We made it to Perth!

Kalbarri - Perth
Got the camera - less functions than the old one and twice the price - but hopefully it won’t keep breaking down! On route to Perth we stopped at the Pinnacles National Park - acres of desert sand with these variously shaped pointy rocks. They are not sure what formed them but we favour the theory that they are calcified tree trunks. They are very entertaining, almost as much as the devil’s marbles. We took lots of photos with the new camera.
Arrived at the campsite in Perth to find it fully booked. (it is a very small site, and they did tell me it was full when I rang, but we thought we would go there anyway as it is so central. They let us park against the fence where they had some electric points - and by the time we came back from the pool, there were 4 other vans parked there! We are first on the list so now we are hoping someone will cancel, or go home early.
And they did! By 9am the next morning we were nicely ensconced in a proper pitch. We bought a day pass on the bus and went into Perth, then took the train down to Fremantle. We wandered the markets then took a tour around the Prison. I also booked us into the Tunnels tour ‘cos it looked interesting in the brochure. I got a bit worried when they put harnesses on us as well as a shell suit, wellington boots , a life jacket and a helmet. The brochure showed people gently paddling through the tunnels in a little boat - WRONG - well, yes, you did do that but you had to climb down a 40metre vertical ladder first, whilst clipped on in case you fell off (the reason for the harness) and then practically crawl through some tunnels with just the little light on your helmet, and THEN you got to the nice bit with the boats. I really thought I was going to die on that ladder - too old and too fat for this sort of thing - and I had to climb back up it too. I would rather climb Sydney Harbour Bridge 10 times than do that again! Barry’s comment was ‘Woman, know your limits!’
Sunday 15th November was the Fremantle Festival, so back on the bus to Perth Centre. Our first stop was the Perth Mint where they had cases and cases (bullet proof of course) of gold bars and coins. I discovered that I am worth AU$3,783,000 and that I was incapable of lifting a 12.5kg bar. (shows what a lot of rot these films are where they show robbers carrying off loads of gold bars - it is REALLY HEAVY. The highlight was when they took us into the furnace room and actually poured a bar of gold valued at about AU$250,000 - arhh it was awesome! (no photos unfortunately - security).
Back on the train to Fremantle where we indulged in a wonderful Fish BBQ lunch. Followed a little later by a sticky date pudding and iced coffee on ‘Cappuccino Strip’. The carnival started at 4pm - it went on for ages - great fun.

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