At the drop of a hat!
On 6PR with Rusty, we swam with dolphins, watched some bilbies and even made time to debate whether a cream bun should have mock cream or real cream.
Enjoy listening to the show on the bar below. Let me know if it inspires you to head down to Dryandra or Rockingham or anywhere that’s got an animal experience you can be a part of.
On 6PR on a recent summers weekend on the airwaves, we took to the skies to discover how getting into the air can inspire your travel or be an exciting part of it. It was also an opportunity to reflect on my air moments.
I used to love accompanying dad out to the Narrogin airstrip when his patients needed to fly out with the Royal Flying Doctor. I’d walk around the gliders and light aircraft, imagining I was a fighter pilot waiting to hear the call to “Scramble! Scramble!”.
I love that my kids have enjoyed getting into the air. Tom has ziplined, parasailed and been in seaplanes and even done ifly indoor skydiving. Matilda has ziplined and been in helicopters and even flown up the coast in a Tiger Moth, one of the worlds most beautiful and gentle aircraft.
Astronaut Michael Collins’ wife wrote out the aviators poem High Flight for him to take into space. In his book, Carrying the Fire, Collins remarked that he wondered what Magee would have written if he’d experienced space and not just flying a Spitfire through the blue summer skies of wartime England.
Even the most non religious pilots enjoy putting their hand up to the sky and murmuring…
‘And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod, the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand and touched the face of God”.
Magee posted a copy of the poem to his parents and not long after was killed in a flying accident.
Astronaut Michael Collin’s once wrote that he wondered what John McGee, author of every aviators favourite poem, High Flight, would have written if he’d been able to go into space. I wonder if my own words, far less grander than High Flight, would improve with more height. I don’t think so. Gliding above the flat, wide landscape below me was a remarkable experience that I’m happy to share with you in the published story below.
Growing up in a country town, the main street was a great place to walk down on a Saturday morning to see who else was out and about.
Main Streets of Western Australia continue to define the life of their communities. It might just be to go to the butcher or grocer, pick up the newspaper (maybe a copy of Have A Go News!) or some rope from the trading post. Or it might be that you’re on a road trip and want to buy the best sausage roll in town or look through a local museum.
Main streets are great reasons to get out and explore regional communities at any time of year.
Below is a story I recently had published about some of the best main streets in WA, and the best reasons for a walk down them:
For the final program for 2021, Hidden Treasures on ABC Perth Saturday Breakfast went further than we’ve ever been before and brought in the biggest guest (sorry Ben Carlish) we’ve ever had … Santa Claus!
Santa left the studio very quickly when he heard the reindeers on the roof getting restless. In fact, he left so quickly that he left behind his notes about why the North Pole is a hidden treasure. It makes some interesting reading…
Come and do the all-you-can-eat buffet, Covid safe of course, with free iceberg slushies or marvel at Mrs Claus’ special menu low calorie oat milk eggnog and brown rice sushi that I’ll be tucking into on Christmas Day because Santa needs to get down a notch or two on his belt.
Fun Fact! Sir David Attenborough told me this one. Do you know why the polar bear won’t attack an Emperor penguin? Because the polar bear lives in the North Pole and Emperor penguin lives in the South Pole! Come aboard a Tundra Buggy which is like a donga on big wheels and gets up close and safely to these bears that sometimes put snow on their noses to let them sneak up to seals, or Santa Claus, and go ‘Boo!’.
The Northern Lights, or as my Elf Chief Scientist likes to remind me, the Aurora Borealis. These are a spectacular natural phenomenon that science says are particles from the sun striking atoms in the atmosphere blah, blah, blah, but the Ancient Greeks say and that they are made by Aurora, the sister of Helios and Seline (the sun and the moon) and she is racing across the sky in her multi coloured chariot alerting her lazy siblings to get up for the new day!
Just down the road from my village is where you’ll find the Reindeer Ranch, including the Reindeer Top Gun flying school and after their flight debriefing they like to come out and meet people and do hoof print autographs for a small fee of one fresh carrot.
Come and do the workshop tour that is very reasonably priced and comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by the Elf-In-Chief. This is my official residence and assembly line for all the toys that the elves still manufacture, although many are now outsourced to parents with wonderfully small font instructions in many languages, on how to assemble them in only 4-6 hours.
