Perth

Greetings from Perth blog fans. Some say that Perth, the capital of Western Australia, is the most isolated capital city in the world. I simply say it's a bloody long way from anywhere. It took us three hours to fly here from Adelaide, and it's only when you look at a map you realise just how far Perth is away from everywhere else, and just how big Western Australia (I'm gonna say WA from now on as it's easier to type) is. I saw a postcard the other day, showing the entire UK, the State of Texas, Malaysia and Singapore superimposed over the area of WA, and there was still room to fit in probably a couple of Belgiums. Yet, a mere 2 million people call WA their home, with over half of those in Perth itself. Yup, you may be getting the jist of this, there's a lot of nothingness in WA.

OK geography lesson over. You may have the impression from the last paragraph that Clare and I have regretted flying here. Not a bit of it. Perth is a lovely city with a very laid-back style thats so different to the rest of Oz's cities that we have visited so far. We've been here for a few days now, enough for a good mooch about. Here's a few piccies of the place:

Now, you may or may not be aware of Clare's quest to visit the 3 Welshpools of the world. Welshpool, Mid-Wales - an obvious tick. Welshpool, Victoria - tick. Welshpool, Perth? We had to go. We discovered to our delight that Welshpool, Perth was only 15 minutes train ride from the city centre, a mere 3 buck train ride. We arrived there to find that Welshpool, Perth is basically a big industrial estate, but it didn't deter Clare one bit:

So there we go. Mission complete. All 3 Welshpools of the world visited. Lovely.

The next day was ANZAC Day here, when Aussies have a day off to remember all the Aussie and NZ troop who fought (and died) in wars since WWI. This is where the Aussies really embarass the British. ANZAC Day is a REALLY big deal here, and everyone, and I mean everyone crowds onto the streets of their cities and towns in the morning and applauds the parade of war veterans as it makes it's way through town, with plenty of marching bands thrown into the mix. I think we should get remebrance day off back home, so we can make more of a big deal of it too. And not just use it as an excuse to spend all day in the pub. Well, maybe just the afternoon in the pub.

-Si