posted by beautiful at 6:33 am
Our first day in Perth, what better place to visit than the UWA campus? I like the way the antiquity of the building contrasts with the freshness of the open space in this shot, and it's also kind of poignant cos Karen and Mylene are only just getting to know each other here, and that's very much what life at UWA was like for me: meeting people and building new relationships.
This is Nature's Window, which was far easier to move around in than the gorge, and it was also far less claustrophobic. You see flat open spaces dotted with trees, shrubs and the occasional goat. Very... cute...
Sunrise in Monkey Mia, before the rain came down and wrecked the visit for us. It doesn't look it, but it was pretty damn cold that morning and after snapping this photo, I pretty much ran into the cafe and stayed there for the next two hours.
This is one of the failed attempts at capturing synchronised starjumping on camera, but it's still hilarious to look at. We got off the road right on time because this massive truck came barrelling down the road out of nowhere.
A group photo of all the people on our bus (minus Fraser), after lunch on our third day together at Hamelin Pool. Eight of us joined another group that afternoon and headed back towards Perth, while the rest continued north towards Exmouth. They were dearly missed!
Me playing with the dogs at a farm in Northampton. I would pay lots of money to get Rocky to be like that.
Feeding a camel at the Greenough Wildlife Park. Never seen one up close or touched one before, and I swear, they are the cutest things. They have bristly beards and they're pretty mild-mannered, compared to the freakazoid kangaroos being held captive there.
Back in civilisation! Karen and I having lunch at a cafe called Bocelli's. At the counter there is a laminated photo of Andrea Bocelli, who visited the cafe in 2004. If that's not a marketing ruse that's in-your-face, I don't know what is. Oh wait, I know what was worse. When Beckham came to V.J in 2002 and someone put up a banner saying 'Victoria welcomes Beckham'. GAG.
Lisa baby turned 21 at Cafe Villa in Leederville, in the midst of good company, good ambience and even better food. I am however not eating all-day-breakfast for the rest of my life.
Karen and I on the bridge that connects Leederville to the train station. The Perth skyline is behind us, but you can only see bits of it sticking out behind our heads.
This isn't a very good picture of Mount St, but I like it anyway because it captures two sides of Perth: the commercial-y, concrete-y bit of it in the background, and a much more quaint, relaxed street in the foreground. This was taken from a cafe called Cimbalino's, which serves really good freshly-squeezed juices, and apparently really good food too.
Kathrynn and I at Cimbalino's. This photo only gets us posing, but it captures nothing of that wonderful morning where we sat there and laughed ourselves silly...
Talk about a perfect Sunday arvo (Aussie slang for 'afternoon', which is in my opinion, the most brilliant abbreviation ever). Russ took us all the way to Mandurah to soak up some of that 'everything will flow' southern vibe.
Russ and I conquered our fear! We were rewarded with some fantastic views of Mandurah's waterway, the blue sky and the parklands. And the freaks killing each other with bumper cars right next door.
Karen and I taking a stroll down the beach to check out the semi-submerged rocks where the swash came in.
This is pretty much it. It doesn't look so impressive here, but getting on the rocks and balancing there with our arms outstretched while Russ took the photos were just exercises in perfect co-ordination and timing. As you can see, we were really exerting ourselves when we should have been on holiday.
My first visit to King's Park at night. I reckon it's probably nicer to visit on a good day when the sky is clear blue and you can actually recognise what you're looking at. And, oh, when you won't have to struggle like I did with the camera's shutter speed.
This is visible proof that Karen can really be a ditz at times. She went off to take a shower without bringing her towel in with her. Not a very smart move, especially when it's winter and the ventilator is blasting cold air at you once you turn off the tap. That's her begging me nicely to give her the towel while I laugh sadistically and snap photos of her desperation.
Us parked in Mrs Trolio's car outside Applecross Pizza. We wrote the word 'pizza' on the windscreen because of the condensation. The word still remains on the windscreen today, and Mrs T said she's going to leave it there in memory of us.
A lazy autumn/early winter afternoon at the Art Gallery of WA. The walk there from the CAT stop is simply gorgeous.
Angelina and me. It's interesting how we met: we were both interested in the room at Johann's in the middle of last year. Eventually she got a room elsewhere, but she came back to visit at Wednesday night parties and that's how we met. We both have an agreement to call each other by our full names, because there is only room for one Angie at a time.
Paul and Cindy looking young and incredibly attractive one night at the Moon Cafe in Northbridge.
The traffic situation on the road the day we were headed into the hills for our Catholic Faith Renewal retreat. It's not very obvious but the trees have a purplish glow, and we've been told that it's because the eucalyptus trees in the hills give off a vapour that looks purple in the sunlight. Something to that effect, basically.
Literally catching some sun at the retreat. It was freezing cold the entire time, you can so tell from the way Karen is wrapped up like a Nonya dumpling.
This photo was taken by Geoff, a friend we made at the retreat. I'd pre-empted the shot being taken so I'd gotten my 'glowering face' ready.
That's Geoff, and his 'son', Isaac, drinking the Little Creatures Pale Ale in Fremantle. They'd come to Perth specially for the retreat, and were flying home that very night. Big fat hairy pity, if you ask me. If every holiday has a theme song, theirs can only be 'O Sacrament Most Holy', whereas mine will be something cooler, like Tracy Chapman's 'Baby Can I Hold You'.
This photo absolutely cracks me up. That lady was holding that position for so long that I'd enough time to laugh at her, conceptualise that she looked like she was shitting a bag, and get my camera poised for action.
"How can bloody cream of mushroom cost $11.50??" Shups and I at the Belgian Beer Cafe.
Shups and Meiyan on the way home in the bus. Perth buses are really great, but some Perth bus drivers think they're the shit. Karen and I cannot count the number of times we threatened to call Comment Line to do what Singaporeans do best: complain.
Our last night of our graduation trip. The theme: I Left My Dignity in San Fairlanes. Or Fairlanes Bowling Alley, to be exact. I dig this photo for one reason: how stupid does Andreas look with his shirt tucked in? Who cares if his score was 200?
And then there were the scores of they who look fantastic but cannot bowl. By 'they' I suppose I'm referring to Karen and I. Russ can bowl (comparatively speaking). And his beard matches his furry car seats. Nuff said.
The cops grabbing some food in Fast Eddy's. I was half hoping they were there to bust Paul and me for ringing the bells at the private suite next door and taking off shrieking like kids. But well, this is Perth after all.
I quote Paul: "finally! a real smile!"
The Foam Situation. Our last day in Perth, I decided to empty my shampoo bottle down the sink and rinse it out. By the time I was done, I'd created a massive mountain of white foam bubbling out of the drainage hole in the floor. This is the draininage hole after Claire had mopped the floor up, and banned everyone from taking a shower for the whole morning.
Our morning trip to Mt Lawley, the up and coming suburb of the hip elite in Perth. Once again, not a very good shot, but that sky! That's the kind of sky I will spend the rest of my life yearning for back here.
We went to a tea bar called Leaf, and the patrons at the next table had left a bunch of rose meringues and cupcakes behind. That's Claire nicking the stuff off their cake stand.
I'm eating the world's best bagel filled with bacon, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. The bagel wasn't stiff and rubbery like the crappy frozen ones you buy here; it was soft on the inside and delicately crusty around the edges. Found: the perfect bagel.
posted by beautiful at 7:48 am
