Home again! We’ve had an excellent holiday, but it’s always good to be home.
Today, like most travelling days, was most waiting – at the hotel for the skybus, at the airport for the plane – no problems and home on time.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Perth to Melbourne
Now we’re in Melbourne, on our way home. We left Perth this morning after returning our hire car – this one in excellent condition unlike its predecessor – and everything being in order with the flight. We even arrived in Melbourne a few minutes early. I still think that the only good thing about flying is that it's quick. Otherwise, it's the pits.
We caught the sky bus into the city, the fare includes a shuttle from Southern Cross Station to our hotel, which was really good. We’ve booked the return trip for tomorrow, and reckon that it costs about half as much as taking a taxi both ways.
Going by Perth time, it’s now 7:17, but it really feels like 10:17, so off to bed.
We caught the sky bus into the city, the fare includes a shuttle from Southern Cross Station to our hotel, which was really good. We’ve booked the return trip for tomorrow, and reckon that it costs about half as much as taking a taxi both ways.
Going by Perth time, it’s now 7:17, but it really feels like 10:17, so off to bed.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Fremantle
Today’s our last full day here in WA. The bags are nearly packed, ready to go to the airport in the morning, and we’ve enjoyed the last of our sightseeing here.
We caught the bus into Fremantle again. That makes 2 return trips. So far the fares have been $2.40, $1.20, $1.70 and $1.20. The $1.20 fares were home in the afternoon, and I just haven’t worked out why there is such a variation. The bus service is really good, and the free service around the cities is a great idea.
Anyway, having got to Fremantle we walked around to the Maritime Museum, wanting to have a look there and at the submarine HMAS Ovens, sister ship of the Otway at Holbrook. But guess what? It’s closed on Wednesdays. There’s a cruise ship in harbour, the Dawn Princess, and it’s still closed. We must have seen about 30 people around there and all went away shaking their heads. We walked around the waterfront for an hour or so, had lunch at a seafood place, walked around the shopping centre and then caught the bus back to start packing.
Not much else to say tonight. We’ve had a great time here in WA and now we’re looking forward to being home again.
We caught the bus into Fremantle again. That makes 2 return trips. So far the fares have been $2.40, $1.20, $1.70 and $1.20. The $1.20 fares were home in the afternoon, and I just haven’t worked out why there is such a variation. The bus service is really good, and the free service around the cities is a great idea.
Anyway, having got to Fremantle we walked around to the Maritime Museum, wanting to have a look there and at the submarine HMAS Ovens, sister ship of the Otway at Holbrook. But guess what? It’s closed on Wednesdays. There’s a cruise ship in harbour, the Dawn Princess, and it’s still closed. We must have seen about 30 people around there and all went away shaking their heads. We walked around the waterfront for an hour or so, had lunch at a seafood place, walked around the shopping centre and then caught the bus back to start packing.
Not much else to say tonight. We’ve had a great time here in WA and now we’re looking forward to being home again.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Swan Valley
This morning Gordon picked us up to go for a drive to the Swan Valley. Geraldine wasn’t well and didn’t come with us, unfortunately, so the three of us went for lunch. On the way we drove along part of the Graham Farmer Highway, which includes a tunnel under the city. Graham Farmer was a football player whose nickname was Polly. The tunnel is called, of course, the Polly Pipe!
The Swan Valley is a great wine-growing area, many vineyards with cellar door outlets and restaurants. We had lunch at the Black Swan, very good lunch but definitely on the expensive side (as a lot of things are over here). The wine was good, though. On the way back we called in to the Margaret River chocolate factory, which has an outlet here. Very good chocolate, lots of different sorts, and it would be very easy to spend a lot of time and money in there. We escaped with a couple of chocolates and an ice cream, so did pretty well.
Gordon brought us back to the caravan park via the airport and showed us where to find the hire car return place, and also the way to the airport in reverse from here.
It was quite hot today, about 35 I think, and yesterday was also pretty hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be about 25 so that will be good. Les and I are very pleased that we missed the heat wave at home, it’s been middle 20s here most of the time with just the couple of hot days.
