Friday, December 4, 2009

Dateline: Perth

G'day my many followers (that means 4, 2 of which are a duplicate). I'm temporarily in Perth to work on the dreaded quarterly surveys or as I've nicknamed them "the dreaderlies." Ok, not very clever but at least this is a new adventure in Oz. And an expensive one.

Due to the business nature of Perth, mostly miners and bankers, costs seem to be through the roof. I know housing is expensive and never really did go down much during the latest economic crisis but to go out to eat and drink is just crazy! A pint of imported or local made beer is $8 - $10 a pint! Compare that with back home at about $4.50 or so. Meals are typically $15 - $20 for lunch and $25+ for dinner. You can find somewhat cheaper such as the little neighbourhood Korean joint where I was pretty much the only non_Korean there. The special bowl of noodles and various meat items was $12. And that was just a bowl of noodles, no salad nothing else.

While I'm at work this Saturday morning, I'm going to take a ferry to Fremantle and sail on the 3 master schooner SS Leeuwin, www.sailleeuwin.com. It should be a great twilight sail as already the temperature is 97F and it's not even noon yet. I forgot the cable to hook up my camera but will post pictures of this and my other adventures in Perth.

Btw, the small downtown area is great with a 2 block by 3 block area as a pedestrian shopping mall the connects over the main train station and into another pedestrian mall between the City's and State's art galleries and museums. Very nice as I walk through this on my way to the office. On the 'other' side of the tracks joining up to the galleries is an area called Northbridge that is about 6 blocks by 3 blocks of their main restaurant and bar district. I walked all over this area last night finally coming to the Korean place to eat. I did stop in at the Elephant and Wheelborrow for an expensive pint as well as Rosie O'Grady's before that. Almost broke and hungry, I had to get my bowl of noodles and mystery meat. Just kidding, as there were pork ribs and shrimp involved among the hot spices. The way I like it.

More later.

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