Perth Stories

“I thought it was five years, but it’s actually six”, I told a friend over a beer at Perth’s Grosvenor Hotel. The last time we had seen each other face-to-face was at the funeral of Eoin Cameron, the former ABC Radio presenter.

I worked with Eoin during my year as the manager of ABC Radio Perth (then named 720 ABC Perth). After a career in both commercial and ABC radio, Eoin served as a Liberal member of Federal Parliament, before returning to the ABC as the host of the #1 breakfast radio show in Perth.… Read the rest “Perth Stories”

Such a long way to Perth

The two things I remember vividly about my time living in Perth in 2004 were: the time zone difference and the long flights involved. I remember getting a phone call at 4.30am from someone on the East Coast (note the capitalization) who hadn’t realised there was a three hour time difference during the summer months, and even then thought “Perth was ahead, not behind”. I also remember the nine hours it took me to travel home for a school reunion in Lismore, taking into accounts flights from Perth to Sydney, Sydney to Gold Coast, and then from Gold Coast to Lismore by road…

Travelling back to Perth this time was not for a happy reason.… Read the rest “Such a long way to Perth”

Preparing for the Sunday night Red Eye

It’s Sunday evening. It’s been a warm day in Perth. I’m sitting on the balcony of the hotel I’ve been staying in. I hope the people on the cruise boat down below don’t mind that I’m sitting here, wearing just shorts, and sipping on a glass of wine. Because frankly, the last week has been super-super-busy, and if they do mind, I don’t care.

First, there was a reasonably intense two-day work conference in Sydney (with associated socialising/working at night).… Read the rest “Preparing for the Sunday night Red Eye”

International Food Tour of Perth

You know how when you meet someone and they introduce themselves, but within five minutes you’ve completely forgotten their name? That’s how it was with one of the blokes on the International Food Tour of Perth which I undertook today. Thankfully, I knew he was the father of Justin, our tour guide. We shared a few interesting stories throughout the day, including memories of condensed milk. He also told me a little of the background to these tours which are reasonably new in Perth.… Read the rest “International Food Tour of Perth”