A mere 4 hour plane ride is all it takes to get from Melbourne to Perth…that and two wonderful family members to sponsor the whole trip! Adam’s Uncle Bruce and Aunty Cheryl were in Perth visiting Cheryl’s family and decided to send us out there too (hooray!). Adam and his brother Dustin had visited the Perth family many many years back and had not seen these folks since. A theme for the weekend was “would you have thought 12 years ago that you’d be back, living in Australia ??” Answer: no!
To make this post read more easily and not like a family tree here is what you need to know: CBM = Cousins By Marriage. Cheryl comes from a large family so there are a LOT of first names here. Let it suffice to say that they are ALL relatives by marriage to Adam and I.
After picking us up at the airport they take us out to enjoy our first sight: the port town of Fremantle. This was such a fun little town complete with a historical roundhouse where prisoners were kept back in the day.
We were joined for lunch by Bev and Brian (Perth Fam) at Kailis’ to have their famous fish and chips. Yummy! We headed back to Scarborough Beach where Bruce and Cheryl were staying after a short visit with Cheryl’s mum. I enjoyed a run along the beach walking path and kept an eye out for dangerous animals as there are about a million signs warning you of the many dangers found at the beach. Basically the world’s most dangerous beach, am I right?
Friday dawned with a bit of rain so we had to scratch our plans to cruise around on a boat and instead enjoyed an amazing lunch at Bev and Brian’s house where we met a few more of Adam’s CBM’s. Lunch was giant prawns and scallops with yummy salad and bread. I could eat like that every. single. day. We had plans to meet up with Reece and his sister Kellie (two more CBM’s…the Australian branch of the family is quite large) for dinner. Dinner of course turned into drinks and dancing and later that night we were introduced to a new Aussie word: Mackers. Which means McDonalds. Gotta love late night food urges.
The next day we headed to the beach to take a nice walk/jog along the beach path and swim in the Indian Ocean. Well, I was going to swim in the ocean, everyone else was there to watch from a distance as I enjoyed myself…you know how you watch the family dog gallivant on the beach, oblivious to others? Yea…that about sums it up. This was by far a highlight of the trip. The stretch of beach path goes on and on for miles with nothing but ocean to one side and beautiful houses and little cafes to the other. Everyone is out biking, walking, or jogging. Such a great, sunny, outdoor loving place! *Sigh* After I had taken my little dip we had to head back to get ready for an afternoon tea with the family to celebrate a birthday. Charlie, who is a 2nd CBM (2nd Cousin by Marriage) turned 2. We had all kinds of delicious snacks and cakes and really enjoyed hanging out with all of the family and kiddies.
It was in Perth that Adam and I got to catch our first live footy match, or at least part of it! Reece plays for an amateur league in Perth and we got to see him play and WIN! How fun! That night we joined Reece and his mates (there I said it…kind of) to celebrate which led us into the city of Perth and into a new rooftop bar.
A word about our CBM Reece. Reece has an amazing ability to befriend any and every person he encounters . While hanging out with him in NY when he was touring the world (yes WORLD) in 2004 he not only had a large NY friend base, but also got us into several clubs and bars sans cover charge and no line waiting. The man’s a magician.
Anyway, back to Perth, since this rooftop bar was new there was a huge line. *Cue Reece Magician* he walks up to the bouncer, chats for about five minutes, and *poof* we’re in. Needless to say he, and his friends, showed us a great time and, true to Aussie form, made us feel like we’d been living there our whole lives.
Sunday dawned with the realization that yet another weekend had flown by and we only had a few hours of time left before we needed to head back to Melbourne. We grabbed some brunch in the city, joined by Ian, and then all of us went up to Kings Park which overlooks the entire city of Perth and has a huge botanical garden. The weather was gorgeous, the company was great and we were wishing that we still had a few more days to spend here.
Bruce and Cheryl drove us down to the Subiaco area to meander around the shops and enjoy the weather. Once back and packed we went down to the beach for a last view of the ocean and an afternoon pick me up of delicious iced coffee and carrot cake. (Food is a definite focal point of all Rubin gatherings. Yum!).
We had such a great time being with family, meeting new family members and catching up with people we hadn’t seen in quite some time. We are so thankful to Bruce and Cheryl for giving us that weekend in Perth! (Thank you guys so much!) Like all great trips, it ended too quickly and we were back at the airport – passports checked this time (maybe it helped that I placed them on the counter, nudging them forward in a *hint*hint* kind of fashion…) – waiting to be taken back to Melbourne…home. We couldn’t agree more with Bruce and Cheryl’s constant amazement at how, 12 years ago, they thought it was to be Adam’s only trip to Australia.
Sometimes once in a lifetime happens again. Here’s to more of that!