In the News

Today is the day of the annual Rottnest Swim in Perth.  Rottnest is an island approximately 18 km off the coast of Perth.   It is 11 km long and 4.5 km wide with a total area of 19 square kms.  Many locals refer to Rottnest as "Rotto".


Rotto from space

The first European settlers to Rottnest were 13 Dutch sailors.  The island was originally named "Rattnest" meaning "rat's nest" in Dutch.  In fact, there are no rats on the island.  The Dutch saw the island covered with what is called a Quokka and mistook them for rats.  They are part of the Marsupial family (like Kargaroos) and they are only found on some of the smaller islands off the coast of Perth.


A Quokka

Originally Rottnest was inhabited by Aboriginals.  When the Europeans came, as was their habit in Australia, they converted the island to a prison and promptly locked up the Aboriginals.

Rottnest is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the Perth area now.  Unfortunately, we haven't made it there yet even though on a clear day we can see the island from our beach.  The snorkelling at Rottnest is supposed to be fantastic.

Today is the annual Rottnest Swim.  Hundreds of competitors swim from Cottlesloe Beach (not too far from our place) to Rottnest Island.  There are different categories of competion including singles, doubles and foursomes.  In the doubles and foursomes the swimmers take turns swimming while their teammates rest in the boat.  All of the swimmers must be accompanied by a boat for safety.  The youngest competitor in the swim has been 13 years old.

Even though there are many sharks off the coast of Perth and Rottnest, as far as I know there has never been an attack during the race.  However, in October of 2011 a man from Texas was attacked and killed by a Great White off the coast of Rottnest.  He was on a boat and the anchor got stuck.  He put on his scuba gear to go down and free the anchor.  Unfortunately, he never came back up.  The Great Whites have moved away from this area at this time of year since they only hang around here primarily in October and November.  Now the only shark related danger is the occasional Tiger Shark and while there have been attacks, Tiger Shark attacks are pretty rare around here and fatalities are even rarer.

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Australia has been in the international news recently for the infighting among the current Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, both of the "Labor" Party.  Rudd was briefly PM until he suffered from an internal revolt in his party.  Rudd was fairly popular in his short stint as PM among the public but he was very unpopular among his colleagues.  He has been described as secretive, unorganized and brutal.  Gillard led an internal revolt to get him ousted and then took over the job of PM.  She subsequently won the election in 2010 and managed to win a slim majority in Parliament after 3 independent MP's joined her.  After the elction Rudd had been appointed as the Australian Foreign Minister.  This week he was in Washington, DC doing his Foreign Ministering when he somewhat promptly and abruptly resigned and announced that he would be challenging Gillard for leadership of the party and job of Prime Minister.

While this may sound like it came out of nowhere, in fact, it is well known in Australia that Rudd has been scheming his take-over for quite some time.  He has been causing ripples within the party for months while trying to build support among his fellow Labor MP's.  Gillard ended up calling his bluff and has announced that on Monday there will be a leadership vote among the party.  Based on most of the data she should win the leadership challenge handily.  Rudd will likely then be ousted to the status of bitter, grumbling back-bencher.  While Gillard may be more popular among her colleagues than Rudd was, she is significantly less popular among the electorate.  My sense is that most people here don't really like her.  My own opinion is mixed.  On the one hand she is a typical cheating, lying, hypocrite politician (during the 2010 elections she famously promised that there would be no carbon tax only to put in a new carbon tax in 2011) so she can't be blamed for essentially doing what's expected of her.  On the other hand she is increasing taxes, doing nothing about the cost of living and taking away my living away from home allowance tax break.  While I am generally politically left leaning she is even a little too liberal for me.  She always goes on about a "fair Australia".  I'm not sure what it means exactly but it smacks of heavy handed socialism that, rather than helping to bring those at the bottom of society up, it brings those at the top down. 

Meanwhile, Tony Abbott, the leader of the Liberal opposition (which is actually conservative) is loving every minute of it.

An interesting side note on Australian politics:

Labor Party- left leaning, liberal agenda, American spelling of "Labor".
Liberal Party- right leaning, conservative agenda.
National Party- very right leaning, rural focus, lots of wingnuts.  Some of these folks think that Rick Santorum is too liberal. 
Green Party- very left leaning, socialist and environmental agenda.  Rarely get much done because they lose track of the time while listening to Fish, eating Doritos and saying "dude" a lot.

