Dan Watters

Dan Watters is a founding member of the New North Writers, a group of writers and authors in Perth, Western Australia. 

Perth is one of the most isolated cities on earth. Looking east you will find vast scrubby desert and Gunbarrel highways cutting through a flat landscape that offers nothing to visitors. To the west is the Indian Ocean. Standing in her cool blue water, you can get views, uninterrupted of the sunset in a cloudless sky. It's breathtaking in colour and expanse. 

I came to Perth for work. And, I was looking forward to spending time with Mum. She'd moved to Perth with my step-Dad years before and for the same reason. Half the population of Perth were there for work and the other half were born and bred. I got the job and called Mum. She burst into tears. Only days before, she'd decided to move over east. The thought bubble of Sunday roasts burst. Still, I took the job. My girlfriend, bless her, came with me but limited our commitment to six months. If it didn't work out, we were moving back to Melbourne. 

My girlfriend spent her first Perth winter sunbaking on the beach. Summer is oven-roasting hot. If you're coming to Perth, bring moisturiser.

I loved my job. We sent our manufacturing plant to China. Our newly minted CEO decided the head office would move to Melbourne. I saw a pathway back home, but the pathway got rough. The company refused to pay for our move. My girlfriend and I had settled on a new house. She didn't want to move back to cold Victoria.  

I landed in Melbourne with two suitcases - mostly suits. During my absence, Melbourne had changed. City skylines, buildings, roads, businesses, tollways, rules, relationships, faces, attitudes. Everything was different. In Perth, I'd shared the adventure with my girlfriend. In Melbourne, I was on my own. I floundered and found a third reason to live in Perth. 

My girlfriend became my wife. I found my tribe among a group of writers and in 2020, published my first novel 'Road to Rumour'.