The Swan Valley is a great wine-growing area, many vineyards with cellar door outlets and restaurants. We had lunch at the Black Swan, very good lunch but definitely on the expensive side (as a lot of things are over here). The wine was good, though. On the way back we called in to the Margaret River chocolate factory, which has an outlet here. Very good chocolate, lots of different sorts, and it would be very easy to spend a lot of time and money in there. We escaped with a couple of chocolates and an ice cream, so did pretty well.
Gordon brought us back to the caravan park via the airport and showed us where to find the hire car return place, and also the way to the airport in reverse from here.
It was quite hot today, about 35 I think, and yesterday was also pretty hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be about 25 so that will be good. Les and I are very pleased that we missed the heat wave at home, it’s been middle 20s here most of the time with just the couple of hot days.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fremantle
I forgot to blog last night, mainly because not a lot happened yesterday. We left Bunbury and travelled to Fremantle where we are staying in a chalet at the Fremantle Village caravan park. It’s definitely better than the motels the last few nights, but not as good as the park in Busselton.
So today we had a quiet morning, went shopping for something for lunch and dinner, then caught a bus into Fremantle for a bit of a look around. They have free buses that run around the city centres in Perth and Fremantle, they’re a great way to have a look around the place. We hopped on a bus at the railway station and went most of the way around the route before getting out at the waterfront where we went for a visit to the Shipwreck Galleries of the WA Museum.
They have a fabulous exhibition of wrecks along the WA coast, and tell the stories of the Dutch explorers who explored the coast in the 17th century. They had a collection of documents and the original plate left by Dirk Hartog, one of the very early explorers. They also have a part of the Batavia hull, along with a lot of artefacts found on the wreck. It’s a very interesting place and we spent a couple of hours looking around, we could have spent even longer, but time was getting on.
We then went for a walk along the waterfront, a coffee at Dome, which is a chain of restaurants all over the place here, more walking along the waterfront then went back into the city and made our way to the railway station to catch the bus home.
Tomorrow we’re going to the Swan Valley with Geraldine and Gordon, which should be most enjoyable.
Les had a call this afternoon to let us know that the Stable has gone into receivership. Ordinarily this would be interesting but not concern us particularly, BUT my bike is there! It had to go in to get a new regulator after it broke down, and wasn’t fixed before we left so we organised to leave it there and pick it up when we get home. I’m going to try ringing there tomorrow and see if anyone answers the phone. Fingers crossed!
So today we had a quiet morning, went shopping for something for lunch and dinner, then caught a bus into Fremantle for a bit of a look around. They have free buses that run around the city centres in Perth and Fremantle, they’re a great way to have a look around the place. We hopped on a bus at the railway station and went most of the way around the route before getting out at the waterfront where we went for a visit to the Shipwreck Galleries of the WA Museum.
They have a fabulous exhibition of wrecks along the WA coast, and tell the stories of the Dutch explorers who explored the coast in the 17th century. They had a collection of documents and the original plate left by Dirk Hartog, one of the very early explorers. They also have a part of the Batavia hull, along with a lot of artefacts found on the wreck. It’s a very interesting place and we spent a couple of hours looking around, we could have spent even longer, but time was getting on.
We then went for a walk along the waterfront, a coffee at Dome, which is a chain of restaurants all over the place here, more walking along the waterfront then went back into the city and made our way to the railway station to catch the bus home.
Tomorrow we’re going to the Swan Valley with Geraldine and Gordon, which should be most enjoyable.
Les had a call this afternoon to let us know that the Stable has gone into receivership. Ordinarily this would be interesting but not concern us particularly, BUT my bike is there! It had to go in to get a new regulator after it broke down, and wasn’t fixed before we left so we organised to leave it there and pick it up when we get home. I’m going to try ringing there tomorrow and see if anyone answers the phone. Fingers crossed!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Bunbury
We started off with another visit to the Dolphin Centre, and timed it well this time, as one of the dolphins decided to visit at the same time we did. It was pretty quiet, really, just swam up to the people in the water, said hullo for a while, took a couple of fish from one of the volunteers, and swam away again. They only feed each dolphin two fish, which is about 8% of their daily intake, so they don’t become dependent on feeding by people but remain wild animals. There is a pod of about 200 around Koombana Bay, and about 20 live more or less permanently in the bay.
When we came out from the dolphins, there was an old motorbike in the car park so of course we wandered over to say hullo. There is a group of vintage bikes here and they were gathering for a ride out for lunch. We talked to this chap for a while, and went back a bit later when more of the group had arrived.
