Perth

Perth was enjoyable. I kind of forget how life is kinder over there compared to Melbourne.

Things in Perth are close to everything else. Walking from the airport to the car, car to the house, house to the shops, house to the city. Perth is close. But then other things are really far away. Trying to get to a David Jones that had kids clothes on sale was nigh on impossible according to google maps. Check it out:


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Viewer note - not the actual path used.

It's frustrating being unable to find a nearby $2 shop when every suburban shopping strip has one in Melbourne. Naina is obsessed with chasing balls around and we could only find tennis balls. To avoid breakage, a search was undertaken to find a shop that sold balls. Two snooty baby stores in Nedlands advised that - no we don't sell those sorts of toys and the nearest $2 shops were in Fremantle or the city. Perhaps no one in Perth buys cheap toys for their kids? Maybe its all designer stuff, for the majority of the kid population? Seriously, the shops in Nedlands wanted $50 for a hat!

Nedlands and Dalkieth must be the most depressing places to raise a child now. There are a few parks, but very few playmates. All the kids must have been at the ski slopes in Switzerland, because we saw none in or around Naina's age. Either that or they've already got jobs as Engineers in the mining and gas industry. I remember growing up in the 80's (man, dude etc) and there were so many kids. If it wasn't kids, it was grandkids. None in mum and dad's street now.

That all said, Perth has some great things that Melbourne just can't match. Synergy Park. A cafe with bigger than texas style play equipment. I chased Naina up one of the play equipment and found myself higher than expected and with a sense of vertigo. The slide down challenged both of us; neither could muster the courage to go down.

Perth also does relaxed. I looked around at the lifestyle - it seems like none of my school friends and just one or two of my uni friends get home at 7pm Monday to Friday (like I do) nor are they on teleconference calls at 6am. Perhaps its the effect of everything being close - nothing is too far away. The distance from my parents house to James and Bronwyn's must be 10 km. 10 km is a thirty to forty minute drive in Melbourne, no matter what time, no matter what day. I reckon it was under 25 minutes in Perth.

So Perth has some great points, but then there are other parts that kind of make me feel glad we're in Melbourne now. If only for shopping and food.