Margaret River

We wound our way southwards out of Perth, hugging the coastline for the spectacular views of ocean and coastline. It all has the air of a place that has a bit of money at the moment - with new home developments springing up all down the coast. Bunbury and the dome cafe for lunch, then on to our first stop in Busselton. After being worried about the distances, I probably made this first stop too close. A very nice hotel in Busselton - but the rain is back again by nightfall. Busseltons big feature is the longest timber jetty at close to 2 kilometers. They had to keep making it longer to get to water deep enough for the boats. Wes walked out and back and enjoyed the pieces of art along the way. Another unusual feature is the little row of plaques for people who have had their ashes scattered from the jetty. On to Margaret River. There are wineries everywhere. I have unfortunately booked us into a hotel at the beach rather than in the town. And they are further apart than I realized. After our lovely hotel in Busselton, the Margaret river beach resort seems dowdy and poorly planned. And there has unfortunately been a bushfire through - so it is in the middle of a burnt out landscape. Rather than a wine tour, we have focussed on lighthouses and caves. The lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste was a highlight. It is only a little lighthouse - and the tour takes you right to the top and out onto the walkway around the light. It is a proper working lighthouse as well - so interesting to see how it all works. It is in the middle of a national park. The wildflowers must be spectacular here in the right season. It dislike walking through the natives section of a nursery. No wonder the plants don't do well in the cold, clayey Canberra soil when they are used to sand and the coast. Today we went to mammoth cave and lake cave. Spectacular limestone formations. Mammoth cave was self guided, with a nifty hand held device to provide commentary. The lake cave has a stunning feature where the calcification forms a flat structure from the base of a column. The floor has eroded away from under it - leaving the flat table suspended over the top of the lake. A floating 5 ton structure. We visited the obligatory winery for lunch and decided that it is not real your thing. We would just as soon have a $10 bottle of red. This afternoon the weather closed in again. Howling winds and squalls of rain made us retreat to our little hotel room.

bye bye Cottesloe

Saturday was our day to pick up the car, again from Fremantle. So it was our last walk to the station. The other thing on my list of things to do in Perth was a ferry trip along the swan river, so we headed back to the ferry terminal and ontotheswan river cruise. The weather was kind to us for once and we had blue skies an sunshine for our little river cruise. The river is notable for millionaires mansions and marinas full of luxury cruisers. The record mansion went for 56M. Gins mansion is, surprisingly not the biggest. Finished the day watching the sunset over the Cottesloe beach from the balcony of the surf lifesaving club.

Rottnest

A day at Rottnest meant a bit more structure than we have been used to on holiday - but it had to be done. Down to Fremantle in time for the morning ferry. We picked a day when the weather was fairly calm - as it can be a bit rough on the way out. The traditional thing to do is to hire bikes for the trip around Rottnest - but my inability to ride a bike meant we had to be on the bus tour to see around the island. The cottages, which are the main form of accommodation on the island - are all government owned. Accommodation between Christmas and new year is decided by a ballot. I think this gives the whole place the look of a scout camp. The cottages are all kinds of different styles - but all painted the same yellow. Only people who work on the island and need to be there either before the first ferry or after the last ferry can stay there. There is a little primary school with less than ten pupils. All very idyllic. The island has all kinds pretty bays and interesting birdlife. And, of course, quokkas. I must say that quokkas would be the animals that I would class as the most indifferent to humans of any I have ever seen. They neither beg nor run away. If you go up and pay attention to them, they pay attention back, but that is about all. They hang out near the bakery but can also be spotted under the trees. We enjoyed the bus tour - which seemed to cover the main features and was friendly and informative. We had thought about taking the little train to see the WW2 gun emplacements and tunnels, but instead opted to take a bit of a walk around the island. Somehow we got lost, and then the rain squalls that have been around during our whole stay in the west rolled in and caught us without cover again. Luckily another bus happened by and gave us a lift back to the shops. Or else the radio chatter on the island about the two pathetic tourists sheltering under the eaves of the toilet block summoned them... After that, we retreated to the cover of the Dome cafe (a local chain) for a quiet afternoon tea before the return ferry. We finished the day at little creatures again. Just love the atmosphere there. Very nice.

