Day 12 - Perth King's Park and Rottnest Island

Promises made, promises due: today started with... A run! After Olivia woke us up at 7 (good timing), I went running in Hyde Park (the one in Perth ;-)) and then to see the skyline of Perth from the back end. Lovely way to start the day. 1 run down, 29 to go. Perfectly on track :-)

After yesterday's great experience at King's Park, we decided to go back today for one of the guided walks through the park (only in September) to get to know some more about the different flora. While it was very complementary to the area we walked in yesterday, we didnt really get the best out of the guide since she was a quiet talker, the group was kinda big and Olivia wanted to walk which kept us at the back of the group. So we stopped it a bit earlier. We did however get to see some beautifull flowers. That is normal since we came to Perth in the best month of the year: September. That is when all the wildflowers open up and give the great fields of flowers which you could see in yesterday's picture.

As the weather is excellent today (blue sky, 29 degrees) and they predict chance of rain the coming days, we shuffled our plans a bit and went to Rottnest Island in the afternoon. Rotto is basically a gorgeous Indian Ocean island at 45 minutes (ferry) from the Fremantle port. Cars are not allowed but there is quite some tourist activity (hotel) and even a little village with a primary school. No cars means: great to go cycling! So went for a cycling tour around (one side of) the island. Beautifull views and beaches!! I can understand why people from Perth come here for weekend holidays. We did have to rush on our bike to get back in time (bike rental store closed at 4pm already) but Olivia didnt notice as she was sleeping the whole time in the child transport hanging at the back of my bike. Hanne did notice the rush though, struggling with her gears and peddeling way too fast downhill and too slow uphill :-) On the upside, she got a good work-out (read: she wont go running tomorrow :-)).

We closed the day with shopping which is worth mentioning because we wanted to buy (on top of all regular food items) one bottle of wine for the coming days. That turned out to be impossible in the supermarket. No alcohol is sold in the supermarket!! Apparently Australians have serious issues with alcohol. In the Outback we had gotten used to getting an "alcohol" voucher at the check-in in each campsite (allowing us to buy alcohol) but that was explained by the severe alcohol issues of Aborigines. Now it turns out Perth (i.e. plain white Aussies) also has strict rules on alcohol. No selling or consuming in public places, need for special license to sell it (even for bars). Interesting fact: at the last Australia Day, 300 hundred people got arrested in Perth because of alcohol-abuse-related offenses. Result: there is as of now a ban on alcohol during Australia Day (their national holiday)!!

So we went to another supermarket that doesnt call itself "food supermarket" but "wine and food supermarket" for 1 bottle of white Margaret River Sauvignon. Quite decent bottle.

Meanwhile we are both very tired from (i) a new bed so poor sleep and (ii) quite some physical activities today. So, no clue yet what we will do tomorrow: Pinnacles or Fremantle...

Ps: I think I forgot to mention an important evolution in Olivia's self-conciousness: a week ago on the bus she adressed another kid, pointed at herself and said "Oivia". As in "my name is Olivia, who are you?" Does that mean she no longer sees Hanne as an extension of herself? Time to become a "Daddy's the best" child :-)
PPs: Olivia now says "hoppa" when lifting or being lifted :-)
PPPs: Olivia now says "bye bye" instead of "daaag". She is integrating nicely.

Ciao mates!