Perth

It was a shock being in a big city with 2 million people and 5 lane highways again! We haven’t seen that since Brisbane and most of the places we’ve been over the past several months have only had a population of a few hundred to 3,000 people.

We were able to go to shopping malls and change our wardrobes – we only brought a limited amount of clothing on this trip and after a year everything had holes and stains on them! We also serviced the car and did a few other ‘maintenance’ things while in Perth.

Over the 3 weeks, we did manage to catch up with a few friends and do some sightseeing as well.

Rottnest Island

When we lived in Perth 15 years ago, I never actually made it to Rottnest Island (although R dived off it a few times), so I was very excited to go and really wanted to see a Quokka. Most people see the island by bicycle, but since it’s been so hot (and 22 km around the island) we decided to get the hop on/off bus (and it was cheaper).

We started our visit by driving 45 min to Freemantle and catching the 9am ferry. Thanks to COVID, there are mask mandates in place so we had to wear masks for the whole ferry trip.

We took the bus all the way around the island stopping in about 5 places and then walking to the next stop. The landscape was beautiful with very different scenery (coral and snorkelling on the south and sandy beaches on the north). We saw some NZ Fur Seals and some Osprey chicks in a nest during our trip around. Here are some photos from around the island.

We then spent the last bit of time in ‘the Settlement’ where we fell in love with the Quokkas.

They had some pretty funny quokka signs around too.

On the day we visited the island, it was trash day. We saw the garbage truck moving around the island collecting trash, but then later in the day we saw it bogged in the sand! (I’m not really sure how a truck gets un-bogged at Rottnest since there are so few cars on the island…??)

Freemantle

We spent a day exploring Freemantle (‘Freo’ – just south of Perth and considered a suburb of Perth). It’s a great little suburb with lots of restaurants, cafes and history.

We started at the old prison. The prison was built in the 1850s and continued as a working prison until 1991. We went on an interesting tour where we could see the various cells and the gallows.

We also walked around the harbour area and went to a really cool Lego exhibit at the Maritime Museum there. The Lego exhibit displayed various famous shipwrecks. Each wreck had at least one representation and some information on how the boat sank, etc. Here is a photo of a sailing ship at the harbour and a few examples of the lego exhibits.

Freemantle also has some ‘must see’ weekend markets and some beautiful old buildings. We were there on a weekend so we visited the markets and then walked all around the town.

Perth CBD and the Botannical Gardens

We spent some time walking around Perth’s botanical garden and the downtown. Perth has some interesting buildings and a nice area around the river and foreshore.

Here are some photos of Perth’s CBD:

Some photos of the botanical gardens:

Swan Valley

Perth has a nice little wine region just north-east of town. It’s not as famous as the Margaret River region, but I think the wines are actually better and it’s an easier region to explore with all the wineries and shops fairly close together.

15 years ago, my favourite wines were from Windy Creeky winery and as an extra bonus, the wines were really cheap. So, we had to go back and the wines were just as good this time and at $12 a bottle how can you go wrong?

While in the region, we went to a place where we could pick our own grapes to eat and also to a nougat and nut factory where we sampled (and bought) many delicious treats…

Coming from an education background, this wine that we saw particularly struck me (so true!):

We caught up with a few friends while in Perth. On one evening, we had a picnic on the south shore of the river and watched the sunset over the CBD – it was beautiful.

We’ll continue our trip down the south coast after Perth. Although we have enjoyed the shopping and services provided in a big city, it will be good to get back to the smaller, regional locations again.