Back to Melbourne

At last my body clock has aligned its self to Western Australia time just as we’re about to fly back to Melbourne which is a further 3 hours in front of us! So, it’s an early morning start for all of us, with John and Jen kindly driving us to the airport through the rush hour traffic. I have a big lump in my throat saying goodbye to our lovely hosts, the time here has been a wonderful start to our Aussie adventure.

The flight back to Melbourne is very much wind assisted and only takes 3 hours, our transit through the airport is equally rapid and soon we’re in an “Uber” speeding towards “The Icon” our next stop on this adventure. Emmanuel, our driver really knows his way round Melbourne, avoiding the regular commuter routes and the area of Federation Square where the Formula 1 opening ceremony is taking place. The route through the older areas of Melbourne is fascinating with lots of small older houses dripping with verandas, ironwork, wooden sash style windows and old sprawling trees. 

The Icon

The Icon is in contrast a very modern, colourful building but entry seems to be a bit of a challenge as we must wait for our Chinese host to arrive with the electronic key. In a mix of sign language and broken English all the necessary instructions are finally clear, and we are left to explore our small but perfectly formed apartment. It has wonderful views over Albert Park, St Kilda and the sea in the distance. I can also say that the sunset view from here is wonderful.

Tonight, we don’t have the benefit of Jen’s wonderful cooking so after a short walk we find our nearest restaurant, Mahjong. It’s a modern Chinese and we enjoy a superb meal of special fried rice, chinese greens and kung foo chicken is much appreciated before we stroll back to enjoy the night view of the city from the balcony.

Kings Park

Today will be a real treat for me, we’re going to Kings Park which is the largest park within a city in the world and at over 400 hectares is vast. Even more exciting, John is going to take us in his orange 4 x 4 jeep. The drive is only 30minutes through lots of lovely areas of Perth and soon we’re at Kings Park. First stop, a café overlooking the view of Perth which is magnificent. Suitably invigorated John and Jen take us on a walk around a small section of the park, we start walking past the war memorial and then along the top of the bluff looking out to the city of Perth, the Swann and Canning rivers. The park is beautifully maintained and organised into planting for the different areas of Australia, all labelled. We can see the old Swan brewery which is now converted into apartments and the traffic moving in and out of the city across the bridges. We watch the magpies, wattle birds and willie wagtails flitting in and out of the bushes and trees. I am fascinated by all the small flowers, they might not be big and showy, but they are so exquisitely detailed. There’s lots of benches at view points and cool covered areas to stop and enjoy the views and plants. John and Jen are full of information about the native Aussie plants all of which I’m eagerly absorbing.

For lunch we go to Zamia, a café on the other side of the park. We are so fortunate to get a table outside in the shade as the café is very busy. The beef focaccias are so huge you need a friend to share with, and the cakes…oh boy what a selection…which one to choose and I can report the raspberry, apple and rhubarb tart is amazing. The drive back takes us past Thea and Scott’s house and a small wetland reserve where we watch the coots, brown ducks and Corelli’s, the later seem to be having domestic squabbles as lots of wheezy sounding grumblings are heard above us.

There’s just time for Dave and John to go down to Brighton beach to enjoy a swim in the sea Thea, Scott, Ruby and Millie arrive for a family meal. Once again, it’s great to meet some more of our Aussie family and be made to feel so welcome. Even their Red Kelpie dog, Jake, is eager to make us feel part of the family sitting firmly on Dave’s foot so he can scratch his head and then offering to share his ball with us. The time here in Perth has passed too quickly, we’ve barely scratched the surface sight seeing in the area and meeting people, hopefully there will be another visit in the future.

Perth

We’re off to explore Perth city centre and the tour starts with a bus ride into Perth which we pick up from the end of the street. The great thing about buses is that we’re high up and I’m able to look into all the houses and gardens along the way. Perth bus station is very modern and surprisingly underground. The city centre starts right by the bus station and dips down to the river, it’s open and spacious with some lovely tree lined malls. The shops give way to tall skyscrapers and then the open spaces of Elizabeth Quay.

A boat trip is always popular with us and an hour trip up and down the Swan River estuary ticks all the boxes. There’s only 6 of us for this tour and after applying factor 50 sunscreen, donning a white wide brimmed bush hat complete with chin strap and taking a bottle of water, the boat sets off. The speed it sets off at takes Jen and I by surprise, there’s a good chance Jen might not only loose her hat but also reveal more leg than she intended! The tour guide and driver, Dave, is very informative and amusing, we see the river dolphins and ospreys and learn about the aboriginal history of Heirisson Island and the escaping kangaroos. He points out the Old Swan Brewery, the expensive real estate lining the bay and the Matilda Bay Boathouse which even has its own Facebook site in Asia probably for the tourists to check themselves out! A lunch of fish, calamari and chips sat by the quay is a lovely treat. And a free bus ride around the rest of the city finishes the day nicely showing us the new museum development and more old buildings ripe for re-development.

Elizabeth Quay

As a small thank-you to our generous hosts we’re going out for dinner tonight and after a fair amount of research we find a restaurant that’s open on a Monday. The walk to Al Fornetto is a nice 15 minutes stroll and surprisingly the restaurant is quite full, fortunately they have a table for 4 available. Our order of pizza’s soon arrive and I can recommend them all, they’re so large a doggy bag is required.

Freeo

Now this is more like the Perth weather we expected, blue skies and sun, after breakfast John and Jen are taking us to Freemantle to explore the old centre. The drive takes us along the coast past lots of beautiful beach front houses and apartments, everyone seems to be out today, walking dogs, cycling and going to the beach. The road goes past the modern container port and out on the skyline we can see the container ships queuing up to enter the port and unload or load up. A cruise ship and Australian aircraft carrier are also docked at the quayside.