The Road to Nowhere

In Western Australia the legal age to drive is 17.  At 16 you are able to get the Australian equivalent of a Learners Permit.  However, Australia also recognizes drivers licenses from recognized countries, like Canada.  So, what this means is that the boys can drive in Australia because they hold valid Canadian drivers licenses, however, they can't drive in Australia because they're not 17 yet.  When Nadia and I went to get our WA licenses we asked about this and after some deliberation, head scratching and blank looks we were informed that the boys could drive in Australia for 3 months after their arrival and then they'd have to get a WA license that they could get until they turn 17.  Only later did we find an email from the very same department that said that they could drive here.  In any case, we've decided that for now both Zaren and Cyrus need to practice on the roads here before they can drive alone, legal or not.  We've started letting them drive here and so far so good.

 

Here's an action shot of the boys driving.  Cyrus in on the left.  To make it extra hard he's put all of his hair in front of his eyes and driven in the dark.  He just got a haircut too, if you can believe it.  On the right, Zaren is demonstrating the Australian 'no hands' technique.  Actually, he's in the garage just preparing for take-off.

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Perth really is a lovely city.  It has a lot going for it:  nice beaches, a vibrant central area, good transportation, good infrastructure, nice communities, great weather, lots of work, etc.  There are obviously a couple downfalls, however.  One is the very high cost of living here.  That said, if you work here your remuneration reflects the cost of living.  So, while we're not much further ahead we're not falling behind either.  The other, less flexible downside of Perth is the isolation.  Here is the distance to the other Australian major cities:

Sydney- 3938km
Melbourne- 3422km
Brisbane- 4363km
Canberra- 3723km
Adelaide- 2695km
Darwin- 4042km

So, getting anywhere in Australia from Perth takes a while.  Singapore is about 3900km away.  So, the distance from Singapore from Perth is shorter than that to Sydney, Brisbane & Darwin.  Although, it does make flights to SE Asia, South Africa and Europe a little easier.

There are some world class holiday destinations near Perth.  These include Monkey Mia, Margaret River, Ningaloo Reef, the Pilbara and others.  Unfortunately, the closest is about a 4 hour drive away from Perth.  It ain't called the 'most isolated city in the world' for nothing.

Sure, it means we can't just up and go away fro the weekend.  But a little alone time is good for the soul.

Location, Location, LoL

Over the last few days the weather in Perth has been lovely.  It's been hovering between 30 and 33 degrees every day.  In Calgary, that would feel really hot but here it's very pleasant.  I don't think it's because we've gotten used to the weather but rather that the air just feels different.  Winter here may be colder than we expect as we've read in several places that the homes aren't built for cold but they really should be.  I think we'll manage.

 With the cooler weather we are able to spend more time in our yard doing stuff like destroying Keva in a friendly game of badminton.

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A couple of weeks ago we all went to an outdoor theatre to watch a movie.  On Valentines Day, Nadia and I went to a different theatre on the University of Western Australia campus, near the CBD.  I haven't seen very many University campuses in my time but of those I have seen this one is certainly the most picturesque.  It makes me feel a lot more comfortable about the kids possibly going to University here.

 Unlike the previous outdoor theatre this one came complete with seats.  The surroundings and atmosphere were brilliant.  We ended up watching a french movie called "Romantics Anonymous".  It was a fun and funny movie and despite the french subtitles it was enjoyable.  We're sophisticated and wordly and stuff. 

Before the movie we set up our blanket, ordered a pizza made on-site and had a couple of beers.  We are becoming fast fans of picnicing.

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We are probably going to be buying a home when our lease agreement expires.  To prepare we've been paying attention to neighbourhoods, costs and real estate in general.  What we've concluded is that Perth has a strange property market.  Our current neighbourhood has a median home price of $1.2 million AUS.  We are about 15 km away from the CBD.  The closer you get to the CBD and river the more expensive it is.  The most expensive neighbourhood has a median home price of $8 million. We are in about the 20th most expensive neighbourhood in Perth out of approximately 200.  We are not going to be able to afford to buy a home where we are now.  The area we like quite a bit has a median home price of $770k, which is closer to our price range.  It's about a 5 minute drive to the ocean but it has a very nice atmosphere and lots of parks.

