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 11/24/03:
Our flight made record time, less than 4½ 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 14½ 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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