Observations about Perth

1) Perth is hot hot hot. As in Dubai in August hot. 39C hot. Phew!

2) There is some stunning colonial and neoclassical architecture in the centre of town, intricate balconies and creamy carved pillars, but it's mostly ruined by tacky shop fronts. Oh, and there is a Disneyesque Ye Olde London shopping street (see photo) lined with such English staples as the Australian Life Saver shop and designers selling bags made from kangaroo leather. Inconguous.

3) People here do that diagonal way of crossing traffic junctions when the lights are green that I noticed in Singapore and KL. Seems dangerous to me, but hey, I go with the local flow.

4) The bells of St. Martins in the Field are housed in a futuristic looking glass bell tower by the ferry port. Why? No idea. A present from London in the 80's, apparently.

I would probably enjoy Perth a lot more if I wasn't so zombified from getting up at 3 bloody 30 AM!!!!!

The strangest coincidence

My last days in Wellington, now that we have well and truly moved out (the inspection went off without a hitch today), are spent at Combie and Sarah's house in Mt. Victoria. By a strange coincidence I have a bedroom with a view of Oriental Bay and the Rimutakas, exactly in the opposite direction from the view we had when we first moved to Wellington. In fact I can see Carl and Elisabeth's place, where we spent those first few cold and windy weeks, in the distance perched on the hill. Weird, a reversal of direction, then arriving and now leaving, looking forwards and back... You get the drift.

Goodbye Wellington! It was nice knowing you.

The prize for most unbureaucratic process goes to...

The AA for de-registering my car for free and without asking for any paperwork bar my driving license number. Plus the guy who did it was from Cape Town, so we could have a nice chat about South Africa while I filled out the - very simple - form. As opposed to Vodaphone's shenanigans.