Wild Poppy and Fish and Chips: Saturday 17th November 2012

Lampshades at Wild Poppy

Had breakfast at Wild Poppy with H and F. We celebrated the fact that we’re reuniting on the West Coast, after having enjoyed several breakfasts, lunches and dinners on the East Coast when we were all living in Sydney. Love the funky look of the place and the eggs were delicious too.

The eating theme continued as afterwards, we had a late lunch of fish and chips with Mum and Dad in Rockingham. This is a seaside suburb south of Perth, about 45 mins drive from the city. Afterwards we sat in the park by the waterfront and enjoyed the sea breeze.

Lakes and picnics

I’ve been busy getting out and about this week. On Wednesday, I went to Tomato Lake, in Belmont with A, her sister-in-law and one of her Mothers Group friends. Tomato Lake is a conservation wetland in the suburbs with lots of birds and wildlife. A footpath around the lake makes for a stroller- friendly 1.6km walk.

Black swans and their offspring wandering around the lake unperturbed by picnickers

On Thursday, blue skies and sunshine made it a perfect day for a trip to Cottesloe Beach.

Indiana Tea House in the far left

It was really windy and I had to hang on to my hat.

On Friday, it was cake and coffee at Lo Quay, near the river at Riverton. A’s mothers group meets here regularly. There were three mums today and their babies, all boys! This part of the river looks like a great place to put in kayaks. J and I had driven past on the weekend before and seen quite a few kayakers paddling around. Today, the only energetic souls were three 10 month olds who were stuffing sand in their mouths and pinching each other’s rice crackers. The Mums were busy multi-tasking chatting, eating cake, feeding and intervening in rice-cracker-snatching!

Carrot cake – yum!!!!!

Mothers group

 

Renting is a nightmare

Been looking at houses in the Southern suburbs of Perth for the past 9 days. Been to about 8 viewings, and lodged one application today. In some suburbs, such as Willetton, the viewing is overrun with potential applicants. In one case, there were about 20 cars parked outside and hordes of people looking at the place. And that wasn’t even a brilliant property. Most of the time, the houses in this area within our budget, are 1970′s built and uninspiring, as in the photo below.

And people will still want these places because they fall into the zones for a couple of the city’s best schools – Rossmoyne and Willetton Senior High. And the agents don’t have to do potential tenants any favours. Its totally a landlord’s market and the shortage is so acute that apparently, some tenants offer more than the asking rent! Perth rental prices have tripled in the past 10 years. Its demoralising, and I think wistfully of our home in Sydney that we renovated and loved…..No chance of getting a renovated kitchen and bathroom for under $600 per week :-(

Decided to try some other suburbs not within this sought-after school zone.

Hi ho, hi ho, its off to work we go ….

Had my first job interview today. It wasn’t till 2.30pm, but as the job is North of the River, and I intend to live South, and getting there requires driving past the city, I drove up in the morning to do a reconnaissance and check out what the traffic would be like. Hmmm. At 8.30am driving towards the city, it was S-L-O-W. Ok, not quite Sydney gridlock slow, but still slower than what I would have liked. A cyclist overtook my car. Overall, it took about 40 minutes to get there. After checking out the location of the private practice, I was a tad sleepy, so on the way home, stopped by in Mount Hawthorn for a coffee. Found the New Norcia Cafe and Bakery, which sells wholegrain spelt bread (Score!) and it was here that I sat for a while to peruse the paper and imbibe some caffeine.

Later that afternoon, I had the interview, which went pretty well. Result: I’ve been in Perth 28 hours, and I now have a job! It definitely is a morale booster and makes me feel a lot more settled. Its like if I had a foot in each camp, well my weight has now shifted towards Perth.

On the way home, I stopped by a scheduled inspection for a house for rent. I thought to myself, I wonder if it will be 2 out of 2? I can call J and say “Hey sweetie, guess what? I have a job and we have a house!” But alas no……. the house had bedrooms ranging from small to tiny, was slightly depressing and wasn’t well maintained so was no place for the Nomad and hubby to live in. Back to househunting tomorrow!

Numero Uno

Day 1 in Perth. In my mind it’s in two parts. Part 1 began with a 5.45am wakeup, and J driving me to Sydney Airport. Got a telling off from the Qantas check-in counter girl for having a 25.5kg suitcase, even after I tried to appeal to her humanity by explaining I was relocating. Said goodbye to J.

Part 2 began with QF575 landing in Perth at 10.10am, and a little boy throwing up on my hand. I was trying to pass his mother a plastic bag for him to throw up into and wasn’t fast enough in withdrawing my hand…… Ah well.

An hour later I’ve been reunited with my parents who are so glad to have me around (ahem, at least for now), and we’re back at my parents house. A shower, some lunch, a couple of phone calls to Perth friends. Then, I feel strangely unsettled, like I’ve forgotten something. There is nothing I *have* to do right now. After the manic busy-ness of the past 4 weeks packing and moving, this is a very strange feeling. I decide to get some groceries and toiletries. I head into Garden City shopping centre, the shopping centre I frequented with my high school and Uni friends (hugely expanded, renovated and more upmarket than it was in 1995). The Health Food store has a disappointingly small range, but (hooray!) Woolworths Garden City has almost the same range as the Woolworths we frequented in Sydney.

I grab the rolled spelt, rice milk and some other staples. And I am thrilled to see the T2 shop in the shopping centre. I definitely want some T2 tea, because when one moves across the country, one needs some constancy and a comfort drink. I was going to drive to Fremantle (15 minutes away) to get some beans and lentils from Manna Wholefoods but I am feeling really tired right now.  That’s enough productivity for now.

In line with my resolve to destress and have more balance in life, I sit down and enjoy a cup of tea when I get home. See, I *can* relax. Sometimes.