Perth and Fremantle

On March 17th, we flew from Sydney to Perth in Western Australia. I've always wanted to visit the western part of Oz, and didn't have an opportunity on our last trip, so this was exciting. Perth and Fremantle, the entire west coast that we saw, did not disappoint.

The first thing we noticed is that it's hotter and drier. It was about 30 degrees when we arrived in Perth - and that was at 9:40 in the morning. The air is much clearer because it's so dry. Also smells different. That could be because of the ocean breezes. Perth in the third windiest city in the world, after Chicago, USA (#1) and Wellington, NZ (#2), according to our B&B host.

We drove up the coast a bit to see what we could see. Unlike what we've seen in NSW or Queensland, there are huge sand dunes along the beaches. From the road, it's not always obvious that we're near a beach. But the beaches are beautiful. The Indian Ocean is very blue farther out, and a brilliant turquoise near the shore.

We spent Sunday, March 18th, in Fremantle. The cities are really one metropolitan area. The big difference is that Perth is a newer, more modern city on the Swan River, and is the financial centre of Western Australia. Fremantle has kept many of its 19th century buildings, is more laid back, and is a major sea port on the Indian Ocean. Getting from one to the other takes about 20 minutes.

A brief explanation of the pictures I've posted, mainly because I posted them backwards. So here goes. The first picture is part of the fishing fleet in Fremantle. We could see these boats from our restaurant on the wharf. Some of the best calamari I've ever had (and I couldn't finish it all!). The cute thing about this picture? The third boat is the Mis Perception.

The next picture is the old town hall in Fremantle. Beautiful building now part of the tourist info centre.

The picture after that has Walter with a tray of beer glasses in front of him. No, he didn't drink a whole bunch of glasses full of beer. But..... he is fond of a pale ale made by Little Creatures, which just happens to have its brewery in.... you guessed it..... Fremantle. I had a glass of wine (they didn't make ginger beer), and Walter had a beer tasting. Each glass contained about two ounces of beer, everything from the pale ale to a dark beer, and a sparkling cider. The verdict was the pale ale was still the best. The idea was that once you've done the tasting, you can go up to the counter and order a pint or a schooner of the beer you liked the best. Walter said after finishing the tasting, that was sufficient.

The next photo - Walter with the bronze bathing beauty. The artist who did this lives in a house near the old round house. There are examples of his work all over Fremantle. One is a huge mermaid. You can see the sand dune in the background. There are paths everywhere in the dunes leading to the various beaches, which are all public.

Then we have Walter sitting on a large concrete sofa. Ouch! This was in the old insane asylum, now the Fremantle Arts Centre. The sofa looked interesting, but definitely uncomfortable.

The next two photos were taken in Kings Park in Perth. From the top of the hill on one side of the Swan River, you can see across. The whole downtown core is fairly new as cities go - most of it from the 1980's and onward. Everyone we talked to said that mining in WA is booming, and WA is growing. The Perth area apparently is getting about 1100 new people a month. There is construction everywhere.

The last picture is an old boab tree. This tree is very old - around 750 years - and was moved in 2008 from the Kimberley area in the northern part of WA to Kings Park in Perth, a distance of 3300 km. The tree was in the way of the Great Northern Highway that was then being built, and rather than it being destroyed, the local indigenous people made a gift of it to Kings Park. The park, in return, will use its seeds to grow new boab trees that will be replanted in the Kimberley area.