The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

Two weeks ago I took advantage of a free ferry service to visit the port of Fremantle. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the perfect weather for going on a river cruise. An added attraction was landing right near the centre of the town right next to 3 very pretty tall sailing ships. They had arrived the previous week and had been open to the public on the weekend. With a bit of luck they’d be open for a couple of days before the scheduled departure on 3rd August.

Spent a good 30 minutes drooling over the gorgeousness of the three boats and looking for the opening times which turned out to be not that day but Friday and Saturday.
The free ferries were running the next day so it was the perfect excuse to come back. Unlike another sailing ship - the replica of the Endeavour which turned up in October 2011, they were not charging a ridiculous $18 to go onboard but only a (gold coin) donation. So much for the reputation of the Dutch for being mean and miserly.

( The Shipping News )

Izzie’s been busy packing up the Camp Nano tent, putting away the phoenix feather quill and emerald ink and returning to the usual abnormal existence
There’s been so much going on in politics not just in Oz but all around the world. Been greedily grabbing all sorts of wonderful cartoons but never got around to posting them
Last week I came across a strange Korean cafe on the north side of the city. Along with the usual selection of newspapers and magazines aimed at tourists and foreign students, there were some rather obscure and intellectual journals gracing the book shelves. One of these had the intriguing title “Political Animal”. It was by David Marr so it was certain to be seriously snarky. It was all about the life and times of one Anthony Abbot who is looking increasingly likely to be the next Australian prime minister.

The recent sudoku addiction did not stand a chance against such wickedly wonderful temptations. It also happened to be perfect research material for November’s nano novel.
A main character who is supposed to be a militant atheist dedicated to stamping out religious expression in all its various incarnations had already developed an obsession with boxing, cycling and running around the beach wearing budgie smugglers.

Even boring old state politics has suddenly gotten very interesting. A whole bunch of local councils are going to get tossed in the bin. There’s been some amusing suggestions for the new names of the amalgamated entities. No matter what the goblins decide, public opinion has pretty much unanimously decided that one council’s unofficial name will be South Park. Another has been simply wiped off the map. Here’s hoping that is the definite sign and omen that its present mayor will run again in the federal election. With a bit of luck she will be our next female prime minister. Unlike Julia Gillard who was too nice for her own good, Alannah McTiernan will be kicking butt big time. Getting the trains running on time would be the least of her achievements

On the subject of trains, the Fremantle line is closed yet again so they can put the final touches to the new tunnel. To compensate for the inconvenience the transport authority put on a bunch of free ferries between the central business district and the port city.
Already did the trip when they first closed the line a fortnight ago. The trip in itself is gorgeous and scenic and it was a lovely sunny day. But it was school holidays at the time and it was like being on a floating playground.

( Don't stop the boats )