Fremantle

Hillarys Boat Harbour

Families enjoying themselves at Hillarys Boat Harbour beach

Shops and restaurants at Hillarys

Charlie with a tray of mangoes from the Fremantle Market

Coffee and a chat at the markets

The lovely old market building in Fremantle

Fremantle fishing boat harbour

Charlie's  best catch yet

Fremantle Prison

What a soul-less place - gave me the shudders

Cell blocks

The execution chamber

The Roundhouse - before the prison was built

Perth city as seen from a cruise on the Swan River

Some of the exclusive waterfront properties on Swan River

The best caravan park yet - parked on friend's 10 acre property in the Perth Hills

We stayed at a lovely caravan park right on the beach at Coogee which is just 7 km from the wonderful old city of Fremantle which is the oldest city in WA.  It has some beautiful old buildings and once again the marvellous CAT bus system which enabled us to leave the car and jump on the bus and all for free!!

We visited Hillarys Boat Harbour which is actually a bit of a drive from where we were staying (about 60 ks) but it was a lovely spot and is very popular with families as there is a safe swimming beach, waterslides and fun park for the children.  Of course it was very busy being school holidays but the atmosphere was great and there are lots of shops and cafes all around the waterfront so we were happy and yes you guessed it another yummy lunch and glass of wine or beer and we were happy.

We visited the famous Fremantle markets which were good but much the same as any other market although the food and fruit and vegies were lovely and it was so nice to be able to buy nice fresh stuff once again - sometimes some of the fruit and vegies we were buying up north in the supermarkets looked a bit sad!!    Being mango season we bought a couple of trays and are now "mangoed" out" if that's possible.

We went to the Shipwrecked maritime museum and spent a good couple of hours looking around and then went down to the fishing boat harbour which was vibrating as it was a Sunday so there were lots of people, music and a mexican festival.  We had some yummy fish and chips from Kailis and sat on the wharf watching the fishing boats, listening to the music and generally relaxing.

We also visited the Fremantle Prison which was very interesting - we did two tours - "Doing Time" and "The Great Escapes".  The guide we had was very informative and made it quite fun.  Such a soul-less place though - just the sound of the doors clanking and the keys turning would be anough to reform me in a flash.  They also offer night tunnel tours where you kyak through the underground tunnels of the Prison but we weren't up for that!!

We had some lovely cups of coffee along Cappucinno Strip which is a vibrant strip of cafes and shops - good coffee in Perth.  We also did a Swan River lunch cruise with Bev and Lee some friends we met on the road and had a great 3 hours cruising from Fremantle to Perth and return with a yummy lunch and yes you've guessed it an inclusive bottle of wine.  We saw some lovely exclusive properties - where does the money come from?

Charlie had been trying to contact some friends of his who used to live in Adelaide but now lived in Perth and whom he hadn't seen for 34 years - he didn't know where they lived but after a search in the phone book we found someone with the same name and initials and left a message on the answering machine.  We didn't hear anything so thought it must be the wrong people and then the day before we were due to leave Fremantle we had a phone call from them and they came down to see us and we had a lovely day - it was the first time I had met them.  They invited us to stay on their 10 acre property in the Perth Hills if we wanted to rather than move on, so that's where we are now and busy catching up on news over the last 34 years.  We are off tomorrow to their holiday home to the resort town of Busseltown about 220 ks from Perth and will stay about a week and then back here.  We will probably stay here for at least another couple of weeks before we move on again.

So its Adieu from The Wandering 2s.

Perth and surrounds (and Christmas in between)

A lovely boutique winery in the Swan Valley

Getting the music set up for a lazy Sunday winery lunch

Charlie outside the Feral Pig Brewing Company - Mmmmmm

London Court shopping arcade Perth city

Portcullis and all!!

Mock Tudor building in London Court

Christmas decorations and busy, busy, busy

Perth's bell tower housing the Swan Bells

Me having a go ringing one of the bells - look at the muscles (or flab) on those arms!!!