The North Pole is a hidden treasure because while the biggest land predator on Earth might be stalking you at any moment with teeth like the saw of a timber mill, there is vibrant and mesmerising colour in the sky better than any kaleidoscope you’ll get in your stocking and there is the most wonderful magic and spirit you’ll find in the world, the magic and spirit of Christmas!
Last week for Hidden Treasure I explored Scarborough and promised something more about the area that make it a hidden treasure and perhaps the opportunity of a staycation to enjoy the sunset coast for longer than a day trip.
Earlier this year, Molly gave me some homework, made me read a book, and I think I met the challenge of studying about staycations and just how close they could be to home when we explored Innaloo as a Hidden Treasure.
I think she gave me a B+ on my assignment so I’m seeking permission to resubmit my assessment in the hope of attaining my first ever A.
Karrinyup and Gwelup. Enjoy the audio link below, reading the story and looking at a few pics as well.
These are suburbs that many of us are familiar with. Gwelup is a suburb you might travel through on the way to Karrinyup which has a shopping centre that was always big and has just emerged from a cocoon of scaffolding and is now even bigger and even has a mini golf course and bumper cars.
But while the shopping centre is Karrinyup’s known treasure there is hidden treasure in both Karrinyup and Gwelup.
There’s a place to stay in Karrinyup called Karrinyup Waters Resort that until a few weeks ago I’d never heard of and is where you go when you’re on L plates for camping and caravanning. There are very comfortable chalets if you don’t like the idea of reversing your caravan while every grown-up, child and resident duck watches you but that’s what staying here is all about. It’s like walking through an Anaconda catalogue.
Wherever you look there’s sparkling off-road rigs and camper vans and 4WDs and tongs being flourished for bbqs that have the look and gleam of King Arthurs sword Excalibur. This is where people come to learn how to reverse, set up and pack up all of this wonderful equipment before they venture into the world of regional Western Australia.
There are resort style pools that are as good as any of those we’re dreaming about when we can return to Bali and beyond and designed to be the reward for setting up camp successfully. There’s a café that even locals sneak into for breakfast because the mushrooms they serve are as big as my hand and the range for pizzas is great for everyone in the family.
Careiniup Reserve runs alongside the Karrinyup Waters Resort and you can walk along the edge of the Reserve and there’s a little grassed area and gazebo on the western side that’s wonderful to sit and watch the bird life and because there’s a bit of water from a local brook, there are great photographic opportunities in a small reserve that is genuinely a little green oasis in the middle of suburbia.
Now Molly has been wanting to me to try and do a Hidden Treasure on flower vans and I haven’t quite got around to it but I did recently visit The Karrinyup Flower Shed is an operating vegetable and flower farm that is a reminder of what these suburbs once were, full of operating farms, many by migrant families, growing all sorts of produce.
The Karrinyup Flower Shed is one of the few remaining small farms in the metropolitan area and as well as growing and selling more than 10,000 sunflowers every year they also sell the most bizarre multicolour flowers that are more like a kaleidoscope than a flower.
Lake Gwelup has a boardwalk that winds its way over a mangrove style environment and you can spot tortoises and all sorts of birds, including perhaps the Rainbow Bee-Eater.
This migratory bird flies down from the highlands of Papua New Guinea just to breed at Lake Gwelup, although if there’s no room at the inn and all the sexy nests have the sign up that says ‘If This Nest Is Rockin’ Don’t Bother Knockin’ sign they will find another lake elsewhere in Perth to get down to business.
Lake Gwelup also has a great trail around the lake that is about 2.5km and takes you past suburban cricket grounds with suburban champions at their best and through the wetlands.
There’s also another trail that’s just a kilometre in length that makes its way through the native bushland in the north of the reserve and if driving to our regional areas to find wildflowers is all a bit hard then this patch of bushland always has a great range of wildflowers.
Jackson Wilding is a really good, simple park that is just full of logs and branches. I love this park because it’s a small and safe space with a very random feel to it. There’s no colourful slides or swings, just logs to climb and clamber over and branches to mount up into piles or make patterns in the dirt with. It’s a park designed to let you get a bit dusty and maybe even a scratch or two if you’re a bit uncoordinated like me.
Now for sport, the Lake Karrinyup Country Club is on the other side of the road from the Karrinyup Waters Resort and if you are a member of an affiliated club or get special permission, you can relax on one of the great courses not just in Western Australia but in Australia. There’s even some resident and very judgemental big grey spectators!
Karrinyup and Gwelup is a worthy Hidden Treasure of Perth because you can find yourself part of a camping community you might not have experienced before that is not far from home and get you thinking about familiar destinations as a traveller does, with fresh eyes for adventure.
