Western Australia - A Retrospective look at our time in WA - Part 1

From January to August, 2010 John & I were fortunate enough to live in a spacious 10th floor apartment on Terrace Road, East Perth. From our unit & balcony we looked out over Langley Park, across the Swan River towards South Perth.

Perth, WA: Terrace Road Apartment block. Our unit was on right hand side of building, 10th floor; top left-view from balcony looking west, toward city; lower left-view from main bedroom over balcony looking east; the pool & sauna complex on ground floor level

Langley Park is a large flat grassed area which was once the Perth Air Strip. Today this great open space is used for many activities & functions. There was always something to look at & it was very hard to stay away from the windows or the balcony! 
There were remote controlled  model planes, some flying higher than the balcony; remote cars whizzing around the grass; kite-surfers on skate boards; personal trainers putting their clients through fitness routines; lunch time team games with workers from nearby work sites; people walking, running & stretching; people sitting soaking up the sun & relaxing; sometimes the park became an extra car park for events such as - international cricket matches at the nearby WACCA; large conferences at the nearby Convention Centre; triathlon events & fun runs - the park was then also often the marshaling area.
And then there were the major events like the 3 day State Primary Schools T-ball championships - for this the grass was line marked with 12 or 13 diamond pitches and in April came The Red Bull Air Race - where the whole park was transformed into an airstrip complete with hangars, fuel tankers, fire engines, catering marquees, toilets, etc, etc, etc; and the river became the flight 'raceway' with inflatable pylons marking the flight path for the competing pilots.

The Swan River was also a constant arena of changing activities & light which often compelled me to take more photos!

Perth, WA: Swan River, Morning Moods. What an amazing view to wake up to every day - I think you will see why I just
had to take more photos!

Perth, WA, Swan River, Evening Moods - Sunsets & Storm clouds;
And an early morning rainbow with one end right on top of the Circus tent in Langley Park

My first great display on the river occurred a week after I arrived in January - the Australia Day Airshow & Fireworks display. We had several friends over for the afternoon & evening & managed to fit dinner in, as the sun set, between the Airshow & the Fireworks. Some of the boats started lining up in the river the day before with many more vying for vantage spots during the day. There were strict exclusion zones for 'boatees' in the area were the 8 firework barges were positioned in the river.


Australia Day, Perth, 2010 - Parachutist with huge Australian Flag;
a couple of the many planes taking part in the airshow:
boats taking up vantage points in the river; a few of many photos of the great fireworks display!

Perth, WA - Hail Storm, March 2010

Perth, WA: Late one Monday afternoon in March Perth had the most amazing & violent hailstorm. Many areas flooded, including Langley Park! Hundreds of cars were badly hail damaged & many houses sustained water, roof & window damage.

Traffic throughout Perth was brought to a stand-still, the CBD was grid-locked for ages. John walked home in 40 mins, via the city, from his office near Kings Park & not one bus/vehicle passed him!! 

In the photos above you will get some idea of what the storm was like from my 10th floor sanctuary. The lightening was incredible, made me move back from the windows several times! The top right photo is one of those 'lucky shots' -just as I took the photo of rainbow & clouds a bolt of lightening zig-zagged right across the rainbow!!

April was a busy month! John & I spent Easter at Denmark, WA in a very nice house of a friend. Denmark is on the south coast 50km west of Albany, much cooler & wetter than Perth. The wood fire was great! Bought Jazzi Ugg boots at the factory here - John's are brown suede & mine are Red Leather! They had lots of use throughout the the cold Perth winter! The trees in WA are so magnificent & beautiful!

 Denmark, WA

Denmark, WA Easter 2010: a glimpse of some of the beautiful scenery around this area; lower right, Elephant Rocks



Red Bull Air Race, Perth, WA, 2010 

Perth, WA, Red Bull Air Race highlights: Race planes in Langley park; the row of hangars in the park;
River views showing inflatable towers marking the race course & a couple of the small race planes doing practice runs;
centre top, 3 of the acrobatic planes showing some precision flying skills! All photos taken from our balcony!



Perth, WA, Red Bull Air Race: our birds eye view of presentation ceremony; Race planes leave Langley Park; Packing up was an extremely efficient logistics exercise - started after final ceremonies, continued under flood lights, by Tuesday semi-trailers were taking containers away to be loaded on to seven 747's to fly to next race venue. By Wednesday the only evidence of the Race Airport was the runway line markings - Langley Park was once again a park!



And then at end of April visiting family!  There were 6 from Blackwater, Qld - Tracey [daughter], Ken [Son-in-law], Jessica [10] & Joshua [5], Melina[Ken's niece] & Ellen [German aupair] and Ben [Son] from Brisbane. We managed to provide sleeping for everyone thanks to all my friends who lent airbeds, sheets, towels, pillows & blankets! There was 9 of us for the 4 nights Ben was there! Had dinner out at Cafe Italia for Ben's birthday before he flew back to Brisbane on midnight flight!After he left the rest of us had a few days at Margaret River, stayed in holiday house called 'Dolphin House' for 3 nights. Visited Jewel Caves on way there & did day trips to Cape Leeuwin, Voyager Winery & the surrounding  countryside. A visit to the Margaret River Chocolate factory was, of course, enjoyed by all! 

Perth, WA, Family visit: John, Tracey & Ken in kitchen; all of us at Kings Park; Ben, at his birthday dinner;
Tracey, Ken & Josh; Jessica, Ellen, Josh & Melina



Margaret River area, SW corner of WA: Grandchildren Jessica & Joshua at base of a couple of the huge WA
eucalyptus trees;
Ken & Josh in their Big Guy/Small Guy BBQ aprons, ready to cook dinner; Family & scenery in Jewel caves;
Ken, Ellen & Jess at Cape Leeuwin, where the Indian & Southern Oceans meet & Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse.

Margaret River area, WA: Voyager Winery has attractive South African Cape design buildings & the most
amazing rose gardens as well as very nice wine!

 Lunar Eclipse, June,2010 

Perth, WA: Photos taken from our balcony of the partial Lunar Eclipse in June.
Clockwise from left photos were taken at the following times: 7.45pm; 8,03pm; 8.38pm; 8.55pm

Next part to be posted tomorrow!