Perth, WA

While I recall, our trip to Oz went something like this:

On Saturday, we flew to Perth, took a short mini-bus journey and arrived at our (Comfort!) hotel 1:30am

On Sunday, we were up for brekky by 9 and then strolled around Perth and its shops. [For hours!]. Though must say that King’s Park – which overlooks the Swan River and Perth – is a great spot for a picnic, beer and the Sunday papers. Back to our hotel to collect our bags and then took the free tram to the train station to catch the train to Fremantle (30 min ride). After dropping our bags off at our B+B, we strolled around the seaside town and was glad to have packed a fleece and a baseball cap, as it got a bit chilly at night! Ate at a posh Indian.

On Monday, we took the ferry over to Rottnest Island – where we cycled around, stopped off at some beaches, Sarah took some pix, had some wine and pasty for lunch, Sarah took some more pix and saw some cute quokkas (2 foot long marsupials – that are half-responsible for the island’s name as some Dutch explorer thought that they were rats – well he was two miles off shore at the time!).
We aught the ferry back and met up with Gary and Fiona (two Melbournites that live in Singapore) – for a drive down to Rockingham (about an hour or so drive away).

Rockingham is a proper seaside town – with small pier, promenade, etc – and I think it’s where the oldies go to retire as the whole place was deserted and practically closed up by 9pm! We managed to squeeze into an Italian – run by a guy from Jersey – and while the gals ordered, Gary and I snuck in a couple of Aussie ales in a Pub/TAB - where you can drink and place a bet at the same time.

Tuesday – up at 7 to go swimming with dolphins! Basically you get on a small boat, sail out to the middle of the bay / Indian Ocean, slip on a wet suit (ok ‘slip’ may not be the best term to use when trying to squeeze into a wet suit but it will do for now) and when our guides saw a pod of dolphins, they’d tell us all to ‘Go,Go,Go’. And then we’d all scramble into the water (which was f…f…f….f….. freezing by the way) with our snorkel and goggle and hang onto the belt of the person in front of you, while at the head of each crocodile of would-be snorkels and dolphin-spotters, was a trained guide with a handy device that would propel us along in the water.

The dolphins – which were all wild – would then appear beside you, underneath you, behind you – and almost at touching distance. It was liking watching some Attenborough sea-life program – though with the odd jet of frozen water squirming down your back to make you realise that you weren’t watching the dolphins through a state-of-the-art flat-screen TV. That and the fact that you occasionally swallowed some sea water.

On the ride back to shore – with some hot drinks inside us –the dolphins zipped in and out of the water, showing off as they tried to race us back.

Absolutely awesome experience. Especially as our guides did not feed the dolphins – and that it was simply up to the dolphins if they wanted to play.

That afternoon, we drove off to Dunsborough, which is in the heart of the Margaret River wine region. We booked a seaside cottage through the very helpful Tourist Office, grabbed some provisions and headed off to our home for the next four nights.

The place was very nice – just two minutes from the sea – and was equipped with everything you need – barbie, cooker, microwave, two bathrooms, TV, sofas, open fire…Gary was on fire-duty every evening, while I volunteered for the cooking role.

The next day we drove out to around a dozen local vineyards – will have to ask Sarah for a list of their names as they all kind of blended into one after a while. Especially after all the wine-tasting we did along the way. [Though, must admit, I prefer the term ‘wine-drinking’ to ‘wine-tasting’ as the latter implies swirling the stuff around in your glass and mouth, and then usually spitting it out!]

On, Thursday we gave Gary a day off from driving and went on a BushTucker Tour of some different vineyard. Basically we climbed aboard a mini-bus, got off at loads of vineyards, a cheese producer, a chocolate maker… Anyway, needless to say we drank loads, brought loads and had a good day.

On the way home, Sarah had still to see any kangaroos – apart from the one that was served up for lunch – so our driver, Stevo, went out of his way to find some. And I showed by bush tucker skills by whistling to get a ‘roo (just one of many ‘technical’ terms I collected along the trip) to stand up and look towards us so that Sarah could take a snap of him

Friday was supposed to be golf for the boys and whale-watching for the gal but the stormy weather soon put paid to our plans. So the boys hit the pub, while the girls went shopping.

Saturday was an early start as we drove back to Perth. Gary and Fiona stayed on another night, whilst we flew back home. [And, I must say, Qantas looked after us on the way back as they must have given me alone like 6 quarter bottles of wine!]

Overall, a nice, relaxing trip and we have loads of pix (which I'll stick up shortly), vino and other nice gourmet bits and bobs to remind us.