22. December – 29. January

Skyworks We are still in Perth – unfortunately the car is not 100% repaired so we are just waiting and not doing much else. We are going to the beach in  the morning and evening, got our health checked and sometimes we even take new pictures.

One day we used the family-ticket to ride to Rockingham and Mandurah which are around 50km and 80km south of Perth and directly at the beach. We watched several wind- and kite-surfer as well as diving students.

  Mandurah seems to be the place for the rich and beautiful… so many new apartments directly at the water and their own marina which could be directly at the ocean or at one of the canals. I had the feeling to be at the Gold Coast without the surf and not so many hotels. We walked along the foreshore and befriended some of the sculptures. We also tried not to disturb the fishing pelicans under the bridge.

Then the big day with the fireworks was there! No, not New Years Eve – there were no fireworks and we had to watch the Sydney fireworks on TV. Australia Day is celebrated with big fireworks and a huge program. We arrived in the afternoon and watched the camels, the  jumping castles, the local crusty demons and the air show. Sometimes around 8 planes were flying a formation or the flew just 5m above the water. Of course there were several helicopter “towing” some flags. The biggest flag was the Australian flag with nearly 20.000 square feet. I guess this pilot had a lot to do…

   The fireworks started at 8.00pm sharp. It was fired from some pontoons in the water as well as from some skyscrapers. Luckily we could see the pontoons otherwise it would have been impossible to get the right direction. I guess they told a story with the fireworks but unfortunately I couldn’t understand it. So we just concentrated on the lights and were amazed. The show took 30 minutes!

 Have fun,

Cheers, Tom and Anja