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Published: February 19th 2018
Uluru
Uluru from the plane window!'Go West, Young Man', as the saying goes and today, we were off to our furthest westerly point on our sojourn in the general direction of home! Today, we fly to Perth and our fifth and final State of Western Australia. We are actually doing Perth in two bites, totalling 5 days, but with a further 5 days in the middle, in upstate Western Australia. So, this episode concentrates on 'bite' number one, our first two days in Perth.
Our flight to Perth was scheduled to leave Alice Springs at 11.20 am, but as we needed to return our rental car by 9.00 am, we left our hotel around 8.30, dropped our keys in the Avis 'box', grabbed some brekkie and waited for the check in desk to open at 9.30. Sue was using her crutches at this point and the airline (Qantas) were very good, in organising buggy transport to the plane and a lift up onto the aircraft, together with a row of 3 seats, effectively to herself, once Tim had moved to another row after take-off!
The flight was scheduled to take about 3 hours, but we would gain one and half hours during the flight,
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Our place of abode..... leaving us only 8 hours ahead of the U.K. and meaning that we had now travelled west across five time zones, since landing in Auckland all those years ago! We were actually 30 minutes late leaving, because we were waiting for a connecting flight to arrive, carrying two passengers joining our aircraft, although the pilot was pretty confident he could make up most of the time. In fact, the flight was absolutely fine (with a great view of Uluru from above, about 20 minutes in) and I was able to catch up on some blogging. However, we did have a rather unusual, in flight meal........a beef and mushroom pie; nothing else, just the shortcrust pastry pie! I loved it, plus an extra bit of pastry which Mandy gave me from hers!
On landing in Perth (only 5 minutes late in the end), Sue was helped off the plane in the same fashion as boarding and while Tim wheeled Sue round in a wheelchair, Mandy and I went on ahead and had all the bags collected as they arrived. As it happens, I needed to pop to the loo, so Mandy ended up collecting all the bags by herself plus
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...the view back from the river... having a sniffer dog have a good rummage in our hand luggage!! A 20 minute taxi ride into the city and we pulled up around 2 pm, at the Pan Pacific hotel, our home for a total of 5 days, in two 'bites'.
After a quick freshen up in our rooms on the 17th floor, with a view of the Swan River, we hit the streets and headed a couple blocks down to the riverfront. This was a beautiful introduction to the city, with the waters of the massive Swan River, virtually lapping around our ankles; there is no wall or railings in place to separate you from the river - a very sensible approach, but the dreaded Health and Safety police in the UK would have a field day!! Our target was the Bell Tower, a little way along the riverfront, a relatively modern tower (a bit like a mini Shard!), containing 18 bells, 12 of which were donated by St. Martins-in-the-Field in Trafalgar Square, London to mark Australia's 200th anniversary in 1988. A further 6 bells have been added since, including one to mark the Millennium.
Before going in the Bell Tower, we needed sustenance and
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....and some old bird on the river... 'lucky' for us there was a fine looking, waterfront establishment, just over the road, called 'The Lucky Shag' and we thought, this was definitely the place for us!! A couple of beers and some grub later, we were on our way to the Bell Tower but, unfortunately, that's where our luck ran out...........it closed at three today; we just missed it!
It was Saturday in Perth and the waterfront area was pretty lively, including the start of a 'Brazilian Music Event' (quite why Brazilian, I'm not really sure!), part of the start of Perth's version of the Edinburgh Festival. We listened to a couple of tunes by the Sambanistas (a group of drummers of all shapes and sizes and their side-kicks, also very interesting shaped, belly dancers!!!) but after what we think was 'tune two', we decided to move on, sambaring our way up Barrack Street, past a number of colonial style buildings such as the Town Hall and the Supreme Court and it's very pretty gardens, before picking up one of the free tram routes around the city centre - 'free' yet again!
The tram took us out towards King's Park (which we plan to visit during
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....the sign says it all 'bite' two), past the train station, (which we plan to USE tomorrow) and past the WACA which we CAN'T USE because during the whole of this trip, we have NEVER been in the right place for any cricket!! Who organised this flipping trip, I want to know!!
We wanted to visit Fremantle (the port and suburb of Perth), while we are here and have decided to do this tomorrow. So, after our tram ride and a quick peek at the Royal Mint building as we got off, and still feeling pretty full after our visit to The Lucky Shag, we decided to return to our rooms, pick up some wine and nibbles and relax in the room, with a few hands of cards. Then it was bed......it was, of course, an hour and a half later in our heads!
