Perth & Surrounds

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Made it to Perth!!! Just about as far away from home as we can be, whilst still in Australia that is!

First off, we are pleasantly surprised at the caravan park. Whilst in the city suburbs, we have a large grassy site just metres from a pond full of ducks with ducklings, black swans with cygnets, moor hens with little moor hens and none of them shy when it comes to asking for food!!

Lots of things have been said about Perth, most not so good, but we thought the place was great. Our first excursion was a big day out heading east to Beverley, the place where Debby was born in the UK, a little disappointing, but not helped by the howling gale and dust storms. Then on to York where Debby went to school. Now this is better, with historic buildings, museums, English candy stores and more.

Hey, look, we spent a week in Perth and we don’t want to bore you so we have summarised our stay.

The transport system is fantastic. Getting into the city is so simple and pretty cheap. The city is compact and has 3 free buses doing loops every 15 minutes. A visit to the Bell Tower is a must, try to get there on a Saturday around noon and watch the bell-ringers at work. We also paid a visit to the Perth Mint and the Cathedral, but most of the time was spent wandering round the shops and stopping in the pubs. Deb was in heaven in the shops whilst Steve waited patiently in the pubs.

The beaches are clean and there isn’t a water sport not catered for. Pay a visit to Hillary’s Beach and maybe buy yourself a luxury motor cruiser, or a million dollar (plus) home.

Another trip east, much shorter this time, took us to the Swan Valley. There is a nice 32km loop which starts at Guildford and takes you past, well in our case into, some great wineries. We recommend Sandalford and Black Swan, but we are pretty sure you will find a nice drop in any of the others.

Two other little things of note. On our first jaunt into the city we found ourselves in the middles of a Welcome Home celebration for members (mainly from WA) of the Commonwealth Games team, and on another occasion the city was full of weird people commemorating the death of the one and only MJ, and participating in the world record attempt for the number of ghouls dancing to “Thriller” at the same time.

Well that just about wraps up our very enjoyable week in Perth, but before we go, bet you would like to know more about the Bell Tower? Well, we can tell you, but go find out for yourselves and stop being so lazy! Oh, ok. The bells came from ‘St Martin in the Field’, Trafalgar Square. They were cast between 1725 and 1770. The 12 bells were given to the people of WA and the City of Perth to commemorate Australia’s bi-centenary in 1988. The heaviest bell is 2 ½ ton but there are plans to cast one which will weigh 6 ton. Education lesson over!

We are now heading for Margaret River and our next blog will cover Rockingham, Fremantle, Bunbury and the much anticipated Margaret River.

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