More Perth

It’s a funny place this. Ali & I took a trip to Cottesloe Beach yesterday – a sparkling 30 degree day. We drove over the massive Swan River and along the riverside past the most modern looking city in the world. Huge elegant sky-rises soar above clean, heavily glazed office buildings. There is a great deal of grass lawn in Perth and the municipal planting is exquisite. We also passed schools and colleges that looked straight out of the 1960’s – everyone in school uniform and an abundance of grey shorts and candy striped cotton.

There’s something very obvious about Perth. By that I mean that things seem very straightforward and unsophisticated. You come to some traffic lights and there’s a sign saying Red Light; shops are named after people – Ted’s Bikes, Elsie’s Tea Rooms; a cut down tree at the historical village is labelled Stump. It would take patience to live here. People speak incredibly slowly.

The beach was fantastic – everything an Australian beach should be. Rolling surf hit long sandy stretches. Kids hurled themselves at waves on body boards. And the 1960’s feel continued with wide greenswards all along the seaside paths set with lots more municipal planting.

The food in the Blue Ocean café was excellent though. We had the best hamburger in the world and very good chicken Caesar salad. I had an interesting beer too – a Rogers, which tasted kind of fruity or flowery.

Checked my e-mails this morning to discover two more goldfish have snuffed it. So it isn’t just me.