I'd booked a Qantas flight to Perth for the Monday having discounted driving across the Nullarbor (too dull including one stretch of dead-straight road 90 miles long) and the Indian Pacific train which I rather fancied but is hugely expensive unless you are ok with sitting in a seat for 3 days. Adelaide is very pleasant and the Botanical Gardens really are very beautiful and interesting. In fact, I spent a lot of the weekend exploring them.
I'd booked into a rather nice apartment-hotel for that particular weekend, just to help things along, so Sunday night in Adelaide was spent here...
And Monday night in Perth, was spent here...
Always good to get some contrast! In the second place I couldn't get hold of the concierge at all to bring up my luggage...
Arrived in Perth to 34 degrees and the definite feel of a thunder storm on its way. And boy was there a storm that night! in fact, it continued until around 4pm the following afternoon. Buildings in the CBD getting struck by lightning, incredible thunder and lots of rain. The airport was shut for hours with passengers stranded on planes on the Tarmac (too much lightning apparently) so I was lucky to arrive ahead of it. The weather did mean many, many hours spent in the museums and galleries of Perth.
By 6pm, all was good again
For the last few days I've been staying with old friends Martin & Rox (and their 2 beautiful little girls!) They have a very lovely apartment in the very smart and very cool Perth suburb of Subiaco. It's been really fantastic to catch up properly after a few years of intermittent contact and they have been very kind and welcoming.
They even introduced me to my first 'proper' Aussie barbecue at City Beach,
last night! Complete with amazing sunset and surreal light...
Perth, right now, is one incredible city. On the back of the mining and energy boom there is palpable excitement about the place. It has also become the most expensive place in Oz, by a considerable margin! There is a lot of money about, being made by a lot of people... The smart shops, flash cars and trendy bars of Sydney really pale against here. Many of the industries doing well are project led so people are here to make as much as they can, it is impossible to get accommodation for more than a night or two regardless of whether you are paying 30 or 500 dollars a night.
It really is that crazy... But it is also pretty cool! The feel here is a positive and pioneering one. There's little crassness and little Snooty-ness, just people getting on with making the most of it... Ferraris parked next to red-dust covered pick-ups.
The sailing world championships are also going on in Fremantle right now...
"Perth 2011" means lots of cool people around...
From here I leave tomorrow in a four wheel drive camper. The plan is to take a small loop south through Margret River as far as Albany and then drive the west coast up to Darwin. 24 ish days, arriving in Darwin on 4th January. Not the most ideal timing, what with it being the "wet season" up north with crazy temperatures and humidity but this will be the only opportunity to get up there.
I might not get to see everything I'd like to due to the weather (there are already road closures up there due to flooding) but it will certainly be an interesting drive. The Bungle Bungles and Kakadu are the two main areas that may be inaccessible beyond the main tourist roads in/out by the time i get there but we will see...
to that end, I'm not sure when I will get Internet connection again as I plan to "free camp" as much as possible on the way up. I'm sure I will get hooked up to the www from time to time but if it doesn't happen to time well with Christmas and NY then let me say now...
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Back I touch when I can. S
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Location:Metters Ln,Subiaco,Australia
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