This is an example of our neighbourhood and many neighbourhoods around Perth.  On the left is a fairly large, new home with a stone fence, palm trees and a pool.  This home is probably worth about $2 million. In the middle is a vacant lot.  In most of the older neighbourhoods you'll see some older, run-down homes and quite a few vacant lots.  I'm not sure why there are so many vacant lots, particularly near the beach.  It may be a recent demolition.  It may be that someone bought the land and can't quite afford to build on it yet.  Or it may be that trying to get a contractor in Perth is like trying to carve a stone with a plastic knife: you can do it but be prepared for it to take a while.  In the newer neighbourhoods all of the homes are about at the same level.  In the medium-aged neighbourhoods, like ours, you see stuff like the picture above quite a bit.  The other thing you see is exemplified by the home on the right.  It was likely built in the 60's and was used as a beach hut vacation retreat for someone living in, what's now considered, the inner city.  Despite the land itself being worth almost a million dollars, you see these sorts of old, original, run-down homes quite a bit.  They are either owned by pensioners that can't maitain the upkeep or they are owned by a group of a dozen 20-something surf bums that use it to sleep, party, recover, rinse and repeat.

The other strange thing about this and some of the medium aged neighbourhoods, especially the ones near the beach, is that they are situated on big lots and as a result, they may have 1 or 2 homes on the lot.   In the picture above, you can see the white home on the right has a home with the green roof behind it.  80% of our neighbourhood is like that.

On the whole it makes for an odd neighbourhood atmosphere.  In the same neighbourhood you have the rich WASPs, the retired seniors living on a pension, families and surf bums.  It doesn't look like an affluent neighbourhood, it doesn't look like a poor neighbourhood and it doesn't look like a middle-class neighbourhood.  It's all sort of jumbled together.

This home is directly across the street from the other 3 shown above.  It is bigger than it looks in the picture and likely worth somewhere around $2.5 million.

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Speaking of neighbourhoods, there are 3 inner city neighbourhoods in Perth that may be of interest to those living in Calgary:

1) Victoria Park- an older, established neighbourhood with a lot of more recent in-fills.  It is currently undergoing quite a bit of genetrification.

2) Kensington- a trendy, hip place to shop, walk around and enjoy a latte.

3) Inglewood- formely a bit of a rough neighbourhood, it has gone through a significant transformation and is now considered one of the cool places to hang out and get a bite to eat.

The Cats Meow

Last night the city of Stirling put on a free concert as part of their summer festival at Scarborough beach.  We don't actually live in Perth but rather in Stirling.  Perth itself is quite small and basically only encompasses the CBD and immediate surrounds.  The 'proper' city of Perth is surrounded by other 'cities' such as Stirling.  It's similar to the model used in a lot of places, but not Calgary.  Scarborough beach is one of the biggest and busiest beaches in the greater Perth area.  It also has the distinction of being the most dangerous.  This is due to a number of factors including: the size of the beach, the number of people that visit it and the strong currents and crashing waves.  Over the last two weeks or so the city has been putting on a summer festival at the beach.  It's included stuff like an international beach volleyball competition.  This was the last night of the celebrations.   The "Cats Empire" was brough in to close the festivities.  They are an Australian group from Melbourne with an up-tempo, horn, percussion and piano-heavy sound.  They have a Ska base with a pinch of soul, hip-hop and rock for flavour.  Ironically, we saw them at the Calgary Folk Fest last summer.  Unfortunately, Keva had to work.  So, we dropped her off at work, went to the show, picked her up from work, came back for the last two songs and then went home.

 Zaren in the foreground listening to the opening act.  The venue was pretty cool in that it was a big amphitheatre surrounding and elevated above the stage.  The stage was situated on the beach. In the background you can see the ocean.  So, there was good sound and lots of good sightlines.

 The Cats Empire on stage.  There must have been at least 7000 people at the show or hanging around the beach behind the stage.  There were quite a few people swimming in the water throughout the night, even after it got dark.

Almost immediately after the last note played the first firework was launched over the stage.  We've been in Australia for 3 months now and this is the third fireworks display we've seen. Odd.

