Hobart and Perth

As predicted, Hobart was cold and rainy ... but still very pretty.  This is the obligatory shot of Salamanca Place - overcast but still great. I snuck out for an excellent bacon and egg pie at lunchtime.

We did a day's work in Hobart on Thursday then flew on to Perth (3000km, six hours, two flights) which was long but reasonably uneventful except for an undignified dash through Melbourne airport to catch the connecting flight. Luckily the two members of Parliament with me were reasonably athletic and wearing flat shoes. This is not always the case. The hosties brought us extra wine.

Perth was glorious as always - one day I will get back for more than twenty four hours - the weather was just lovely. Clear and warm and the city sparkled. Because of the time zone change I woke up super early on Saturday morning so had time to have a wander around before the flight back to Canberra. I went up to Kings Park and looked back at the city - it is actually quite a bland city with nothing really to go "wow" about - but I could see how you could find it very easy to live here. A bit like Canberra I think.  That is the river, it is wide and flat and full of sharks.

I did a quick trip into the WA Art Gallery which was highly enjoyable. I was the only person in the historical section (in an older building attached to the main Art Gallery) - five rooms full of their 18th and 19th century stuff (yes, that is historical in Australia) and just me to peer at it as closely as I wanted for as long as I wanted. I could literally put my nose up the arse of a Rodin (Adam) and see how it was done.

The picture above is the setting up of a Thai cultural festival - it hadn't really kicked off yet but the cooking smells were AMAZING. The kids are playing in a square fountain that shoots up random jets to make walls of water that can trap you or let you through. Or just get you completely soaked....not a problem on such a lovely day. It was hard to jam myself back into the metal tube for another four hours to Canberra.

School holidays started today so I have re-packed my bag and am about to hop in the car to take the boys up to Sydney for a couple of days. We have never been proper tourists in Sydney so we will have a poke around and do anything that does not require Boats or Heights.