We have just finished a week together as a family in Perth, WA.
David and Yuki are now living and working here and Cathy decided it would be nice to have a holiday here with the girls. Jill and I came over to help Cathy and to also spend some together as a family. Perth is a vibrant city and we had lots of fun travelling around together. The city has a system of free buses in the CBD known as CAT buses (Central Area Transport). Our hotel was on the Red Cat Route which travelled along the length of the CBD. The entire city seems well served with a network of bus routes, as well as four or five train lines.
One of these buses took us up to Kings Park where we had a walk around the botanic gardens and found a great view across the river to the city. The native plants were all in flower and provided us with an introduction to those that we hope to see on our later trip around the South West of WA with our friends. The track along the river that went past the Boabab trees and over the glass bridge was fascinating. I am amazed by Cathy’s ability to carry little Violet for long distances when she gets tired. I tried to help from time to time, but apart from Violet wanting her mum, I found her to be quite a heavy lump. My back started to hurt after a little while of carrying her. Violet is three years old now, but in her own little way, she still wants to be two. She keeps saying “I like two, that’s my number”.
On other days we caught the ferry to South Perth or just looked around the shops in the city. By afternoon, violet was a getting tired and I was able to take her back to our hotel for a sleep while the others looked around. One of the places that Audrey found was an Aboriginal Art exhibition sponsored by the mining firm Rio Tinto. Each year, they display art work from communities in the Pilbara Region. They pay for everything and don’t charge a commission as normal galleries would. Each year they sell nearly 250 paintings and provide support for local artists. Cathy found one painting that she liked and was excited to take it home.
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We had a couple of very nice dinners all together as a family. At one in Northbridge, we found a pizza restaurant where the manager was a 76 year old Italian lady that could have easily passed for my favourite Aunty Phyl. David and Yuki’s choice of restaurants was excellent and we had some great meals out together.
On Saturday (Grand Final Day) we had a lovely lunch at David’s house and watched the game intermittently on TV. It was a scrappy game and, unfortunately, the local team (Fremantle Dockers) who were playing in their first AFL Grand Final lost. We had been to the city of Fremantle which was decked out in the team colours of purple, so the team were not at all without local support.
Cathy and the girls left for home on Sunday while Jill and I had lunch with Yvonne and her husband Michael. I had met Yvonne on my recent trip to Antarctica. She and MIchael were very gracious hosts, inviting us home to their house and cooking a fabulous lunch. Later, it was quite sad walking around Perth on our own and coming across places where we had so much fun with Cathy and the girls, except that she and the girls were no longer there, but at home again.
It was also a wonderful time catching up with my friend Ibrahim over coffee one day while I was in Perth. He and I had worked together at Control Data Corporation over 35 years ago and it has been perhaps 10 years since i last saw him.
Good to hear you had a happy family time. We continue to pray as you travel.