Perth for Christmas

Our week in Perth has been very leisurely.  We had a couple of days to settle in to the park before Christmas and even caught a train into the city on Christmas Eve to experience the crowds of last minute shoppers and see the decorations.  It was not overly busy and we enjoyed our walk around.  Some stores were well done up and others not at all. Myer was clearly better decorated than DJ’s and the huge Christmas Trees in the Post Office Mall were well done.  The water fountains in the mall were also popular with the kids as a week of 39 to 42 degrees had started.  Our nearest train station was at Guildford which is in a beautiful suburb full of old buildings and lovely large trees.  The Grammar school in the suburb is very pretty with an avenue of eucalypts, a nice church, and ivy growing on the school buildings.  The old shops opposite the railway station were very interesting with 4 or 5 antique shops within a block.  

Guildford Grammar School Chapel

Santa WA style in Perth City Mall

City Mall Christmas Tree

Our Christmas Day was very quiet being the first one in 37 years spent without family.  Since we had seen the crayfish being caught on the west coast we had decided to have them at Christmas and we had one each for Christmas Eve dinner. It was salad weather so the only cooking required was a lovely white sauce Carol made to go with the crays.  We spoke with our children and grandchildren on Christmas morning, shared their excitement and the great gifts they received, and exchanged our presents.  We had booked Christmas Lunch at Caversham House which is function centre on the banks of the Swan River amongst the vineyards.  It is a very pretty place and popular for weddings.  Our lunch was very enjoyable with the food excellent and the wines all local and nice to drink.  We enjoyed it even though there were a few justified complaints about the inadequate air conditioning.  We left full and happy and headed straight for the bed and a recovery siesta; all that swimming and dieting blown in 24 hours.  

WA Rock Lobster for Xmas Eve dinner

Under the water curtain at Caversham House gardens

Christmas Lunch

The boxing day test which starts at 7am WA time took care of the next day and a drive around the Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail including the Whiteman Reserve and Wurlunga Nat Park was a pleasant day.  Whiteman Reserve is a privately established picnic area that has developed into a nature reserve, wildlife park, and great picnic area with a central vintage themed village.  The village has a good motor museum, tractor museum, heritage transport museum, pool and small water park, and several shops.  It has huge picnic areas and plenty of tables and shade and on busy days has train, tram, and horse drawn carriages to move visitors around.  The National Park is in the hills of the Upper Swan and has a couple of large permanent pools of water and picnic areas.  The best time to visit is during the rainy season and it is very popular for riding the rapids when the river is running.  Back in the vineyards we chose Houghton’s to visit as it is one of the oldest and largest.  We enjoyed lunch in their café and of course a bottle of white.  Their vineyards have some of the longest rows of vines we have seen and the entrance drive of huge white gums and grasstrees is impressive.  Just across the road is another fine establishment, Whistlers Chocolate Factory.  Despite sampling 2 types of lovely chocolate each we were strong and left empty handed.  They have a sitting room for coffee drinkers filled with lovely restored leather winged arm chairs.  While the drive was pleasant, and the many wineries quite attractive; the area does not appear to be as focused on tourists as either the Barossa or the Hunter Valleys.

T Model 2 seater at Whiteman Reserve

Campervan yesteryear style

Al Capone style V8

1970 XW GT

Rail mounted Steam Shovel

Vines at Houghtons Vinyards stretching for more than 1km

Full vines almost riipe

The Perth Hills area is another pretty area for a drive and took most of the day.  The area we covered was around the escarpment to the east of Perth around the villages of Kalamunda and Mundaring.  Both villages are very pretty and have many well preserved buildings.  The area is rich in railway history as the first rail line built in WA was between Perth and York and included a zig-zag line up the escarpment and a tunnel through a granite hill.  We wandered through vineyards and fruit orchards and in some areas the houses were huge and had great views over the whole Perth area.  There is a nice drive through the John Forrest National Park and the Mandaring Weir is worth a visit.  The weir is a concrete wall holding back a very long narrow lake of water that is deep between rocky hills.  The weir was built to provide the water for the pipeline to the Kalgoorlie Goldfields and was built from 1898.  The lake is named after the designer C.Y.O’Connor. O’Connor was the designer of the Dam, The Golden Pipeline to Kalgoorlie, and the only Railway Tunnel nearby.  The Pipeline travels more than 550km east and has more than 8,000km of pipelines leading off the main line to service over 50 towns along the way.  On average 90 megalitres are pumped daily towards Kalgoorlie with the pipeline itself holding more than 300 million litres.  The pipes are original and over 100 years old and the people benefiting from the water must think it was a great project.  During construction the public were much more critically labeling the project “madness”.  Ridicule of C.Y.O’Connor was so intense that when the project was within a few months of completion and when he was certain it was going to work he rode his horse into the sea off Fremantle and shot himself.  It was a very sad end to the life of a motivated visionary.  The railway tunnel is also in excellent condition after more than 100 years even though it is no longer used. 

Mundaring Weir wall

No 1 Pumphouse - steam driven by the looks of the chimney

Pretty parrots joined us for morning tea

The Mundaring Weir Pub built for the construction workers 100 years ago

Railway Tunnel entrance

The stone walls and brick roof are in very good condition for their age.

The Zebra Rock pieces bought in Kununurra seems like ages ago were dug out again today and I am very impressed with my new Christmas present toy, a multi-tool much like a Dremel with dozens of tiny grinding and sanding bits.  It smooths and polishes up the zebra rock much faster than by hand with a sheet of wet and dry.  I am looking forward to finishing more pieces and wished I had my big angle grinder with me to slice up some of the blocks I have.  Ah well – can’t carry everything.