A Summer Weekend Back in Perth. | Lux Life

I’ve been on a mission recently to do all the things that make me happy. So I booked flights from Sydney to Perth for a weekend of perfect beaches, clear blue skies, 35-degree weather, and my friends. The whole weekend was just perfect and I loved every minute of it, and it was just what I needed. This post is more of a personal one so is a collection of photos from my phone and what I got up to – it was refreshing to not have my camera on me and not be focusing on taking loads of photos. It allowed me to really slow down and give my friends all of my time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy all of the dreamy beach shots haha… 

The next morning I picked up my hire car, and drove straight to the Bay View Lookout. This lookout is one of my happy places, and the breathtaking sweeping view over the Swan River means an awful lot to me. It overlooks Freshwater Bay Yacht Club where I used to sail 2-3 times a week, and it overlooks Point Walter where I’ve spent many hours walking along the sandbar with friends with the cool water lapping at our feet.

It’s also just around the corner from a house I spent an awful long time in, and is where I used to go when I was happy, sad, angry, or just needed some time out to relax. One of my happiest memories is of when a few friends and I saw in the New Year at Bay View Lookout, the fireworks exploding in the distance over the city, and my friends and I hugging and laughing and silly from alcohol. 

After the lookout I drove down to the yacht club and parked up outside by the river. It was Saturday morning and there were groups of families and mum’s with children playing in the water, a chubby baby shoving fistfuls of sand into his mouth. It reminded me vividly of one of my favourite paragraphs from my favourite book, Cloudstreet; 

“Will you look at us by the river! The whole restless mob of us on spread blankets in the dreamy briny sunshine skylarking and chiacking about for one day, one clear, clean, sweet day in a good world in the midst of our living.”

“the sweet coppery water where jellyfish float and blowfish bloat”

Seeing the families by the river resembling the description of the Pickles’ and Lamb’s in the book made my throat feel swollen and my eyes prickled a little. I sat there and thought about what could have been, what I felt should have been, and then pushed the thoughts away and got up and continued on my way to the cafe for an iced chocolate, hoping that one day that might be my own family by the river.

The new cafe at Freshie Bay is called ‘Freshwater’s’ and is nowhere near as good as the old ‘Cappuccino by the River’ hut that used to stand there; a grey brick building that could have easily been mistaken for a public toilet had it not been for the garish signage and plastic tables with coca-cola umbrellas out the front. Freshwater’s blends in seamlessly to the surroundings, but lacks any personality, and the iced chocolate was a bit rubbish. The waterfront view however is obviously still beautiful!

“On the long grassy bank beneath the peppermint trees and the cavernous roots of the moreton bay figs”

“Here by the river,the beautiful,the beautiful the river…I burst into the moon, sun, stars of who I really am…Perfectly. Always. Everyplace. Me.”

I had about an hour before meeting Caitlin in Cottesloe, so drove up to Floreat Beach for a bit of sunbathing! It was one of those beautiful days where the sky was clear, the temperature was a warm 34-degrees, and the water was calm and peaceful, the gentle waves of the glittering Indian Ocean crashing against the shore before retreating back. 

I spent a year living a short walk away from Floreat Beach, and as a 16-year-old I worked at the cafe on the beach, which was called Costa Azzura and is now The Kiosk. It’s one of the places I always *have* to visit every time I’m back in Perth.

And then it was best friend time! I drove down to Cottesloe and met Cait outside her work, and we walked to Grant Street beach for some sunbathing and catch ups. As we were getting up to leave to go for a late lunch, we suddenly heard a familiar voice calling us – it was Jill! She was like “I heard Catherine’s voice carrying across the beach and knew it was you guys!” hahaha.

So the three of us went to Canteen Pizza and shared the most incredible lunch. We chose the Prosciutto pizza, the Baby Cos salad, and the eggplant salad. Everything was amazing, and oh my days the pizza with the crusts dipped into aoili was just perfection. 

The next day I had a reasonable lie-in (hello, it was a Sunday and I was technically on holiday), and then met Andrew and Matt at Hamptons City Beach for brunch and catch ups! They’ve changed the Smashed Avo which made me sad as it’s nowhere near as good as the old version. The old one was smashed avo, tomatoes, feta, balsamic vinegar, and poached eggs, the new one is just smashed avo with feta cheese and tomatoes – it really needs the balsamic vinegar and poached eggs to work as a substantial and tasty dish.

Anyway, the view made up for it, and the company too obvs! Andrew and I have been friends for ten years now, and we met when he was actually my sailing instructor haha (although he’s actually 3 months younger than me). He also helped my ex-boyfriend and I cover up our relationship for a few weeks by pretending to be my boyfriend because I thought my parents would be mad at me for dating someone a couple of years older than me LOLZ.

After brunch it was time for some beach time. City Beach is right next to Floreat Beach, so they both share the same beautiful stretch of soft powder-white sand and blue-green water.

As it was a Sunday everything closes early in Australia (like 4pm), so I drove over to Claremont to get some of my fave yoghurt covered apricots from a little shop inside the Claremont Quarter. After my yoghurt covered apricots I headed to Cottesloe and got my fave fish n chips from Amberjacks, and then drove back up to Floreat Beach to watch the sunset with my fish n chips. Sydney do really shit fish n chips, so I have to get my fix whenever I’m back in Perth! 

The sunset was just beautiful.

And then it was time for me to go! I did the crazy thing of getting on the 11pm flight and landing at 6am the next morning…then going straight into the office. Ugh. Such a mistake, I think I’m actually gonna have to stop doing that because it’s ruining me a little bit :/

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