Day 11 - from Alice Springs to Perth

And so we flew to Perth today. The difference is big: it is green here, there are people everywhere, we need to cue for traffic lights (even for diner but more about that later), there are huge buildings, taxis are available within much less time than the 1 hour (!!) we waited in Alice yesterdzy and there is loads of water and plants. It is basically a regular city but quite different vs what we had gotten used to.

We arrived around noon and checked into our apartment. Then headed straight to town. We drove to the riverside where you can immediately see that this city is in full growth. They are (re)building the riverside almost entirely. It fits with what we had read: thanks to the succesfull mining business the economy is really booming in this part of the country. In fact, income per capita is highest in WA of all states in Oz. And as a result, there is a building boom happening which you could compare to the end of the 19th century when the finding of gold resulted in the city size quadrupling.

The weather today is awesome: blue sky and 27 degrees. So we went for a long walk along the river all the way to King's Park. King's Park is basically the nicest park I have ever been to. There is a botanical garden right in the middle of it with over 2,000 different species of plants from all over Oz. There are loads of walking trails and it overlooks the entire city. Olivia had a blast on the grass, on the stage (every sunday in Sept there are live bands performing) and at the fountain. We will be back here tomorrow!

To close the day we went to an Indian restaurant with view over the Swan river and where the food is priceless, litterally! The food did not have a price. So everyone decides for themselves how much they donate. We asked the owner whether this is a profitable formula and he said "it is difficult". Apparently the rent per month is 26,000 dollars... However, the formula was low cost for them (buffet, only one choice: soup and only vegetarian food - incl rice, only water and one juice for drinks) and it attracted a lot of people. To the extent that it opens at 18:30 and people are cueing for the buffet as of 18:31. We estimate he "serves" 1 person every 30 seconds and he is open 6 hours a day. So about 700 people per day. If everyone gives on average 5 dollars (we gave 15) then he gets 3500 dollars per day while the food per person probably costs him 1,500 dollar per day. So, net, he makes about 60,000 dollar per month to pay for that rent, taxes and his family that does the cooking and dishes. No waiters of course. Sounds like there is quite some profit indeed! Which explains why he has been around for a while :-)

Tomorrow more King's Park and we go to Rotto!

Ciao mates!