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 11/24/03:
Our flight made record time, less than 4˝ hours from Singapore to Perth.
We passed over the Australian western coast from north to south — Shark
Bay is stunning shallow, blue water. We also saw a tremendous salt flat
from our window. This is an area we hope to visit in the future.
We were ‘delayed’ by Customs officials when dogs sniffed our bags and found
“quarantined” food inside. It seems that Australia has strict restrictions
on plant, wood, and food items. I had — unintentionally — lied on our declaration
card. It asked if we were bringing food into Australia and I answered “no”.
I truly did not consider the prepackaged cookies, cough drops, and beef
jerky to be “food”. The sniffing dogs didn’t agree and I now know better.
They’ve put a warning on my passport, but — fortunately — did not fine us
as was their right! They confiscated our beef jerky, but let us keep the
rest of our “food”.
Our friends Danny, Wendy, & their son Ben had made a special trip just to
welcome us and make sure we had transportation to our hotel. We met Wendy,
Danny, and 14-year old Ben at the Asian Pacific Line Dance Championships
here in Singapore last August. We’ve been keeping in touch ever since.
On the shuttle trip to the hotel we saw beautiful lavender Jacaranda Trees
everywhere. After checking into the Criterion Hotel (Hay Street) in Perth,
we wandered around the area near the hotel. We immediately found the train
station, the Post Office, and shopped at Target. At 6:00 pm Wendy and Danny
picked us up and took us to Midland where Ben gives line dance and hat twirling
lessons to other kids. We stayed a few hours and got in some dancing while
learning a couple of new line dances ourselves. On the way back to the hotel,
Danny & Wendy took us to see the view of Perth from Kings Park
11/25/03: Since we had found the train station yesterday, it was
easy for us to make our way to Fremantle. There are 3 free bus services
in Perth called CAT. These bus lines travel around different parts of the
city, and enable you to move around free and easy. Fremantle also has a
free CAT bus that travels around their little city. It’s great, you get
on and off wherever you want to and there is no cost.
We started in the market
area, and found our way to the Round House, then had fish & chips at the
famous Cicerello’s on the waterfront. We Visited the maritime museum with
many great exhibits. Then we walked through the Notre Dame college area,
saw Christ Church, and visited several aboriginal art stores. We felt that
their products were overpriced — and we were not too crazy about this kind
of stuff. We also saw kangaroo scrotum “purses” for as much as AU$30.
After we had returned to Perth by train, we rode
the CAT Red line around the city. Later that night we discovered that the
railway staff conducted a surprise strike not long after we had returned
to Perth. Whew! Missed that mess.
Rottnest Island — home
of the Quokka
11/26/03: We had signed
up for a day-tour of Rottnest Island
(above) today. Since we were such early risers, we did some more wandering
around the hotel area before our tour shuttle bus arrived. We found a lovely
old church, St. Mary’s Cathedral, in Victoria Square.
 We
boarded a shuttle bus at 9:30 and headed north to Hillary’s Harbor to take
a fast ferry to Rottnest Island 45 minutes away. Rottnest Island got its
name from its first visitors, who mistook the little marsupial creatures
for rats. These adorable animals, properly called Quokkas (left), don’t
seem to take much note of humans and are probably a distant cousin of the
kangaroo. They are very small, but carry their young in a pouch just like
the kangaroo. They are a protected species and seem to live exclusively
on this island. As soon as you reach the small “town” from the ferry, you’re
sure to run into wild peacocks and Quokkas.
Our first stop was a delicious buffet lunch at the Rottnest Lodge. This
was formerly an aboriginal prison, but has now been converted into a hotel.
We did get a chance to view one of the guest rooms and they were lovely.
Only thing about them is the missing air conditioning, but otherwise they
were actually even nicer than our hotel room at the Criterion. The buffet
lunch, which included roast lamb, was excellent.
After lunch we boarded a small bus for our 2-hour island tour. No cars are
allowed on the island except those used for tourism. Very few people actually
even live on the island. This keeps it very natural and beautiful. Of course,
the first stop was to see some more Quokkas and bring them some water. This
stop was also next to the island’s “overseas” airport, and the largest salt
lake on the island. We had a long stop at the lighthouse. The scenery was
lovely. There were boardwalks along the cliffs to protect the natural environment
— especially the Ice Plants where a unique bird builds its nests underneath.
The lighthouse was built in 1896 and became fully automated in 1990.
It was still early in the
year and many of the boat moorings around the island were empty, but I understand
that there are 890 moorings — and a current waitlist at 14˝ years! While
at the lighthouse we saw dolphins playing in the water. We were too late
(in the season) to see the whales. Along the bus trail we saw two Osprey
nests and the bus driver warned us about the poisonous snakes that inhabit
the island.