We decided to take an hour long cruise down the river to Fremantle and then catch the train back later in the day. The first river boat was at 9.55 am, so we had a leisurely start to the day, before strolling down to the jetty to pick up the boat. I say 'leisurely', but that's not quite true
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The Supreme Court and gardens... as it turns out......we were all awakened with a rude start around 5.30 am, with what Mandy and I thought was the alarm on the bedside radio, but it wasn't! We pushed every button on that radio, tried to pull out the plug, but couldn't and were just about to rip it out of the wall, when a message came over the intercom system - the fire alarm had been triggered by mistake; no need to panic! Tim and Sue had the same problem, of course, but it seemed like the noise was coming from one of their wardrobes and Tim was frantically looking through the cupboards for the source of the noise, before hearing the intercom message.
So wide awake now, Mandy had a cuppa and wrote her diary, Sue went back to sleep (very sensible!) and I managed a couple of hours blogging. As for Tim, he decided to go for a run along the riverside......impressive, but totally mad!
The boat ride was really enjoyable and a great way to get to Fremantle. Some lovely views along the way, including several Dolphins, a Pelican on a spit of sand at one point and a completely unexpected
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....the WACA.... couple of penguins, on some rocks, as we entered Fremantle harbour. The one truly amazing thing about the boat ride was the number of jellyfish in the water.......literally thousands upon thousands! It turns out that the big ones are harmless, but the small white ones can be dangerous - however, how you would have the presence of mind to decide which were safe and which not, if you happened to be in the water, is beyond me!
We landed at Victoria Quay in Fremantle and immediately boarded the colonial style, hop on/hop off tram (really a bus, done up like a tram) to tour the town. Our driver/guide was brilliant and gave us a really entertaining ride around this very pretty town. He stopped at Memorial Hill, so we could get some pictures of both the memorial itself and the views over the town - the memorial is apparently only half the height it should have been, after the builder ran off with the money to finish it, half way through! One of the highlights of Fremantle is the old prison, originally built by transported convicts from the UK. The tram did stop outside the prison, but as we
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.....and the Royal Mint... had previously done the 'Gaol' in Melbourne, we opted to give this one a miss.
We jumped off the tram at the waterfront and had a cracking fish and chip lunch (half portion each!) at a place called Kailis, recommended by our concierge and, indeed, the tram driver- a really busy place with loads of different fish options, both battered and grilled; Mandy and I went for the Cobbler, which I really loved, but Mand wasn't so keen as apparently it was 'too fishy'!!! A fish that is 'fishy', well I never did!! Tim and Sue kept it 'traditional', with what looked like 'Whiting' to me.
After lunch we picked up the tram again to finish the loop, but not before we were we able to listen to a live rock band, playing in the nearby park in a 'free', but 'ticketed' show. They sounded really good and, if we could have got tickets, it would have been great to spend a couple of hours there. Anyway, we jumped off the tram again at the Town Hall and then decided to split up - the girls went to do some shopping, especially at the Fremantle Markets, which are
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I know we're by the river, but surprised to see these 'ships of the desert'! in a number of locations around the town, especially in some of the old shipping sheds around the harbour wharf. In the meantime, Tim and I went to have a drink, before spending some time in the Maritime Museum, which for reasons that were not entirely clear, had a special exhibition taking place on Vesuvius and Pompeii. This special exhibit was ok, but the rest of the museum was really pretty good, in a building that many have quipped, looks as though it is made up of left over bits from the Sydney Opera House!
We planned to meet up again at the train station around 5 pm and, lo and behold, we did just that! However, it seems that the girls had already been to the station at 4 pm to see if we were already there - they had done their shopping and bought a few gifts, but why we would be there an hour ahead of time, I'm not sure! Three policeman outside the station asked if they could help, and the girls said could they assist in finding their husbands. The cops asked what we looked like and Sue said 'They're Male!!'. So, the Police
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....the Bell Tower... ended up showing them to a free bus stop, telling them where to get off, so they could go for a beer and ice cream instead!! No prizes for guessing who had the beer and who had the ice cream!
The train back took about 30 minutes and cost around $4 each and when we got back, we walked the kilometre or so back to our hotel and passed some lovely buildings around Perth Cathedral, including the cathedral itself. We slumped into the bar at the hotel and had a refreshing couple of drinks (although we had, unfortunately, just missed happy hour!), before deciding that we hadn't got the energy to walk far for dinner and so, we decided on the Irish Pub opposite our hotel; a bit rough and ready, but suited our needs perfectly! Then, it was back to our rooms to rearrange our luggage for the trip upstate tomorrow.
From what we have seen so far, Perth is a lovely city in a stunning setting and we can understand why this is a favourite location where many Brits choose to settle. Fremantle is a 'must' to visit while in the area and is an absolutely
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....another view of the city. beautiful town - the waterfronts in both Perth and Fremantle are terrific. We are looking forward to doing some more exploring when we return to Perth in a few days, including King's Park, Rottnest Island and Karrakatta Cemetery, but more about this last one, in a couple of episode's time!
In the meantime, a couple of quiz questions today:
* There is a famous breeze that hits the Perth area around 2 pm every day; what is it called and why?
and
* What do the initials WACA stand for?
That's all folks!
TTFN
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