There is a boardwalk through a mangrove swamp, so we went for a walk there. It’s interesting, and also has some information about shipwrecks in the bay. It was used a lot by American whalers in the 19th century and quite a few were wrecked in storms.
Lunch was fish and chips in a place on the foreshore of Koombana Bay, where we shared a table with a couple from Gladstone, Qld. They are living here for a couple of years, have just arrived and are looking for somewhere to live. The company he works for are putting them up in a motel while they look, which wouldn’t be much fun, and they’re finding it difficult to find a place. They had just been to inspect one furnished apartment, which looked very good, which it should be for $580 a week, I thought. I’m glad we’re not looking for somewhere to live here! We have found a lot of things to be more expensive than at home and obviously the housing is too.
We walked along the waterfront after lunch, there is a series of plaques telling the story of the bay over the first hundred years or so of European settlement, quite interesting and very well done.
We tried again for the sunset photo today, but again the clouds were there. Fingers crossed for Fremantle!
After the photo attempt we had dinner at a restaurant on the beach, very good meal and a beautiful spot for it.
When we came out from the dolphins, there was an old motorbike in the car park so of course we wandered over to say hullo. There is a group of vintage bikes here and they were gathering for a ride out for lunch. We talked to this chap for a while, and went back a bit later when more of the group had arrived.
There is a boardwalk through a mangrove swamp, so we went for a walk there. It’s interesting, and also has some information about shipwrecks in the bay. It was used a lot by American whalers in the 19th century and quite a few were wrecked in storms.
Lunch was fish and chips in a place on the foreshore of Koombana Bay, where we shared a table with a couple from Gladstone, Qld. They are living here for a couple of years, have just arrived and are looking for somewhere to live. The company he works for are putting them up in a motel while they look, which wouldn’t be much fun, and they’re finding it difficult to find a place. They had just been to inspect one furnished apartment, which looked very good, which it should be for $580 a week, I thought. I’m glad we’re not looking for somewhere to live here! We have found a lot of things to be more expensive than at home and obviously the housing is too.
We walked along the waterfront after lunch, there is a series of plaques telling the story of the bay over the first hundred years or so of European settlement, quite interesting and very well done.
We tried again for the sunset photo today, but again the clouds were there. Fingers crossed for Fremantle!
After the photo attempt we had dinner at a restaurant on the beach, very good meal and a beautiful spot for it.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Collie to Bunbury
We left Collie this morning and reached Bunbury about 9:30 – and it’s a good thing we weren’t much later as it might have been even harder to find somewhere to stay. We went to the good old tourist information centre and they found us a room at the Welcome Inn, with limited kitchen facilities. Very limited – the microwave isn’t plugged in and is on the top shelf of a small cupboard on the bench top, there’s an electric frypan, a toaster and a jug. It’s an interesting arrangement!
There’s a dolphin discovery centre here so we went in for a look. It’s very good, but there weren’t any dolphins visiting while we were there, so we’ll try again tomorrow. The entry ticket is good for the month, so you can go as many times as you like. They say that the best time for dolphins is in the morning, so we’ll call in again tomorrow.
We’ve had a good drive around Bunbury, found the Tuart Walk on the southern edge and had a walk there late this afternoon. We had lunch at the Mash Brewery, they make their own beer and it’s a good drop.
We took our fish and chips for tea to the beach, hoping for a spectacular sunset on the ocean, and it looked OK for a while. Then a cloud bank moved in and the sun went behind it before setting, so we’ll try that again tomorrow too.
There’s a dolphin discovery centre here so we went in for a look. It’s very good, but there weren’t any dolphins visiting while we were there, so we’ll try again tomorrow. The entry ticket is good for the month, so you can go as many times as you like. They say that the best time for dolphins is in the morning, so we’ll call in again tomorrow.
We’ve had a good drive around Bunbury, found the Tuart Walk on the southern edge and had a walk there late this afternoon. We had lunch at the Mash Brewery, they make their own beer and it’s a good drop.
We took our fish and chips for tea to the beach, hoping for a spectacular sunset on the ocean, and it looked OK for a while. Then a cloud bank moved in and the sun went behind it before setting, so we’ll try that again tomorrow too.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)