TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Tomato Lake Shelter and Boardwalk over the lake. Tomato Lake , located in Kewdale, is a very special location for my family. Specifically my Dad (before he passed) and his partner, who Enigma and I were meeting at the park café for breakfast on day 5 of our Perth trip. While it's essentially just a nice place that they've been coming to for breakfast for years, my Dad also spread my Auntie's ashes at the lake when she passed a year before he did. The café at the lake has been run by the same Asian family for more than 20 years, is mostly alfresco,  though there is a small undercover area next to the kitchen and ordering area. Obviously it's dog friendly and there is a large playground nearby for the kids. Enigma and I both got full bacon, egg and toast breakfasts. I had a white tea with mine. The café is extremely popular and, while there is plenty of seating it still pays to get there early if you really want a table (otherwise bring a picnic blanket because there...

Ascot Waters Marina Apartments. After our all day outing, with the family, to Wireless Hill on our Perth trip yesterday , day 4 was mostly a rest and relax day. However we did start our day with a bit more exploration of the local walking trails. This time we walked the other way along the Swan River track heading toward Ascot Waters Marina that was less than a five minute walk from our apartment. The Marina itself was quite impressive with all the various boats and the surrounding apartments. It was hard to tell if each of the buildings were just one large home or a series of apartments linked together with common areas.  Moored Boats, Ascot Waters Marina. We couldn't really decide, since anyone living right on the Swan  River, and in a marina, no less, probably has the money for a large home, and would be less likely to settle for a smaller apartment. 'Bellarina  xxvii ' by Len Zuks Inside the Marina we came across an interesting statue of a half naked women who did no...

I'm probably one of the last people who actually wanted to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in a cinema to see the film.  I didn't make it to the cinema when the film was released because the reviews were average and my local theater closed down, making it more of a trip just to go see a movie. I figured I could wait for it to come to Disney+ as one of the two streaming services I stay subscribed to (Amazon Prime is the other to save you wondering). Having now seen the movie I can see why it didn't really set the box office on fire. Sure there was some rumbling undercurrent of Indy's gone 'woke' with the inclusion of his god daughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), but her character is really no different from other female supporting characters from previous films. She's strong, capable, but not without reasonable cause or back story. She's not just capable because she's Indy's god daughter. To be honest, it wouldn't have bothered m...

Alien plant life or Aussie wild flowers?  Wireless Hill Park, Museum, and Wild Flower Walks was one of my sister's earliest suggestions for something the family could all do together on our trip back to Perth, Western Australia. I hadn't done a lot of driving prior to this trip so driving to the park was a little nerve wracking. I was expecting to make a tricky lane change/exit on Kwinana Freeway, that required crossing several lanes quickly, but we missed our exit for that route (directed by, my partner, Enigma's phone GPS).  The new re-routing the phone gave us turned out to be simpler and avoided the freeway altogether - which I'm still unsure as to how that was even possible based on my own 23 year old memory of Perth roads? Thankfully it made going home much less nerve wracking as we simply retraced the way we came. Wireless Hill Park is located in the City of Melville. It's a heritage area and the site of one of Australia's first Wireless Stations, linkin...