Goodbye Western Australia!

My three weeks of home stays in Western Australia has come to an end. I bid farewell to Sara’s family, and to Perth, two hours ago. Sara and her friend, Faye, the secretary of the Badgingarra CWA of WA branch, are on our way to the next part of our adventure, Melbourne and Ballarat. The view out my window is of the Great Australian Bight and the coves and inlets of the coastline. Spectacular!

We are flying over Esperance at the moment. Hello Belinda, (the other) Deon, and everyone else I met there!

A few days ago (it has been hard to keep track of days and locations when moving around so much), my final hosts, Carol and Don, delivered me to Sara. I spent Saturday morning repacking my suitcase, trying to get in every brochure I’d picked up, every book I’d bought or been given, and every gift and souvenir I’d picked up along the way. Success! I was even under the weight limit for flying within Australia. This means, I have room for more souvenirs!

Saturday afternoon, Sara and I went to an equestrian event in the Swan Valley near Perth. This is a wine region, so the roads were lined with vineyard after vineyard. We met Sara’s granddaughter, Brooke, who is in boarding school in Perth and her mother, Gina, under the shade of river gums trees. Brooke’s horse, Cat, was saddled and ready for the first event, dressage. Since I was a novice equestrian event attendee, everything had to be explained to me. Brooke and Cat had to perform a predesignated set of maneuvers, such as cantering at a certain speed or trotting in a certain pattern. Each rider was dressed in white pants and a close-fitting navy-blue jacket, with a sturdy helmet on their head. Although we’d found a shady spot, the hot Australian sun beat down on the competitors. Each rider kept their cool, however. The hours of practice paid off as each well-groomed horse followed the subtle directions from the riders. An hour later, we found that Brooke had come in third, a good result.

Between events, the horses rested in little pens in the shade. Each was rewarded with a little hay and a good long drink of cool water. The next event was the jumping event, but we had a two-hour wait. How should we fill it? We walked the next day’s cross-country course with Brooke. The paddock was filled with many, many jumps, most of which looked impossible for a horse to jump over, but each had a code to designate the level of rider permitted to go over it. If I understood correctly, the course would be about two kilometers long and would take about four minutes to complete. It was very interesting as I’d only seen this type of event on TV.

Soon, Brooke and Cat were dressed and ready to try the jumping event. About 20 horses milled about in and out of the arena. One by one, they entered the practice area, and then started their individual jumping event. Our hearts about stopped when one horse stumbled over the gate and the rider went head over heels, landing on the ground as the horse’s hooves passed overhead. She quickly got up, much to the relief of the whole audience. For the rider’s safety, she is not allowed to continue to compete for the rest of the meet.

Brooke’s round in the jumping event seemed to go very well, but we did not hear her score before we had to leave. Sara and I helped her carry and put away the equipment. We wished her good luck in the next day’s event and bid her farewell.

I have had a wide variety of food on this trip. I was particularly keen on trying as many types of lamb as possible. So far, I’ve had roast lamb, lamb burgers, lamb chops and lamb souvlaki.  I remember American lamb as having a funny taste, which is not present here, which is probably one of the reasons Americans eat so little lamb. Rumor has it that during WWII, mutton (old sheep) was canned and fed to the US servicemen. Bleh! That sounds awful. No wonder we were turned off to eating sheep!

Mostly, I’ve gotten home cooked meals. One thing I noticed is that meals often consist of a meat, a potato, and several vegetables. Having six items on my plate always looked daunting but, geez, I always managed to eat it all! Often, “pumpkin” was served but was some variety of what we would call “squash.” I had to explain often how we have canned pumpkin that we use for pies, cakes, cookies, etc., and that it was a special type of pumpkin.

While in Perth, we’ve eaten at a lot of restaurants. Sara and I ate at a nearly-empty Thai restaurant the other night and had a delicious meal of red curried seafood. We rhapsodized so much about it that when Faye and Mike arrived, we decided to go back to the same restaurant. This time the place was filled to capacity. I guess everyone else had heard about our delicious meal. There was a nearby Indian restaurant that was nearly empty, so we went there. I seldom have the chance to eat Indian food and have no idea what to order. Sara made a few suggestions and we were on our way. Although we asked for mild dishes, their idea of “mild” was different than ours! We managed to get through the spicy fare with generous dollops of yogurt and a lot of the neutral bread. A little ice cream afterwards cooled our burning mouths.

Although I only saw about a sixth of Western Australia, I feel I got to experience a wide variety of activities and got to see varied topographies. There is a contrast between the dense green areas of trees in the south and the sandy bush in the Geraldton and Kalgoorlie areas. True Outback is further inland, but I did get a taste of it. It must have taken hardy souls to endure the hardships during the late 1800s goldrush and to settle the land in the early days.

Many of the early settlers were the convicts from England. Men and, I think, a few women were sent here with crimes as petty as stealing a loaf of bread. Suspiciously, many skilled tradesmen were among those convicted. Many, after they were released, made the most of it. For a long time, descendants of these early convicts were ashamed of the association, but now, it is a source of pride if one’s ancestor was one of the convicts who settled the land.

Update: Sara’s granddaughter got 2^nd place overall! That is a GREAT result! Congrats Brooke!