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By Renee, on April 1st, 2010
 Hush Espresso, Fremantle. Photo by melbournecoffeereview.com To me, Fremantle is a great big playground. People flock to beaches like Leighton or dog-friendly South Fremantle, they get sloshed in local breweries like Little Creatures and Mad Monk or stuff themselves silly in the city’s restaurants like my new favourite – Chinese restaurant Joy Kitchen.
Another reason to love Freo is for its coffee. The main drags, Market Street and South Terrace, are filled with ubiquitous cafés. But where can you find Freo’s best? Answer: Hush Espresso.
I kept hearing about how great this café was, so last week I dropped by for lunch.
I jumped off the train and found Hush a mere 300 metres from the station. Uh-oh. Proximity to public transport almost never means good service or wares. I resolutely entered to face yet another red flag: only two other customers were inside, and it was 2pm. Yikes.
 Then I caught sight of the glass case stocked with sandwiches and treats. I heard and smelled the grinding 5 Senses coffee. I ordered my customary “iced coffee without the ice cream” and received a momentary confused look rather than the typical look of horror most baristas give that request.
The coffee and my vegie sandwich took six minutes to reach my table – odd, since I was the only customer waiting for an order. Luckily, though, it all tasted excellent. As I happily munched away the coffee shop starting to fill with late lunchers like myself and those in search of a mid-afternoon caffeine hit. I browsed a magazine, enjoyed the soft breeze blowing in and watched passers-by on Market Street.
It became instantly clear that many of Hush’s clientele are regulars as people walked in and greeted the baristas by name. A glance at the company’s Facebook page confirms its wide fan base.
While I’ve already claimed East Fremantle’s Hubbles Yard as my local, Hush Espresso has definitely given me a good reason to visit Fremantle. Did I really need another?
By Renee, on March 30th, 2010
Spending the last four months house hunting in Perth, I’ve come to appreciate the variety of homes out there – from ridiculously ginormous mansions in Dalkeith to generic apartment blocks in East Perth to sweet-yet-crumbling Victorian houses in Highgate. But just when you think you can categorise Perth’s homes, you stumble across some unique, dying-to-be-photographed property. Here are four of my favourites:
1. Hubble St, East Fremantle
This gem of a house is as quirky as it gets. Owner Andrew Hayim De Vries is not only an artist but clearly a great fan of recycling, too. The exterior wall outside of the house – dubbed the “wall of life” – is decorated with recycled objects Andrew has picked up or that people have dropped into the bucket outside asking for “found object” donations. The interior was constructed using recycled materials. The bedroom was once a railway carriage, a 1950s phone box is now the shower and the kitchen is a transformed boat wheel house. No wonder the house is heritage-listed. The absolute greatest part of this house? It’s available for short term rental! Oh, I can’t wait to send my family here when they come for a visit.
2. Pearse St, North Fremantle
This colourful house, tucked behind North Fremantle’s Queen Victoria Street, looks to me like a house you’d see on a theatre stage somewhere, showing the play version of Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet, directed by someone with a flair for anything dramatically over the top. I love how bold it is – straddling the line between quirky fun and gaudy. I imagine someone’s eccentric favourite aunt lives here: a woman with a penchant for playing the radio loud, always having cookies baking in the oven and constantly forgetting about them while pruning her roses in the back garden. Seriously, who lives here? Can we be friends? And more importantly, will you paint my new house which is in desperate need of a face lift?
 3. Victoria St, Mosman Park
Mosman Park is home to some incredibly stunning homes – mostly those spilling over from the uber-posh Peppermint Grove neighbourhood (you know, the one whose houses are slated to cost a median of $25 million dollars in 10 years). This stunner might bring that average house price down a notch, but it offers more than its fair share of personality. Whoever lives here appears to not give a damn what the neighbours in their cookie-cutter houses might think – and they let their kids go wild in sprucing the house up. Those are some cool parents. One question though: why the collection of white microwave ovens (to the back left of the picture)? They must be planning a visit to 100 Hubble to construct a 3-metre high microwave lawn statue.
