Western Australia - 26 to 30 March 2011

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We have at last arrived in Western Australia (WA) and although the flight was 3¼ hours, with the time difference we actually arrived 15 minutes after we had taken off! The rain thank goodness had not followed us from Victoria as the skies in Perth were pure blue and the temperatures were well into the 30s (hope we do not live to regret these high temperatures)……. We caught a shuttle bus to our self contained accommodation which overlooked the river in the centre of Perth. Our first impression of Perth was that it was an extremely modern and tidy city, located alongside the peaceful waters of the Swan River about 20k inland from the Indian Ocean. The City was located here for its safe inland position during colonial times, while the river provided an excellent means for transporting supplies from the coastal port to the fledgling colony. Much of Perth was originally built using convict labour and this can still be seen today in some of Perth's remaining historic buildings which are now very much dwarfed amongst the new tower blocks that dominate the skyline. However the river and surrounding green park area provides a scenic outlook for the city. Our first priority was to stock up our supplies and we enquired where the nearest supermarket was and were told that there was a Woolworths within walking distance (not as we know the ‘woollies’ store, as in Oz they are one of the main food supermarket chains). We set off on foot and about 25 minutes later we eventually found the store! We only did purchase a few supplies as we had to carry them all the way back to our accommodation and in the heat this was quite a task! We then had to go out again to find a liquor store as again they do not sell beer or wine in their supermarkets, but luckily this one was not quite as long a walk but we bought ample supplies to last during our stay!. Later we walked across to the Swan River and on to the jetty which was lovely but you do really need ‘wheels’in Perth…….. Next to the jetty is the Swan Bell Tower a modern copper and glass structure that contains bells dating from the 14th century which came from London’s St Martin in the Field church – quite an icon of the jetty area.. A rowing contest was being held on the river and there was a relaxed atmosphere with families sitting around basking in the lovely sunshine. The next morning we decided that we would join a cruise down the Swan River to Fremantle. We walked down to the Jetty and purchased a day ticket which included the cruise between Perth and the Port of Fremantle. As we cruised along river the Captain pointed out places of interest the restored Swan Brewery, Kings Park & Botanical Gardens, The Royal Perth Yacht Club as well as the magnificent houses overlooking the river and Fremantle’s busy inner harbour. One of the numerous multi million dollar houses we cruised past had just sold for $57 million cash! Some of the properties on the peninsula were lucky to have beautiful views of both the Swan River on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other, an idyllic location. We disembarked the ferry at the port of Fremantle, Freo to locals and walked into the quiet centre, it was Sunday. The town was home to some fantastic museums as well as a multitude of historical buildings and was probably one of the most scenic towns we had seen for quite a while. We visited the main fishing harbour which was buzzing with people and walked to Arthur’s Head where the Round House, built in 1831 is the oldest public building in WA. It was originally a local prison and the site of the colony’s first hanging. On the hilltop outside is the Signal Station at 1300 hours daily a time ‘ball and cannon’ blast was used to alert seamen to the correct time – this ceremony is still re-enacted daily and sure enough as we arrived we were greeted with a loud boom - luckily the lady in the museum had warned us of the impending noise. We walked around the harbour to the Shipwrecks Galleries where there was an excellent display on the maritime history of WA with emphasis on the recovery and restoration of the famous wreck Batavia which we found fascinating. The ship’s recovered hull reminded us of the preserved Mary Rose remains in Portsmouth, UK. The Batavia, a Dutch East India Company’s ship, ran aground on a reef off the Abrolhos Islands in 1629. Of the 322 aboard, most of the passengers and crew managed to get ashore, although 40 people did drown. The survivors, including all the women and children, were then transferred to nearby islands in the ship's long boat. An initial survey of the islands found no fresh water and only limited food e.g. sea lions and birds. The Captain realised the dire situation and decided to take a group of senior officers and some passengers in search of drinking water and help. After an unsuccessful search for water on the mainland, they abandoned the other survivors and headed north in a danger-fraught voyage to the city of Batavia, now known as Jakarta. This journey, which ranks as one of the greatest feats of navigation in an open boat, took 33 days and, extraordinarily, all aboard survived. However whilst they were away a gruesome mutiny took place amongst the remaining crew who killed most of the survivors in order to survive themselves. Once the Captain returned with help and supplies he executed all those involved, apart from two young men whom he left ashore in WA, becoming perhaps the first white men on Australian soil. Today part of the wreck has been excavated from the ocean floor as well as numerous artefacts including a huge stone portico (archway) which they had brought up from the ocean floor brick by brick and reassembled in the museum – quite strange to think that it never reached its intended destination and it took all these years before it was finally rebuilt in a museum and not on its original intended site!. The museum was extremely interesting and well worth a visit if you do ever get to Fremantle. We finally made our way back to the jetty to await our return trip where the renowned E-Shed market was held and we sat by the waterfront drinking coffee whilst listening to the live band that was playing to passers by – quite good they were too. A couple of local ‘old timers’ were up near the stage playing their ‘air guitars’ and dancing to the music (I did have to stop Paul from joining them!!!) On the return ferry trip we had free wine tasting of the cruise ship’s own wine, Water’s Edge Estate which is produced on the banks of the Swan River, a really lovely shiraz as well as some superb merlot, although the white was not as good. The next day we awoke again to glorious blue skies and high temperatures, WA is surely a sunshine State. W caught the free bus to Kings Park & Botanical Gardens set amid four square kilometres of natural bushland, which is one of the largest inner city parks in the world. It has a stunning location overlooking the city and also the blue waters of the Swan River. From various lookout points in the park you get a marvellous view of the city skyline and can see the multitude of boats and cruise vessels sailing along the river below. The Botanical Gardens opened in 1965 and features many types of flora native to Western Australia. There was an amazing 2000 Western Australia's species of