Australia day came round again very quickly and the long weekend has had us out bushwalking every day with a new publication of trailways from the Govt. On saturday we headed off to Mundaring and walked the O'Connor trail. Pleasant and easy going but a very hot day. I was a bit too slow with the camera to capture the 7 foot tall Western Grey Buck which we startled from his slumbers, he was up and across our path in a flash and seeing one of these big fellas up close is a real treat, even here. Otherwise uneventful but for a spectacular view over Lake C Y O'Connor. Note to my Mum in England, Mum, if you look at the two photos, one of which I zoomed in, you'll notice the red ring which I've drawn around an otherwise unremarkable feature. It is, in fact, the observation platform that you gallantly struggled down to last year and viewed the reservoir from the reverse angle. Sunday, and we went up to Karragullen for a long walk, around 12/13km out into the Munday Brook reserve. This trail was badly marked and we went off the map for several kilometres - OK for us as we had map and compass and plenty of water and were able to read ourselves back. Less well prepared and we could have been statistics! A very bad fire went through here a couple of years ago and its odd to see very young trees bursting into life again while some of the old giants just burned out. The Marri, my favourite Euclypt, developes a hollow root cavity and once the fire is in there the chimney effect seals its fate. Some of the dead Marris must predate white settlement. Anyway, we got up today and set off for Victoria Water, a 120 year old reservoir and the oldest scheme water system in WA. Not a bad little walk but too much road walking involved. The picture was supposed to show the Perth CBD in the distance but it didnt come out at such low resolution. Never mind. Still a good day but we got attacked by very hostile ants and had to run for it! No other news except we bought a great big fridge and sold the old one for $227 on Ebay. Not bad eh?! TTFN Jim