The last lap

I'm finishing this off having got back home: but I did want to complete the story. From Uluru I flew to Perth for the last part of my travels among Australian Quakers. After all the sightseeing in so many places, my knee was a major issue and so my sightseeing here was limited. But it was very good to be back among Friends and to have a chance to meet more people and to get the views of people living a long, long way from any other big town in Australia. I was met at the airport by my hosts, Tricia and Graham Wood: it turned out that even just as 'meeters' they had been subject to security, and put through some checks. A sniffer dog picked up where my banana had been: fortunately I'd eaten it shortly before landing, and had put the skin in the 'quarantine bin'. They are very strict in Australia about certain items including fruit, even on a state to state basis: imagine having your apples confiscated when you go from Tyne and Wear into Yorkshire!

Tricia and Graham took me home on the scenic route, and I was able to appreciate the beauties of the Perth/Fremantle complex. The river and its estuary looked very lovely, and we certainly had some good views from the heights above it. My first 'engagement' was a workshop with Perth Friends after Meeting for Worship on Sunday. This went very well, and as usual with Quakers, the discussion widened in several directions. The following day I had a discussion at a Friend's home on Eldership and Oversight in small meetings. The problems in Australia, where distances are so very great compared to the UK, are rather different to those at home, and we raised a number of issues about oversight of remote individual Friends. It was the first time I'd done this as a workshop, having previously worked with several small meetings in the UK on 'link' systems: and as I'd not been asked to do this one until I'd arrived in Australia, I had no paperwork to support my thoughts, so it was quite a challenge. However, it too seemed to go well enough. On my last day, we were invited to lunch with another Quaker couple who lived a little way south of Perth. It was fascinating to see the BP refinery at Kwinana, a place whose operations had featured a little in my first job. The house we were in had a marvellous view over the sea, and although the weather wasn't perfect, I could see how pleasant it must be to live in a place like that. Western Australia, about a third of the whole country, has a different feel to the rest of it, but the inhabitants seem fiercely proud of their state, and it certainly has a lot to offer. But all too soon it was time to go up to the airport to start my long journey home: and I said goodbye to my final hosts and to Australia as a wonderful nine weeks came to an end.