MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

 An Esperance Beach from Twilight Beach Road 7 April 2011 (Photo Louise Percy) Our exploration of Esperance is complete. From the rugged, secluded beaches of the Cape Arid National Park to the expansive beaches reached by Twilight Beach Road we have swum, walked, romanced and dined along the Southern Ocean coastline. Jo at Tentacles  (Photo: Louise Percy) And the food we have had! Esperance is renowned as a place for wonderful fish and we met Jo at Tentacles of Esperance seafood on our second day of discovery. She is very knowledgeable about the local fish and advised me almost daily about what was fresh and gave suggestions on how I should try to cook it. I love cooking and came to Esperance with the intention of trying many new, particularly Asian recipes. I bought my wok and bamboo steamer…and the tasting sensation of Kylie Kwong’s recipe for line caught bar cod steamed with ginger and shallots was sublime, even if I do say so myself! The bar cod had arrived fresh from ...

Ruby waiting for a stick to be thrown into the river this morning. Apologies to the fisherman I have just returned from a long, languid and lazy walk along the Swan River which laps ashore about 250m from my home. The New Year’s weather is stunning, and the mood in Perth is very much high summer, with most people not starting work until Monday, or even the 17th. This period from Christmas to mid January is when many take their holidays, even if they don’t do anything more with their days than enjoy their families and our beautiful beaches. And I have been doing just that over the past two weeks. I have caught up with friends and heard some funny stories about the way the Australian animals, and in this case a very impolite kangaroo deal with the heat and lack of water. My friend, Dianne, who lives in the hills near Perth, had me laughing hysterically the other day when she retold her story of a close encounter of a very scary kind with a 2m tall kangaroo. She had gone outside to han...