Always remember that what you spend on holidays, even a staycation, is outside your normal budget, it’s holiday spending. Karrinyup and Gwelup are also floral hidden treasures with a flower farm and natural bushland to explore. Do I get an A?
What great timing to have the release of the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die, coincide with publication of my Just Urbane story about Matera, in Italy.
Matera features at the beginning of the movie and how cool is it to see places you’ve been to on the big screen?
Below is a link to the story, I hope it takes you to Matera as you read it and takes you there when it’s safe to travel the world again.
If you like this story, have a look at Just Urbane on Magster and take out a subscription. Every month Just Urbane comes out with great stories from around India and the world, and a contribution from me.
What a fantastic discussion with Ro and Molly! Crowded houses, Greek cliffs, dingoes, Frida Kahlo and stubborn cottages surrounded by an industrial tetris like world. Enjoy listening to the audio and reading a few words as well:
The dingo. It’s a landmark. The flour mill is heritage listed and the famous logo was first painted on the side in 1940 and famously repainted by a young Alan Bond.
Do you ever think to yourself, I wish Perth had a giant Frida Kahlo mural? Well now it does! Once you’ve taken your pics of the big red dingo, step across the road and fill your camera lens with the joyous colours of the Plata Bonito mural of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. She doesn’t smile much but you will once you get inside the building. I came away with giant brightly coloured rosary beads that for a non-catholic I’m still wondering what I should do with them.
At Rocky Bay there is deep water which means you get a lot of party boats dropping anchor to let people jump off into the deep, protected waters of the bay. There’s also a really interesting clifftop walk with beautiful views of the bay and river traffic coming and going and also a very cool tree that is perched on the cliff and grown sideways, making a great cubby spot for kids. There’s also an old tunnel from the days of the soap factory and an even older cave from the days of the wagyl.
It doesn’t get much quieter than Gilbert Fraser Reserve on the banks of the Swan and where a little grandstand, in fact so small it has been referred to as a pavilion, but it’s spectator architecture at its best. Sit up in the stand and you can watch cricket and beyond the match just over the boundary rope are the lapping waters of the river with sometimes bigger lappings as the big boats chug past.
Mojos is famous in my family and will be famous for generations of music lovers to come. Not only has it been a North Fremantle institution for live music for 50 years and modestly claims to be the best live music venue in the world, it is where Matilda first performed as lead singer of Dog Food, an all-girl band formed through a great music program called Girls Rock WA and that’s what sets Mojos feet firmly in their community. It’s not just the biggest acts that attract an audience, it’s about new acts and opportunities.
The North Fremantle war memorial reminds us of the contribution and sacrifice of our small communities. North Fremantle had so many of its players killed and injured during World War I, including at Gallipoli, that they relinquished their WAFL licence.
“I wasn’t keen on letting my house go – I’d worked for it” is a wonderful quote from an ABC story a couple of years ago, by Carmel Mullally.
Here is a cottage that is more Castle than The Castle.
As they say in The Castle, “It’s not a house. It’s a home.”
There’s not a lot of serenity in a land dominated by a Tetris-like skyline of sea containers and rumbling trucks and bustling forklifts competing for who can be the loudest but it does feel quintessentially Australian that no only is life from another time hanging on in an industrial jungle but that it has also been allowed to survive and hasn’t just been squashed by dropping a sea container on it.
Over 800,000 sea containers were handled at Fremantle Harbour in the past year and if you’re not buying local for your Christmas presents I’d be getting those online orders in quickly. I’m not into train spotting but I do like a bit of big industry spotting. Here are logistics in action; shifting, lifting, scraping and storing.
Why is the North Mole Lighthouse Red? It’s over 115 years old and is a great spot for some big rod fishing or quiet sitting at sunset.
Port Beach has reopened after the horrific shark attack last weekend. I was down there and saw the incredible efforts of police and rescue agencies to use every resource they had. If you’re not sure about getting back into the water, it’s a beautiful beach for sitting on the sand or in the waterfront café which looks out to a view that extends to South Africa.
North Fremantle offers you the opportunity to immerse yourself in an experience of sea, river, music and mooching. It’s definitely worth an afternoon wander that perhaps turns into sitting on Port Beach or standing at the North Mole Lighthouse to watch the sun go down before watching the lights comes up at a live venue for an act that, if you’re lucky, might be my daughter!
