Great friendships know no geographic boundaries. So, when Padma and I moved to one of the most remote locations on Earth, we fully expected to be able to get together on occasion with our friends.

Padma and I formed many great friendships more than 30 years ago while we lived in Syria. We kept in touch initially with posted letters at Christmas but when the Internet came around, we were able to keep in touch on a more regular basis, albeit at a distance.

We have visited our friends Heiko and Susanne Schnell in Germany and Peter and Nahed Stefany in California. It was their turn to visit us and they obliged. They all arrived at our doorstep and we were thrilled to be able to share with them the new lives we’re carving out in this far flung place.

We tried to show them the best of the southwest of our state. We showed them the local Giants, took them on a walk on the longest timber jetty in the southern hemisphere, attempted to spot whales off Cape Naturaliste, enjoyed Margaret River wines and marvelled at the power of the Indian Ocean off Albany.

Our network of friends from Syria is rather extensive and we gathered more friends together at Kings Park in Perth for an outing … old acquaintances which our visitors hadn’t seen in 30+ years.

It’s a long way to Perth, Australia and we feel so blessed we have lifelong friends willing to make that journey to share time with us.