Link to the previous page perth’22-1-e 
Streetart
Now we can finally turn our attention to the murals that have long been waiting to be included in the blog. Like all art, murals are highly promoted here. The larger towns in particular all have painting routes, with booklets explaining the paintings and the artists, but you can also find beautiful and interesting murals in smaller towns. There are also city tours that are dedicated solely to the paintings. Here is a selection of impressive true works of art.
FIGARO
After seeing such a beautiful, sexy male face on a flyer for weeks, I couldn’t resist going to see the man in the flesh. Karin thought so too and so we went to the cinema for this lunchtime screening: broadcast from London, Covent Garden, 3 ½ hours. Although it turned out that the photo was already a few (many) years old, it was worth it, the voice was still very good. ( I will now also put myself in this category, use older pictures, because everything is still okay with the voice ;-)) …-G. )
1. April
Man, I missed April 1st, but I don’t know if I could have thought of anything, because I’ve caught a cold. I don’t even know when I had my last one and it was shortly after our booster. If you can show 3 vaccinations, the quarantine will probably be waived if we continue traveling. Grace from Chile, who always keeps a seat next to her (I can hardly understand her Chilean accent) was so looking forward to her 3-month trip to Chile and then spent 6 weeks of it in quarantine. Nancy unexpectedly returned to China on vacation and also had to spend 6 weeks in quarantine, 14 days on arrival in Beijing, 14 days on arrival near her home and 14 days in home quarantine.
The flooding continues to the east and rain has been forecast here for 14 days and nothing is coming. However, the humidity has risen from a constant 30% to 40 to 50%.
The war also gets you down, and that after 4 weeks, and then when I realize that Germany has been bombing the world for 6 (six) years……..
Vaccination certificate
At the moment we are having Australian problems again: my vaccination certificate cannot be registered because Tröndle is noted without the 2 dots. Abroad I always write Troendle and at the visa office they have noted this, as it turned out after weeks of research, and at the vaccination center they have copied everything from the passport and simply left out the 2 dots and these 2 dots, which do not exist here, are now the problem. They are not allowed to change this at the vaccination station and they cannot establish a connection to the visa office.
Now, after a long back and forth, we have found an address where we can try. And luckily we were successful. …..and now I’ve suddenly caught a cold. Omnicron? I don’t really care, as long as it’s gentler than my previous colds. Now that WA has opened the borders, there is a lot of border traffic and accordingly Covid, or who knows what. One English course is over for now and the other in the church is also having problems, one in quarantine, one traveling and the boss Covid.
So I’m going into self-quarantine, so to speak. You don’t even dare to have a normal cold anymore, you don’t even dare to blow your nose in public. Luckily we were allowed to use Karin’s car and so we were able to drive to the sea, which was really good, and to a beach we hadn’t been to before. We actually ended up here by mistake. But our motto – if you (not a man) get lost, there’s a reason – proved true once again.
And right now, when Covid or whatever is going up here, the free buses that we often use have stopped stopping at every station. The buses have been converted and now you have to press a button to stop and you can’t do that with your elbow or knuckles like at traffic lights.
New heavy rainfall on the east coast and the water continues to rise.
Tomorrow it will be 7 days with the cold. My little apple cider vinegar book fell into my hands at just the right moment: vinegar water !!! – and I’m feeling quite well again (thanks to oregano oil? ). My mother always gave me butter for dry coughs. Here we’re always happy when we get organic butter, but it’s usually salted and quite salty, but vinegar water has definitely helped me. And it also has the advantage that you can put it on the dessert and you don’t have to go to the fridge and if you (in this case the wife) want to be particularly quiet, something happens.
Now Gerhard has been hit. And I thought it was almost over, but that set me back a bit.
We went to the extraordinary beach twice more and breathed in the sea air.
A lizard visited us there yesterday. It crawled around on our beach sheet and eyed the sunglasses that were lying there. At first I was startled when I suddenly saw something moving out of the corner of my eye and thought at first that it was a snake, but it was a beautiful lizard, about 40 cm long, which we were able to take a good, long look at. It was only when we reached for the camera that it quickly made off, frightened by our shadows moving over it. But Gerhard still managed to take a few photos.
Apartment terminate
We gave notice to vacate the apartment on May 12th and immediately received documents detailing what needed to be done: Steam clean the carpet on the last day, enclose the bill; have the apartment cleaned. Wash all bed linen and towels on the last day (and there are only huge bath towels, as thick as carpeting). It’s okay that we have to pay for this, we were told when we moved in, but the fact that we have to take care of it is strange. Luckily the plane to Thailand doesn’t leave until midnight and as we are flying on the 11th we hope that we can agree that the manager will take care of the cleaning, he doesn’t do much anyway.
Black Friday
Today we made another trip to the John Forrest National Park and walked a historic path and it was once again crazy hot, and the whole way there was also without shade, logical, because the first railroad in WA ran there.
