Visit up "North" to Yanchep National Park

On Saturday night we held a "Curry Night" and had some friends over for some food. There was three couples with their children. We decided to do a curry night as it was a change from the BBQ and I also wanted an excuse to make some veggie food that I could eat!!

I spent the afternoon cooking curries! We had:

1. Pea and paneer curry
2. Chickpea curry
3. Chicken korma
4. Beef madras
5. Yogurt and mint raita
6. Indian breads

and for starters:

1. Poppodoms
2. Chutneys
3. Pickles

I enjoyed all the cooking and it was a great night! Of course, no-one took any photos ... The night drew to a close when it got dark and the mosquitos made an appearance.

Beforehand I took Anna to Piney Lakes which is the park over the road from where we live. It's the park where I had previously seen a snake, a bob-tailed lizard and a long necked turtle. This time I didn't have Mol with me and we could go to the area with the lake and the children's playground (much more civilised). The photos below are from there.

On Sunday we decided to go for a drive and head north. Mainly so Anna could have a little sleep in the car as she had a late night last night. To go north we have to cross the Swan River and Perth city centre. I took a couple of photos so you can get an idea of the area of the trip. We then headed up the freeway and drove through Ocean Reef and ended up at Yanchep National Park. It tends to be north of the river (NOR) where all the Brits that come over to Perth end up settling. The majority of the suburbs are new and still being built. They are also close to the ocean. You tend to buy land packages here, which is a plot of land and then build your own house. You have the option of choosing a house style that has already been designed and using the company's builders, or you are free to do what you want. You can only drive for about 1 hour north before you hit bushland and the development stops. Perth is that small. Of course, new land packages are springing up all the time and eating into the natural bush area.







We had never heard of Yanchep National Park before we saw the sign for it and it was gorgeous. It reminded us a little of the National Trust parks back in the UK. There was a lovely lake there, a tea room, two caves to visit (I know bizarre ... ) and an koala area.




Oh ... I also came across my first Huntsman spider today. I put my hand in the clothes peg basket to get a peg to hang the washing out and this monster crawled on my hand ... not nice!