Charlie in the simulator helicopter at the Sci-Tech museum

New Norcia - Benedictine Monastery Town - the only one in Australia

The Priory - off limits to tourists, where the Monks live and pray

Another beautiful building at New Norcia

Altar and part of the beautifully painted dome ceiling

The hotel at New Norcia - originally built as accommodation for Queen Isabella of Spain

Charlie enjoying an Abbey Ale - 6.9%!!

Me in Kings Park with the Swan River in the background

Air walk in Kings Park

One of the beautiful trees in Kings Park

The sisterhood fountain in Kings Park

Memorial Kings Park

Charlie enjoying a beer at The Lucky Shag waterfront bar

Mmmmm Noah in the "naughty corner"

Little Miss Cool

Goodies for Santa and Rudolph - Noah wanted some as well

Brrrm, brmm - lucky boy

Lexi is happy!!!

Well its been a long time between blogs - so much has happened and its going to be hard trying to remember it all but I will give it a good go. 

We arrived in the beautiful Swan Valley and stayed in a lovely caravan park amongst the vineyards and had lots of lovely days exploring the area and visiting the wineries, Margaret River chocolate factory where we had lots and lots of samples and cheese and coffee factories.  After all that we still found that we had room for a lovely lunch in one of the boutique wineries and wined and dined the afternoon away whilst listening to some live music.  What a wonderful life!!

We had a good look around Perth city and found it so easy to get around as the public transport system is so easy and being Seniors we had cheap/free travel.  There are free buses which go all around the city called CAT buses and we made good use of them, jumping off and on to see the major sites.  We went to the Bell Tower which holds the Swan Bells. The towering glass spire seems to dominate the vibrant Barrack Square where Perth meets the Swan River.  A bit of history for you - The Bell Tower includes the twelve bells of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (one of Englands most famous churches in London) which are recorded as being in existence from before the 14th century.  They are one of the few sets of royal bells and are the only ones known to have left England so it was good to see them and also to have a go at ringing them!!

We also had a good look at the London Court shopping arcade which is modelled on old England Tudor buildings.  Its a bit of a step back in time and is quite quaint.  It has lovely souvenir shops but they are all a bit pricey but its a nice place to sit and have coffee and lunch and people watch.

We also paid a visit to the Benedictine monastery town of New Norcia which is the only one in Australia.  We had a guided tour of the town which is totally owned by the Benedictine monks and self funded.  We found it very interesting but unfortunately didn't meet one of the monks that day - they must all have been praying or maybe they are just not a tourist attraction!!  We made sure we went into the hotel which was originally built as accommodation for Queen Isabella of Spain in the 1800's when she was due to visit as patron of the town but in the end due to ill health she didn't make it.  It was licenced in the 1950's - we had a lovely lunch there and tasted the Abbey Ale which is made by the monks and also their wine.  We also bought some lovely New Norcia bread which was yummy.

We paid a visit to the beautiful Kings Park which is 400.6 hectares and located adjacent to the Swan River and only about 1.5 km from Perth.  Nearly two thirds is bushland and there are lovely recreational areas, cultivated gardens, birds galore (feathered and human kind).  We had a lovely day there just wandering around, doing the interpretive walk, walking along the tree top walk and finally collapsing exhausted in the lovely restaurant for another beautiful lunch and glass of wine.

Christmas was then fast approaching and we had made arrangements to store the car and caravan at a caravan park in Perth suburbs and flew to Adelaide to spend time with 2 of our lovely grandchildren and their mum and dad.  We had a lovely time there and got caught up with the excitement of Christmas as seen through the eyes of small children.  Unfortunately all of us were sick at varying times over the Christmas period so it was a bit subdued but at least we all spent it together.  We also skyped the grandchildren in England and we saw our gorgeous new grandson Sam for the first time - he was just 11 days old.

After 12 days in Adelaide we flew back to Perth, picked up the car and caravan and tootled off down to Coogee Beach near Fremantle to spend some time at the beach so Charlie could get back to what he loves doing most - fishing, but will leave that for a separate blog so for now its

Adieu from The Wandering 2s.