NORDLYS - Life in Fremantle

Life in Fremantle

NORDLYS

David and Annette Ridout

Sun 25 Feb 2007 03:14

Reflections from Fremantle

Fremantle Sailing club

25th February 2007

In early January Annette and I returned to Fremantle and after a week spent staying in luxury with friends here we had got over the time change and also managed to get Nordlys back into the water. Luckily the club came up trumps and we are in a marina pen which is very relaxing. Jobs are being done and few real problems are being encountered. Frustrations yes, but nothing more. The Australian scene is very different from the one we knew from yester year.

In 1978 we came out to Australia as a family when I did the first of four 4 month postings for British Airways. Apart from rather a lot of strikes the scene seemed fairly tranquil. We were in a country at ease with itself. The fuel crisis and the Russian/Afghan war that were so debilitating to the northern hemisphere seemed miles away. The farming industry was booming and the great surge in mining was just getting going. Now things are very different.

This was the start of the editorial of the Australian, the main national newspaper, yesterday. 'There is something rotten in the state of, well almost everywhere. From coast to coast, state governments are embroiled in corruption inquiries or embarrassed by schemes and stratagems that are ethically appalling'. The truth is that Australia is not a happy nation at the moment. Their participation in the Afghan and Iraqi wars is causing the same unease within the population as elsewhere. The farmers are suffering a terrible drought and along with that the management of their main water system, the Murray Darling river system, has become a political hot potato. Since these rivers run through several states whose interests vary the Federal Government has decided to take over the running of the whole system. This is a very contentious move in a country where state governments have little regard for their federal counterparts and where the former guard their powers closely. Meanwhile the earth of this country gives up incredible riches of just about everything from iron ore through diamonds to uranium. Most economically important however is coal. As I write there are over sixty ships at anchor off Newcastle waiting to load the stuff and take it to China to be burnt, and yes you guessed, to produce unbelievable amounts of greenhouse gasses. All was well a year ago as although Australia along with the USA did not sign the Kyoto agreement and that per capita the Australians produce more carbon dioxide than any nation on earth they hid behind the fact that this amount was little by world totals. Then Al Gore arrived here and the local guru of world renown, one Professor Tim Flannery, let loose their views. Australians began, very slightly, to get embarrassed by their actions.

Meanwhile the mining boom along with a limited immigration policy has created a lot of wealth that has permeated to almost all society. House prices have shot up, over 30% last year in WA, and this feel good factor has until now hidden a lot of government corruption. The circle is completed and my feeling is that more and more people here are not sure how to control this carousel. Some do not of course want it controlled.

While all this is being paraded daily in the media we have been enjoying a lot of delightful hospitality both locally and down the coast at the holiday home of friends we made on our trip up to the Kimberly. We have been to many films and shows. The Perth Festival is on at the moment. One great pleasure here is the outside cinema. The best of these is at Somerville, in the grounds of a local university. We have been lucky enough to be included in a group who attend regularly. The films are not mainstream and some are better than others but we all meet in the delightful grounds for a picnic beforehand. The group is very cosmopolitan and we are the only sailors so conversation is wide. Another highlight has been a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream by the Korean group that were such a smash hit at the last Edinburgh Festival. A fantastic evening. We are very conscious that in a couple of months we will be heading well away from any such evenings. Atoll anchorages, Madagascan villages and such like will be our surroundings. Having said that we are actually looking forward to getting going. Nordlys has been idle too long and she and her crew are beginning to feel the urge to start putting the miles behind them. Tropical nights and snorkelling amongst the nimos of this world beckon. Before then however we are planning on a trip by car north to the top left hand of this great continent with friends from Lymington. Also we will probably do a cruise in company with a local yacht some 200nm up the coast to the interesting but inhospitable Abrolos Islands. Then back here for the final preparations and off about the beginning of May. I will write again before then however.

Happy times to our friends and readers

David and Annette