A Walk Along The Foreshore

    I have really stepped up my exercise routine from whenever to one and a half hours, five days a week. I power walk along the Swan River southside foreshore and use some of  the community fitness equipment along the way. In the last four months I have lost not a single ounce [grrrrrrrrrr] but early every morning I am treated to some great visuals.  Get your sneakers on and walk with me:

    Wildlife : The animal kind.  There are a million white cockatoos walking around--yes, walking.  They wattle to feed before terrorizing the innocent from the sky. You have to work at not stepping on them.  I never see the cormorants feed. They usually just stand on the retaining wall with their wings open hoping to warm up in the early morning sun. Look almost like pterodactyls posing for a movie still.   Now, the pelicans can be fun to watch. They scoop their long bills into the water and take in a few gallons of water. Slowly they squeeze the water out of that big, fleshy pouch and then gulp, gulp, gulp the remaining fish. This always attracts seagulls looking for some quick chum or escaping fish for breakfast. There is the usual  game of black swans, the very signature of Perth, gracefully swimming in pairs and confident of their place in the sun. Finally, on a noteworthy day, a pod of dolphins will make their presence known. Sometimes just their fin shows and sometimes they happily breach the water. Everyone likes to see dolphins although those hardcore exercisers will only stare as they zoom past instead of slowing down to admire.

    Humans : The wildlife kind. Surprisingly many of these for so early in the morning. Most are the garden variety walkers, joggers and runners  accompanied by friends, dogs or their own thoughts. There is no shortage of Lycra-clad cyclists zooming along on the parallel bike path. The other day I saw a dad taking his daughter to school...on a tandem bicycle! On weekends you'll see the Over 30s Road Runners taking the weekly foot race that rotates between the parks in the metro area.  These folks are actually mostly over 50 and enjoy field events once a month also. Just watching them exhausts me.
    Early morning (and lunchtime and after work) are good times for personal trainers and fitness instructors to meet their clients. The year-round moderate weather in this region really encourages fitness sessions anytime, anywhere. It is becoming ever more common to see small groups of people led in exercise by a trainer who

Lunchtime fitness in the Park

sees no reason to buy or rent premises when congregating on public property is absolutely free and nicer to look at. But some municipalities are starting to have a problem with this.  There are so many private classes conducted on public lands that city officials are worried about liability. These communities are now looking to license these exercise 'businesses' with a further requirement of carrying insurance. Tough break for the folks who get paid to watch others sweat.
    And finally the vision that reminds me once again that I am in a different place.  We are all familiar with the image of corporate executives staying lean, mean, shrewd business decision making machines in their thrice weekly, early morning squash sessions with other corporate colleagues. Save the sweatbands, small rackets, and tiny spaces for there is a whole different image for those same high flyers here in OZ.     At six o'clock in the morning, the Aussie executive is out water skiing with his cronies. You can't miss them--very middle-aged men with sturdy legs and (ahem) solid stomachs clad in neoprene suits take turns skimming the top of the water behind an expensive speedboat. I suppose that if they lived on the ocean, these same captains of industry would be surfing the waves at the same hour.  Totally cracks me up.
    O.K., exercise time is over. Let's get some breakfast.