plants on displayed set amongst a beautiful landscape. The Botanic Garden is a living research centre committed to the conservation of Western Australia's flora. One of the highlights within the Gardens is Gija Jumulu a Giant Boab tree which travelled 3200 kilometres to be planted here. The tree is estimated to be 750 years old, stretching 14 metres high and 8 metres wide. The tree was a special gift to all Western Australians from the local Indigenous people, the Gija who are the lands traditional owners. The gardens have a variety of walks and you can obtain good guides from the visitor’s centre where they were extremely helpful. You can even top up your sun block application as they have large jars available for anyone to help themselves to, with a small donation to a local charity.. We decided to do a couple of the shorter walks because of the heat and chose the Federation Walk which had a walkway high above the tree tops with excellent views out over the river and also walked around the botanical gardens which were themed on areas of Australia.. The next day we were due to collect a new Motorhome to undertake most of the rest of our journey in WA. We had decided on a smaller van than we had in NZ as we hoped this would be easier to get around as well as being a lot cheaper and with the Ozzie dollar so buoyant this was most important (we did not want to have to return to the UK because of a shortage of funds!). We got a taxi to ‘Around Australian Motorhomes’ where our van was already waiting for us. There was a girl training in the small office who was extremely nervous as she took all our details and explained the legal requirements of hiring the van etc. She then handed us over to a chap who showed us around the van and explained all the technical points and went through an inventory of equipment provided. So here we are again back in a motorhome, which seemed quite strange after so long staying in self contained accommodation with all the added luxuries, or not as the case may be!! We were firstly going to head South of Perth for a couple of weeks around the Margaret River area and down to Albany before returning and heading North to hopefully see the whalesharks that apparently had arrived early this year in Ningaloo Reef in Exmouth (hope they wait for us). We had already booked some campsites in Exmouth as it would be Easter when we arrived and some sites were already full, but we managed to get the last ‘power site’ in a couple of campsites although we had to move during Easter weekend.. The whalesharks arrive on the reef in April and usually remain until June so hopefully we would be lucky and get to see them this time as we were so disappointed when we were unable to get a boat out to them in Belize a couple of years ago due to poor weather. However before then we were heading South of Perth and decided not to travel too far but to get some shopping and then move on to Coogee Beach about 30 minutes from Perth. The campsite was located right next to a lovely beach and we parked up and walked across the sand dunes to the ocean for a cooling dip – pure luxury. The beach was quiet and as we walked along we noticed many bright red starfish as well as an assortment of shells. Later we had a barbeque outside the van and watched the sun go down and the stars come out, it’s so lovely being ‘retired’………….. We soon started chatting to the neighbours and met a lady from Cairns who had travelling with her German partner to find work, luckily they had both just found jobs and they were going to move into some rented accommodation in the area but still keep their small campervan which had enabled them to move across States quite easily. We awoke next morning more blue skies and set off for a visit to Rottnest Island which is located about 29k from the Port of Fremantle. We caught the free shuttle bus to the ferry terminal where we crossed to Rottnest, known as Rotto to the locals. The 25 minute crossing was quite busy as a couple of groups of school children were also visiting the island – we do pick our days……….. In any event when we arrived our pre-hired cycles were ready and off we went (yes cycles!). Rotto is mainly car free so most people hire bicycles to get around the island which is ringed by secluded tropical beaches and bays, with many snorkelling areas. The whole area is a marine national park with a total length of about 11km and width of 4.5km and it’s supposed to be easy to get around on a cycle! We set off on a long straight road and we thought this is good, no hills, but they came later! We stopped at various lookout points one where there was a very visible wreck in the bay before we came to Little Salmon Bay a good snorkelling area, so we parked the cycles and went for our first snorkel for ages. The water was lovely and warm which after the hot ride was extremely refreshing but nothing to write home about with regard to the snorkelling that is!! However the bay had lovely soft powder white sand and beautiful clear blue water to laze around in. We did see quite a few fish and we spent a good hour relaxing and having our picnic lunch. We then cycled on and noticed that we were getting some quite big inclines but luckily the cycles had plenty of gears but still quite hard work in the heat of the day before finding yet another inviting bay to have a refreshing dip. We continued on up yet more hills and with the heat (about mid 30 degrees) it was extremely hard going but we did finally get to the top of the hill where a lighthouse was located with good all round views over the bay with the city of Perth in the distance. We stopped for a while chatting to the lighthouse guides and at the same time catching our breath…………We then decided that we had time to cross to the other side of the island and head back towards the jetty and were lucky enough to see a group of about eight Quokkas right in front of us in the bush. You might ask what these are, we certainly had never heard of them before but Rottnest island has a large population of these animals which are small cute marsupials (basically a smaller version of kangaroos and wallabies). They were once found throughout the southwest of Australia but are now confined to forests on the mainland and a population of about 10,000 on Rotto. As we stopped to look at them they came right over to us and started to lick the oil off the chains on our cycles. They were extremely friendly and obvious had been fed by humans at some time as they were not afraid of us and indeed we had to stop them from climbing up on to us. I think they wanted a free ride to the mainland!!! We stopped and sat with them on the road for ages before we had to move on to ensure that we were back at the jetty to catch the last ferry home. On the way we passed several huge very pink looking salt lakes before we arrived back at the jetty where our ferry was waiting. The crew of the ferry loading ours and all the other cycles on to the back of the ferry and we sailed back to Fremantle where our bus was waiting to take us back to the campsite – a very well organised trip. It was a truly good day but we had very sore legs, knees and indeed rear ends, do not know how anyone can ride a cycle without some sort of padding!!! Tomorrow we move on down the coast to Rockingham – hopefully see you all there.

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