Maurice has arrived!

Our friend Maurice has come out from England for a 3 week holiday.  Maurice is one of Jim's friends from Running Club, who has travelled extensively in Europe, but who has never travelled long haul before.  So, coming to see us, was his first long flight. He flew from London-Singapore, had a 24 hour stopover in Singapore, and arrived in Perth at 0100 this morning.  Jim met him at the airport, where because of the number of incoming flights, it took about 90 minutes to clear customs. 

Despite only arriving here at 0230, Maurice was awake at 4am, and we all got up about 6.30.  Maurice was delighted to have obtained a top seat to go to the WACA on Sunday 15 January for the game between Australia and India.  He thought the seat price was expensive, but a whole day of international cricket is cheaper than one (90 minute) Premier League football seat in the UK, so Jim and I thought it was incredibly good value - a bargain in fact.  His seat is toward the back of the seating under one of the shaded stands. We took a walk to the WACA ground to see whether it was short enough to walk from the town centre, or not, on match day.  It was about a 20 minute walk from the bus station - just the right sort of distance to get your circulation going, before settling down for a whole day's cricket!  While we wandered around, Maurice identified a wide variety of architectural styles - from Victorian, to art deco to modern office blocks.

Maurice is now planning what we might want to do together while he is here for 3 weeks.  The list includes - Fremantle prison; Kings Park and botanic gardens; Rottnest Island; boat tour to Fremantle; Bell tower; Maritime Museum; Perth Art Gallery; river cruises; tour around Curtin University; Perth Mint.  I have to say I'd like to do most of them.  Jim is a less enthusiastic tourist, so I can forsee Maurice and me doing the tourist ventures while Jim sits drinking tea and reading the paper in the nearest cafe.    Maurice also has great plans for adventurous eating - he wants to try kangaroo and crocodile, so has been peering in various restaurant windows to see which ones have the more adventurous menus. So tomorrow we are going out to eat, to celebrate Maurice's arrival.