Well, I look in my diary for the week and I have no notes, sometimes when on holiday time just gets away from you. All's I know is that week went pretty quickly. We arrived on Sunday without too much drama to find the Central Caravan Park. We had booked ahead and here for 11 nights. I decided on Central cause it was a Top Tourist which we are members and get a 10% discount, it all looked nice and new and glossy on the brochure I picked up, it just isn't quite like I expected. A small van park, but pretty comfortable and we set up our camp, annex and all on a double slab site a first for us, it will be okay. No trains close by, but the bus stops right on the Great Eastern Highway a 5 minute walk away. We went for a bit of a "famile" on our pushies, the bikeways along the river go right into the city and beyond! We past the Ascot Racecourse, Darl got attacked by a Maggie!
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| Ascot Racecourse by the River |
We went into the city by bus on Monday, had to put the camera in to get fixed as the lens was quite dirty and scratched, spots appearing on the photos and that will just not do. Managed to find a fix it man quite easily, asked if we wanted back by Xmas!! Ah well, yesterday would be better, anyway after a chat and some gentle persuasion he said we could have back by Thursday. A couple days without a camera, that will be hard. So happens my brother Graham is in town for work so we meet up and have a few drinks and dinner back at the Irish pub near the Casino and meet also a few of his work associates, all in all a great outing and great to catch up with big brother. We left the pub to be confronted with a storm and heavy downpour, gees we hope the annex held up. It did just and no leaks in the tent that we sometimes get so that was a bonus. Apparently it is not the season for rain/storms in Perth, Summer is usually pretty dry and hot over here. The double slab worked a treat also, no mud.
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| London Court, camera fixed here |
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| Haven't worked this one out yet.....at entrance one of the malls |
As the annex tends to fill with water, we set off in search of a BCF or camping store on Tuesday. Head for Midland we were told, so off we set - my navigation skills haven't waned much, only one wrong move and we got there without too much effort or getting lost. We got the poles, bargain! We also put our underwater disposable camera in to get developed at Big W down the road, so went back to collect those today, but they didn't turn out all that well, ah well we still got the memories. Our friends Ian and Alana arrived on Monday, so we have some happy hours coming up.
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| City view from King's Park |
Wednesday, what to do today?? Well they do have some great bike tracks around this city and in the main they are all flat, so we decide to make a day of peddling into the city. The tracks are well signed, one we come across said Perth city 14.9 kms, okey dokey we can do that. It was a long interesting ride, we went by the Tennis Club, the one with the grass courts, very swish, the bowls club, the dragon boat club, a little historic house, the Police academy with horse stables n'all, a power station, old brick works, golf club, yes all this by the river. Also, via a couple of riverside parks - we notice a lot of activity on and near the water, people fishing, boating, skiing even a dog obedience class, it all happens here. Oh yeah and we pass the Ascot Racecourse right on the river. The racecourse is surrounded by mansions with HUGE stables out the back and the droppings on the road are a dead give away that horses frequent the streets around here, the smell too is a dead give away....
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| Kangaroo Paw mural Kings' park |
Still on Wednesday, we arrive in the city at Northbridge, this area has a lot of restaurants, clubs, pubs and we find out later that this area is known as the "Kings Cross" of Perth. Had a good look around, a drink at the Mustang bar where we have been told is a good place to go dancing, bands on every night. Our first stop here was a deli that sells everything from tea, coffee, herbs, spices, flours, legumes, lollies, nuts, cheese, olives, pasta, sauces, you name it they had it all in those bulk bags sitting on the floor of the store, the aromas were unreal, not something you see in Brisbane. From here we went for a look see up to Kings Park (yep up a hill) no camera so no photos, then we struggled to find our way back down to the city riverside to find our way home. All in all a big day out (approx 40kms all up)and I might add a pretty tender rear end (for me) by the time we got back to our camp.....
