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7 - Arrival in Perth.
Flying into Perth (the only city on the third rock from the sun which astronauts say can be clearly
seen when it "winks" at them) was a very efficient operation with much pre briefing of the routine, before we parked. Once
out of the silver bird and after expressing again our good wishes to the Canberra branch of the tribe, we landed in a large
"pre entry" hall. Here we displayed passports and visas and declared why we were visiting, etc. Everybody was in good humour
and amused to hear us declare that we had some crisp bags for the Irish in Perth seeing that nobody does it quite like Tayto.
With all the craic we totally forgot to say that we were carrying some more "organic" cargo in the shape of two packets of
Shamrock for St.Patrick's Day. (Martina, a friend back home, had given us these practically as we were leaving the house for
Dublin airport and asked us to pass on to her nieces then temporarily installed somewhere in Perth - she also gave us a telephone
number). Outside in the luggage hall we swiftly grabbed our gear, at this stage anxious to emerge as quickly as possible to
see T and E. While shuffling along in the laden trolley queue we were all sussed out by sniffer dogs (searching for drugs
and maybe Clonakilty Black Pudding, but definitely not for Shamrock, at least to go by the results). We passed on with flying
colours and no colourful customs problems and out through the "Welcome to WA" portal.
With our eyes still adjusting to the much larger hall we were now in, we heard a familiar voice above the low
buzz of conversing Perth people and there in all their summery shorts glory stood the brave Tony and Eileen. Chat resumed
immediately as if we'd just talked yesterday - a natural thing for the Irish - with questions asked and questions answered
by the new time. Without any noticeable gap in the gossiping we "wheelied" out to the car park to the wheels - a powerful
2 litre Falcon Station Wagon which looked to us like you could live in it. Relaxing into the back seat we cruised back towards
the city and their home pad in Hamersley. It was great to be "home" again away from home. At the door we were greeted by Aaron,
Lynsey and our first acquaintance with Cassie (the K9 house guardian). A most enthusiastic reception all round and seemingly
an early entry into the approval column in Cassie's logbook. Strange as it may seem we knew somehow straight away that herself
and ourselves were going to get along famously. A few scoops were produced and the chat began in earnest, al fresco in the
back garden at first and later inside, and lasted well but coherently (I hope) into the night. They were absolutely delighted
we were there and really looking forward to showing us their adopted home patch. They'd even arranged quite a few days off
work. We were flabbergasted with all this and could only say how blessed we were in this life a chairde go l Jir.
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