For ABC Saturday Breakfast, Hidden Treasures often finds itself in the job of discovering suburbs we normally just drive through on the way to somewhere else, or suburbs that just seem to be too suburban to be of interest.
Our next Hidden Treasure is a lot more. Our next Hidden Treasure challenges a perception that’s been around since the 1970’s. Our next Hidden Treasure challenges you to stop awhile in a part of Perth that’s far from suburbia but still part of the metropolitan area.
When I was a kid, I’d listen to the stories my dad and his mates would tell on the veranda of our little holiday house in Shoalwater Bay. From Japanese Army Helmets found on the end of Garden Island to giant sharks off Woodman Point, these stories always seemed to be something they’d overheard on the boat ramp.
Fun Fact: Boat ramps were the internet of the day.
One of the stories I remember hearing, when I was dragging a Jatz cracker through the French Onion dip, was how fish caught in Cockburn Sound would arc when cooked in microwave ovens because of the metal content caused by industry pollutants.
Irrespective of the truth and accuracy of this story, it’s a bit metaphoric for how we felt about Cockburn Sound in the 1970’s, and the area we know as … Kwinana.
Well, most of the industry is still there but there’s also a lot more in Kwinana, including a strong sense of community that is proud of new facilities, old heritage and even older culture.
Let’s start with a remarkable wetland and bush walk experience that is ridiculously close to the Kwinana Freeway but you wouldn’t know it.
The Spectacles Wetlands is named for its aerial view which shows two circular lakes joined by a narrow drain, making it look like a pair of spectacles.
The Spectacles is 360 hectares and part of the wider Beeliar Regional Park and has great Noongar interpretative signage along a 5km heritage walk trail and explains the perspective and special importance of the area to Noongar Elder Joe Walley.
As well as the Aboriginal Heritage Walk Trail, there’s a boardwalk over the wetlands which feature a paperbark forest and lead you to the Biara Lookout which is the perfect location to sit quietly and watch the lakes resident birdlife.
This is the reason why I’d do a day out in Kwinana. Come to the Spectacles and then do the other things we’re going to talk about but come for the trails and boardwalk, the wetlands, Aboriginal stories and big spiders in big webs and a paperbark forest partly submerged in wetlands that provide amazing reflections from the still water.
Chalk Hill has a panoramic view to Rockingham, Wadjemup and the Darling Escarpment. It’s also where local Aboriginal people who worked at the nearby refineries used to live because prior to the 1967 Referendum, Aboriginal people didn’t qualify for housing. Going further back in time the hill was used by local Aboriginal groups to light signal fires. It’s a nice steep walk up a sealed path and short dirt track.
Sitting at the bottom of Chalk Hill is Smirk Cottage. This small, two bedroom cottage built in the 1900’s, cared for by the Kwinana Heritage Group and around the grounds are lots of examples of old agricultural machinery and equipment and who doesn’t love sitting on an old tractor.
Just four years ago the Adventure Park won best park in Australia. It’s got boardwalks, flying foxes, climbing nets, a tree maze, water play, squirting pelicans, great birthday party facilities that you can hire, including one with a kitchen! If you’ve got a kid that is too cool for playgrounds there’s a huge skate park next door.
For walkers and cyclists and with multiple entry and exit points along the 21 kilometre route try the Kwinana Loop Trail. Look for the Aboriginal heritage signs along the route to get a better understanding and connection with the bushland you’re travelling through.
Amongst the smoke stacks, desalination plant and refineries is a pristine beach for horses. In summer there can be dozens of good looking horses splashing about, lying back on a blanket reading the form guide or playing volleyball like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. On my visit I met a champion of WA trotting, Mighty Conqueror. It may sound like an ambitious name but he’s got the wins and the prize money to make him worthy of the name.
The SS Kwinana shipwreck is a big cargo and passenger steamship that ran aground in the 1920’s onto what we now call Kwinana Beach. In the 1960’s, inspired by South Fremantle Oval, it was filled with concrete. It’s good to walk the length of an old ship and imagine where the bow was and the bridge and the boilers, and on the sides you can still see rusty steel plates and rivets.
For a day trip feast, whether you like it greasy by the beach or grilled at a table there are plenty of great fish and chip shops in Kwinana.
Kwinana is a hidden treasure not because it’s reinvented itself but because its learned to live with itself and tell a bigger, better story.