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| Under the shade of the Coolibah tree, where's the cask?! |
Thursday we catch the bus into town to have a look around the shops and hopefully pick up the camera, yes! It's ready and I can merrily click away again, no spots! I have taken a few photos on the phone over he last couple days but I haven't quite yet worked out how to get the things onto the computer...... I'll give it a go one day. The camera repair man is in an arcade called London Court and you guessed it, you feel like you are in some little alley way in down town London, except for all the Aussie souvenir shops here. We take a stroll through the malls (they have two here) and check out the buskers. Always something happening. There is also free bus services available within the city centre, CAT (Central Area Transit) . Today we venture down to the Perth Mint in Hay street and take the tour ($13pp), just one of those things you have to see and something different to the museums and gaols we have been doing. No photos whatsoever are allowed inside the mint. The gold pouring was good to see, they have Australia's largest display of natural gold nuggets including Normady nugget weighing 25.5kgs. Also a gold bar to tease us with, in a glass cabinet with a hole you can stick your hand through to touch and/or pick up the bar, don't worry it bolted to the bottom with about 1 cm for movement and is valued approx $600 000. But my Darl did give it a good go!!
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| Front of the Mint |
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| Typical of camp site in "Gold Rush" days |
From here we took the free bus back up town, hopped off and caught another free bus over to the bottom of King's Park, we have camera now so can take some pics. Trouble is we have to walk up the side on a hill, 242 steps. Not as bad as Ayers Rock..... They have a great Anzac memorial with great views of the city and river. The Swan river is awesome and we discover that there is actually two rivers that join here, the Swan and the Avon(?). We have a wander around through the Botanic gardens, went to do the sky walk but it just closed, time to go home. Back down the 242 steps - Jacob's climb - it is plain to see that this staircase is used mainly by people doing their daily exercise, we were the only ones not in excercise gear, yep they even run up these steps, I am so unfit......
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| It's been a while since we seen a boab tree..... |
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| Old Swan Brewery by the river, now apartments |
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| Big Lord John Forest, first Premier of WA |
Friday - We have another great day out with Ian and Alana. Ian drives us into the city to King's Park and Botanic Gardens, we decide to do again as the park is so big and we want to do the elevated walkway, then the plan to go check out some of the northern beaches. We arrive just in time to take the 10am free guided tour of the Botanic Gardens with Kim the volunteer. It is a very informative walk and Kim knows his stuff. Just how big is King's Park - all of 400 hectares worth, yep that's big! Opened in 1965, only one third of the park has been developed but it filled with avenues, cycleways, paths into the surrounding bushlands.
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| Anzac Memorial |
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| Secret Women's business |
We are about probably 3-4 weeks late to see the park in full bloom during spring, however there is still plenty to see and in flower. We leave here about 3pm, you can easily fill in a full day here. We set off towards the beaches, end up in Fremantle and have a good cruise/look around. Lots of old buildings, the old gaol here, alfresco dining, port. Yachting championships on this week in lead up for the olympic games next year. Back at the van park the owners putting on a Xmas party tonight, free tucker and entertainment and a visit from you guessed it, Santa. They encouraged everyone to buy presents for partners, kids. Well Ian, Alana, Mel and I were the only 4 adults in the crowd that participated and got our pressys from Santa all the others must have been BAD! A great night, drinks and dancing.
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| We had to do Rio Tinto Naturescape, kid's play park |
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| DNA Tower 101+242 x2 total 686 steps in total in 2 days!! |
An early start Saturday morning, a work associate and friend of mine over from Brisbane, Peter picks us up at 7am to take us sight seeing and for brekky. Now Pete is a born and bred Perth boy, knows the place inside out and back to front......still managed to get a bit lost and side tracked, lucky he knew how to find himself again. We went for a drive by the Fremantle port then worked our way along the coast up through Cottlesloe to Scarborough for breakfast by the beach. The beach side of Perth is stunning, with bike tracks stretching some 50kms along the foreshore, looks like a days outing for Darl and me one day. While enjoying brekky, sirens went off a few times over by the beach, we had to go and investigate after as we assumed it could only be a shark alert. While we didn't see any fins out there, all the bathers were on the beach at the waters edge, no one was in the water, not even a pinky, so we guess we were right. The more we see of Perth the more we like it.
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| We can dream on, they come in red and black too! |
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