There's No Place Like Home

Howdy my (non-existent?) readers!

If you’ve been reading my blog from the start, you will remember that I recently made the move back to my hometown of Perth from Sydney, where my job is. My Dad and I drove all the way back to Perth – that’s 4000km for those of you playing at home – and it took us four and a half days. We saw almost 100 road kill kangaroos, drove through four Australian states, crossed three state borders, stayed in four country pubs, did hundreds of trivia questions with each other, ate thousands of lollies (okay not really, but we did have a lot!) and saw zero whales in the Great Australian Bight.

 

 

 

It was a fantastic experience. One I’m in no hurry to do again, but a fantastic experience all the same. Not too many people can say they have driven across the Nullarbor, much less in a Hyundai Getz! And we survived! I’m so proud of us. The trip reminded me of how much I mother trucking love Australia, and how amazingly beautiful it is.

 

 

 

But then I got back to Perth and remembered how amazingly beautiful my home town is too. I have always loved Perth, but it is only now that I’ve been away from it for a while that I realise fully how lovely it is. That’s a bit cliché I suppose – but hey, in a way my whole moving to Sydney experience was a bit of a cliché now that I look back on it. I really wanted to be one of those success stories. One of those people that leaves Perth and makes it big in their field and they never come back, because they’ve found such success away from little old Perth. Perth is just that place they mention (albeit still very proudly) they’re from in magazine and newspaper articles, and the media back in Perth never tire of proudly declaring that so and so is from Perth and look how famous they are now! Of course I’m mostly thinking of celebrities who were either born in Perth or trained for their profession in Perth – Melissa George, Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, Rove McManus – but nevertheless, there are many people from Perth who are very successful and we are so proud of all of them.

So I packed my bags for Sydney thinking I was off to bigger and better things, and even though my family still lived there, that Perth would soon just be a memory. Just that place I was born and started out in. And I did find bigger and better things, but I also realised things were pretty great in Perth still too.

Last night I drove to a friend’s new home in the southern suburbs of Perth and driving this way is something I always have loved, even before I left Perth. I live in the northern suburbs so I had to go across the Narrows Bridge, over the Swan River and past the entire city skyline and Kings Park. And every time, especially at night, when Perth is all lit up and sparkling, I almost lose concentration on the road because I am so besotted with the sights around me. Perth may the most isolated city in the world geographically, but despite this it is such a pretty city, and I love gazing around at it as I drive across the Narrows. Sure it doesn’t have a huge harbour or an Opera House or an Arts Centre or a Story Bridge, but it’s still beautiful. I always find myself smiling when I see Council House all lit up in rainbow colours, ditto with the Bell Tower, when I see the lights on the trees on Fraser Avenue in Kings Park, when I drive past the South Perth Flour Mill at Christmas and it’s been decorated with lights and has a star on the huge pine tree that stands next to it, when I am coming back towards the north and I can see the War Memorial on Mt Eliza lit up. I’m making it sound all about lights, which I guess in a way it kind of is, but that is when I think Perth is most magical. It looks stunning during the day too of course, but at night time it just glows so peacefully. Perth did used to be known as the city of lights, after astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, could see Perth all lit up as he passed over my fair city in the Friendship 7 space craft in 1962. The people of Perth turned on their lights at the right time, and stood in their backyards waving torches, and he could see them all the way from space.

So I drove over the Narrows again last night after visiting my friend and soaked in the beautiful views as much as I could. It made me so happy to be back. I had missed this gorgeous place. Maybe the connection is just all the childhood memories I have of growing up around these landmarks, but I still love them just as much as a 28 year old today.

Perth isn’t Sydney and it isn’t Melbourne. Every city has its own identity and pros and cons. But I love Perth. I love that it’s not too big. I love that everyone knows each other somehow or through someone else (hence the term ‘you’ve been Perthed!’ when you meet someone who knows someone you know). I love the perfect beaches and the views of the city you get when you stand on Fraser Avenue. I love the burning hot summers (the pleasant mildness of constant 24 degree days in Sydney just didn’t do it for me! I’m way too used to extremes!) and the small town cheeriness of our suburbs. I love how there are no toll roads and that because we don’t have some things other states take for granted or have in excess – large sporting events, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, inclusion in concert tours by international artists, a super thriving television and film industry,  and (up until recently) Zara just to name a few – we appreciate and value them so much more when we do have them (who hasn’t asked a relative to bring them back a box of KK’s from the eastern states?). We love what we have and make the best of it, and sure we’re a bit behind Sydney and Melbourne, and sure there are still people who live in Perth who seem to make it their number one mission in life to whine incessantly about how boring and quiet Perth is and how there’s absolutely nothing to do here and how WA is a nanny state. But I truly believe Perth still has its little gems. There is plenty to do, if only you look for it. If you are determined to talk Perth down then you will find nothing to do. Get a little motivation and get out there and discover this city. And same would go for any city! Every city has something to see. Not all cities are mega tourism drawcards like Sydney or New York City or Paris, but every city still has things to offer residents and tourists alike.

So I’m glad to be back. Not just to be reunited with my family and friends and be able to drive around places and actually be familiar with the layout of the streets and know where I am going, but also to rediscover and immerse myself in it once again. I can’t wait to hire a bike and ride it along the beach at Trigg and Scarborough. I can’t wait to walk the tree top walk at Kings Park again. I can’t wait to go to Carols by Candlelight by the Swan again, and do my Christmas shopping at Karrinyup and feel so proud when Perth rallies together for Telethon later this year. I can’t wait to wake up to and fall asleep to the sounds of the crickets outside my bedroom window in summer, and walk around my suburb and dodge the sprinklers that are on just before dinner, or smell the barbecues cooking in backyards as summer gets going. I’ve come back at a good time – today was 32 degrees and I could just begin to feel the pulse of summer time.

Summer in Perth is magic. I’ve missed it dearly. And while I will keep travelling away from it constantly with work, forever changing time zones and hemispheres and climates and summer clothing to winter clothing and back again, I will make sure I lap up every single second of that long glorious Perth summer I’m about to find myself in. I cannot wait.

Your proud Perthite,

Jorgs