Reflections on West Australia 2024

Getting There is Half the Battle

After 11 weeks in Western Australia, I thought it was past time to put pen to paper and share a few reflections on our 2024 house stay.

The journey getting here was very protracted, but now a distant memory - it all started because our plane for the flight from Vancouver to Sydney was delayed by 3 hours from leaving Toronto due to a snow storm. Needless to say that had a ripple effect with us having a longer than expected stopover in Sydney. We finally got to Perth some 40 hours after we left our home in VIctoria. Although the delays were unfortunate, it is still much simpler than it would have been coming by the old-fashioned sailing ship method.

We left Victoria in a record breaking cold snap, only to arrive in Perth with temperatures in the low 40’s. Quite the contrast. Fortunately, our friends in the Perth Hills have air conditioning! After 2 days in Perth, we boarded the bus to Bunbury [the normal train service is not running due a multi-year long upgrade!]. The car rental experience was not positive - the Avis franchise owner was only interested in doing things in ways that worked for him, rather than the customer. Even although we were given “an upgraded car” we won’t be using that franchise again!!