roycemleev3.50

It was a very hot 38 degrees and Dad took us over to Penguin Island, where we went a few times as kids. The best thing about Penguin Island, apart from the penguins is that you have to walk across to it at low tide; I think we missed low tide as the water at times was up to my neck. The island is a nature reserve with hundreds of birds, lizards, seals, turtles and of course penguins. Later that day we drove into the city and went to a great Pub, Steve’s Pub in South Perth and drove through Cottesloe, which was absolutely packed as it was a long weekend, definitely the place to be by the sea.

[except this bit - this was written by Royce]
Laura and I were going to Perth to visit her family - unfortunately I was booked into a training course for that week, so she went by herself. Since this is her story, I'll let her tell it in her own words. Take it away Laura.........

Seventeen years had passed since I last saw Perth, and seeing as Dad has now settled in a lovely sea-side town south of Perth, I felt it was high time that I took the long domestic flight over to re-visit the place I grew up. On the plane over I sat across the aisle from an elderly woman (86yrs) who argued her way out of paying for the wine she ordered with lunch stating that on her flight from New Zealand to Sydney she didn’t have to pay and that was only three hours! How could they charge her for a flight that would be five hours, the flight attendant tried to explain the difference between an international and domestic flight but failed and the lady happily drank her free wine.

After arriving on Saturday afternoon Dad and I drove past our old home and through the old neighbourhood and I had a look around my old school ‘Springfield Primary School’ (For those fans of the Simpson’s, including Royce, no I didn’t go to school with Bart and Lisa).The school or neighbourhood hadn’t changed one bit and it felt quite strange to walk around such a familiar place, I even saw the tree I once planted on arbour day out the front of the school. I then decided to knock on a couple of familiar doors and see if my old school buddies still lived in the same street. As luck would have it their families did still live there and I made arrangements to catch up with my two best friends Richelle and Alison later that week. That evening Dad and I drove back to the airport to collect David who flew in from Canberra.

We're always glad when friends come to town, so when we heard that Luke and Amanda were popping in for a few days, well we had to get something organised.

Old mates from HOK - Alf and Tim - responded to the call, enjoying some pre-dinner apertifs at our place, before heading into the heart of the Cross and dinner at the recently refurbished and name-shortened Bourbon restaurant.

It was a great night (we yakked for hours afterwards) but the highlight had to be watching Tim and his dinner. Tim is a giant, and his meal was like two miniburgers, though in his hands it was more like microburgers. For me, well I settled for a salad. My body is a temple you know.