We got our money's worth

We've spent a lot of the weeekend outdoors (it seems).

Yesterday there was a community meeting about some imminent redevelopment located near us, part of a major plan that started 11 years ago. The lastest phase involves the end of our street and has implications for traffic flow past our house, as well as for the visual impact of development in the area. The meeting was held in an area called The Common - a very yuppie-ish landscaped area, although there were very few young people present. We walked 2 km to the site. It had been a while since I had been there and I was pleased with how the plantings had developed and the sense of peace and ease I had while there. An oasis in the middle of some very expensive real estate, crammed cheek by jowl on old industrial land. Making squillions of dollars annually for the council in rates, compared to the peppercorn rent that used to be charged for the site.

The meeting itself was very dull, with no answers, just exhortations to read the plans and make our comments (which we had already done). Still ... it was a nice walk and very pleasant in the shade. Today we ventured out to a town south of Perth called Mandurah. Over the last 4 years the state government has been building the railroad to link this booming residential area with the big city, along with the other mushrooming suburbs along the way. They call it the Southeren Corridor. It involved tearing up a large major street in the city to build an underground section and 2 downtown stations, as well as realigning the Northern line to meet the new stations. It was a major deal, and the minister involved collected no end of flak and bitterness for her role in it.

Well Allanah - it is a testament to you! Loved the idea all along - we are big fans of the train system, and knew it would be brilliant - and it is!

Being a Sunday there was a Family ticket deal where 2 adults and up to 5 kids/pensioners could travel ALL DAY for $8.10. Yes, you read it right- eight dollars and ten cents.

So ... we set off from our place at 10.28 and headed to the city, changed trains to Mandurah, travelled 80km south in airconditioned comfort, seeing some lovely rural sights including some mini-pinnacles. We arrived and had lunch at a large shopping centre/mall. We got a bit confused about buses to take us around the (over-run) township but then ended up on the free shuttle bus to the estuary foreshore,
where we saw an exhibit of Dr Seuss prints at the Performing Arts Centre, ate ice-cream and snow-cones, (Don's was green) and, in keeping with my latest theme, found a heart sculpture. We bought a light-house magnet, a pottery toothbrush holder from a local craft stall, and earrings for some newly pierced ears, listened to Louisiana cajun music, saw cute seagulls and blue skies, A trip through the backstreets of Mandurah and back to the new train station and a stress-free trip back up the freeway to Perth. A quick platform change entering the old station via a new underground connection that utilises my favourite part of the architecture and we were home again at 4.38pm. This is how the cat greeted us at the back door. She's such a scruff - her name is Phoenix. BBQ snags for dinner, what more could you want?

(For the record I could do with some new achilles tendons, these ones are giving me the pip.)