Adelaide/Nullarbor

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Day 24 (25/3/2019)



Huge winds from the East pounded us overnight, wanting to pick us up & carry us away. Just as well I had everything battened down & anchored. The winds exceeded what we were reported to expect & were quite severe.



Did a bit of fishing, but winds still heavy & water still quite dirty which is hardly ideal conditions. Saw a school of large Tailor going up & down the breakwater, but they were far from interested in any lure put in front of them.



Day 25 (26/3/2019)



Up early to try fishing in the morning instead of the evening. Water still dirty & the winds growing stronger again did not make fishing easy. Same school of Tailor swimming up & down the breakwater, but again refusing to take anything thrown at them.



After waving the white flag, headed home for breakfast before we went for some short walks, making the most of the morning before the heat kicked in.



We had Snapper & chips for lunch which were quite delicious. The rest of the day was spent resting up for tomorrows drive to Perth.



Day 26 (27/3/2019)



Departed Dongara/Pt Denison at 7:00AM. Winds were all over the place for us, making progress so slow in places & of no issue at all elsewhere.



Stopped at Jurien Bay for a cuppa at 8:40AM, before departing again at 9:10AM. Winds again were harsh until we turned East, then hit us hard again when we turned South, arriving in Perth at 12:15PM, staying at Karrinyup Waters Caravan Park.



Set up the caravan before shopping to stock up. Snapper & Calamari for dinner before falling into bed & a solid nights sleep.



Day 27 (28/3/2019)



Deb's birthday today. Off to the DFO at Perth Airport for a bit of retail therapy. Very similar in a way to the Essendon DFO in Victoria, with a couple of Western Australian retailers offering different items. Shared some Chinese for lunch which went down quite nicely.



Returned back to the caravan & went for a swim in the delightful pool at Karrinyup Waters. Had pizza for dinner & a few drinks with a big day out planned for tomorrow.



Day 28 (29/3/2019)



Up early to get the train into Perth. Got on at Stirling Station, where you can park all day for $2. The staff at Trans WA are friendly & helpful, assisting us to obtain our tickets from the vending machine & the trains run on time! Think we need them to give Metro the arse in Victoria & take over.



Got off at Elizabeth Quay, 1 stop after Perth Underground. Looked around the Quay before walking alongside the Swan River on Riverside Drive. Our walk took us past the WACA cricket ground & Gloucester Park harness race track to the Crown Casino complex in Burswood. Here we had lunch in the carvery, which is a buffet all you can eat & really excellent value.



Now completely full, we continued walking & went past the new Optus Stadium before crossing back over the Swan River in to Victoria Gardens. Now suffering tired legs, we made our way to Claisebrook Station to get the train back into Perth.



Went into the main shopping precinct & mall, picking up a few bargains. Decided to head the few blocks back to where we started at Elizabeth Quay & the Oyster Bar for a feed of Kilpatrick Oysters & a drink. Back onto the train to head back to the caravan, knowing we would sleep very well tonight.







Day 29 (30/3/2019)



Went for a drive to the nearby Swan Valley; a beautiful area full of wineries, breweries, produce all close together on 2 major roads. It was like half of Western Australia had the same idea.



Our first stop was Elmars in the Valley, a craft brewery with some tasty beer to take home. Next was Old Youngs Distillery, offering Vodka & Gin. Deb did all the tasting since I had to drive, purchasing a bottle of 1829 Gin.



Lancaster Winery was next for a bit of wine & cheese tasting. The Sweet Chilli & Garlic cheese was too good to pass over, grabbing a pack for the coming days.



Last was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory & Coward and Black Liquers next door to each other. There were plenty of chocolates to taste, followed by the liquers.



Returned back to the caravan as it was quite warm & busy, knowing we needed to rest up for tomorrows trip to Fremantle.



Day 30 (31/3/2019)



Up early to catch the train to Perth, then Fremantle. First stop was the Information Centre, then on to the wharf complex. Doing our homework to figure out where to have lunch, we then went to Little Creatures Brewery for some beer tasting with some sourdough bread. A platter of 10 beers & 1 cider of reasonable size took some time to digest. Purchased 4 of the 11 sampled before having lunch at Kailis Seafood.



Here we ordered 2 pieces of fish with chips, plus a bucket of King Prawns. No problems in devouring all of these; absolutely delicious. All of the eateries were packed out.



We then moved onto the Shipwreck Museum to learn all about the shipwrecks, including the Batavia. One of the exhibits was to pick up a cannonball, which as you would expect is quite heavy. There is certainly a lot to see here & is a worthwhile visit.



Next stop was San Churro for an Iced Chocolate as it was quite warm & thirsty work. Finally a bit more retail therapy before hopping back onto the train for the return trip.



Once back in the caravan park, still had enough energy for a swim to tire us out completely, knowing we would sleep well.



Day 31 (1/4/2019)



Not up quite so early today as we would head out late morning for Swan Valley part 2, this time with far less people around unlike the weekend.



Visited Duckstein Brewery, followed by Mash Brewery where I sampled their BBBQ Beer, which was quite smoky & would go down well with marinated bbq food.



Next stops were the Cheese Barrel & Olive Farm Wines. The Godminster Organic Vintage Cheddar & Stokes Point Smoked Cheddar both won us over; absolutely delicious!



Deb then set about wine tasting next door, sampling something like 10 wines before settling for 2 Dessert Wines & a Shimmer Sparkling Chenin. Not sure how she managed to walk out of there!



Across the road was the House of Honey which had some lovely honey, and some not quite so lovely, depending on your taste. Morish Nuts was next where Deb picked up some of her favourites, almonds & liquorice.



Last 2 stops were Whistler Chocolates & the Great Northern Distillery. There were not many samples in the chocolate factory & they seemed quite pricey, so we went to the distillery next door.



Deb sampled Melon Liquer, Gin & Rum, deciding to take home a bottle of rum. We dropped all these off at the caravan park before heading to the beach at Scarborough. A beautifully set out promenade & beach, with views down to Fremantle. We had a seafood basket lunch at Plaka on the Beach, which was a huge meal shared.



After a walk around, we headed back to the caravan park for yet another swim. The warm water soothes the aches & pains & tires us out quite nicely.



Tomorrow is our last day in Perth, so likely to be a bit of a quieter day.

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