I'm in Perth now (I flew here on Wednesday) and am staying with a friend in a western suburb of Perth called Scarborough. (For all of you who know Toronto, I can assure you that Scarborough in Toronto and Scarborough in Perth are not at all alike!!)
Perth is the capital and largest city of the state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia, with an estimated population of just under 2 million. Perth was originally founded by Captain James Stirling in 1829 and gained city status in 1856. The city is named for Perth, Scotland, due to influence by Sir George Murray, then British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The city's population increased substantially as a result of the Western Australian gold rushes in the late 19th century, largely as a result of emigration from the eastern colonies of Australia.
Perth became known worldwide as the "City of Light" when city residents lit their house lights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth on Friendship 7 in 1962. The city repeated the act as Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle in 1998.
When I first arrived my friend, Susan, drove me around a little bit and gave me a quick introduction to Perth and the area in which she lives. Then yesterday I went into the city centre to deal with my camera... and I'll definitely be back to the city centre again - this time with my camera - so more about it in future posts.
The Perth International Arts Festival is on right now and last night I met up with another friend here in Perth and we went to see a movie called "Safety Not Guaranteed" which was presented as part of the Lotterywest Festival Films. Our evening started with a fabulous picnic dinner and then afterwards we took our pillows and settled in for the viewing of the movie, in the great outdoors, underneath the Southern Cross (i.e., we were at an outdoor venue).
Today started with me doing something I would never get the chance to do at home - I went crabbing. And thanks to my friend there are even a couple of photos to prove it.
Blue swimmer crabs are a large crab found in the intertidal estuaries of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Middle-Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The males are bright blue in colour with white spots and with characteristically long chelipeds, while the females have a duller green/brown, with a more rounded carapace. The carapace can be up to 20 centimetres wide... although we certainly didn't find any even nearly this big.
We set out early, armed with our scoops, and after a couple of hours we had about 10. And then later tonight, fresh crabs were the entree before dinner.
(2 in one scoop)
(after our morning work)
(our entree tonight)
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