Sunday May 3
An eventful day that passed pretty quickly. Most Sundays do. Had lunch in church and Janelyn dropped by with KM and Kaela to say bye. The poor girl, her voice is so raspy from coughing but it sounds really funny to hear it so low-pitched. Had to cajole her into taking a photo with me cos in her own words, she was shy. I wonder who she learned to say that from!
Elizabeth, Kaela and me in church
Arrived at the airport early, checked in two kilos over the limit but didn’t have to pay for extra – thank God. Had drinks over chats in the canteen and then hurriedly said goodbye. Note to self: should arrive at boarding gate at least 20 minutes in advance, if not half an hour. Apologies to those I didn’t get to speak to much, but thanks very much for coming to see me off.
Send-off party at airport
Send-off party again
Pretty uneventful flight. It took five hours and while Jetstar provided a complimentary bottle of water, it wasn’t enough and I left my wallet up in the cabin so didn’t buy anything. Had a long chat with the lady beside me about Singapore, Australia, journalism, media, politics… She’s in the publishing business herself and it was an interesting chat really!
David met me at the airport and we were off to his place, where I’m staying at for three nights. Nice place, walking distance to the beach, which I’ll check out tomorrow. The weather is chilly at night, about 10ºC when I arrived. Nice.
Late start to Monday. Decided to go to Whiteman Park where there’s a wildlife park. There were enclosures where visitors can get up close to the animals, there was an Australian farm show etc. The sun got really hot though the temperate is in the mid-20s in the daytime. Little cloud cover and the sun is as scorching as Cambodia’s, just not as warm when shaded.
Upclose with the kangaroos
Rolling in the damp soil
Do you know they sell emu burgers at the wildlife park cafe?
Kookaburra sits on the ol' gum tree...
Have you ever seen a koala bear on the ground?
With David and the koala bear named Dominic
Farm show - dog rounding up the herd
Only way to differentiate the sheep from a sweater is the legs that stick out
Bunnies for sale: A$20
Petals the buffalo
Estelle was fascinated by the ponies
Literally a chocolate factory
We had a late lunch at the Margaret River Chocolate Company, where they make their own chocolates (many types too!) on site. Wanted to visit a winery but most of them were closing already. It’s really slow, the life in Perth. Even tourist attractions close at 5pm and Mondays are kind of even slower. I hear Fridays are unofficial half-days. Really, how unproductive!
We headed back and then out again much later for a late dinner at Little Creatures, a brewery in Fremantle. The place is huge and really atmospheric, with cheerful and laidback waitstaff. We had frites, lamb pizza and mussels. We might come back again for fish and chips next door, I think.
Little Creatures
The plan tomorrow is to head out to the beach in the morning. And explore the city center while David and Estelle are at school. A slow and relaxing start to the seven months ahead so far.
