Swan River cruise

Last Friday I was invited to join some of my Aussie colleagues on an annual River cruise they do as part of a Christmas celebration. I was advised to leave the car at home, so I jumped on the train at 9:00 am and made my way to the downtown jetty. It's great to have a harbour like this right downtown, with all of the unique restaurants and parks nearby. Last July, Cirque du Soleil blew into town, and set up their tent just down the street, performing Quidam for two sold-out months.

We managed to fit about 60 people on the yacht, with the tunes pumping, and tubs full of drinks. The food was fantastic as well, with huge platters of olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fancy cheeses and crackers. The main attraction though were the hundreds of prawns that were served up, which is the local specialty.

The cruise took us down the Swan River, past the old Swan brewery, and the lookout in Kings Park. Windsurfers use the river frequently as well, and can get some pretty good speed up. About a mile upstream, the river narrows, with rock cliffs rising on either side. Some kids were basking in the sunshine and cliff jumping around a hidden bay. This is prime real-estate, and their are huge mansions bordering the river all the way to Fremantle. The style here is very meditteranean, with the red tile roofs, palm trees, and generally slower pace of life. After about 2 hours we reached the mouth of the river, and had to go out onto the Indian ocean in order to enter into the wharf in Fremantle. I was amazed at how the open sea could really toss the boat around, and was glad I had only had 2 beers at that point. After stopping in Fremantle for an hour to get ice cream and walk around, we headed back toward Perth. On the way, the driver pulled along side a smaller boat. I wasn't sure why, but all I could here was a whole lotta hootin' and hollerin'. As the men on the smaller boat dispersed, it became evident....a private show (apparantly not uncommon on the river). As we pulled away, we howled at the whole scene. Thinking about it now, it's actually mildly disturbing to think of 20 middle-aged men standing around in speedo's, with beers in hand, paying for a 20 year old girl strip on a boat.

The wind died down on the return trip, and I got another good dose of radiation on my brain while hanging out on the sun deck. As we pulled up to the dock, we were greeted by a (school, pod, pack, legion?) of dolphins jumping out of the water. Definitely good living with good folks.