BLUE

 What makes Perth different is blue.

The rich dense blue of the sky.

The sweeping blue of the Swan River.

The tiny pockets of blue swimming pools as you fly into land.

The cerulean/aquamarine/sparkling blue of the Indian Ocean.

All of those blues called me back.

I can enjoy a grey cloudy day, a little blue filled with fluffy clouds day. A dark overcast day. A dull day enlivened by a rainbow. But Perth's blue skies are something else altogether. The white cockatoos shine brightly as they fly across the blue. The flowering gums and the bougainvillea in their reds and pinks and oranges glow brilliantly against the blue. It's hue that I haven't found anywhere else.

Fremantle - 2016

For those of you who have never been to Perth, the Swan River bears no resemblance to the Torrens in Adelaide or the Yarra in Melbourne or even the Brisband River. It's wide and magnificant is it winds it up from Fremantle to the city and beyond. I've swum in it. Sailed on it. Sat by it. Even water skied on it. I admit that when you get close, the blue fades as you start to see the jelly fish and seaweed but lift your eyes up from the detail and admire the stately black swans drifting along and it's appeal returns. 

Perth & the Swan River from Kings Park - 2022

As for the blue of the ocean, I'm always amazed at how few words for blue there are to be had in English because the Indian Ocean has so many moods, so many changes, so many responses to wind and sun, that there aren't enough words to capture them all. From azure to ultramarine and all those tones between as well as the teal and turquoise that verge onto green. 

Rottnest - 2023

And then there's the bright shiny blue of our swimming pool....but more about that later.