The last step - getting our car..

 Our journey to the West is really over now.  We picked up our car this morning.

 

Goodbye to Perth.

An uneventful flight home - exactly what you want!

Leaving Perth.

 

Eclipse day UPDATED

We were taken to our allocated viewing area.  I believe Exmouth itself was virtually locked down - if you tried to enter, you would be asked about your reasons and accommodation.  After all, thousands descending on a small town would be a health hazard for starters.

So they set up designated viewing areas.  I believe there were two - this was ours.

I discovered the land had been provided by the owners of the house next door - which belonged to the Kailis company.  They make lovely pearl jewellery, as worn by Julie Bishop.

The land had been leveled and compacted.  Designated areas were marked by yellow lines.  There were marquees down one side, and we were to go to marquee number 4.  There were marquees for lunch, ambulance and health service, and portaloos.  A lot of planning had gone into this one minute of totality!

Some pics of the area.

Taken from the air!

Rules

Your allocated marquee.

And the queue to buy souvenirs.  Yes, I was there.

There was a lot of photographic equipment and telescopes.

This lady had a telescope almost as  big as herself! I had a chat to her son.

Abandoned? Quite a few had tied a water bottle to their gear.  It was to stop it getting blown over.  It was quite windy.

Then the big moment approaches.  That weird light preceding totality - duller but with sharper shadows.

Kin Mun making crescents.

Totality - taken with my little "point and shoot" Sony.

And the TQ banner

Flight to Exmouth - and sunrise from the air

 

All went well, despite the blearingly early 3:15 pickup to go to the airport for our charter flight to Exmouth. The aircraft was an Embraer 190.

Boarding

Being so early, we were treated to sunrise - over land, to the EAST!

Exmouth - presumably.

The aircraft - an Embraer 190.  This is the one for our return journey, at Perth.  They got agitated at my taking pics at Learmonth, also an RAAF base.  All I can say is that if my camera can pick it up, it shouldn't be there. 

No dolphins

Tonight, there is a pre-eclipse dinner, talk and instructions.  All I know is that we meet at 3:30am to go to the airport for the flight to Exmouth. Will resort to Camino practices and sleep in our clothes.

So we gave the dolphins a miss today.

Swan River Cruise and Sandalford Winery

 A much easier day today.  A cruise along the Swan River, as far as Sandalford Winery.

Leaving Perth

 Along the way

Perth skyline - in the afternoon

We had lunch, with wine tasting.

This was the room, used for functions.  It was called The Oak Room - for obvious reasons.

 The Manager giving us a talk about the winery

And some outdoor shots of the venue

They have outdoor concerts as well.  It was all very polished and professional.  it might be a winery, but the restaurants and catering and venue showed that events were a big thing.  They could cater for 4 weddings at a time.  The guide told us that the present owners used COVID to spend a lot on renovation of the site - it takes a lot of confidence to do that!

Quokkas

Rottnest Island is one of two islands with populations of quokkas.  They are macropods - which also means they are marsupials.  They hop like kangaroos, when they want to.  They are nocturnal, and apparently just stop anywhere and go to sleep.  Visitors are told that they will come up close to you, but do not touch them, pat them and certainly don't feed them.

Our first quokka - sleeping outside a coffee shop.  At first, we thought he was crook.  But it was day-time, so his bed-time. 

We are told not to touch or stroke or pet them - so people gather around the quokka, put their lens as close as possible to take photos, without actually touching him/her.  I think they have just gotten used to it!  Selfie-mode works well!

Unlike possums, they don't go looking for a hollow to curl up in.  They just stop anywhere and try to sleep, or scavenge.

Some more quokka pics.  They are so cute.

But not everyone wants them in their place.  I wondered why the cafes all had little gates. The quokkas get smart and wait for the gate to be opened. You may well feel one walking over your feet while you have lunch.  I say it again - they are very cute.