Involuntary Revhead

One benefit of living in the city is that I get to know about all the events going on, whether I like it or not. I woke up on a normal quiet Sunday morning (there's less buses and traffic and stores don't open until 11) and I heard a very loud car engine growling. Some macho man showing off. Then another, and another. This was no ordinary show of testosterone.

I wandered around the corner to Langley Park and Riverside Drive. And what did I find?! It was a car show. Apparently the Targa West event has brought cars gathering all around the city, shutting down the streets, and revving their engines. Today was the historic sprint down Riverside Drive.

There were the traditional Rally Cars...

Your classic Jaguar...

The iconic Cadillac...

The manly Ford Mustangs...

And then a whole gaggle of Mazda Miata's, or at least what I thought were Miatas (they may be one of the few cars I can recognize). Apparently here they're called MX-5's or just plain Mazdas (rhymes with Taz not oz) or something like that. I'm sticking with Miata

But then there were the classic Australia Holdens (which are now actually owned by GM)...

Holden Commodores (which are going to be discontinued if they haven't been)

And Holden Toranas

But this wasn't just a look and see kinda car show. They put the pedal to the metal with cars racing every minute from 10 am to 1:30 pm.

On your mark, get set, go!

Some were more style than speed.

And some were fast!

It was a long way from Cruise Night at Ocean Beach and $2 Mini Golf, but wherever you go there are men (and some women) showing off their shiny metal cars. And while I'm no revhead (or Petrolhead in Aussie) some of them are pretty neat.

Seek Wisdom

There are 5 universities in Perth and they've been in the press a bit with their recent open days and teh new Good University rankings coming out. You'll note, like all things in Australia (European colonizers didn't arrive in this country until 1788), they're relatively new.

*Aussie translation: "uni" = university

University of Notre Dame 

(no, not the fighting Irish in in South Bend though they are linked)

A private Catholic uni down in Fremantle with 7,000 undergrads split between Freo and Broome. It became a uni in 1989.

Edith Cowan University

A university of 16,000 undergrads across the northern suburbs of Perth (and other few small campuses), it's the only uni in Australia named after a woman (the first woman to be elected into parliament). It prides itself on providing alternative entry into higher education since it's opening in 1982.

Murdoch University

Started in 1973, as Perth's second oldest uni, is in Perth's southern suburbs. It has about 16,000 undergraduates as well as a focus on research.

Curtin University 

(hopefully you've heard of this one)

It's the largest uni in Western Australia with close to 37,000 undergrads. It was established in 1986 and was originally Curtin University of Technology with a practical and growing research focus with the motto "Make Tomorrow Better".

University of Western Australia
(aka UWA)

The oldest uni in Western Australia and a member of the Group of Eight (hoity toity equivalent of the Ivy leagues in the US, but was only started in 1994). It's motto, in a traditional liberal education perspective, is "Seek Wisdom."

Because there is no high profile uni sport (and no mascots!), the rivalry between uni's is a bit more quietly academic and turns into "My engineers are better than your engineers" or "We got more research dollars last year". And because Western Australia is the national underdog competing for research grants with the powerhouses over east in Sydney and Melbourne, they do work together. We happen to be doing some research at UWA (if you remember) and I was over at their beautiful campus twice in the past week. Out of the pages of Harvard and Yale 101, it looks like a university should.

It's got its hallowed hallways (be it mostly outdoors as we are in Australia...

Old buildings with tributes to old, wise men...

 THe normal buildings you'd expect, with the added bonus of palm trees...

Big, old trees and racks of student bicycles...

And students playing a pick up game on the green (albeit the cricket ground)...

And like any good university (Maryland has its black squirrels, Carolina had its aggressive northern mockingbirds, and Curtin with its deformed Australian crow/ravens), UWA has its resident peacocks primarily residing in the Arts building

Those peacocks are fierce, but I'll take a terrapin or gamecock any day.

Mind the Gap

You may have come across this news story in the past week. Did you realize it happened in Perth? You know, the Australian city I've been living in the past 11 months?

If you missed it, here's a summary.

Man gets leg stuck in the gap between the train and the platform.

 How did his leg get all the way down in that little gap?

Passengers push the train for him to escape.

With all the tragedy and hate in the news recently, it's nice to see a story where strangers are helping their fellow man.

It also got me thinking, as Stirling station (where it happened), was my first destination to attempt navigating the trains in Perth. Equipped with my Smartrider (not a SmartTrip as I sometimes call it), I headed out into the windy, cold, rainy dusk. And I made it safefly to my final destination.

 

And in Stirling, there was a helpful little reminder.

 This is the train coming in to Stirling. Do you even see a gap to mind?

So it got me to thinking about the train stations in Perth. As a consumer of public transport, I frequent the rail system quite often. From the Justin Bieber fans with their mom to the footy fan filled sardine cans, to the drunken, barefoot man with his bike, I've see Perth's best on the trains. 

Out of approximately 69 stations on the Transperth train network, I've been to 25 of them. And that doesn't count the ones I've ridden by on my numerous bike rides, or that I tried to go to. Like the time Kyla was dropping me off at Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn, not Cock-burn fellow Gamecocks) but we couldn't find the entrance. Or the time I was supposed to meet Ashley at Burswood, and I thought I was supposed to be there an hour later (hence missed the train) and ran to catch what I hoped was the correct bus, only to find out she had accidentally taken the express station that didn't stop at Burswood.

If you come to Perth and have any fear of getting on the leg eating train, have no fear. Here's a sampling of some.

There are five lines, with Perth Station and Perth Underground (they're basically one connected station as the cental hub.

Perth Station

Perth Underground

 What gap?

Leederville

Home of trendy bars, and closest stop for all the men in suits going to work in West Perth.

City West

 Normally I cycle/walk past here, but I stopped on the train here to get my Western Australian driver's license (no test required!) on the way to Fremantle for an afternoon adventure.

West Leederville

Destination for all footy Eagles and Dockers headed to Patterson's Stadium.

Subiaco

Come to think of it, I only went in this station once, because on the return journey, it was closed for maintenance and we ended up walking back to the city.

Claremont Showgrounds

Only open for events, which basically means once a year for the Perth Show. Fairy floss anyone?

Cottesloe

Next stop, the beach!

 

McIver

 The closest station to me, and the only place I know where the "shortcut" pathway goes through Royal Perth hospital.

East Guildford

 A little country town not far from the city.

Midland

Final destination on the line.

Will I get to each stop by the end of my time here? Maybe I will, maybe I won't, but whichever stop I'm at, I'll be sure to mind the gap.

And if you're up for a trip with a few more kilometers, hop on the Indian Pacific. 

Final Destination Sydney.