Things I will miss about Perth

Hi again. Yes, it's me and I'm still alive and thriving in the great land of Oz. I dropped off the radar there for a few weeks and didn't even realize that I had completely stopped blogging! I thought about it on many occasions - in fact, I always think about writing when I'm taking my walks in the park. I have a favorite place I go for excercise called Hyde Park just a few blocks south of my house. It's a big beautiful park with lush mixed gardens where you can find English flora and deciduous trees (yay!) budding and blooming in their seasonal splendor amongst the leafy palm trees and tropical plants that never seem to shed their leaves or lose their color. The deciduous trees - I don't know what kind they are - surround two great big ponds in the center of the park and shade the walking path that encircles the ponds. One of my favorite parts of the park are the giant Morton Bay Fig trees with their far reaching branches that stretch for what seems like miles and their massive roots that grow out of the ground and make climbing around on them fun. My other favorite part of the park are the baby ducks and swans that have recently hatched and look like big water bugs scuttling around the top of the water behind their parents.

Today I actually had to stop and let a duck family scurry across the path in front of me. I watched them approach in haste, one adult duck and three babies, in a hurry to reach their watery destination and perhaps their lunch. As they ran towards me and the footpath, their little webbed feet eagerly slapping the grass, I realized these little ducklings and their duck parent were quite determined to get to the water and nothing was going to stop them. If I hadn't stopped in my tracks when their feet hit the pavement, they may very well have run straight into me. Every time I go for a walk there I find things that I should take pictures of, but I never take my camera.

On weekends when the weather is fine the park is filled with families and groups of friends barbequeing and young couples picnicing, taking leisurely strolls, or just laying about in the grass. Aside from this little oasis I have started noting the other things I will miss about Perth, among them are the beach, the ocean, and being able to see the Milky Way and all the other trillions of stars visable in the southern hemisphere.

I moved into a new room this weekend; same house, different room. My French housemates moved out - Yay! and I took one of their rooms. This room is twice as big as the shoebox sized one I was in before. It lacks a few minor amenities of the other room, but has plenty of storage space for all my things. I made a few IKEA purchases to cozy it up a bit more, it's just too bad I will only get to enjoy it for a few more months.

I also participated in City to Surf this weekend with my friend Gail and the Curvetts - a group of 30 or so Curves gym members. City to Surf is one of Perth's largest fundraising events each year and it topped out with 37,000 participants this year. We walked 12k (7 miles) which literally stretched from the start line in the city to the finish line in a park near the beach. Gail and I achieved our goal of arriving at the finish line under two hours by just 30 seconds and that's because we decided to jog in the last minute. Although we felt quite accomplished in the end, we were sore, tired and hungry and our feet ached with blisters. I only wish I was fit enough to have run it - NOTTT!!!

After my walk this morning, I spent the afternoon leisurely. I shopped and met up with my friend Pierre for coffee and more shopping in the city - he helped me pick out a sexy cologne and fun printed tee for the BF. Hope all of you spent your Labor Day weekend soaking up the last bits of summer... mine is only beginning!