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Friday 1 Dec
Spent most of the day travelling - flew from Bangkok to Singapore, had a three hour stop there then flew to Perth. The most exciting part of the day was realising on the Cathay Pacific plane you could chose to watch whatever you wanted, when you wanted - very clever. A few films, Neil Young in concert, some airline grub & a few glasses of wine later, we arrived in Perth. Unfortunately by the time we got through baggage, customs etc. it was 2.15am..... and pretty chilly outside!
Saturday 2 Dec
After six hours sleep in a rather bland motel (but very handy for the airport) we had some food, then went for a walk around the local area. We walked around Garver Park - we were surprised by some big black birds making a really strange noise - a bit like a sheep baaing! Also saw some big pelicans on the river. Pleased to say that the weather is hot. Also pleased to report we are definitely in Oz...... blokes swilling beer and a group of about 40 people having a barbie in the park - where else could we be!? Later on in the afternoon, Will and Jane (friends that we met in India) came to meet us at the motel. They have very kindly offered to put us up whilst we are in the Perth area as they live in Fremantle (a suburb of Perth). They took us on a whistlestop tour of Perth and on first impressions it looks like a very nice city. Arrived back at their house in Fremantle... and had a beer and a barbie! What a great way to end our first day in Australia.
Sunday 3 Dec
The clocks went back last night so we lost an hours sleep. Apparently there has been three referendums and at each one the public have voted against the daylight saving, so this time the Western Australian didn't bother with a referendum but just went ahead with it (a three year trial)!
Got the CAT (a free local bus service) into Fremantle, or Freo' as it is known by the locals. We had a walk along the harbour, onto Bather's Bay and then had a look around the Round House. This is the oldest public building in Western Australia (built 1831) and was originally used as a jail. Continued our walk to the Maritime Museum, the E-Shed Markets, Fremantle Markets and the Town Hall. Freo' has some pretty old buildings (relatively speaking!), a street full of cafes and restaurants known as the 'Cappuccino Strip' (where Ed can get his coffee fix!), quite a few arty shops, as well as it's fair share of backpackers places and tacky shops! There is even a little brewery so we met Will and Jane there for a beer - very upset to find that the beer is even more expensive than the UK though. The Little Creatures Brewery (and probably every other Australian pub!) is known for it's Sunday afternoon sessions.... beer and music.... though we just got tap dancers dressed in basketball outfits!
Monday 4 December
Got a shuttle boat from Freo' to Perth, very nice commentary along the river pointing out things such as the most expensive house in Australia. Just near the jetty in Perth there is a glass building called the Swan Bell Tower which was built to house some bells donated from St-Martin-in-the-Fields church in London. We then did a walk from the Lonely Planet book which took us to various old buildings such as London Court (1937 mock-Tudor shopping arcade), Perth Town Hall, the Court House and we ended up at Parliament House. It is very strange to be walking around in the sun, seeing Christmas decorations! We then walked to Kings Park, a massive 400 hectare (about 1000 acres) park that overlooks Perth. Fantastic park and we only saw a very small part of it. We walked over the 'Lotterywest Federation Walkway' (catchy name!), which is a 620 metre long steel and glass arched bridge which is suspended at 52 metres high amongst the tree canopies - very nice.
Tuesday 5 Dec
Got the ferry from Freo' across to Rottnest Island. It is called that because the Dutch man who discovered it in 1696 saw lots of kingsize rats on the island (rottnest is apparently dutch for rat's nest).... in fact they were quokkas, a small marsupial similar to a wallaby! We went on a guided walk around a small part of the island and up to the Bathurst Lighthouse, walked along Thompson Bay, then jumped on the 'hop on hop off' bus around the island. We got off at Little Salmon Bay - beautiful sandy cove with turquoise green water, ok it was a bit blustery but we really couldn't complain! Ed sat on the beach whilst Lisa went off exploring the rocks and coral in search of photo opportunities. Got the bus to the next stop, then walked about 30 minutes to the 'West End'. Great boardwalk to the very end of the island but we couldn't see any dolphins or whales (just missed the main migratory season) - we did see some quokkas though. We got the ferry back - it was a pretty rough crossing and the staff were handing out sickbags but we were both fine.
Wednesday 6 Dec
We spent the WHOLE day trying to plan the rest of our time in and around Perth - if only we could afford to do organised tours it would be so much simpler! Anyway, after our hours of unsuccessful organising (cars? tours? campervans? hostels? north? south? :-( ....) Will came up with a suggestion in five minutes so the decision was made to hire a car and spend a week visiting places further south west..... hooray!
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