The Denmark Report (The Big Bang Report)

Hi again,

Traveling is such hard work, but somebody's got to do it. Since the last time, we spent a few days in Perth city, then went on a two-day surfing trip (“surfari”), then continued going south and east along the coast. This region is so totally different from the northern parts of WA - it’s made up of huge forests and farmland and historic towns. We plan to get as far east as Albany before heading back to Perth later this week.

Perth

There’s something about the atmosphere in Perth that’s easy to notice but hard to define. In the Lonely Planet guide they put half a page trying to explain it, and ended up with something that nobody can understand. I don’t think I can do better, therefore the text you’re reading is probably a waste of time.

The place is neither sleepy nor hectic. The governing buzzword is “lifestyle”. There’s a rush, but it’s a rush to live the good life (rather than, say, to survive, or succeed, or beat everyone else). Both in Perth and in Melbourne you see plenty of office workers in suits around the city center, but in Melbourne they’re always hurrying somewhere, while in Perth they’re having a drink and a laugh with friends (after work. That means 17:00 sharp).

You see it in the meticulous streets, in the way families enjoy the sun in the parks, in that street we walked along in Subiaco where in 10 minutes we passed 3 gourmet ice-cream parlors, 4 bookshops, and god knows how many fancy cafes. Life here is almost too good (that’s a quote from Lonely Planet).

What’s the deal? There are a few thousand people in the wilderness in the northern part of the state, mining iron and selling it abroad at a terrific profit. Somehow this wealth finds its way to Perth. It’s not much of a tourist city, but it’s one of those places where it’s real easy to have a good time and you can catch a glimpse of things that might have been… if only… you know.

Naturally, once in the big city we attacked the food scene with a vengeance. For Leil HaSeder we had Indonesian Kneidalach in chicken soup. On another occasion we tried kangaroo steak. It was absolutely delicious, somewhat like lean beef and prepared just right (we had it in a Belgian-themed cafe, of all places).

Hine Ba Od Gal Gadol (here comes another big wave)

Like mountain biking, surfing is harder than it looks. And we didn’t even learn to surf; we just practiced standing up on the board. It was great fun, and in addition to surfing there were some other attractions: Pinnacles Desert at sunset, driving over dunes at an 80-degree tilt in the vehicle that Simon the Guide called his “Wild Wicked Beast”, non-venomous-snake-handling, sandboarding, sleeping in an illegal structure called a surf shack, etc. Boy, our insurance company better not be reading this.

Our courageous (if somewhat wacky) guide managed to take a photo of both of us catching the same wave, which enabled him to state (and then repeat several times) his observation that “the couple that surfs together stays together”.

We thought we’re a little old for learning to surf, but it turned out that one of our companions on the trip is a 38-year-old hairdresser from England. She said she wanted to try surfing before she reached 40.

The Car

We traded the campervan for a shiny new red Hyundai Accent, which, compared to the camper, is a lightweight little bug with lots of power. The wheels are so tiny they could fit on a Lego model. It’s just for a week, but you get used to it very quickly. The car certainly has more character than the dull-white Corolla we had in NZ. Tentative nickname is “the pony”.

Uzi Landau

Uzi Landau is a right-wing politician/ideologue. We got to thinking about him while touring in the Margaret River region. Uzi Landau once blamed his political opponents of “caring only about cheese and wine”. In Margaret River it seems that all anybody ever cares about is cheese and wine (and chocolate, and fudge, and surfing). Apparently, the system is working quite well. Life there is so nice that it makes Perth seem harsh by comparison.

There are 76 wineries in the region. We only visited 8, but if you’re buying West Australian wine anytime soon and want advice, our Official Tasting Team recommends: Brookland Valley, Xanadu, and Voyager Estate. The last one is also recommended by the Official Tasting Team’s driver. They make excellent non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice from Semillon grapes.

What’s Next

Dana is flying home this weekend (someone has to feed this family). Ron is staying some more. It’s solo time for both of us for a while, but at least we can both keep eating Tim Tams (actually Ron always eats them all anyway).

Adios,

- Dana & Ron