( The challenge during construction in 1894 was to build the 340m long single-track tunnel through the mountain rock. Construction took around 12 months with 300 workers and 60 horses. Work was carried out 24 hours a day in 3 shifts.
In the 1940s, two train drivers were injured and another died of monoxide poisoning when two locomotives passed through the tunnel one after the other. As the tunnel was not large enough for the later locomotives, a bypass of the tunnel was built in 1945. The railroad line was closed in 1966 after a new, different line was built nearby. -G.)
But as is often the case, we were not prepared for this. Once again, no water, no sun protection and nothing to eat. On the way back, we preferred to walk through scrubland with a few trees.
It was quite a few kilometers and a few hours and as the whole path consisted only of gravel it was also very exhausting and to my regret the sole of my beloved barefoot shoes had to believe it. Unfortunately, the café here was also closed for Easter, despite being very busy.
So we took a detour to a large restaurant where we once went with Karin and her boyfriend and ate the best pizza of my life (although we rarely eat pizza). Gerhard was fasting at the time and had been dreaming of pizza ever since. So we went there and found out from the workmen who were working there that the restaurant is closed on 2 days a year: Boxing Day and Black Friday. That was it!
We go to water Karin’s plants, she visits a son in Sydney (or rather the grandchildren, as befits a grandma) and we are happy to be needed for a change.
Eastermonday
Took the opportunity to make another excursion, to Yanchep in a national park. Visited the koalas and finally found out why they sleep for about 20 hours and only move around to eat. Koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves and these are very hard to digest (up to 5 days) and don’t give them any energy. We then went on a longer hike and once again had fun with the curious kangaroos.
Unfortunately, the cafe was also closed, like many restaurants over Easter, although Perth and the surrounding area were teeming with visitors: borders open, vacations. You’d think they were waiting for guests.
We attended an interesting lecture on the tools of the Aborigines and how they are used. It’s impressive what tools are available in nature and how easy it is to work with them. Unfortunately, the same cannot necessarily be said of today’s high-tech tools. After all, they are man-made and not natural.
We drove on to a large lagoon on the beach, where there is supposed to be a nice little restaurant from where you can enjoy a wonderful sunset: Closed from 4 o’clock today.
Enjoyed walking through the shallow water, and then suddenly a big wave made me soaking wet. Luckily it was windy…
As you can see, we are always surprised about the closed restaurants. Actually, it should be nice that it’s not about making money, but it’s about us!
On the 23rd I went to the movies again: Rigoletto, broadcast from London, actually thanks to Karin, who wanted to go again, I would have missed it.
And finally, another ballet at „His Majestic Theatre“. This time I had time to look at the theater in peace and I think the architect should have had his license revoked.
There are only very few seats in the middle, from where you can see the whole stage. Many seats are not sold at all, as you can’t even see half of it from there.
3. Mai
I said goodbye to my beautiful herbs today. But I was able to put them in good herb-loving hands, which was important to me! For the first time in my life, and I’ve never tried it before, basil has grown in my garden, and how. The peppermint has also developed strongly from a meagre stalk.
Well, I’ve never taken such care of myself, but there was no other way – always following the shade, covered from midday onwards because of too much sun, pushed behind the sun on cool days 
and when it rained I put it under large plastic tarpaulins with clothespins. Fortunately, I haven’t gone so far as to put them on a trolley and take them for a walk in the sun, or to sit on a bench in the sun, read a book and put the herbs next to them, in the season when there is no sun on the small balcony. Why not, people do the same with their dogs and I was just as fond of the herbs!
6. Mai
Today was my last ’school day‘ at the International United Presberitian Church or something like that.
It really got to me when Gordon and Peter said goodbye. Peter was a great teacher and we already had a good relationship because of our names, each of us could remember them well from the beginning. And when he said a beautiful prayer over my head after I had asked, I felt very protected and at ease. Even if Jesus is not the Son of God (oh, hello, we are all supposed to be God’s children), perhaps he did live and can put in a good word.
And then the big surprise: my nephew Dominic and his wife Anabel visited her parents in Perth. The first long-awaited opportunity after Covid and our good fortune to meet up again after 25 years, just before we leave Perth. 2 days later, we celebrated his birthday together and the day before we flew out of Perth, we went out for dinner again. I don’t think we really wanted to face the chaos yet.
Rottnest Island
Gerhard went to Rottnest on Monday.
Rottnest is a 19 km² island, around 18 km from the mainland (Fremantle). It is a nature reserve of the highest classification. The island was formed about 7000 years ago when the sea level rose and it was separated from the mainland. The remains of human settlement that have been found are up to 30,000 years old.
