We have had visitors for the week with Brendan, Michelle,
Henry & Charlie over to the west for their first time. Carol had the week planned and we were kept very
busy entertaining two energetic boys. Before
they arrived however, we decided to do a day trip out to Rottnest Island which
is a short 25 minute boat ride from Fremantle as we had heard plenty of reports
about how good the snorkelling and scenery was.
The day started out cold, wet and windy but by the time we reached the Island
it had cleared and we enjoyed a clear warm beautiful day. The island has a convict and military history
but has modern facilities and is surrounded by pretty bays and beautiful
beaches. It is very popular with
families and boaties. The beaches near
Parker Point are beautiful and we snorkelled a small bay which had beautiful
pink coral, heaps of pretty little fish and a lot of large edible large
fish. The name Salmon Bay gave us a
clue. They have installed underwater
information boards that lead the snorkelers around the features of the bay. I saw my first WA Lobster in the wild and was
sorely tempted to bag them as they were a good size but of course I could never
take them from the middle of a Wildlife Sanctuary area. There are no cars on Rottnest Island but
hundreds of pushbikes and we spent the day getting around on them. Carol worked out we clocked up over 15km in
the saddle which introduced a few aches in places we are not used to worrying
about. We needed a bit of exercise after
Xmas and got it but it was a good trip and a very pretty place; especially if
you were there in a boat. In hindsight,
I think the $114 per person for a 25 min boat ride and bicycle hire for about 7
hours is too expensive, but it is done and we enjoyed it.
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Bulk Wheat loading off Kwinana |
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Rottnest Island |
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white sand, clear water, clearing skies... |
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Osprey nest |
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75m high lighthouse trying to protect ships from the reefs around Rottnest |
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Main Beach outside the Rotty Pub |
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One of 54 ships that made landfall a bit earlier than planned along the coast.. |
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Quiet Quokka resting in the shade |
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Another bay, another beach, another lighthouse |
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Rotty's main mode of transport looking way more comfortable than it was!! |
A good night’s sleep would have been smart but our schedule
included staying up till 11pm to meet our visitors off the plane and getting
them settled into a unit opposite our van site.
Next morning we started at Kings Park in Perth which is a very pleasant
area with great views of the city and the Swan River. The hop on, hop off double decker bus leaves from
there and gave us a good tour of the highlights of the city area including a
quick look at the shops, the WACA, the bell tower, convict built cathedrals and
buildings, the Perth Mint, and the Crown Casino complex; which was the Burswood
until Packer bought it recently. We went
on a tour of the Mint and the boys loved seeing a gold bar being poured and
enjoyed the stories of gold discovery and coin manufacture. Carol loved the gold and Argyle Diamond
jewellery display. The small laneway of
British Shops is always interesting and the malls of Perth are pleasant. We
enjoyed dinner on the Fremantle waterfront that night.
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Kings Park views |
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Charlie checking the weight of a nugget at the Mint. No samples unfortunately. |
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Lost in Amazen at Margaret River |
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Inside Mammoth Cave with our MP3s |
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Large caverns |
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Rose archway at Voyager Winery established my Michael Wright |
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Charlie leading the way up |
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burning off lunch |
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Busselton Pier |
We took on a day visit to the Margaret River region and it was
a big day for us all. An early start had
us in Margaret River township at smoko time and the boys were keen to head
straight out to the Maze. We had a great
time there lost in the big hedge maze for a while and solving the stepping
stone and turn left mazes. Brendan and
Michelle stayed in town and drove back to Cowaramup for morning tea. Since we were here last the town of Cowaramup
has added dozens of life size statues of dairy cows and calves through the
town. It looks really good. Once the youngest 2 and us older 2 escaped
from the maze we went on to one of the big limestone caves in the area. The boys loved the tour through Mammoth Cave
with their MP3 to guide and inform them.
This cave is very impressive and really well presented with good
lighting and walkways. The one way track
leads up 150 steps at the exit which took some of the fun out of it given it
was the day after us olds' cycled Rottnest Island. Kirsty had taken us to the cave when we
visited her over here a couple of years ago and it is still a great
attraction. We all met up for lunch at
Saracens Winery and Duckstein Brewery which has good food and also a good area
for the kids to run around. We spent the
evening at Busselton with a swim, a walk along the pier to watch the fishermen,
and fish and chips on the beach. There
were a lot of family activities on the beach and beachfront parks and the boys
had a go at rock climbing on a mobile wall. They were not successful at
reaching the top but enjoyed trying. Next
day we had a slower start and spent the day at Perth Zoo. It is very good with many African, Asian, and
Australian animals on show. There are
plenty of grassed areas for a picnic and the elephant show was very good. Henry and Charlie enjoyed it all and could
not wait to go from one cage to the next.
The giraffes, zebra, elephants, monkeys, snakes and big cats were all exciting
for them. Brendan and Michelle took the
opportunity to check out Perth city in more detail and highly recommend the
Harbourside Discount Outlet and Claremont shopping centres.
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Checking our heights against an elephant |
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The elephant show was great. |
Next day Garry and Brendan enjoyed a game of
golf at Joondalup Country Club. There
are some nice courses around here but this one has to be one of the best courses
we have ever played on. The course is
owned by a syndicate of Asians and consists of three 9 hole courses built
around a series of limestone quarries and along the surrounding hills with great
sea views from some holes. We were
astounded by the number of ground staff and machines but they are doing a great
job and the course is in magnificent condition. Apparently annual memberships are only $14,000 plus joining fee.
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This is a Par 4, where do you land this drive?? |
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The blue tees were tricky, the black tees would have been too hard for me!! |
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the greens were big |
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The 18th and another team of workers. |
Carol and Michelle entertained the boys with a visit to the Fremantle
markets until we took them to Cottesloe Beach for a swim in the afternoon. The sand is so soft and the water was
surprisingly warm. Henry enjoyed diving
through the waves and Charlie had a swim then played in the sand for ages. There is plenty of grassland and shade on the
hills behind the beach which made it very pleasant for all. Dinner was
purchased on the beachfront after the boys had worn themselves out, it was a
beautiful evening. Another late night
farewelling the visitors and we finished the week stocking the larder and
getting ready to head further south.
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