Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Our Home on Scarborough Beach (for now)

Australia has amazing beaches, and Scarborough is one of the favourites for Perth, Western Australia.

This is our big house. (Yeah, OK, it's really a hotel, and it's not actually ours. It's called the Rendezvous Grand Hotel.)


The big red 'o' isn't really there - I just put it there to show where our room is. It's on the 22nd floor, according to the numbers in the lift. In fact there is no level 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 13. Still, it's pretty high up, with great views.


Perth is quite flat - which might come as a surprise to those who haven't visited before.
The beach looks great from up here.


There are always people, and lots of activities happening.

With Peter's amazing camera, we can have a closer look at some of these activities:

 Sailing.

 Beach Carnivals.

Surf Rescue - actual surf rescue, as well as training and practice for when they are needed.


Then there are para-gliders ... and kite surfers and all those. And, of course, lots of regular surfers.


With varying skill levels ... !


They even have a sound-shell where they play music and people can dance.



Something you can't see in the photos of the beach is the flies!! We had forgotten (as we generally do) about the flies in Australia ... so annoying! They are wanting to be in your eyes and ears, or (better still) up your nose.

So maybe a better option is this beautiful hotel pool, up on the roof of the '10th' (really only the 3rd - but the 2 lower floors are very very tall) floor.


The advertising says it's 'heated' but ... well, it's not.


That only momentarily deterred our visiting grandkids!

The Birds at the Beach






Something we noticed about the beaches in Malaysia is the lack of the birds which we Aussies are used to seeing as part of the whole beach experience.

Seagulls - always squawking and asking for food.



Cormorants (or 'shags')


 Sitting around, diving for fish - and really annoying if they take a fancy to your fishing bait.

Pelicans ...




Pretty at a distance ...


... quite a bit more scary when they come up on the land (and they are big!) demanding to be fed, or just stealing your food!

So ... we are enjoying being by the sea in Western Australia.

[And we are still waiting for definite news about our return to Malaysia - hopefully in January or so.]