Western Oz Words: Winter In Perth
This is the time of year in Western Australia when orchards and gardens yield their bounty. Margaret Dunn says "Visitors to my house have been bearing gifts from their overloaded trees - bags of lemons, grapefruit and oranges. My kitchen is like a small fruit market...''
Most people think of Perth as a summer paradise, with its wonderful beaches, blue skies and hot sunshine. Summer, with its weekend BBQs and picnics on the golden sands of the Indian Ocean.
But we are into winter now. Nights and mornings are shivery cold - last week 1.4 degrees! Days are often sunny and mild - lots of rain in quick, stormy showers, though never enough to fill the reservoirs. Changing weather patterns in recent years have depleted the water supply and the outlook is for further drought. Government is considering building a desalination Plant at cost of $2.5 million.
In this season of rain and sunshine, gardens run amok - plants and flowers bloom like enchanted forests. Citrus trees are heavy with fruit. Visitors to my house have been bearing gifts from their overloaded trees - bags of lemons, grapefruit and oranges.
My kitchen is like a small fruit market, bright with the yellow and orange globes filling every bowl and basket. I pass them on to other friends who live in apartments. Gallons of lemon squash sit in my fridge, on offer to all who drop by. A novelty at first, but soon the plaintiff voices say “How about a cup of tea?” or “Is your whisky finished?”
My neighbour put her surplus fruit out at the gate for passers by to take away - lots of people do this. A bright green plastic bucket filled with lemons and grapefruit, with a cardboard sign - ‘Free Fruit - help yourself’. When she went out later in the day, all the fruit was gone - and so was the bucket!
Nights are cold - electric blankets or hot water bottles in beds. Cats snuggle in to provide extra heat. But on days of warm sunshine and brilliant blue skies above the Swan River, winter is the best of times.
And it’s not only the vegetation that is full of life. There is a wealth of artistic talent in this S.W. corner of Australia. You are never far from a gallery where paintings and ceramics by local artists delight the eye.
If music is the food of life, you’ll never go hungry in Perth. From the W.A. Symphony Orchestra, performing at The Concert Hall in the City, to small groups in pubs and clubs keeping the locals well fed, every taste is catered for. We have The Jazz Club, The Blues Society, Gilbert & Sullivan.
Next month brings a Celebration of Irish Music. The fact that Perth is the most isolated Capital City in the world doesn’t stop top class musicians of all types from congregating here.
AND we have one of the best Pipe Bands in the world. This very month of August the West Australian Police Pipe Band will be in Glasgow taking part in the World Championships.
Anyone contemplating a tour of Australia shouldn’t miss a visit to Perth. This is a City much loved by it’s friendly, hospitable people, and we wouldn’t change it for quids!
