The Rhapsody of the Seas sails into the sunset.

Even though it hasn’t rained since November, we do occasionally have clouds.  So I figured I’d get a shot of a cruise ship leaving the channel with some clouds in the background.

The Rhapsody of the Seas came and went in one day and, had the mammoth Queen Mary 2 not been here on Saturday, it would’ve been the biggest ship we’d seen here.  I guess it’s all about timing. -jp

A quick HDR photo of sunset looking out our living room window at Monument Hill.  Sometimes even though the sunsets to the West, you’ve gotta look to the East. -jp

Go sit over in open water for awhile.

One side effect of yesterday’s visit by the Queen Mary 2 is the MV Oceanic Viking had to move out of its usual parking place at Victoria Key Quay.  The Oceanic Viking is an armed Customs ship which is pretty famous around Australia for intercepting refugee boats and escorting them to Christmas Island where the refugees are processed and immediately given visas and welfare at taxpayer expense. -jp

The Queen Mary 2 turns around... it's a tight fit.

At about 6.30 this morning we were awaken to the sound of helicopters and people.  Being American I knew immediately what this meant: someone has been murdered in the neighborhood and the cops are looking for him.

Imagine our surprise when we looked out the window to see Monument Hill packed with people, cars, and even a caravan.  We looked towards the port to see what they were looking for and holy cow!  The third biggest cruise liner in the world was pulling in.  The Queen Mary 2 has come to Australia for the first time and is in Fremantle and all these people came out to see it.  So we went to the balcony and snapped some pics and were quite impressed by the site.  Actually, all of the neighbors were up, too.  This is the biggest ship that’s ever come here.

The most impressive part was when the 345m long boat turned around in the 420m wide shipping channel.  They had to clear out a couple of the other ships that were docked there earlier this week.  They’re only here for the day but next year will be back twice.  A trip will set you back about $4k per person. -jp

This ship is huge.

This is wretched excess in a portable form.

In the Perth area there is an average of one boat for every household.  Any way you count it, that’s a lot of boats.  On the weekends from our balcony it looks like everyone in the area is fleeing by boat to Rottnest Island.  Lucky dogs.

A very large bull ray cruises by.

The benefit of no rain: no clouds.

The last time we had rain here was the 20th of November, 2009.  And there is none on the forecast.  That’s 64 days without rain.  64.  That’s a huge number and even harder to fathom after moving here from Germany where you’re lucky if you can go 64 hours without rain.

Since I don’t have a drought photo, above is a photo of the sunset over (well, at this point it’s behind) the Indian Ocean from our balcony.  It looks like that pretty much every day.  It’s not like it gets cloudy and rains. -jp

About a month after we moved to Fremantle, I was chatting with my buddy Tony who asked me if I’d been to Bon Scott’s grave or monument.  Well, I didn’t even know the guy was from here.  So I set off to have a beer one day and came across the Bon Scott monument at Fishing Boat Harbour across the street from Cicerello’s.  So check it out, Tony.  Here it is.

Yep. Now fish can watch you pee.

Behind the urinals at Cicerello’s fish and chips shop in Fremantle (and for that matter everywhere else in the building), is a big aquarium.  So if you think it’s hilarious to have Nemo watch you have a slash, then this is your place.