We had a big laugh when the bus driver explained
how the shrubs were trimmed with a “whipper-snipper”. But, we laughed harder
when we mentioned this to Danny & Wendy and told them that we call them
“weed-whackers”. I thought we’d all fall out of the car! We may share English
as the same language, but we’ve managed to fracture it.
The return ferry trip found us feeling that we would want to return to Rottnest
Island and spend a few nights at the Rottnest Lodge to get more familiar
with this beautiful island. The beaches are of soft, white sand. The water
appears in gorgeous shades of blue, teal, and turquoise.
There was no way we could leave Perth without a peek at the Burswood Casino
at the edge of the city. We got a taxi and off we went for dinner. They
have a great concept in their “food court” area. You get a plastic card
— like a charge card — when you enter, then you can go from restaurant to
restaurant and choose what you like and have the charges put on your card.
Afterward, you just present your card to the cashier at the exit and pay
the total. It turned out that Frank and I had equally delicious turkey and
roast beef dinners that were almost too huge to eat for AU$14.
Most interesting was the fact that this casino was completely smoke free!
Also, none of the slot machines looked familiar. We would need to re-learn
how to play if we ever hoped to “win”. We played with a few dollars, made
our deposit and then headed back to our hotel.
Snaking through the wineries
11/27/03: We checked
out of the hotel as Danny & Wendy picked us up for our new adventures with
them. They took us north to Hillary’s Harbour beach, then drove south down
the coast. We passed through Sorrento Beach, Swansborne, Cottesloe, Leighton,
and Fremantle. We stopped at a farm for fresh fruit and had a nice lunch
at the Millhouse Café in Dwellingup — where Danny fell in love with their
Merlot wine — and which we searched for through the Margaret and Swan River
wine valleys.
11/28/03: A two hour drive to Margaret River Valley gave us a great
opportunity to visit with Danny & Wendy. We stopped along the way at Busselton
Jetty on Geographe Bay. This picturesque jetty is the longest in the southern
hemisphere. Next we stopped in Cowaramup for lunch at the Udderly Devine
Café. After lunch we went to Xanadu Winery where we sampled several wines.
They had a nice Chardonnay priced at AU$14; but we didn’t buy it. Outside,
some gentlemen arrived in a very nice Bentley. We also stopped at Adinfern
Winery, the Margaret River Valley Cheese Factory and the Fonti Family Cheese
factory. Our last wine tasting stop was at the beautiful Churchview Estate
where they planted red and white rose bushes, alternately, at the end of
each row of grape vines. When we arrived home, Wendy tempted us with oven-roasted
lamb chops and peas seasoned with mint grown in her own garden. Another
vegetable we enjoyed was silverbeet (like spinach) that Wendy and Danny
also grow in their garden.
Wrap-up for the eventful week
11/29/03: Today was
a special day. Not only did we visit the local mall in Mandurah — which
featured a Big W (similar to our Walmart). We had an appointment to tour
a bauxite mine where Danny, Jr. works. Bauxite is where aluminum comes from.
Along the way we passed some of Western Australia’s bush country and could
not resist a stop and mini-tour when we saw the beautiful wildflowers. In
glorious bloom were the “bankshears”. These look like brushes on tall leafy
bushes. Danny was able to find some in full bloom and also some that were
going to seed. They are interesting and lovely bushes.
We returned after the tour to the Millhouse to pick up a bottle of their
Merlot, and drove around Mandurah. Then off to a dance-Christmas party at
the Dudley Park Bowling Alley where Frank and I were “volunteered” to give
an East Coast Swing “demo”. We met a lot of really nice people at this dance
party — several of whom broke away from the line dancing to do some couples
dancing with us.
11/30/03: Next we went to the Midland Military Market, then on to
Swan River Valley to visit, and sample
the produce of more local wineries. One of these wineries even produces
vermouth — this is the first time I had ever tasted sweet vermouth and it
was very nice. Our last stop was the Subiaco Market and dinner at the “Sicilian”.
They had great seafood and steak. We certainly did not go hungry in Western
Australia. Before hitting the hay, Wendy took us to some fields where we
finally saw some wild WA kangaroos. Up to this point I was beginning to
think they were just a myth.
12/1/03: Our last day in Mandurah — with Wendy, Danny, & Ben. Danny
cooked a killer breakfast. Then we went down to the Mandurah waterfront
for a last look and some souvenir shopping, followed by a last stop at a
big shopping mall near the airport — and a last meal together, of course.
This was our first trip to Australia — but definitely not our last. Before
we left, Danny and Wendy were listing places we would all visit together
on our next trip to WA — to the North. In the meantime, Wendy, Danny, &
Ben will be coming back to Singapore and we will get to share some of the
treasures of this island with them.
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