West Australia - week 1

John & I left home on Sunday 30th December for Perth in West Australia. We had a good run to the airport and arrived with plenty of time to have lunch with Ben and Steph before they headed back home. Our flight was with Qantas and was very comfortable. The food was reasonable and the flight smooth. I started reading "Fishing for Stars" by Bryce Courtenay and managed to get fair way into it. Our seats were right at the back of the plane with John on the window seat. The trip was uneventful and we arrived in Perth on shcedule. They are doing a bit of renovatins to the Perth airport so it was a bit messy and we had to use the stairs and walk across the tarmac. With our luggage in tow we stood in line for a taxi, a process that took a good 15-20 min as we were all lined up in the snake line. From the airport it was another 15-20 min into Perth.

Our first night was at the Parmelia Hilton (courtesy of Fly Buys) and we were lucky enough to have our room upgraded to a king suite. The room was very nice, giant king size bed with oversized pillows of vairying thicknesses so we could find one that was just right. We also had a small lounge suite, TV, mini bar and desk with internet access and a complimentary bottle of champagne. Very nice, although we did save the champagne for another night when we would have help drinking it. We ordered room service and relaxed for the night. The following morning we enjoyed the Hilton buffet breakast with every possible breakfast food on offer. The fruit was fresh, the eggs cooked to order and the tea and coffee delivered in individual pots - very decadent.

On Mondy morning Richard & Elspeth O'Connor collected us from the Hilton and took us back to their place. A quick shuffle of bags to reduce the load to a weekend bag and we were off to Gilderton on the Moore River. When I had Googled Moore River before we left I only found the Moore River National Park which was inland a bit so I was plesantly surprised to find that we were actually staying at Gilderton which is a quaint little seaside village that is mostly a holiday get away spot for Perth residents. Richard & Elspeth's house is a family holiday home and we were lucky that it was their week to use it. The house in a lovely spot and overlooks the river with fresh sea breezes most of the day. It was quite windy when we were there so swimming in the ocean was out of the question and the breeze was quite fresh and the water quite cold by Queensland standards. It was lovely to have the first couple days of our holiday relaxing by the water and getting into holiday mode and further into my book. Leary & Gillian also joined us for the couple of days we were there and it was great getting to know them also. Richard and Elspeth were wonderful hosts and took us driving around quite a bit so in our first week we manged to see quite a bit of Perth and the northern beaches. The vegitation here is so different to what we are used to. My first impression was that we could easily have been in a Mem Fox book. Gum nuts of vairying shapes and sizes everywhere. The soil is mostly sandy and you would wonder how anything grows. It is a much more desolate landscape to what we are used to. the one big advantage of the sandy soils is that roses love it and many people make use of this fact so the rose gardens are prolific and the scents georgus.

On Wednesday we were back at Richard & Elspeth's home in Perth by lunchtime and after a rest we went visiting their boys and their families who live close by. The only one we didin't meet was Phillip who lives in Karatha - a bit far to go for an afternoon drink.

On Thursday John & Ophelia Ingram picked us up and took us driving again. This time through Kings Park and down to Freemantle where we had a lovely seafood lunch by the warf before going back to their place for a while. It was lovely to catch up with them again. For those of you who haven't been to Perth, Kings park is a massive park in the middle of Perth on the riverbank. It has many walking and bike trails and a wonderful botanical garden section. The park is large enough to drive through and the streets through the park are lined with trees that have been planted for fallen service men and women, a wonderful tribute to their war heroes.

On Friday morning we got the train to Perth City where we hooked up with the 'train' to Bunbury which is actually a bus on Fridays. Helen met us at the train station at lunchtime and it was wonderful to see her again. Her home is a quaint little place with a Mediterranian feel about it on a lovely big block with a pool. Bunbury strikes me as a town probably not much bigger than Beaudesert but on the water. Relatively quiet and certainly not as busy as Perth. Helen's home is just a short walk to the shops (1min) and to the beach (5min). She has graciously given us her room with ensuite so we are being very spoilt. On Friday night we went out to the Barbados Club for drinks where we met a few of her friends. The Brbados is in a lovely location overlooking the bay and harbour but the drinks are expensive - we didn't try the food as the restaurant was very busy. We then went into town for dinner where we ended up having Pizza at a local favourite pizzarea before heading to Mark's place for a cuppa. Saturday was Helen's big 50 party so the day was spent getting ready for that. The party was very busy, probably about 50 or 60 of Helen's friends helped her celebrate her special occasion and it was a privilage to be among them. Helen's idea of catering for a party is to get everyone to bring a plate so of course everyone was very generous with their catering and we had bucket loads of food for at least two more parties. The hilight of the evening was the sing star competition but I'm not too sure who won. I am sure that there definately aren't any budding superstars amongst this mob.

Today is rest and recovery day and hopefully tomorrow we will begin exploring the South West corner and down to Margaret River which is just 1hr15min from here so an easy day trip.