Saturday in Perth #2

February in Perth these days is a rush of activity.  Fringe Festival, Perth Festival which incorporates a Writers Festival, various film festivals and visiting stuff from all over the place, the Rottnest Swim, the Great Southern Festival, not to mention putting the kids back in school; and by the end of this month, a new group of Freshers will be starting at uni.

I do think we cram a lot in.  March and April by comparison are going to be rather bleak.  It's not as if we have to cram all this in to get the good weather.  People, we have good weather pretty much ALL YEAR.

Anyhow, in the spirit of rushy rushy we tried out the Perth Writers Festival for the first time this year.  I love me a writers festival and, usually with partner in crime Fairlie, I love to schlepp off to the Sydney Writers Festival and in years past, the Melbourne Writers Festival.

I'm not sure if its that there are so many other options on at the same time in Perth at the moment (the Rotto Swim left this morning, the Great Southern Festival is on, the weather is still great to go 'down south' etc) but I was disappointed in the lack of 'BUZZ'.

The talks were good but it was very sedate. And very quiet.

Festival goers milled around politely and were definitely of the older, sandalled type.  Although to be fair the very interesting HBO talks on the world of television were frequented by a young uni set.

So yes, I was disappointed with the lack of energy.  A bit the same when the MWF moved from the CUB Malthouse to Fed Square and lost its atmosphere.  I think writers festivals benefit from being a bit cramped.  You want to feel you might bump into an author or two - like back in the day at the Malthouse when they'd be drinking at the bar between sessions.

Nevertheless it was lovely to walk around the beautiful University of WA grounds and sit under the dappled light of their magnificent trees.

One of the talks we went to was in Winthrop Hall.  I don't think I've been back in here since sitting exams here in the 1980s.  In all those years I hadn't realised that the ceiling beams were painted in indigenous art.  Clearly I was too busy concentrating on getting a conditional pass in Economics 100.

Saturday in Perth

We live five minutes drive from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. White sand, clear water, gentle waves suitable for all ages, fish'n'chips and gelato on hand.  The water tends towards Sharky but I figure as long as there are a whole bunch of swimmers that look like seals further out than me then I'm fine.

I don't have a pic of the beach we went to yesterday because we were travelling light and quick. Car keys and towels only but it was brilliant.  

It's hard to get the kids to come with us; they've never really been part of the beach culture as we pretty much avoided the beaches in Melbourne and Sydney as being substandard (in Sydney, full of rips, flags always ridiculously close together - although we did love Palmie and jumping off the pier at Balmoral) and only really went to the beach on trips back to WA.  We managed to convince one child to come with us and he loved it.  

I did manage to photograph our beautiful sky yesterday while waiting for burgers in North Fremantle.

After burgers we went to see the Scattered Light installation by Jim Campbell in Kings Park which is there as part of the Perth Festival.

A series of light bulbs strung in a spidery pattern this installation looks like a wall of light from one angle but has depth and was attracting about 100 picnic-goers last night. Note the bride off to the right.

Kings Park with the new Brookfield Place tower at centre.  Tripod needed next time!

Our 12yo commented on how pretty Perth was from Kings Park and it struck us that he had never seen this view at night.  Those that were not picnicking in front of scattered light were facing this view.

Fraser Avenue, Kings Park

 Next week, the Perth Writers Festival!  I've convinced the hubby to come with me to a few things as I think it would be hard to convince my usual writers festival partner to fly over next Sat...

I like travelling in my 40s better. It's funner.

Did you see the article in today's paper about the 10 things backpackers don't know?  Must've been reading my mind.

We've just come back from three weeks in Europe.  No, we didn't do Prague, Warsaw or Istanbul, nor did we ski in Bulgaria as is all the rage amongst the hip.  We did bog standard Europe.  One week in Paris, one week in the alps, one week in London.  Fabulous.  Privileged yes.  The standard route, yes. But the best family holiday we've had.

The thing that hit me the most is what we had missed travelling through Europe in the backpacking days where we had no prior bookings anywhere, lugged everything in a backpack and had extraordinarily limited funds.

It was fun but as the article says food is tourism too and eating Big Macs all through Europe because they were affordable and located close to the accommodation we could afford (usually in or near a railway station) is not seeing all a city has to offer.

In those days I didn't eat Gallette du Rois three.days.in.a.row.

And I certainly wouldn't have tried every damn fromage and jambon in Paris.

Eating a crepe was a possibility from a road-side stall but not a FANCY crepe at a bistro.

 And citron presse?  Are you kidding?  Would never have bought anything where you actually sat down unless it was upstairs at Burger King.

And certainly not from a cute local Steak Frites restaurant.

 I might've bought ONE macaron but not one in each flavour in the shop.

And I certainly would never have gone to another Macaron shop and bought a rainbow of Macarons in a special display box.

Travelling around in my early 20s was fun but being able to afford a few little luxuries travelling in my 40s was funner.

A Resolution to Appreciate Perth more in 2013

If Perth gave me a report card for 2012 it would say "Didn't try hard enough". Which is true. And some guy from The Huffington Post has made me feel all guilty about it. 

Yes Yes Perth has fabbo weather, the best beaches in.the.world and proper fish'n'chips but I've been in mourning for the East Coast and its plethora of fabulous Thai take-aways. I also miss jumping off the pier at Balmoral Beach. I'm fickle, so sue me. 

What makes this worse is that I'm a born and bred West Aussie. Multi multi generation West Aussie and all that as well.

A vintage car club displayed their oldy worldy jallopys in Forrest Chase today before re-enacting the first drive from Perth to Armadale.  The first drive took 7 hours so hopefully today's was a little quicker given the 38 degree temps.

So I've decided that my New Year's Resolution for 2013 will be To Appreciate Perth More.

If this resolution is as successful as my 2012 Don't Buy Anything Black resolution then I'll be almost successful but fail at the last moment.  I had to buy some black shoes for a black tie work function (surely that doesn't count?).

Cactus thingy, Forrest Chase - Perth City

On paper Perth should be heaven.  The weather is almost perfect, the beaches are white and the economy is booming.  And yet there is something not quite right.  It might be great to visit in the summer, enjoy the balmy evenings and watch the brilliant sunsets over the Indian ocean, but there is a closed-in feeling to the place.  A skepticism about anything from outside.  A local patriotism that is a little unsettling.  Made In WA is a big thing.  I almost expect West Australian flags to be flown from car windows on Australia day.  The State equivalent of Nationalism.  And the children here are even more Miraculous* than their Eastern States counterparts.

Unveiled - Bridal Exhibition from the V&A visiting Perth for a couple of months

BUT, in 2013 I resolve to look for the GOOD in Perth.

Like a teacher with a school child I will try to catch Perth doing something Good and create little diversions if I come across something bad or boring.

I may even bore you silly with some of those observations here.  Unless rising food prices mean I have to pawn this computer.

*BTW if you ever get the chance to see Matilda the Musical which has an opening song by this name, do so.  Fabulous.