Rollin on the River

 Last night my department at work had our unofficial Xmas party.  They arranged a 3 hour river cruise on the Swan River, departing from the CBD and heading west towards Freemantle and the ocean and then back.  The festivities kicked off at 4:30.  Everyone was on their best behavior to start.  I had a chance to meet a few people I hadn't met yet and a chance to get to know more about some others (in some cases, more than I wanted to know). 

Here is the boat departing from Perth.  As we were leaving a gentleman sat down beside me and started talking in this funny accent.  Turns out he is my boss' boss and he is from...wait for it...Calgary.  It was such a relief to speak to someone that knew what I was talking about and could understand me when I said "I'm learnin a lot aboot the company, eh..."

This is one of the many communities that line the Swan.  Because the river is so close to the CBD it is a very sought-after location to live, even moreso than the beach by some people.  THE most expensive houses are close to the ocean and on the river.  As a matter of fact, we sailed past the most expensive house in Australia valued at $55,000,000.  That's well over 60 million Canadian dollars right now.  I would have taken a picture, however, anyone that can afford that sort of house can also easily afford to make any amateur papparazzi "disappear".  I'm not suggesting that the owner is engaged in any sort of criminal activities.  S/he could be a bit-time mining executive.  However, I read somewhere that many succesful CEOs have similar personality traits to sociopaths.  Just saying...  This particular community reminded me of a Mediterranean style area.

We're gonna need a bigger boat...Didn't see any sharks in the river, although, I was told that they frequent it.  However, I saw my first dolphin ever.  We saw a fin from a distance and then watched as it made it's way directly to our boat and road the boats wake.  I just happened to be standing right on the bow port starboard front of the boat when it came over.  As I was leaning over the ships rail gawking at the magnificent creature, mouth agape in amazement, the little bugger jumped up (I could almost touch it) and splashed me, covering me from head to toe (and mouth).  It then turned over and swam on it's back as if to mock me.  I didn't mind one bit and I'm still exstatic over the whole thing.  As it turns out there were quite a few dolphins and they love playing with the boats.  For the locals it probably wasn't a big deal, but for me it was awesome.

Coming back to Perth:  The river is a very highly used area.  People fish, boat, sail, kite-ski, jet ski, and any other water activity you can think of.  Here's one of the many sailboats on the river.  We also saw one sailboat that almost sunk and was being rescued.  Not sure what happened to it but it didn't look like much fun. 

Facing West:  The sunset near "The Sunset Coast".  We still haven't had a chance to go to the beach and watch what is supposed to be one of the most spectacular sunsets in the world.  This was nice anyways.

Some of my co-workers:  On the left is Rob my boss.  In the middle is Dave who is in my group.  Both are Poms.  Try to contain your amazement.  Everyone has been very nice so far which makes me wonder what the pack of scheming bastards have up their sleeves...

Initially, I wasn't going to post any of the pictures of the liveliness inside but then I changed my mind.  Fickle!  Thy name is Mike Klamer!  Anyhoo, it was an open bar and some folks very much took advantage of it.  In fact, it was a very lively event and everyone had fun.  There was a little dancing, a little singing (that's what we'll call it anyways) and good times in general.  All in all, a good group of people that work hard and like to let off steam.

After the cruise we stopped into the bar at the pier called the...wait for it..."Lucky Shag".  Not kidding, that's it's name.  When we were exploring the city in our first few days we happened to come across this bar and one of the boys asked "does that mean what I think it means?"  To which I replied "yes, but I don't know why they'd name a club after a 70's-style carpet..."