Living la Vida Local

This region of Australia is a destination for Australians. It’s three hours from Perth. It’s wine country though we have yet to visit a vineyard. It’s off the beaten path of the east coast which attracts loads of international tourists. The beautiful coast has endless surf breaks for all skill levels. On weekends I have flashbacks to Bellver when folks from Barcelona rolled into town in their fancy cars and fancy clothes except Australians aren’t fancy. I’m sure it’s how Tahoe locals feel when the Bay Area folk descend upon them. I was never a Tahoe local but I imagine. This dynamic of escaping from the big city to nature is a pattern that repeats around the world. It brings upsides and downsides of course. More people and dollars to support local businesses, healers, artists. More people and dollars driving up prices of everything including real estate and making everything busier. Locals feel their small town starts to lose its soul.

All that said, it all feels very down to earth to me here. Yeah there was a post-COVID surge but not explosive growth. Most locals seem so darn happy and grateful to be living here. Yes, things bustle more on weekends, but not overwhelmingly so, except Easter. If anything it feels quiet and a reminder that growth has really gone unchecked in destinations in North America where it does feel overwhelming at times, in some places. There just aren’t enough people living on this west coast to make anywhere too busy. It was part of what drew us here. Though who knows, maybe it’s different in summer.

Speaking of local businesses, healers and artists; we are embracing them all. We have our favorite yoga class: Yin on Sundays with Amber. My two favorite artists are swimmer friends that have already been mentioned: Fi who does stunning collages and landscapes, and Bill the potter.

Fi has a tiny gallery above a little store of books, toys and knick knacks. All I knew was it was ‘upstairs somewhere in Cowaramup’ and without any outdoor signage I found it :) these are small towns. You can see the glory of her flowers and birds below. Her landscape paintings capture the local coastal beauty. For Mother’s Day I gave my Mum a Fi-card from a series called ‘Wander Out Yonder’ (love that). There’s a blurb on the back of the card that says “Fi’s work observes the delicate change of season, the contrast of chaos and order and the stories that exist within the bush and forest landscape”. Fi inspires me to awaken the artist within!!!

We went back to Bill’s pottery shack in the forest because I wanted more mugs. And the kids wanted to see Rosie, the CEO and family dog. Bill asked Hazel if she likes reading. She doesn’t. She told him. Undisturbed, he said ‘well give my books a try, you might like them’. He had written two books, self-published, when his kids were about her age. Stories about a volcano that grows in a kids’ backyard, based on something that happened in Mexico a long time ago. He said the first book finished a bit open-ended so kids could use their imagination. But the kids weren’t imaginative enough so he had to eventually write a second book!!! That night Hazel muscled through three chapters of the first book and told me to tell Bill she liked it.

Murals in Cowaramup.

The other day I wanted a family selfie. Felt overdue. Hazel commandeered the phone and I give her credit for this jolly family photo!! She’s channeling Ellen DeGeneres from that OG Oscar selfie.

Portrait below taken by Hazel. Love it. I wear this hat everywhere because my hair is always wet from being in the ocean which makes me cold. I wear the hoodie all the time too and often fall asleep wearing it!! This is my WA uniform.

Apparently ‘Nature Play’ is big in Australia. It’s basically playgrounds made out of logs and ropes and nature-y stuff. The morning swimmers both think it’s great and totally make fun of it … because in the time before screens everything was nature-play, but now we have to create spaces with logs instead of telling kids to go play in the forest!!

Just another beautiful day in Gracetown:

Left photo below is the same beautiful day in G town, looking north. Middle and right photos below are from a family evening excursion to Dunsborough, another town a bit farther north. Our destination was an Indian food truck that Justin found on Google Maps. We parked the car a few miles from the truck and walked the coastline as the sun set and the moon rose. Genius. We ate curry, papadams, chapati and samosas at a picnic table overlooking the Indian Ocean. It feels like we’re in the twilight of the trip. I’m trying to soak up the moments.