We lived in Bridgetown, Western Australia (WA) for three years. It’s one of the colder places in WA and one of the few places that has lots of ‘heart attack’ hills — most of our huge state is pretty flat, but not Bridgetown. It’s a beautiful town most of the year, except summer (in my opinion), when the threat of bushfires from the nearby forests is an ever-present danger. We’ve been gone for more than six years now, but have friends there. And we have our girls’ quilting retreat there each winter, at the magnificent home of one of our group.
Here are some of the photos I took from their house and garden last weekend, around 8am on a cold winter’s morning (July 2) when the temperature was hovering just under 0C, and the fog was still hanging over the valleys. My favourites are the ones with the early morning sun gleaming on the gum trees, the ice on the bird bath, the sparkle of the new day on the dew, and the rising sun poking through clouds. And the bunny, of course!
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
That last picture of the garden and water is gorgeous! What a lovely place and here in North Carolina where the temp is 97 and the humidity is the same, I am envious of your cooler days.
Totally dreamy/inspiring!!!!!
What an inspiring location for a quilting retreat. I love the gum trees (Eucalyptus in the US?) and being reminded by the iced bird bath that half our globe has Winter in July. In the NW United States, we are having “Januly” – a relatively chilly summer.
TJ Legge
WA State
Yes, Eucalyptus. They’re native to Australia and there are many varieties. We just call them all ‘gum’ trees, I think because of the gum-like sap many of them produce.