Paksworld

Oath gazes with interest at the Perth city skyline in Western Australia, no doubt unaware that this image gives its writer a touch of nostalgia…been there twice, loved it both times.

Photo courtesy of Marian Foster

Back in 1999, on our first trip to the southern hemisphere, we took several weeks, after the Melbourne Worldcon, to wander around Australia & New Zealand.    It was a wonderful, amazing, trip, and Perth was part of that wonder and amazement, even though I made the mistake of eating a meat pie at the fair (I’m a sucker for county and state fairs) that had been sitting too long on the counter, and the next few days were seriously unpleasant.  Not Perth’s fault–mine.  Perth wasn’t the only place I fell for (list places we went–yup, that’s right.)  (However, Perth IS the only place where I’ve heard a pipe and drum band attempt calypso music with the aid of an electronic synthesizer for the steel drums…speaking as someone who really does love the pipes, I have a word of advice…don’t buy the CD of this one unless you like musical horror.  Some matches are not made in heaven.)

Then I went back to Australia (and Perth) for SwanCon a few years ago, and met even more interesting/delightful/amazing people and saw even more lovely bits of the countryside.   So there are many good memories attached to Perth, from the best spring rolls I ever had in my life (restaurant a few blocks from the hotel) to a martial arts exhibition that was not only brilliantly impressive, but also funny (wow!) to…oh, name it, it was good.

I’m sure that Oath is having just as good an experience, and will never forget the place or the people.   Thanks, Marian, for sharing Oath’s adventures with me.