Our exploration starts at the Round House, this was built in the 1830’s and was Western Australia’s first jail, it is beautifully preserved and situated on a bluff overlooking the bay. They apparently fire the small cannon at 1 o’clock every day but we’re too early to witness this ceremony. Our exploration takes us past the Esplanade Park and the Esplanade Hotel with the Harbour Master bar on the ground floor. It’s a lovely old original building beautifully restored and updated. There’s a covered walkway, an old veranda above and a huge open area inside. After a coffee we continue to Freemantle market which is full of people all jostling to look at the craft and food stalls. It’s so busy today it’s hard to stop and look at things and there is so much to tempt me! Dave strangely seems anxious to reach the food stalls and after several circuits of the stalls we settle on a Turkish wrap which is freshly made and cooked in front of us. This together with a large container of fresh fruit will be a very nice lunch. It’s far too hot to eat inside but outside there’s a high table in the shade and next to us is a young man playing a saxophone, just so relaxing. Outside of the market there’s lots of live entertainment with the programme of acts chalked on the pavement. The current act is doing tricks with a diablo and juggling, he’s very amusing. The walk back takes us down the very busy High Street past lots of beautifully restored old buildings. We finish our day at the Western Australia Shipwreck Museum which has lots of artefacts from shipwrecks that have been discovered around the coast including the hull of a ship.

This evening John and Jen are arranging a family BBQ with Cameron and Briellen, it’s great to meet them both and realise that some one else have a son who is as obsessive about Arsenal as Dave and our boys. The evening is filled with good food, chat and drinks watching the wonderful sunset develop, deepen in colour and eventually fade into night.

Beach Walking and Surf School

The day dawns with the soft pitter patter of rain outside the window, not what we expected in Perth! After a relaxing breakfast outside on the deck, we all decide it might be raining but it’s certainly not cold so we should continue with our plans for the day. John and Jen have planned a walk for us this morning round the local area. The streets become increasingly affluent and tree lined, the nearer we get to the beach. The gardens are lush and beautifully manicured with lots of frangipani, hibiscus, bougainvillea, canas, and geraniums. At the local bakery we buy the biggest blueberry muffins and croissants I have ever seen, all warm and fragrant from the oven, consequently, the walk along the beach front at Scarborough may be in the warm drizzle but thoughts of a coffee with the muffin speeds us along and soon we’re seated at the covered open-air amphitheatre enjoying our treat. 

Surf competition Scarborough beach

The beach in front of us has a lifeguard surf school competition going on which Dave and I have never seen before. We’re fascinated to watch the various races in canoes, on paddle boards, swimming and running but the most impressive is the 4 man rescue boat which is launched from the beach into the surf. There’s a co-ordinated pushout, 1, 2, 3 and jump onboard then row with the 5^th man leaping onboard at the last minute to steer the boat with the rudder. The boat then fly’s out to sea climbing up the waves before crashing down the other side.

Scarborough Beach from the lookout

In the afternoon, John drives us to Peppermint Grove, what a lovely name I have visions of tall trees with Peppermint sweets hanging from their branches! We walk up the steep hill towards Mosman and are rewarded at the top with a glorious view over the Swan River and estuary. Even the low cloud and drizzle looks good with this back drop. In the bay and harbour are lots of boats and one seems to be the venue for a party. Lots of chattering, the occasional few bars of music make themselves heard over the voices and splashing as young men jump off the back of the boat to enjoy a swim or maybe they’ve been thrown in by their friends.

The Swan River from Mosman

The Swan River from Mosman

The evening is spent in John and Jen’s company enjoying a drink watching the sun go down over Scarborough, eventually dipping into the sea behind the tall Norfolk pine and seafront building. Then it’s downstairs to the deck to enjoy another lovely home cooked meal and lots of reminiscing.

More Flying!!!

Surprisingly, after the long flight and travelling forward 11 hours we manage to sleep well, and wake refreshed for the day. A short stroll before breakfast around the hotel area makes us realise there really isn’t much to see here except planes landing or taking off. So on to breakfast and a lazy morning waiting until it’s time to go to the airport.

Check in for our flight is completely automatic, done at a small booth which finds our flights asks us a series of questions before printing our luggage labels and boarding passes. After the bag drop, we breeze through security and find we’re now at the gate and have 2 hours to wait. The whole process has been so quick and the only human being we’ve spoken to has been the security guard telling us to put our laptops in the tray.

The flight to Perth is a mere 4 hours, nothing after yesterdays 23 hours of travelling and it soon passes with both of us squashed separately into middle seats between large men, not the most comfortable of flights. It’s all made worth while when we get of as we can see John and Jen waving enthusiastically to us as we exit the airport. As always, they make us feel so welcome and comfortable in their lovely new Perth home. It’s good to spend the evening catching up on family news and accounts of their move from Canberra to Perth.

Flights!

Kuala Lumpur Airport

Well we’re here in Melbourne after 23 hours of travelling and to be quite honest we’re not sure which way is up or what language everyone is speaking!!! The flights were good especially the first one to Kuala Lumpur with plenty of space in extra leg room and a new plane. The change at Kuala Lumpur was only a short walk to another gate, very easy and stress free not like Dubai on a previous trip. After sitting down for so long all we want to do is walk and stretch our legs, so we walk round the airport for the 2-hour stopover, anyone watching us must have wondered what we were doing.  

The second plane was a much older plane and not a spare seat to be had and consequently the flight felt longer than the first flight or may be its just fatigue and jet lag catching up with us. We speed through immigration and baggage collection and are soon comfortably settled in the airport hotel. After a drink, time to try and persuade our body clocks that we’re in Aussie time not UK!