 4. Charles St, North Perth
This beaut made my list simply because its owners decided to name it, thus winning my deepest and most enduring love. Growing up, my favourite book was Gone with the Wind. Nearly all of the story surrounds an old Georgian plantation affectionately named Tara. The house is a full-fledged character in the novel. Ever since reading the classic I’ve loved the idea of a house having a name, and therefore a soul. Melbourne is filled with named houses, proudly displayed on their mostly Victorian facades. This is the first I’ve spotted in Perth. Curiously, this North Perth home bears the name “Evening Shadows”. I’m dying to know why. I’ve got a hunch it carries a sombre meaning, seeing as how the shades are drawn tight and the roof is fenced off. Wait, why exactly is the roof fenced?! This place is definitely hiding some secrets. Love it.
By Renee, on March 25th, 2010
 Saturday morning sailboats on the Swan River Fremantle Doctor is the affectionate name given to the southwesterly breeze that springs up nearly every afternoon in Perth. I adore it. Here’s why:
It gives me a lovely tailwind when cycling north and makes me feel superfast
It keeps the flies away
It blows away that nasty cigarette smoke coming from the table next to you
It sucks the moisture out of clothes on the line
 Wind farm planned for Merredin. Photo by PerthNo It creates clean energy (a new wind farm has been approved in Merredin which will reduce annual greenhouse emmissions by 700,000 tonnes)
It orientates you – even at noon on a cloudy day you know where southwest is
It swishes around lovely Perth smells: eucalyptus, roast chicken, barbecue and salt water
It makes for excellent sailing, kite surfing and windsurfing conditions
It cools off a hot summer’s day
It gives you that windblown model look (unless you’re bald, then no luck)
It blows all the leaves from your garden into your neighbour’s
But on the other hand….
…it sucks for frisbee, picnics on the beach or days you want to wear a flowy skirt!
By Renee, on March 24th, 2010
 They say autumn is here, but you wouldn’t know it in Perth. Temperatures still in the high 20s, air cons haven’t been switched off and everyone’s still in flip flops (the latter never really changes, though, does it?). If I had my way, it would stay this warm all year, because, let’s face it – [...]
By Renee, on March 23rd, 2010
 These days, we’re all looking for ways to make our lives greener. We aim to eat more WA-grown food, buy environmentally friendly products and reduce energy use. Well, we try anyways.
A new Perth restaurant is doing more than merely trying. Greenhouse, located on St. Georges Terrace in the CBD, is not only dedicated to wowing [...]
By Renee, on March 22nd, 2010
 Perth rainstorm. Photo by WA Today
It certainly doesn’t rain much in Perth. Perhaps that’s why I like it so much, after spending most of my life in soggy Seattle. I must have timed my arrival to Perth perfectly because I’ve been living here 4 months and it’s rained twice. The entire summer has seen a [...]
By Renee, on March 18th, 2010
 Perth graffiti in an alleyway off Howard Street
Typical Roman street. Photo by portadown
Graffiti. The word evokes lots of mixed emotions. Some think it gives a city personality, while for others it’s defacement.
According to Graffiti.org, there are three types of graffiti – vandalism, gang and art. The first two are basically [...]
By Renee, on March 17th, 2010
 I’ll admit I’m not crazy about Perth’s CBD. Too many soulless skyscrapers and take-away joints. Not nearly enough memorable architecture, parks, street art or fountains. The CBD seems to be completely focused on work, not play. Perhaps that explains why it empties to a ghost town after [...]
By Renee, on March 16th, 2010
 Queen Mary 2 in Fremantle Harbour
Desperate Sydney drivers. Photo by the Daily Telegraph
If you visited Fremantle last Sunday you would have been as astounded as me at the unfamiliar sight: bumper-to-bumper cars, flooded footpaths and grouchy traffic controllers. The culprit: the coinciding of Araluen’s Fremantle Chilli Festival and the arrival of the 4,000-passenger Queen Mary 2, the biggest [...]
By Renee, on March 9th, 2010
 A Monday night at 399
One of the biggest gripes of Perthites is that the city has too few small bars. Like Sydney, the city is plagued with huge, impersonal pubs and bars, breeding drunken crowds, rubbish service and loud, conversation-killing music. Think the Brass Monkey or the Subiaco Hotel.
Luckily, the situation is changing and small [...]
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Then I caught sight of the glass case stocked with sandwiches and treats. I heard and smelled the grinding 5 Senses coffee. I ordered my customary “iced coffee without the ice cream” and received a momentary confused look rather than the typical look of horror most baristas give that request.
Hope you're doing well!