Perth, day 3 and 4

Day 3 began with Aussie brunch in a lovely cafe in a little back street called London Court, which supposedly has "the ambience of Elizabethan London". It feels very quaint, and as Amy pointed out, much more like York (or indeed Oxford) than London, so I hope no one from Perth expects to find London like this when they arrive. The cafe, however, does exceptionally good milkshakes, which I have been reliably informed is a mark of true Australian-ness.

In the afternoon, Amy and I headed to the WACA again, this time to watch England practising in the middle and then in the nets. Temperatures are creeping up and I did not envy them out there running around chasing the ball (okay, maybe a bit of me did...how wonderful it must be to represent your country at cricket?) Meanwhile, I admired the scoreboard up close.

We then caught the free bus down to the river. I am hoping to catch a ferry across there in a few days time, but for now, we admired the Bell Tower, which apparently contains the oldest bells in Australia.

We ended up in a lovely waterfront pub, the Lucky Shag (not sure about the name...) This is apparently where the Barmy Army were when they were in Perth several weeks ago, and it was filled with a mixture of English and Aussies. The Aussies behind us decided to loudly gloat about the Ashes series to the English couple sitting next to them, but we kept our voices down and stayed out of it...for the best really.

Sitting by the Swan River at Perth was really serene and beautiful. I'm sure that if I lived here, I would spend the evenings running alongside it, and admiring the views across the shore. Once again, this outdoor lifestyle is enviable. I really like Perth.

Yesterday was the first day of "work", ie sitting up in the press box at the WACA watching cricket. Absolutely frantic trying to get everything filed, but it basically is the most amazing job in the world.

I wrote two pieces yesterday: a match report for cricinfo, and a piece for All Out Cricket on Aussie bowler Rene Farrell, who took 4 wickets on her return to Test cricket yesterday. The WACA pitch is looking like a bowler's haven, and it's going to be an exciting (and hot) few days here in Perth.