Sharks and sights

Grant was nit feeling too wel on Thursday - so we ended up having a bit of a down time day. Ventured out for a bit of solo shopping. Unfortunately, I made a call that I didn't need my raincoat based on the blue sky out the window. I got down to the Swan river to take photo and thought, " hmm - looks like it's raining on the other side there." Next time I looked, the rain was considerably closer. I turned back - by the time I had reached the other side of the carpark where I was standing, it was falling on my head and I realized just how far I was from any kind of shelter. I arched the umbrellas of a closed cafe with the rain pelting down and then had to spend some uncomfortable time with my hair dripping over my face and squelching in my shoes. On Friday, we headed for the aquarium. Grant was hoping to go snorkelling with the sharks (I didn't say anything about his sanity). This was first of all an adventure on perths public transport system - which we have found to be excellent. Two trains and a bus later,we arrived at hillary's boat harbour to marvel at the marina full of luxury craft. Some were for sale - you could pick up an "ideal first boat" for a mere 80k. Unfortunately, the spots on the swimming with sharks were all taken for the day (who ARE these crazy people?) so we had to content ourselves with just looking through the glass. The highlights for me were the sea dragons, the touch pool - with an extremely friendly little stingray who came up to be patted like a dog and the sea turtles in rehab (following from seagoing incidents not from any other Nemo style incidents). We did see them hand feeding the huge stingrays and the, surprisingly timid, grey nurse sharks. I have to say, my whole impression of stingrays changed. The diver was standing on the base of the pool practically wrapped in rays as they took the fish from his hands. Tricky being a creature with your eyes on one side and your mouth on the other... I am still nit a fan of sharks though. After the aquarium, we headed back into Perth for a look around - managing not to get drenched this tim. Perth feels, not surprisingly i suppose, like a city that has recently had a bit of money spent on it. There are some nice pedestrian malls and the historic buildings look like they have all been recently steam cleaned. We headed back to the Swan river and saw the bell tower and then back to our lovely hotel to watch the sun set over the ocean from our own little balcony - priceless.

Arriving in Perth

"We'll let one of the other planes try first, then we'll give it a go." These are not the words you want to hear in the pilot's announcements as you approach the airport. Unfortunately we had timed our arrival in perth with the arrival of cyclonic winds. Shortly afterwards, we commenced our descent. In my head I privately reviewed every episode I have ever seen of "air crash investigators". Then the jet engine roared back into life and we started going definitely upwards again - another squall had hit the airport. When we did land - on the second attempt, the passengers applauded.on our way out of the plane, the crew remarked that if that attempt had not been a success, we would have diverted to Kalgoorlie. Was good yo be in Perth and in one piece! The terminal was awash with discouraged humanity as the storm had played havoc with arrivals and departures. At least there were no concerns with traffic as we headed across town to our hotel after the delayed appearance of our luggage. The streets were pretty much deserted. At our hotel - right across the road from the beach at Cottesloe, we were nearly blown off our feet (really - I have never had that happen before). We watched and listened to the surf pounding the beach and hoped the waves didn't make it off the beach and across the road. Fortunately the next morning saw much calmer conditions. Still a bit windy and a few rain squalls - but nothing to be scared about. We found a great place for breakfast - always a great start for the day then headed off to Fremantle for the Maritime Museum. Must say - very impressed with trains in Perth. The ticket system works really well and the trains are regular and Really nice to travel in. Liked Fremantle - pretty buildings and big ships. Enjoyed the maritime museum. I do like a museum - and as usual, spent ages reading everything. The highlight though was the tour through the submarine. Oberon class. I think the main thing I learnt is that to be a submariner, you should be about 19 years old and very slight for getting through hatchways, sleeping in tiny spaces and basically not taking up too much space. Really fascination to see a submarine from the inside and very informative about how it all works. After the maritime museum, we headed to the little creatures micro brewery for lunch. Areally funky place with a great atmosphere. I eve liked the taste of the beer - although I was glad I had ordered the pear cider. Little creatures brewery for lunch. Extremely cool place. Even the beer was nice. Grant really liked the bright ale, but I was glad to stick with cider. Shipwreck museum in the afternoon. The spectacular thing there was the partially reconstructed hull of the Batavia. Also the story of how they identify the wrecks - it's like a detective story. Luckily cottesloe is a good place to stay. We probably could have done better with picking the weather though.