What I bought in WA.

Gourmet bread and butter pudding on our last night in Perth!

• Presents for Mum and Dad.
• Port.
• Loose leaf teas: peppermint and green chai. These were well priced. Cheaper than T2. I was waiting to buy tea on holidays. http://fremantlemarkets.com.au/node/164
• Tapenade to share at work.
• Shampoo and Conditioner. Natural ingredient ones made in Margaret River, cheaper than the Body Shop.
• A tea towel. This was the most useless thing I bought. It's a typographic map. I could use it, or hang it on the kitchen wall. I just need a wall.
• A second-hand coat. I call it my Country Vet Coat. It looks rather English and 50s, but the buttons tell me it is from the 80s. I might look at changing them. It was $65 which is exy for 2nd hand but cheap for new. I'm replacing an old long cardigan with this long coat. Replacing is my aim these days. In this case, long layer for long layer. I find long things work well over dresses. And I do love dresses.
• Chocolate. I opened the box last night, saw the foil, and closed it up again. I can't eat this chocolate until I have carefully photographed the packaging.
• 2 Postcards. One I posted.

Shopping on holidays is great. Not that I go on holidays to spend ages shopping. You have the limits of luggage weight and volume so you can't go crazy, and I also worry that I'll make bad purchases re clothes and buy things that are not suitable for my normal life. So I'm pretty restrained. But as it happens, the clothes I buy on holidays are the best. My blanket cape, for example.

What I do is, I don't buy souvenir trinkety things, but I buy normal things that I'll use and know they are from a nice holiday. So my blanket cape is from Armidale. My brown vinyl bag is from London. I'll be washing my hair in fancy Margaret River shampoo for the next 6 months and drinking tea from Fremantle Markets. Useful things from nice places.

I do, however, buy postcards. They are excellent value. I send one to work. Then when I get back to work, I read it and remember fun times, and I stick the postcard on my collage.