Blogs from Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 3

We had a relatively short trip, only 55 miles and about an hour in length from Mandurah to our next, and final, stop in Australia. We were heading back to Perth, where we had landed over a month ago to start our wonderful trip around the state of Western Australia. We would return our car on arrival, having completed the loop. The car needed to be returned with the full tank of petrol it had when we picked it up. We decided to fill it up in Mandurah, then just top up when we got to Perth. After all the easy driving, usually on the one and only road available, we thought finding our accommodation and then the car hire offices in a major city centre was likely to be a bit of a challenge. In ... read more

Our arrival in Perth was via the Indian-Pacific railway. We soon transferred to our apartment in the Fraser Suites on Adelaide Terrace, a lovely huge 2 bedroomed, 2 kitchen, 2 bathroom suite of rooms with lounge and balcony overlooking the Swan River. Although it was sunny it was quite windy and sadly too cold to sit out on the balcony. Helen had arrived the previous night so we went down to the bar and met some friends of ours from Sutton for a drink- small world! They had had a late lunch so didn't want to go out to eat so we wandered down the road and came across an unassuming looking Indian restaurant called Aachi. It had several Indian customers ,always a good sign so we tried it. It turned out to be one of ... read more

London, Hong Kong and South West Australia 10 September - 3 October 2018 4 October Hyden, Western Australia After a very good flight to Hong Kong during which we had plenty of free seats around us which made the journey more relaxing we took the airport express train and a bus to reach Nathan Road. This is a busy area near the Tsim Sha Tsui underground station, full of shops and restaurants on the ground floor of big 'mansions' or apartment blocks built around a courtyard. We could have booked an international style hotel of which there are many in the area where they have been built to replace some of the apartment blocks but in an effort to save money and gain insight into how ordinary people live in Hong Kong we checked in to ... read more

A filling breakfast looking onto a beautiful outlook at Willoughby’s restaurant attached to the Airport Honolulu Hotel and then by courtesy shuttle to our flight. Our take-off took had us with a good view of Diamond Head and the surrounding ocean. We were fortunate to have a vacant seat next to each of us on the Honolulu-Sydney leg. We watched movies and tried to sleep, with little success, on this 11 hour flight. I watched, “Beirut”, “Breath”, “The Crimes that Bind” and “The Greatest Showman”, all of which I enjoyed. The adrenalin flowed as we flew over the Blue Mountains knowing we were in the greatest country in the world. However, the adrenalin quickly subsided at Sydney International Airport as the experience was not one would brag about to an international visitor. Disgrace, to put it ... read more

Preparation over. Departure time arrived. Ready to Explore and Enjoy. Smiling BIG time. A little about Perth International Airport - There has been significant investment and planning for the future at the Perth Airport. It is envisaged that all commercial air services will operate from one precinct, Airport Central, offering a world-class airport experience. The International Departures has been transformed with expansion and refurbishment that has greatly improved the outbound international customer experience and now offers a far greater range of retail and dining choices, along with improved check-in, outbound immigration and security screening areas. The flight on EK425, Perth to Dubai (11hours), consisted of attempted sleep, eat (Scrambled Eggs), pee, movie (Death of Stalin), attempted sleep, pee, movie (Hostiles), pee, attempted sleep, pee, movie (Thank You For Your Service)... read more