Ages ago, when I was a teenager heavily into surfing, I would hitchhike all the way from Perth down to Margaret River. I would pass through Mandurah, which was an idyllic little town situated on an inlet. Because it was so peaceful it was favoured by seniors who wanted to have a nice quiet time in their final years.
Since the resources boom, however, it's been buzzing. And with the railway line now in action it gets a helluva lot more people coming down from Perth for some R and R.
I went down to Mandurah one day for a couple of hours over summer, and couldn't believe how much it had changed. These big hotels dominated the skyline there, and there were other high rise buildings on the way.
The town centre, right near the bridge, was chockas with people. And there were at least five times the number of shops and cafes than when I used to go there in my youth. It still had a nice relaxed holiday atmosphere, but the place was clearly well on the way to becoming a mini Surfers Paradise.
And it's not just the population that has exploded. There's also been a huge rise in anti-social behaviour. Reports like this one come out increasingly often.
Sad, really.
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