Day 7: Boorloo
Nau mai
Inanahi, i whakatangi mātou ki Boorloo, Ahitereiria
We assembled in the lobby at 4am, a quartet of zombies with a flight to catch. The venerable Kia Carnival got us back to Adelaide Airport and there the check in was mercifully swift.
In the terminal the kai options were bleak but I splashed out on a Mango Pot for my parakuihi.
Our waka rererangi was a Qantas 737-800 named Narooma after the coastal town in New South Wales. Narooma flew us the three hours along the bottom of Ahitereiria and had us touching down at Perth Airport at 8.10am, right on schedule.
As we emerged into the baggage claim area the first thing we noticed was the rack of Easy Carts, seemingly a West Australian rival to the worldwide smartecarteâ mafia. They were running a fresh looking Travel 300 trolley manufactured by WANZEL Trolley Products. Not their top of the line model but still a solid vehicle. At $4 per hire they are priced identically to smartecartes but their location in West Australia means they struggle to compete.
We found a few free carts lying around and headed off with our gear to the rental car yard where lying in wait for us was another beautiful silver Kia Carnival, the perfect median between cargo and comfort. The Carnival LX model’s boot can fit 1400L while still carrying eight passengers. When you fold down the third row it collapses deep into the floor expanding the cargo area up to 2460 litres, and retaining a passage capacity of five. If you want to go full cargo you can fold the second row and bring the volume up to 4108 litres. It will also take a full sheet of Gib if you need it to.
📷 kiaofpuyallup.com
Early check-in was not happening so we went out for lunch and then came back when our room was ready and took a nap. I was feeling reasonably fresh so i oma ahau ki te Derbal Yerrigan, the river that flows through the metropolitan area of the city. I saw an Australian Pelican up close for the first time as it sailed along only a few metres from the bank. These birds have the longest bill of any living bird with the record being 50cm long. Pelicans prefer to feed on native fish but will somethings suffer introduced species such as Goldfish, European Carp, and European Perch. They also feed on insects, crustaceans, reptiles, and take other birds frequently such as Silver Gulls, Ibis, and Grey Teal.
The marshland on Heirrison Island.
The traditional owners and custodians of the land where Perth now stands are the Whadjuck People of the Noongar Nation - the owners of the South West of Western Australia for at least 45,000 years. Boorloo is the Noongar name used to refer to Perth. It means “big swamp”, and describes the area where the CBD and Northbridge are now located. That is where we headed late in the afternoon, driving through the busy city streets to get to Amplifier, a small club on Murray Street.
Mal de Mer performing to a full room at Amplifier.
Mal de Mer are a young band from Perth that sounded like a group of stone cold studio session pros. They displayed incredible musicianship and played a stonking opening set of songs that had the crowd moving immediately. The Perth crowd were another thing. Great attitude. Punctual. Easily excitable. Respectful of the people around them. Top quality hecklers.
They started off with a the great classic heckle ‘one more song’ right after we finished the first song. And after the second song, and on and on until the end of the set. It was a hugely fun show for us to play that had that first show post-pandemic vibe. Tristan almost got sunburnt from the array of old fashioned Parcan lights that were trained in on the top of his head. Liz thought it was Friday for the whole gig and announced it as such several times. It definitely had a Friday energy at the very least.
Nixon Steakford is a mood here.
The rest of the night turned into a Carnival Carnival. When I went to retrieve the car from the carpark look who had parked next to me.
And back at the hotel, look who I parked next to: identical silver 2022 Kia Carnival. One of several in the carpark.
We relaxed for a while back in our room. With nothing in the calendar for the morning big sleep ins were on the menu.
Kupu o te rā is Harikoa. It means happy.
Ka moe Mātou. We will sleep. Kei te harikoa mātou. We are happy.