Blogs from Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

Day 2: 27Aug2022 (Sat) - Sunny Rise and shine! We all had a good sleep and finally no more headache! Weather was also amazing! We had a quick and light breakfast (bread and yoghurt) in the hotel before checking out. Our first stop: The Roundhouse The scenery was breathtaking. However, as we were near to the beach, it was very windy, A kept shouting "COLD, COLD, COLD", so we didn't manage to take any nice photos and had to leave quickly. 2nd stop: Playground at the Esplanade A was thrilled to see the huge playground and didn't want to leave 3rd stop: Fremantle Market The market was smaller than expected, but the food was good. We ordered duck bao, soup and Dutch pancakes. We also bought a wool hat for A. Then it was time to ... read more

Thanks to our beloved Qantas we've got another day here in Perth, so we head back up to Kings Park. It seems that we’re here during the annual Kings Park Festival which is apparently timed to coincide with the blossoming of wildflowers in the south west of the State. We walk up through the Park’s Western Australian Botanic Garden which we read displays more than 3,000 species of the State's unique flora. It’s still a bit chilly, if not quite as Antarctic-like as it was yesterday. We come across some boab trees. It seems that they’re a parochial lot over here in the west; a map shows the boab habitat as being solely in the WA Kimberley, and stopping abruptly at the Northern Territory border. I wonder if they have a team of highly trained botanists ... read more

Photos from Adelaide and Albany hopefully! Altho the photos are in no particular order I hope you enjoy them. As you can see it was heard to stop when the birds were so close. ... read more

The day after our arrival in Perth was a Sunday, so we decided to go to mass at the Redemptorist monastery in North Perth. To our surprise and delight, the priest saying the mass was previously the parish priest in our home parish of Mary Mackillop at Warnervale in New South Wales. John was as pleased to see us as we were to see him. Over a cup of tea, he introduced us to members of his parish then drove us back into the centre of Perth. We arranged to meet him later in the day for a meal. After spending a couple of hours shopping for last minute necessities for the cruise, we went back to hotel and rested for the afternoon out of the intense heat. (Well, Sylvia rested. I began to type up ... read more

Geo: -32.0531, 115.746We left Adelaide yesterday and flew to Perth. Fortunately we were able to use our points to upgrade to Business so were in 1A and 1C. Had a very nice lunch on board with good wines and attentive service. Going back 2 and a half hours meant that we arrived before we left! We got a taxi from the airport to Freo. We had looked at other options but costs were similar and the convenience of not having to haul luggage on and off trains made this the better option. The Esplanade Hotel is an older style place recently bought and done up by Rydges. It is conveniently located and comfortable though the air conditioning in our room was not very efficient. After checking in we went for a walk, even though the temperature ... read more