Corel's Life: Roaming the Wild West... Our Trip to Perth

http://www.corelmag.com/2017/03/roaming-wild-west-our-trip-to-perth_28.html

When your best friend moves interstate, you think to yourself that hey, at least she didn’t move overseas… Except when that state is Western Australia, a full FIVE hour flight and three hour time difference from most of the rest of Australia. I’ve been promising P for months that yes, I’d make the trip to visit her in her new city and last weekend I did.



Of course, there was another reason for the trip… P had a few boxes still in storage at Chess Moving’s Sydney HQ and it was cheaper to add these on as luggage than ship them, so I popped in on the way to the airport to do a pick up.

The kids love visiting the airport, they are mesmerized by the airplanes taking off and landing and ask me more questions than I am able to answer. I told Miss 3 that the wheels are controlled by little elves who sit in a special seat right by the wheels… sounds like an OHS law suit waiting to happen, but she was impressed.

I’ve never been to Perth before, and I was nervous about taking the kids on the airplane for that length of time, especially as J was staying behind because he had “too much stuff on at work” (typical workaholic response!).

Because I’ve got the two kids in tow, and I wanted to make the most of our time there, I decided to book a hire car online before we left. I organised for Burswood car hire company in Perth to drop the car off at Perth Airport, so P didn’t have to collect us during the school afternoon rush. I booked the hire car online and It was the simplest car hire I’d ever done, and the right car showed up which is a near miracle in car hire world.

That was Thursday afternoon. P opted to take Friday off work so we could enjoy our time together properly, and also fit in a sneaky trip down to Margaret River, but more on that later.

On Friday, as promised, P’s husband, H, (who is far more willing than my husband to chuck a sickie) stayed home with the kids to allow the two of us to pop in and out of boutiques in the suburbs of Mt Lawley and Leederville before indulging in cheesy burgers and endless onion rings. Just like old times!

We got back to hers with more than enough time to pile the kids and P’s hubby between P’s car and my rental and beat the after work traffic escaping the city for the gorgeous beachside wine region of Margaret River.

We spent the next two days popping in and out of wineries, letting the kids run among the vineyards as we sipped on shiraz, chardonnay and rose’s from across the region. We even managed to get the little ones to sit still long enough to enjoy a meal one of them. Can you even imagine?!

It probably helped that we bribed the kid’s with a trip to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory for milkshakes… and treats to take home.

As we drove back late Sunday afternoon, we made one final pit stop at Western Australian institution, Simmo’s Ice Cream to treat the kids… and the adults! It may have been our last night together, but as we sat out on the lawn slurping up mango ice cream, you could not find a group of happier people.

P, I miss you already and can’t wait for our next reunion… I was thinking we meet half way and check out the Barossa Valley?