This morning the cousins came round for a few hours before they all had to go their various ways and once again it was great to chat and have fun with them.  Terry and Marie also popped in to exchange Christmas wishes and gifts.

Once all our visitor had dispersed we hopped into Colette’s car and she took us on a grand tour.  Boats, sea, lakes and boats – oh yes and boats were on the top of Earl’s wish list.   First stop was Toronto Marina.   The café overlooked the lake so we had a coffee there before continuing our scenic tour.

The neighbourhoods through which we drove were fabulous.  Many of the residents were two boat rather than two car families.  Even without a boat they enjoyed amazing views and close proximity to the water.

We stopped to look at the R.A.A.F Rathmines Catelina Memorial which was built in 1972 to commemorate all those in the R.A.A.F. who served on the flying boats at Catelina.   We walked around the beautiful park area and were amazed that on boxing day so few people were making use of the facilities.   This is probably because there are just so many places like this – Imagine no parking problems, no crowds, no litter!

As we drove on a little further Colette slammed on breaks to avoid a tiny masked lapwing chick.  The parent went crazy when I hopped out of the car and it immediately hid under some plants.  When I got back into the car it popped out again and we were able to get some shots.

At Arcadia Vale people were enjoying paddling in boats and playing on rubber rafts.  It’s an idyllic spot and we saw pelicans flying over, a heron on the bank and pink and grey galahs pecking for food on the lawns.

A little further on we found a pair of Australian Wood-duck making a pretty picture in a puddle.

It was getting late by the time we arrived at Wangi Wangi Forefront so we decided to have supper at the Workers’ Club which had a wonderful view of the lake and the boats on the Marina.   We took a walk first and found some birds.

After a delicious and inexpensive meal we went to Morisset Park – famous for its free-roaming Kangaroos. Because of daylight saving it is light till 9 o’clock so we managed to get some good photographs  It was just so amazing to see so many of these marsupials with their joeys.  I was so amused by the way they lie as if relaxing on the beach!

To end our tour we went past some houses beautifully lit up for Christmas.