WRITER IN RESIDENCE AT POINT PERON

THE WALTER SHACK AT POINT PERON
Well there it was in all it's glory-the writer's retreat at Point Peron.Peron by the way was a naturalist serving on Baudin's voyage to explore new Holland sponsored by Napoleon Bonparte. This house could have told a few stories about what had occurred within its walls, with three generations of inhabitants, but probably none so rarified as those I cooked up last week whilst shacked up there to get my stalled novel back on the road.When I started on Tuesday my hero was stuck in the state coal mine in Wonthaggi, his ultimate love interest(although he didn't know it yet, nor did he know he had a son by her) and his "siren" woman was still in Manchester and there was a risk she might come to WA with an ex Aussie first world war fly guy who was about to join Australia's first commercial passenger airline company, Western Australian Airways.

By saturday night I had added almost 9000 words. My hero was through Melbourne, having worked briefly for Monash at the fledgling SEC, survived a torrid sex scene in a Hawthorn Yarra bank gazebo,survived an IRA revenge plot re his earlier doings in Eire, killed a rioter outside the Bryant and May factory in Church Street Richmond (bit quieter now in the street where I live, except when there is a slain gangster funeral at St Ignatius-see TV series Underbelly when you are allowed) and crossed the Nullarbor, escaping possible trial for murder to start a new life in Perth and then on to the Kimberley, with his love interest on her way to Melbourne with said son and soon to be in hot pursuit of the father.So guess what-the novel was poised exactly where I was and where, after a spell back in Melbourne,I will be going for all of May and half of June.Thanks Rae!

The shack may have been a bit venerable but nothing was wrong with the beachscape-it was glorious to take breaks on the seemingly endless 30c days to cycle along the shore and walk partly on the beach and most of the time wading knee deep through the shallows.Most impressive here were the seemingly ubiquitous families. A saturday morning ride to get the papers saw lines of people of all ages wading and swimming out to a diving platform and hordes of kids at the Rockingham cruising yacht club unloading and rigging trailer sailers with plenty of parents backing them up. This is why Australia punches above its weight in sport-they don't wait for the state, the education dept and teachers to develop their children -the parents do it. Wait for it, my fellow pommy friends-most of the parents sound as though they came from Britain, attracted by the wages at the chemical plants, the climate and lifestyle for them and their kids. Message for Gordon Brown et al??

SNAKES ALIVE
Most countries control and prohibit dogs, booze and the like from their beaches but few can have Snake warnings as here in WA-perhaps this was how they control the birth rate or like the Spartans who left their babies unattended on the mountain side to see who survived, this was how the mettle of future fast bowlers and Aussie rules players wasforged-dodging snakes.

Now,time to get back into Perth where it was pouring rain-tail end of a cyclone from where I will be going at the back end of April. Back into the battye library today with a better idea of what I was looking for and in my contrarian manner I must say that Perth seemed preferable to me when it was a bit cooler and wet with rain.

The leaders of the 9th Squadron push left in the morning for Mildura and Tasmania respectively and so I was king of the castle at the Padbury HQ.When I asked what I could do to keep everything in order at the house-Pete had said to be sure to keep the red wine blending barrel flowing over.Fortunately Rae had provided me with some premium bottles of red from the family Nannup vineyard and so I was self-sustained, so to speak. The sister of one of the Vietnam mafia members would be coming in to check things out-she taught for a few years in Cambodia. I would certainly be standing by my bed.