From my South African perspective, Australia in general – and perhaps Perth WA in particular – is a wonderfully child-friendly country, just the kind of place you’d want your children or grandchildren to grow up in.
Kid-friendly policies are most immediately visible at local government level, with the local authorities putting on all sorts of events for children. Son Carl says the best info is at weekendnotes.com/Perth. Also have a look at FamilyDaysOut.com. Most events are free, though some you may have to get tickets for.
Perth parents don’t have to be stuck at home with the kids on a Saturday night. When a babysitter isn’t an option, you can pack the small fry into the car along with a picnic basket, a groundsheet and a couple of low deckchairs and head for a free concert in a park somewhere.
That’s what we did the other night with son Carl, his wife Carrie and the grandkids, plus Shelly, Sean and their three youngsters, another South African immigrant family; we’ve known Shelly forever from back home.
Held on a Saturday night in January at Falkland Park, Kinross in the City of Joondalup – less than a ten-minute drive from our home in Burns Beach – the free Music in the Park concert featured two popular bands: Bang Bang Betty and the H Bombs, and Peta Lee and the Vibrolators (yes, really), who kept going till well after bedtime.
Other free kids’ activities included a giant bubble-maker, hula hoops, tug-of war and more, all provided by the City of Joondalup. But little girls – and not-so-little ones, too – love to dance. Watching just-four-year-old Holly abandoning herself to the beat, complete with a fetching new bum-waggle I’d not seen before, it struck me how much fun these kids have, and how often they seem to have it.
They’d begun the day with a visit to Hillary’s Dog Beach with mum Carrie, dad Carl and the two Schnauzers – and how could a day that starts with a dog-friendly beach swim not be a great day?
Though drinking in public places is not officially allowed, it’s de rigeur to take some beer or wine along in your Eski. And if you can’t be bothered to do a picnic, there are often food stalls or food trucks doing anything from hotdogs or fish & chips to paella.
Free concerts are no rarity – you’ll find something similar somewhere just about every weekend. Australians are masters of the multi-generational bash; a good example is the annual IGA Carols by Candlelight in Langley Park, which we’ve been to several times.
Though it starts with a Santa singalong and includes carols, it’s more like a massive variety show that lasts from four or five hours and concludes – of course – with a firework display. It’s been going for 73 years! Unfortunately, though, it had to be cancelled this past December because of unseasonal thundery weather.
Australia Day Fireworks
If there’s a downside to fireworks, it’s the hordes of people they attract – and the horrendous traffic. Sometimes, I think the actual firework show is not the real attraction – especially when I saw so many of the Australia Day crowds in King’s Park turning their backs on the fireworks and heading back down the hill to get a march on the rest of us.
I reckon people like to get together in this way, to stake out their picnic spot among hundreds or even thousands of other families, to enjoy the spectacle, and to celebrate whatever the occasion is with their fellow humans. It’s about being there.
