Wanderings in Australia - 1 - Perth & Fremantle

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We are in the land "Down Under" which, as our 18 hrs of flying testified, is a long, long way from home - as far as the other side of the world! For the first section of our tour we have been joined by WanderingAlison's sister, Jackie. We arrived into Perth in Western Australia in the early evening. Having checked-in to our hotel we head straight out, down to the Swan Riverside, to watch a spectacular firework display to celebrate Australia Day.

The following day we wandered around Perth, visiting the Perth Mint, an excellent tour through the old mint, hearing stories of gold prospectors, large gold nuggets, seeing molten gold being poured to form an ingot and the world's largest gold coin weighing in at 1000kg - too heavy to slip into the back pocket unfortunately!!

Down to the Swan River and then onto the Museum of Western Australia. An interesting museum with an excellent section on the history of the indigenous Aboriginal people and their artefacts.

We transferred to Fremantle the following day to join our 18 day Discover Australia Tour. The group is larger than we are used to, consisting of 44, so we will see what happens.

Fremantle is a laid back seaside town, with all the usual attractions. We take an excellent tour of the Old Fremantle Prison. In the evening we meet up with two of Alison & Jackie's school friends, at a wonderful restaurant, the Bib & Tucker, for an evening of reminiscing!!

Our time in Western Australia is soon over and we head to the airport for a 2 1/2 hr flight to Alice Spings.

Accommodation - Rydges Hotel Perth & the Esplanade Rydges Hotel Fremantle

Weather - Very hot 38 - 40c, sunny with one thunderstorm.

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Comments

[David Smith]

Hope your blog doesn't bounce back like a boomerang
Great pictures and reminded Joanne and I when we paddled in the Indian Ocean in Perth and realised just how far from home we were. Coffee shop looks fantastic

[Helen and Bob]

Perth
Looks like the trip is going really well. I'm glad you weren't too tired to see the fireworks. Enjoyed seeing the photos with Beth as well. Hope all continues as we'll. xx