At The Movies

Going out to a movie in Australia can be a little different than what we are used to.  You have a couple of options for theatres:

1) You can go to a traditional theatre similar to what we know.  However, the seats are assigned and there are two classes of seats that have two different prices: premium and rabble. 

2) Througout Australia there are many outdoor theatres.  Perth itself probably has a handful of them.  Last night we went to the theatre at King's Park- the big park overlooking the CBD and river.  The doors open at 6:30pm and the movie starts at 8:00pm.  Many people arrive early, get a good seat and have a picnic dinner before the movie.  We arrived at 7:00pm and were relegated towards the back.  Surprisingly, the picture and sound quality was pretty good. 

Before the movie people are settling in, finishing their meals and painting targets on themselves for the mosquitos.  Not only are you able to bring food but you are also able to bring alcohol.  This is the first time I've had beer at a movie since we snuck some in at a drive-in theatre about 20 years ago.  We were in a part of the park that we hadn't visited yet and it was really beautiful.  We have SO much to do here still it's hard to know where to begin.

After the movie the lights come on as the credits play so that people are able to see where they're going.  The movie, in case you're wondering, was "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows".  I don't want to spoil the movie but suffice it to say this Holmes guy is pretty smart, although a little arrogant.  The only downfall is that if you have to go to the toilet at any time you are having to walk in the dark, through a park and it's about a 3 minute walk to get there, if you can find it at all.

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Last week the boys started hockey.  It was practice or "training" as they refer to it in Australia.  They had their second training this week and the arena wasn't foggy this time so we managed to get some pictures.



Cyrus doing a fly-by. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that the practice was in Calgary.  Same drills, same quality of play, same type of arena.  The only difference was the ice and the fact that the coaches wore full equipment on the ice.  I discovered after practice that the Zamboni they use doesn't put water on the ice.  They simply scrape it and collect the shavings.  So, by the end of the night the ice is very thin.  The boys said it wasn't bad when they were on it and it didn't look too bad.

Zaren moving in on a breakaway on the invisible goalie.  There are 23 players to make up two Midget teams, however, there is only one goalie.  I'm not sure what's being done about that.  In general, the skill level is diverse.  There are 2-3 very good players, about 5-6 good players, a handful of so-so players and a few that aren't very good skaters yet.  Last year they had two teams also and from what I can tell they played each other all year.  One team was 15-0 and the other team was 0-15.  Maybe there was only 1 goalie last year too?  If not, hopefully the teams are a little more evenly distributed this year.

Here's a shot of the motley crew huddled around their coach.  Much to my surprise Zaren and Cyrus are the only Canadians on the team.  On the men's rec and competitive teams there are lots of Canadians, however. When I asked one of the parents how they got into (ice)hockey they told me that it started with in-line skating.  From there it progressed to roller hockey and so on.  It's the equivalent of an average Canadian kid starting to play cricket.  Even so, some of the kids are actually quite good.  They wouldn't be on a AAA or AA team back home but not too far from it.  So, practice is once a week for a little while and then they start the games.  I'm guessing the hockey parents, unfortunately, are going to be the same here too.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

After our little heat wave things have finally cooled off.  For most of the week the temperature was in the low to mid 30's, which was very pleasant.  Since Friday it's actually been even colder and dipped into the high 20's which makes for a very nice, cool evening and a good sleep.

On a personal note, I'm starting to get much more comfortable at work and I'm finding my legs.  I think we're all starting to feel more comfortable with our lives in general.  Even the kids seem to have only need a day or two at their new school to adjust.  They're already meeting some people.  Of course, as they are Canadians (or from "Canadiana" as one of their classmates said) they are the flavour du jour.  They have been asked to say "aboot", querried about maple syrup, interogated on their french skills (Keva did well, the boys not so much) and questioned if they've lived in an igloo and seen polar bears.  To the last question they answered in the affirmative.

Here's some photos of recent events:

 The Regal Theatre where Nadia and I went to spend "An Evening with John Cleese".  For those unaware of John Cleese, he is most famous as one of the founding members of Monty Python.  He is also known as the creator and star of Faulty Towers and several movies such as A Fish Called Wanda.  However, I am most appreciative of his work with Python.  He told us amusing anecdotes about his life and profession and even answered some questions at the end.  I found this to be the most interesting portion of the evening.  Someone asked him a very simple question and his answer was about 5 minutes long and covered entertainment, philosophy, history, politics and economics.  And it was funny.  He really is a very talented, intelligent and impressive man but, alas, a little too old to be doing any silly walks.

