Leticia Maher

Leticia Maher


I just got the basket added to the back of my bike - not quite as sleek but far more practical.

This afternoon I went to the Cornish Arms Hotel in Brunswick to see Leticia Maher sing. She is one of the participants I'm coaching in the SELP program. She is also a leading songwriter in Melbourne, and has an amazingly sweet, strong, and beautiful voice.

I also spent a portion of the weekend house hunting. The lease on my current place expires May 11, and I think it's time for me to branch out into a new living arrangement. While my current housemates are extraordinarily fun and exciting and and have become great friends, sometimes there's a bit too much excitement and uncertainty for me. One of the places I visited was right by Dan's salon, so I stopped by afterwards to say hello. Dan was on his lunch break and Jade also happened to be visiting. What a coincidence! When Dan returned to work, Jade and I headed out for coffee and an afternoon of shopping. We had a great time bashing around.

A Touch of Extravagance

The complete look for the evening themed "A Touch of Extravagance"


Thanks Narelle for the classy fascinator complimented once again with fake lashes - just can't get enough!


Jade worked her magic on my swift updo and perfectly placed lashes - a guru stylist in the making.


Mhairi, me, Hanya, Dena, and Mel... hot hot hot

Birthday girl Dena and me

Cass and Dills, the frenchman in the bouree

Mhairi, Dana (Dena's sis), me, and Mel - lots of laughing in this group!

Dena blowing out her birthday candles

Birthdays are a big deal around here, and what party would occur without a theme? They don't do Halloween in Australia but they sure make up for it in all their year round theme parties. Dena's 25th birthday party was hosted at Victors I, a very funky bar in Carlton. The place is filled to the brim with fancy statues, surprising paintings (covering the ceiling as well), gawdy mirrors, pillars, and loads of other decked out decor. Inspired by the venue, the theme of the party was "A Touch of Extravagance" to include fascinators, feather boas, top hats, bling, and loads of accessories. Food was everywhere... bar food, cookies, cake, cheese & crackers, nuts, and lots of candy perfectly spaced and arranged on top of every table in the function room. Though an engineer, Dena would make a perfect event planner. There were a few groups of people at the party. Fortunately I'd met a lot of the non-work colleagues at the murder mystery party I went to last month, so it was fun for me to catch up with everyone. It was a great party and really fun to get so dressed up!

P6: Swan Valley

Caz, Jo, and Duff load the car while Mel, Tori, and I map our route before we check out of our house in Freo


A few wine tasters at Houghtam Winery


Jojo blows out the birthday candles of her lemon meringue dessert plate

The sunscreen police even came to our covered table during lunch. All five girls were applying loads of sunscreen every five seconds.

A little application happy if you ask me...

Jojo, Duff, Caz, me, and Tori... sugar high anyone?

Happy, happy! Jo, Duff, Caz, me, Mel, and Tori

A spoonful of chocolate or 10 at the Chocolate Factory

Mmmm, mmmm, aaah, gourmet chocolates aplenty

No cheese at the cheese tasting. This Lancester winery is known for it's little tin shed in the middle of the vineyard.

Grapes anyone?

Welcome to the trailer... er... caravan park - deluxe accommodations! The bed is within a foot of the doorway.

We spent our last day in Perth celebrating Jojo's birthday. She was splattered with balloons as she ascended the stairs first thing that morning. After checking out of our house in Freo, we headed northeast to Swan Valley to eat and drink our way through Perth's local wine region. We went to a few wineries including Houghtam, Jane Brook, and Heafod Glen from which I recommend Houghtam's chardonnay, the 2004 Elizabeth Jane Methode Champenoise Pinot Chardonnay or 2007 Savignon Blanc, and the 2007 Reserve Chardonnay or 2006 Chenin Blanc respectively. We celebrated Jojo's birthday at Chester's and continued our afternoon food tour - first to the ice creamery, then to the chocolate factory, with a final unfulfilled stop at a cheese tasting (they'd run out of cheese). Stuffed to the brim, we swung by the Swan Valley caravan park to help Mel, Tori, Caz, and Duff get checked into their deluxe accommodations for the evening. Seeing their classy digs made it slightly easier to leave behind the beauty of Perth to return to work in Melbourne the next day. Our visit would not be complete without a repeat visit to Cottlesloe, our favorite beach near Perth. After a swim and watching the sun set, we went for one last fancy dinner at Blu and parted ways. The fearless four continued their adventure in Western Australia while Jojo and I headed to the airport for our red eye flight back to Melbourne. We left feeling relaxed, tan, and like we'd seen and done everything we wanted.

P5: Easter in Freo

Brekkie at the Merchant Tea Co. - we particularly enjoyed the ceiling fans


me, Mel, Jojo, and Duff outside the E Shed harbor market


A shot of Freemantle Markets


Another shot of Freemantle Markets - there were lots of street performers outside


Mel, Duff, Tori, Caz, and Jojo wince at yet another paparazzi moment in front of Little Creature's Brewery


The inside portion of the brewery

Duff, Caz, Jojo, Mel, me, and Tori soaking in some sun at the brewery

The wacky brewery performers

Phillip, Anne, and Duff - feeling the family love

Tori, Duff, me, and Mel - beer tasters extraordinaire

The Freo harbor sunset

Our Sunday morning started with a visit from the Easter Bunny. Chocolate Easter eggs were scattered throughout the house, and thus began the great Easter egg hunt of Freemantle. Following the essential Easter morning chocolate fix, the group minus Tori (who slept in) headed to the Merchant Tea Co. for brekkie. We then set out to two separate markets in Freo - the E Shed Market on the harbor, followed by the Freemantle Markets in the city. We then made the voyage to our priority stop, Little Creature's Brewery. Little Creatures boasts a pale ale that is among my favorite Aussie beers. We settled into a waterside outdoor table for an afternoon of pure relaxation. Duff's brother Phillip lives in Perth. He, his girlfriend Anne (from Norway), and their friend Clyde joined our gaggle of girls. Two performers entertained the large afternoon crowd with a few impressive and many not-so-impressive tricks. Their commentary was enough to keep the show going when they boasted of failed attempts at simple tosses of juggling bats. After sufficient appreciation and intake of the beer on offer at Little Creature's, we watched the sun set over the harbor and went for dinner on familiar Market St.

