driving down the Kwinana Freeway and we could see waves!!! We hardly see waves on the water, on calm, sunny days.
It drizzled a little, then stopped. Then the clouds started shifting again...but since we didn't have much time atop the bridge, I had to take pics QUICK!
And then the grey clouds started coming in again. And they were coming in fast...!!!
Next thing I knew, we were experiencing heavy rains on OUR side. Without umbrellas, we just dashed down the bridge and under some trees, with the hope that they'd provide SOME shade...well they did to a certain extent.
We managed to run into a sheltered area while it rained like nobody's business. Then suddenly Steph (or was it someone else in the shelter?) pointed out that there was a double rainbow!
So I dashed out of the sheltered area and sure enough, there was a very intense, strong rainbow with another one behind it! Out came the camera! Oh and in case you were wondering, it was raining then. Wasn't too heavy, but I was also concerned about my camera getting wet and (later) cranky. So I had to do things fast. This was simply a bonus for us - the heavy rain sure brought lovely surprises! Oh and the rainbow was a gorgeous, perfect arc!
We then began making jokes about Nyan Cat (a famous and adorable kitty with a popsicle for a body and a rainbow trail) jumping into the water. Oh in case you were wondering, this is Nyan Cat. Click on the link to find out!
Nyan nyan nyan nyan...PHEEEEWWWWWWW...SPLASH!!!
Waited for the rains to subside before leaving the shelter. By then the rainbow was starting to fade from the Kwinana Freeway side...but it stayed strong at the CBD side. As we went along, I took pics of it as it faded slowly away.
Sun was out on our side! We could see bits of blue sky starting to emerge. Somewhat.
We were fortunate that the grey clouds didn't give way to more heavy rains, so we had time to explore the park and the scenery.
Rare moment of sunshine and blue skies just as we headed to the war memorial. Rare - for that day.
So we thought that it would give us enough time to explore the war memorial, take pictures and so on. And yep, it sure did! We spent quite a fair bit of time out here, braving the cold and enjoying the peace. It was a weekday - and there was hardly anyone at the war memorial, unlike a weekend, where the war memorial was usually crowded.
Got a new idea when I saw this on the ground. Oh and in case you were wondering, the shadows belong to Steph, Jenny and me. We were on the other end of the war memorial.
The Wildflower Festival was still going on, but was moving towards its end-stage. And I knew that I wouldn't be free to see the last of it. So here we are - more pics of the wildflowers before we left.
As we left, it started raining again. The GPS we used was kinda cranky and decided to take us on the long route back to Freo! But - it became kind of a bonus for me - because the next thing we knew, we were driving along this tree-lined route that was so gorgeous! The occasional sunlight made it even more gorgeous...and I just couldn't resist taking a couple of pics of it.
I think I'm going to explore this route one day. Wait till assignments have been cleared!
Ended up on the other side of Kings Park - where the suburb of Crawley was. And that was where we spotted Winthrop Hall - a famous landmark of UWA (the University of Western Australia).
We then drove through Crawley and some other suburbs before getting to Freo for dinner. All the while it was kind of sunny, and then the clouds came in again. It sure was a freezing night!
The next day - we were off to Busselton! We stopped at Mandurah for some brekkie, then drove directly to Busselton, and on the way back we explored Bunbury and ate dinner at Mandurah. More of these in the next post. Stay tuned!