Perth..a bit of a surprise

Perth has not disappointed us. It is easy to navigate, does not feel crowded, there is a beach not too far from anywhere in Perth and is pretty with the Swan River forming a lake in the city centre. We were also excited to catch up with a few expat Queenslander friends and our good friends from the Sunshine Coast who flew in for a wedding. 

We spent 5 nights on the north side at Karrinyup, which gave us quick access into the city centre by train whilst the Landcruiser had a service, and have caught up with washing, cleaning, shopping and even bought some anti-flap bars for the awning.....winds being as they are over here..it was about time.

Highlights: 

After catching the train in we walked about 10 km around the city

KINGS PARK

This Boab tree was removed from northern WA in 2008 to make room for a highway, and transplanted in Kings Park...wow!

The tree is estimated at 750 years old.

CITY CENTRE

Beautiful walkways adorned with many varieties of the states emblem

The PERTH MINT tour was great, saw gigantic nuggests, and watched a 6 kilo gold bar being poured


Largest solid gold $1 coin ever made and Derek always said he was worth his weight in Gold

Old Dept of Works building, fabulous old architecture throughout the city


Olde England street




View from the south side parkland, we have had 2 weeks of the bestest weather, sunny, and light breeze

The symbol for WA is the Black Swan, even made an appearance on the Swan River


There is even an island Heiressen Is in the river with kangaroos, but we weren’t lucky enough to spot any

Karrinyup was also close to Hillary's boat harbour for a 45 minute fast ferrycat to Rottnest Island 

ROTTNEST ISLAND (or Rotto)  the day was perfect, rather than bike around the island we chose the hop on hop off bus, the island is 9km long, and we walked much of the coastline between stops. It was loaded with history from Aboriginal prison and settlement to Army Barracks, all now converted to holiday accommodation 

The Quokkas.....so cuuute, this little one crept up behind me, Derek told me to stand still and he snook between my feet and licked my leg, then just stood there

I spoke to him...   and he just smiled at me

The waters surrounding the island were stunning and have tropical fish, so lots of snorkelling sites..even took a walking tour, we didn’t take advantage of the lovely warm day and have a swim, probably should have taken our bathers.

Where’s the next bus stop?

New Zealand fur seal colony...we saw 5 seals today

Then 7 nights just south of Fremantle near Coogee at Woodman Reserve Caravan Park which was right on the beach

WOODMAN POINT is an historic quarantine station built in 1886 for infectious disease until 1979. It dealt with Bubonic Plague, Spanish Flu and Small Pox. There is evidence of a crematorium and graves. The other buildings are currently used for school camps.

Munitions Railway and crematorium 

We also came across the remains of several munitions bunkers - used until 1980, and 3 lots of railway lines all running parallel, and a road called Plague Road giving us access to daily walks of around 6 km a day, oh and also a fox.

FREMANTLE  (a port town also known as Freo) welcome sign made from cargo ship containers, we walked all day and still have the markets to visit 

Loads of history and historical buildings


We timed the firing of the canon at 1pm just perfectly...too windy to drop the ball too

Saw James Bond at the movies in Fremantle, awesome movie!


Perth is now our favourite Australian City......

Next stop going inland to the Perth Hills as we slowly make our way south.

Perth Surrounds

We have visited a variety of towns around the outskirts of Perth.

NEW NORCIA

The Monastic town of New Norcia established 1847 by 2 Spanish Benedictine Monks as a mission for the local Yued Aboriginals but is now used as a learning centre and can be hired out to groups. The monastery used to have 30 monks and 300 people, but now has 6 monks and 30 people. They own everything, the hotel (built to accommodate visiting parents), petrol station, bakery/general store, surrounding farms, olive grove and press, mill, boys and girls aboriginal school/orphanages, boy and girls boarding school and college. It has a huge history, and the 2 hour town tour was fascinating and allowed us to enter many of the buildings not open to the general public.

View from our overnight camp on the oval $10 per night

Etchings on the walls, see the Aussie Nativity Scene (top right).....the Monks weren’t without a sense of humour

TOODYAY (free camp) NORTHAM  (caravan park) and YORK (free camp) Wundowie (free camp)

Toodyay was small and quaint and had a great bakery and massive Christmas shop

Northam was larger and more commercial, but a great river walk and historic buildings...old Mill - as it is in the wheat belt

York was the best.... Note to self..don’t visit historic towns on Mondays as 95% shops are closed. We are going to go back again after Christmas.

The Yorkshire Rose is it’s symbol carved onto many buildings , mum would have loved these miniature pansies 

YANCHEP and YANCHEP NP

Yanchep NP is one if the prettiest and oldest National Parks we’ve seen. It has over 400 caves..some can be explored, a lake, kangaroos, koalas, old Tudor style buildings including an Inn and some converted to lodges, and many hiking trails, and an oval for camping.

Crocheted poppies in the Garden of Remembrance, 11 November,  in front of the Inn

It is 6 km from the beach at Yanchep which is a reasonably modern town with a few urban housing estates in progress.

Some wooden beams were used from this wreck 1917, in the Yanchep Inn in the NP, now a sign saying $1million fine if you remove any of the remaining wreck

Relic from Alan Bonds failed Atlantis Marine Park 1981, and his vision of Yanchep Sun City.

It is heritage listed and is now going to be in the middle of the new town centre 

BULLSBROOK

We are currently camped on a private farm called Little Creek Farm with 6 other caravans for the weekend. Great to have these opportunities for only $10 per night, and so close to Perth.

We had a nice walk through Bullsbrook, and a visit to the nearby Walyunga NP. The first pic “surf and turf”, the town likes it’s Bulls, also still a few wild flowers about

NP, lots of Kangaroos along the river walk trail

Kangaroo Paw found in a small bushland reserve at Bullsbrook, it is the native flower of WA, really hard to find

After a reasonably quiet country feel week we are moving into Perth tomorrow ..beaches, city lights and quokkas