P4: Rottnest Island

We took the Rottnest Express ferry to and from Freo

We started the trip inside the boat, which left some travelers a little seasick (not me). The open air helped tremendously on our return trip.

The gaggle of bikers stopping at one of many lookouts - Caz, Jojo, Duff, Tori, and Mel

The basin is one of the most photographed and painted bays at Rottnest

The island is actually named after these buggers. They're called quokkas, are endangered, and look like some kind of combo between a wallaby and a rat, which extended to Rat's Nest Island, which later became Rottnest Island.

One of the more popular swimming spots

At every turn off was a photo worthy scenic view

Mel and Duff out on the pier at one of many scenic lookouts

My first ever sighting of a salt lake, which crunched like snow under our feet and bikes and tasted shockingly salty

The edges of the lake were pink with a thick rim of foam floating across the road in large chunks

Duff, me, Kaz, Mel, and Tori prior to our wet and wild ride back to Freo

Jojo and Mel at Mad Monk Brewery

Caz, me, and Tori - that's The Millionaire beertail on the left

My favorite day of exploration in Western Australia was our visit to Rottnest Island, which I found to be remarkably beautiful, more striking than any beach or bay I'd seen before, even in Fiji and Hawaii. A 30 minute ferry ride brings you to the island oasis, where no cars are permitted. Bicycles and free shuttle buses are the only modes of transport. We departed the Freo harbor at 9.30AM and left Rottnest Island on the last ferry at 6.30PM. All six of us hired (rented) bikes upon arrival and a couple sets of snorkeling gear to share. It was approximately 22 km around the perimeter of the island. Mobilizing a group of six proved challenging. We made it about 3 km with many stops and bike issues along the way. We decided to test the waters. The water was wonderful but the snorkeling disappointing. We only saw a few large fish and none with brilliant colors. The undertow was strong so we didn't venture out too far. We later spotted a giant sting ray near the ferry dock, so I suppose it's better we saw less than anything potentially dangerous.

A few in the group fizzled on the biking venture, so they headed back to the main 'settlements' to relax. Mel, Duff, and I forged ahead in our interest to see the entire island. We took great ground, covering about 9 km in 30 minutes, 5 minutes less than predicted. However, we still didn't have enough time to make it to the very tip of the cape and still return our bikes in time to recover the deposit. We took a short cut back to base camp, which ended up being rather exciting. We first came across a jetty that sparked Mel's interest, then to a salt lake, and finally to a lake with pink edges and giant frothy foam floating across the road. It felt as if we were in some kind of dream world or Neverending Story type movie. We made it just in the nick of time to return our bikes.

The ferry ride home was especially riveting as we elected to sit outside in the small deck section at the rear of the boat. The ride was choppy, and giant waves sloshed against the boat and onto us. Duff was most exposed to the salty slaps and was completely drenched. I was sitting next to her with about half my body soaked in salt. It felt like a Wet 'n Wild theme park ride, and the other riders laughed as we hooped and hollered back to Freo. We did a lucky dip for shower order (drawing names out of a hat). With six salty, sand-filled, wind struck, wet girls, we faced an enormous challenge to move everyone through a single shower. Amazingly, six girls were ready to leave for dinner in under 90 minutes (and I was second to last in the shower). We headed to Market St for dinner to the Mad Monk brewery I'd eyed the night before. The restaurant was eloquently decked out - simple but classy, very modern clean lines, and the food was divine - best ever we thought. I had 'The Millionaire' beertail, an interesting concoction of home brewed beer and cocktail mixers. One was sufficient.

P3: Kings Park

Jojo with our new friends (also from Melbourne) at our last brekkie at the B&B


From the Botanic Gardens at Kings Park looking onto Swan Lake and the Perth city line

At another park section of Kings Park, where heaps of families were having Good Friday picnics

At City Beach, yet another perfectly manicured and beautifully maintained beach - hard to say which was best when they're all so great!

Jojo and I enjoyed dinner on Market St, the main street of Freemantle, and one of the few places actually open on Good Friday

Friday proved challenging because nearly everything was closed in honor of Good Friday. and I enjoyed our last brekkie at the B&B, then headed to Kings Park for great views of the city and patches of lush green pasture amidst the dry brown forests. We met Natalia, a friend of Jojo's, for lunch in Subiaco, an upper end suburb of Perth. We dined at the only cafe open in the entire suburb, then went to her house for a brief visit with another friend Ceyda. From there, we headed back to the beaches, this time to City Beach, which is actually located between Cottlesloe and Scarborough, where we'd been two days prior. Again, the beauty was astounding. The waves were a little stronger and we struggled to keep our bathers/tugs on as we were tossed about. That night, we headed to Freemantle, affectionately termed Freo by all the locals, to check into our house for the next three nights. Four other girls arrived late that night, so we rented a great four bedroom house in the heart of Freo. Jojo and I thought we may go hungry that night until we stumbled onto Market St, with a strip of open restaurants, bars, and gelato shops. Phew! As if...

Three more Perth updates to follow (best to come!), but I need to sleep now.