Holidays during Ramadan part 1: Australia: Catching up with friends

As usual, I had plenty of people I wanted to catch up with and far too little time to do so. And to be honest, it was so long ago now (my fault, I know) that some of the specifics have floated from my memory. The general feelings though were of delight and happiness at the opportunities to spend time with such special people from my life in Perth.

Unfortunately I had to keep my pregnancy from all these friends... well, most of them.

The first friend I had the privilege of catching up with was Lyn, who was the boarding house director of Presbyterian Ladies' College in Perth when I worked there, met up with Mum, Margaux and I for a lovely morning tea with her in a cafe in the hills. (She's in the main frame of the collage below).

Later, Margaux and I made the trek via public transport to Fremantle to meet up with Bec. Maggie had a brilliant time on the trains - running up and down the carriage while the train was in motion; swinging herself around the poles; charming the pants off/ making friends with fellow passengers... all in a day's work.

The three of us boarded the Ferris Wheel for a stunning view of Freo. Margaux was very brave and keen to look out of the glass gondola but rather ready to leave when the ride stopped! And Perth, being Perth, decided that it would be a great idea to have an outdoor ice-skating rink set up in the main park area of Fremantle to celebrate winter... great in theory; not so good in practice: the day was crisp but sunny, so by the early afternoon the ice rink had become a giant puddle and there were a lot of wet people leaving the skates behind!

Another dear friend we caught up with was Kirsty. It was an unfortunately brief, coffee-length catchup with Margaux plus her two kids in a cafe - and I have no photos to show for it. Still, it was quality time spent together and I'm grateful we had the opportunity to do so.

Margaux and I headed back to the same cafe in the hills a few days later to meet up with Janelle, a highschool friend, and her two boys.We decided to brave the outdoors this time as the cafe boasts a play area, which was great fun for all the kids - and a blessing for Janelle and me! (Margaux, Nicholas, and Arthur are pictured in the bottom left corner of the collage).

The best catch up of all, however, was with Bronwen, Amber, and Anna, plus all of our kidlets at Anna's place. (In truth this happened after MY holiday in this holiday - in which I travelled to Melbourne for 4 days all by myself - but for (my) convenience I have put it all in one post. Forgive me.)

Spending an afternoon with three of my closest friends and not spilling the beans on my pregnancy was a thought I entertained for about two seconds (at Thomas' request) and completely dismissed. What I didn't expect though was Amber asking if there was just one in there! Of course I couldn't lie, so the full secret came out.

We four also had a kid-free meal a few days later - a rare treat for all of us! - which yielded no photos but some special memories.

And now, for a post regarding four days of liberation for me...