The island was called „the place above the water where the souls are“ by the indigenous people and was considered a sacred place. In the 18th century, land was distributed to the English and other Europeans, as in other places. Indigenous people were forced to build their own prison, into which they were put if they resisted land confiscation. It was used as a prison island until the 1950s. The majority of them died there of illness or were killed. But children from the stolen generation were also taken there for so-called re-education and lent out to farmers from the age of 7. Most of them died of malnutrition and exploitation and barely lived past the age of 30.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it even at the last moment, and my whole body is blocking it. It’s so close to me, a lot of the people are my age or younger, these kids were stealing until the late seventies and a lot of the homeless people in Perth belong to the lost generation and I walk past them every day. Some lives can only be endured in a drunken stupor. What would I be like if all this had happened to me? That’s enough for now. But I couldn’t let the public statement stand.
The beautiful and rocky stretches of coastline are impressive, with lovely bays and beaches and really clear water. There are many quokkas here, a small species of kangaroo. They are very common on the island, but are mainly found where the tourists are, begging for food. Unfortunately, despite the ban, there are still people who feed them harmful human food. But this is incomprehensibly to be found everywhere, not to mention feeding the ducks. So the quokkas also try to find something in pockets. Many sea lions cavort on a rocky island.
Apart from a tourist bus that circles the island, there is no car traffic. Instead, there are plenty of rental bikes to explore. The circumnavigation is about 25 km, but probably without the many detours to the coasts. Phaaa, 25 km shouldn’t be a problem!!!? What I didn’t know was that the island is full of hills and dunes, some of which go up quite steeply and then go down steeply again. The latter is great! As we hadn’t cycled or climbed in Perth, the tour suddenly became one of the more challenging ones. Of course, the gears didn’t necessarily work in my favor either. But I made it through, taking a deep breath (pushing) and the day was still a great experience. …-G.)
Tuesday 10.5.22 – Farewell from the „Hollywood Dance Club“
I actually wanted to do this a week earlier, but Dominic’s birthday meant I didn’t get to bake cookies and I just wanted to go for coffee during the break today, which of course didn’t work out. Because everyone said goodbye, speeches were made and farewell songs were sung, oh dear, I was quite touched, but I was sure they were breathing deeply: oh God, lucky them, they’ll never learn. And then I also received cards: this card from the chairwoman:
ThE LaSt dAy oF ToTalEs cHaOs
Then Wednesday: out early: the humidity, which had been 23% the whole time, had suddenly shot up. Fortunately, I had already washed our own comforters yesterday and put them in the dryer, so we just slept with them for another night. The bath sheets we always use to cover the seats were just as soaking wet the next day. We’ve never experienced such humidity here. So off to the unloved dryer. Then it turned out that the dryer and washing machine don’t run at the same time, the consumption is probably too high. A washing machine load runs for 3 hours and I can’t stand the huge sheets and huge comforter covers anyway: you can hardly move the full-length mattresses, i.e. hardly any ventilation, and the huge covers aren’t exactly practical either. I’ll never understand how this became so popular worldwide. Until it was all dry……
Then the suitcases: the decision: what do I need, what do I get rid of, what do I want but don’t actually need, and again and again we took things out of the suitcases because they wouldn’t close. We had already taken 3 large bags full away. I had arrived back in civilization fuller, as I had expected, although in Perth I always had the feeling that I didn’t have enough. Luckily Karin knows a lot of people and so we didn’t have to throw away any food, but when she left it turned out that some things had been forgotten, the same with other good things, or maybe it’s just that you always have that feeling yourself.
Then came the big rush, I couldn’t believe how much luggage we had again. We could have left everything there for the excess weight and put on new clothes!!!!!!
And then at the airport the big shock of where is my small leather rucksack with all the valuables I wanted to have with me so that nothing gets lost?????
I can only remember the last things I stuffed in there, then I completely blacked out.
The manager went straight upstairs and found nothing. The cleaning staff, my great hope, found nothing either. On the contrary, all the things that were left there because the bags were already gone, Karin was already gone, the garbage was already gone and something still had to be taken out of the suitcases because they wouldn’t close, everything was nicely piled up in the middle of the room. Don’t worry, the cleaning staff take everything with them, it’s so……… and the manager is totally annoyed, what do I do with it? Well, everything in the trash, what else.
Uber didn’t answer, there was a constant turnover downstairs at reception and in the middle of carrying our suitcases out, it was the time when the front door was shut and half of our luggage was still in the lobby. I managed to get the crew to turn around and open the door by knocking on the door. It was already pretty dark in the lobby, had the rucksack been left there? Then the luggage elevator outside didn’t work, another quick knock, yes, the elevator is far too full. When we were finally on the street, waited forever for the car, then it came: `was my last attempt, been here 3 times and no one was there. Yes, we were busy with our luggage at the hotel (the private apartments are 2 floors above the hotel).
Fortunately, in this case, the plane was fully booked and so it was not noticeable that we were so late.
Try to switch off first.
Fortunately, the plane was surprisingly comfortable: good legroom, enough drinks and the food was not only edible but also good. Entertainment was also very varied and so you could relax quite well.
