Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Each week, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today we feature Monika Kos, who was born and bred in WA and has never wanted to live anywhere else. She attained a Diploma of teaching at the WA College of Advanced Education, which later became Edith Cowan University, and later studied media performance at the WA Academy of Performing Arts. Her foray into broadcast news was at radio station 6PR, where she held various roles including Drive presenter, and after almost 30 years with the Seven Network, 22 at the helm of the Perth edition of Today Tonight, she moved to Network 10 to present Perth’s weekday news bulletin. She’s now a familiar face on Nine News Afternoon.Monika Kos.Credit: 9 News Perth.I love the Swan River. I grew up around it and on it. Dad used to sail a Laser, and weekends were spent at the sailing club. As a professional photographer, he’d also take photographs of other yachts from his runabout on race days. More often than not I’d join him – until he’d start getting in the way of fleets and be on the receiving end of camera rage. The humiliation later kept me on shore.In my teens, Mum and I regularly walked the path running from Nedlands to Crawley. She patiently taught me how to drive a manual car on The Esplanade in Nedlands. We spent hours going back and forth, back and forth before having the courage to hit the real roads. I spent days – literally – painting the National Trust property Gallop House in Dalkeith, at dawn, noon and dusk, for my Year 12 TAE art portfolio. They’re key memories of my time in that neck of the woods – that has remained largely untouched.Newsreader Monica Kos with her children at Point Walter (left), and her first car (right)..I love the foreshore from East Fremantle to Point Walter. My Mum was living in Bicton when our boys were little and this became our stomping ground. It’s a parent’s paradise. A place where you can grab a coffee and burn all your kids’ energy! From shallow waters where toddlers can paddle, to cafes overlooking playgrounds. A flat bicycle/walking path along Blackwall Reach to the challenge of winding up through the bush at Point Walter Reserve. And a sandbar you can actually walk out on, ice-cream in hand. It’s nature-based play at its best with sweeping views everywhere. When you’re standing at a lookout atop the cliffs, you can’t help but think how lucky we are to live in a place like this.LoadingI love Perth’s liveability. Healthcare, education, safety – stuff most of us take for granted, until you travel and realise how good we’ve got it – although Perth drivers need to be taught how to keep an eye on their rearview mirror, merge and drive THE SPEED LIMIT on the freeways!Yes, our city’s growing. Changing. And not all for the best. But our suburbs aren’t (yet) inundated with multiple high-rise developments; we’ve still a majority of family-friendly neighbourhoods and a climate that begs you to be outdoors. For the most part, we’re an unpretentious, friendly lot. It’s kept me here for 57 years.
