Perth

This week continues an admitted series of vanity blogs sharing our South Seas Adventure. First, I must apologize for misspelling Bryan Adams name in last week’s blog. He spells his name with a “y.” Sorry Bryan.

Most of the people who responded asked to see more pictures. They didn’t say less writing, but I’m taking the hint in this and future blogs.

As previously described, our adventure began in Perth, Australia. It is clearly a city on the move, and the people were friendly and generous. We were fortunate to secure reservations and stay at the beautiful Hyatt Regency.

On day two, our wonderful friends and travel buddies Lyn and Herb arrived.

After a brief rest, we headed back down to the Swan River, took in a gorgeous sunset, and gathered with the locals for some river-side dining and music. Australians seem to know they live in a paradise and definitely take advantage by enjoying life.

The following day we became typical tourists taking in Perth’s highlights such as their famous Bell Tower. We just had to take the tour and get a picture from the observation deck

We loved the architecture of their government building and Supreme Court.

We also took in Kings Park with it’s beautiful views, War Memorials, Botanical Gardens, and Herb’s favorite, the DNA tower.  He’s somewhere up in there  A really spectacular city.

South Seas Adventure

Part 1

As described, this blog is about the “joys and challenges of retired life.” As frequent readers already know, one of the great joys my wife and I share is the opportunity to travel to exciting locations both throughout the U. S. and around the world. Our latest travel adventure to exotic locations in the South Seas was an extraordinary journey we will never forget.

Over the next few weeks I will share descriptions and photos from our experience in short segments. I hope you will enjoy them.

Perth

Our adventure began with a late night flight from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. After the fourteen plus hour flight, we had two hours to make our next flight from Sydney to Perth that took about five and a half hours. Perth is an incredibly beautiful city on the southwest coast of Australia. After a bit of rest, and losing an entire day crossing the international dateline, we were wide awake in the middle of night. Checking with the hotel staff that assured us it was quite safe, we ventured in the dark down to the beautiful lighted walkway along the Swan River. The lights of the tall building were glowing in the dark and were shortly replaced by a glorious sunrise. It was the start of a wonderful day.

Back at the hotel we grabbed a bit of breakfast and I suggested we make our way to the hotel pool. It was still early in the morning but quite warm and I thought our flight weary muscles could use some time in the water.

As the only ones at the pool, we were enjoying ourselves and noticed the tiles on the pool steps were a bit slippery. A few minutes later, a man and woman arrived with a beautiful little girl. Being the cautious mother and grandmother she is, my wife advised the couple about the steps. They both thanked Trisha for her thoughtfulness and began their swim. After a while, the man got out of the pool and came to where we were relaxing. He asked us about our trip and when we said we were going to be joining a friend of ours who is a musician, he told us he was also a musician. Not thinking too much about it, we continued talking. At some point, I began to think the man looked familiar. Finally, I said “we should know you shouldn’t we?” He reached out his hand and camly said, “Brian Adams.” Yes, Brian Adams, the international singing star, composer, photographer, and activist. We even spent more time with him and his family at a pool-side lunch. Although he modestly told us he was performing that night, the next day we found out he drew over 6,000 people to his concert at King’s Park in Perth. Our trip was off to a very interesting start.

Trisha Parker and Brian Adams