The industry is still there but look closer and you’ll find ancient stories, wetlands, views, shipwrecks, beaches for long legged champions and adventure parks for little legged champions.
For Hidden Treasures on ABC Saturday Breakfast I’m rising up, I’m back on the street, did my time, took my chances, went the distance now I’m back on my feet, just a man and his will to survive.
Listen to audio below of my discussion with Ro for ABC Saturday Breakfast and also enjoy reading the story below …
That’s what it’s all about! Having the eye of the tiger! Having the guts to get out there!
What’s the great quote from Hawthorn coach John Kennedy? “Don’t think! Do! Do something.”
That’s our hidden treasures mantra, don’t think about it, get out there and do something.
For Hidden Treasure Sport, it is about participation without white line fever and being a weekend warrior.
Some of it is also about connecting with your community and being part of a tribe. Just sitting on the sidelines, or high up in an old grandstand or at the bar with people you don’t know but whose company you enjoy.
Our love of watching sport or playing sport is there to be found all over WA. Sometimes it’s big, like historic WAFL grounds, sometimes it’s visible from the air, like Champion Lakes, and sometimes you just come across it on a good walk around your suburb, like the water polo competition that is run alongside the river in Bicton.
I bet our list of sports includes at least one you’ve never heard of and at least one you can’t believe is a sport.
The Wadjemup Cup! You might think the footy season has all dried up but there is another opportunity! You can watch a carnival of WA’s best young Aboriginal players from Clontarf. The Wadjemup Cup is on Saturday 6 of November and features over 120 Aboriginal boys from Carnarvon all the way down to Esperance and across to the Goldfields. Get across to Wadjemup and pick a team to support. The boys will be doing a cultural experience tour that is the same tour all visitors to the island can experience.
Kabaddi is an ancient Indian martial arts sport that works in teams to protect and defend each other and is about strategy as much as it is about strength. They have tournaments attracting 1500 people. (This sport is the worst nightmare for those who don’t like workplace team building exercises).
Get to Lake Monger Primary School on a Sunday morning with your flagon with a dragon and cheer on knights of olde at the Barony of Aneala, described as Perth’s largest medieval group. Combat archery sees participants wear their finest armour in what is described as medieval paint ball…with arrows.
With thanks to the very combative ex-Docker player Antoni Grover, let’s get some people into some bruising encounters with combat sports. In October and November, Muay Thai tournaments will be held at Curtin Stadium, HBF Stadium and the Perth Convention Centre. This is a sport that relies on stand-up physical strength and much like the Grand Final tonight, is all about attrition. Last the longest and you win.
Table Tennis but not just ‘table tennis’. This is table tennis in Mirrabooka with Vietnamese Senior Citizens. This was a story broken by Molly during the Mirrabooka special a few months ago. Molly discovered that the Vietnamese Citizens Group needed something active and competitive to participate in, and found that table tennis formed friendships and rivalry. Molly even risked the wrath of the local champion by pulling her away from a winning lead to do an interview.
There are nine croquet clubs tucked away in Perth on quiet streets with quiet participants who enjoy the clink of wooden mallets gently caressing wooden balls through little hoops. It’s a sport that is best undertaken if you enjoy making conversation because it’s a gentle sport without a lot of controversy to generate discussion. For a try before you buy experience, contact the Forrest Park club in Mount Lawley who have some introductory courses available in October.
Petanque! It’s French for ‘feet together’ and is similar to lawn bowls and normally played on sandy ground with very shiny, metal balls. There are five clubs in WA, all petanquing with all ages and an emphasis on supporting players with disability.
Padel is like the creative offspring of tennis and squash this is huge sport in Spain that has been launched in Perth by two Spanish twin sisters and courts are available at Reabold Tennis Club in Floreat. The social side to Padel is so important that there is a coffee shop on site, alongside the courts. Literally, you can sip and serve!
In the Pilbara, a Dragon Boat carnival is being held at the historic old port town of Cossak, just a rock of iron ores throw away from Roebourne. There are boats still looking to fill crews so if you like a high pressure paddle in a sport that began in southern China over 2000 years ago get into it.
A big thank you to the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries for helping me pull this story together.
We sometimes limit ourselves to just following what is easily seen on tv. Sport is more than that. It’s also about connecting with a tribe. Forget the fitness and health stuff, sport in our suburbs is a hidden treasure because it connects us to other people and is another reason to see what’s out there. It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight. And it’s the thrill of finding something new to do in our suburbs.
Chris Parry Writes For Us 