 Here's as close as he came to a silly walk.

 Yesterday, we went to a local park that we haven't visited yet.  There is so much in the city and around the city to do that it's all a little overwhelming.  We rented a couple of these peddle thingys and we had a lot of fun.

 Then later in the day Zaren, Cyrus, Nadia and I went golfing.  This was our first golf experience here.  This was mostly due to the long and arduous journey that our golf clubs, along with our other sea freight, took to get here.  Also, since it got cooler it is much more pleasant to golf.  In any case, the 4 of us went to a public 18 hole golf course about 5 minutes down the road from our house.  They have a special twilight rate that is $6 per person after 5pm.  We managed to get 8 holes in despite not starting until about 5:30.  It was fun, frustrating, tiring, provoking, angering, laughable and encouraging.  In other words: golf.  This was a really good public course and it was in great shape with the exception of 2 holes being repaired.  If this is what we can expect for golf here it should be good.  So, all in all, it cost us $24 dollars for 4 of us to play 8 holes on a very nice public course.  I think that's pretty good.  Golf is one of the few things here that is cheaper than in Calgary.

So where was Keva, you might ask.  Well, while we were having funstration on the golf course, Keva was working the drive-through at Red Rooster.  After golf we ordered dinner from our baby.  She was very cute and didn't screw up our order, which is a good thing, because it would have been uncomfortable to explain to her why I had to complain about the service to her manager.  Unfortunately, minus their roasted chicken meals, this was your standard fast food fare: greasy, deep fried, etc.  It's about time she served us for a change.

It's Friday, Friday...

As mentioned, I was at one of our jobsites yesterday.  I've never been to a mining site before so it was very interesting and informative.  The people were nice and generally accomodating.  There have been a couple cyclones come through the area recently so they've had a lot of rain.  While the area is normally dry and red, yesterday it was an interesting mixture of a lush, green, red desert.

The kids had their second day of school.  It went much better than the first day, not that their first day was bad.  However, yesterday they managed to meet some people and interact.  Of course, one person asked them to say "about" (no doot aboot it, eh?).  Another asked about maple syrup.  One even told Keva that she sounded Irish.  Must be in her blood somewhere.

After school all three kids, coincidently, had their first athletic activities. The boys started hockey yesterday and Keva began gymnastics.  The boys really enjoyed hockey and fit in quite well with the group despite them being on the ice, yesterday only, with some men from the senior non-contact league.  There are actually quite a few Australians and only a couple of Canadians playing, which surprised me.  Either way, they enjoyed it.  They will be on a team of 11 players and the team will either be the "Flyers" or the "Avs".  Original.  How about the Perth Jaws or the Perth Tigers (snakes or sharks)?  Either way, I'm happy that they get to play.  Keva's gymnastics was also good, although, she is in the advanced recreation gymnastics.  That's essentially the same level she was in back home except here she is far more advanced than the other girls in her class.  However, if we put her into the next level, club team, it is higher than her level and very competitive.  She is primarily doing this because she enjoys it rather than for the thrill of competition.  So, we'll see on that front.

Last week the temperature was in the low 40's for several days.  This weekend they are saying it will get to the high 20's.  That may be a little too cold for us.

The Endless Summer

The kids 'endless summer' has finally come to an end.  Today, all three kids started at their new school.  By all accounts the day was about as good as the first day of school tends to be.  There was a little discomfort and a lot of new people.  They all made it through with flying colours: blue and light blue to be precise.

They seemed to like their new classes and teachers, for the most part.  The system is a little different here.  Specifically, the kids don't need to take a science or math unless they thing they might go into engineering or something similar.  Also, all of the kids have recess and lunch even in Year 12 (grade 12).  The only area where the kids are behind is subjects like Australian history.  Fortunately for the kids, and unfortunately for the citizens, the political system is the same as Canada, so that shouldn't be too much of a learning curve.

Tonight Nad and I are off to see John Cleese.  Tomorrow, I am flying out at 5am to go to the jobsite and then I'll return about 8pm.  I will likely be doing a silly walk by Friday.