Tuesday, July 24, 2007

karrakatta cemetery


Kookaburra!!

Yesterday I took the train to Karrakatta Cemetery, which is huge. My sister thinks I'm morbid because I enjoy visiting graveyards (and sure, I wouldn't tell everyone that it's a favourite pastime of mine), but this was a really beautiful cemetery, more like a park or like gardens than a plain graveyard. It just goes on and on and on, with beautiful graves, trees, birds - including at least one kookaburra (above)! How exciting. Apparently kookaburras are pretty common around here, but never having seen one before, it was thrilling, and I couldn't get the song out of my head for the rest of the afternoon (...kookaburra sits in an old gum tree...). The one thing I thought was slightly weird about the cemetery is that it's so big that it has its own cafe. Hmmm.

Anyway, I am going into town for the first time today, to find my way around and to buy textbooks for my German language course that is starting tomorrow. When I take the train now, I am mostly able to look like a native of Perth - my first time on the train, I didn't know you had to push a button to make the doors open, and panicked. Now, I am much more knowledgeable.

Does anyone else like cemeteries? Or is it really just me?

Edit: By the way, do take my poll! Which is the best cake flavour? A crucial question for our times. See on the menu.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never had banana cake, or lemon cake. Nor have I uttered the phrase "Do you want to go to the cafe at the cemetery?". You are an amazing photographer by the way.

Stacy said...

Actually, I love cemeteries. I find them peaceful.

Tough choice between lemon and chocolate, but I voted lemon.

j said...

i really love cemetaries as well. great for running in as there are usually nice paths, big trees, and solitude.

as for cake, i'm partial to the white kind with rainbow bits inside.

LEstes65 said...

I'm a photographer and LOOOOVE cemeteries. They have the most amazing subjects in there. Plus, I like to read the headstones. I always try to imagine the family or person. And I'm always saddened when I see a headstone with dates that indicate a baby or small child was buried. I just find them facinating. One of the best ones I've ever visited was a HUGE one in London. Can't recall the name.

Unknown said...

I'm a sucker for chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream... it's classic.

And as for the cemetery - firstly it's not bizarre that you like them. They are recent history (as opposed to the pyramids in Egpyt... obviously more ancient history). And your photos are beautiful! It makes me think of a statue garden or something, we don't have cemetery's like that out here.

xox

Allie said...

Sara: I'm sorry - I tried to pick what I thought were pretty common cake types! I guess there's just too many differences between the US and here. What are the ones you see a lot of?

Stacy: I love lemon cake too, but I actually ended up voting banana!

Jen: The thought of running in cemeteries has never occurred to me before but that is such a great idea! I hate running, but I would do it in a cemetery!

Lynette: Yeah, I had always thought that small country cemeteries were the best, but since visiting this huge one I've been forced to change my mind.

Heidi: I have to agree - I'm not usually a fan of vanilla ice cream, but with chocolate cake, it is the BEST.
Yes, this cemetery was a bit like a statue garden. Some of the sections less or more so, eg the Catholic section had a lot more statues than, say, the Greek Orthodox.