Perth

Day 6: 14 November:  Singapore - Perth

Had to get up at stupid o'clock in order to catch the plane. Too early for breakfast at the hotel so we had to find something at the airport. In the terminal we were at there was very little choice of places to eat. The choice was a Chinese breakfast or Burger King. Surprising that an international hub the size of Changi airport couldn't come up with any more than that.

The flight was fairly uneventful although the plane seemed to be flying through thick cloud for about an hour after take off, which made me a little nervous - usually they clear any cloud within five or ten minutes. Was something wrong, or was the cloud extending much higher up into the sky than in most places? There were general knowledge quizzes on the entertainment system; doing those took my mind off wondering when we were going to break through the cloud, and passed the time once we were up in the sunshine.

The final approach to Perth was quite bumpy as it was windy and I was reminded of last time I flew into Perth and the landing was aborted. Either it wasn't as bad or this pilot was more confident landing in wind - we got down on the first attempt with no problems.

Perth

Arthur's aunt and uncle, Teresa and Paddy met us at the airport and drove us to their house. They live in a district called Como, which is near to Perth zoo (although we didn't have time to visit the zoo). Our room overlooks the communal pool for their block.

It seemed that we did nothing but eat and drink from the moment we arrived until we went to bed, with just a short break from stuffing our faces to go and meet Arthur's cousin Jasmine who was arriving on the ferry. Jasmine's husband Vincent arrived with loads of food for the evening - olives, pate, salami, soft cheese. Theresa provided prawns, barbecued ribs, vegetables and rice. Yet somehow we didn't feel too full, just nicely satisfied.

Ashleigh, Jasmine's sister, came along too, and was telling us a bit about her work as a vet. Someone had brought in an injured fox cub they had found, but it had to be put down. I thought that was sad, but I got the impression that people in Australia are not that fond of foxes.

It was lovely to see them all again, and to be able to sit outside on a balmy evening enjoying a leisurely meal with everyone.

Day 7: 15 November: Perth

Paddy and Teresa like to get up at 5.30 and go cycling, and Paddy talked Arthur into doing the same. I'm still not confident cycling and would have been scared of falling off an unfamiliar bike and making a twit of myself in front of our hosts, or not being able to get up the hills, or getting run over. They only had two bikes anyway, which meant Teresa couldn't go either. 5.30 seems terribly early given that we don't usually get up till 8am at home, but the jet lag meant that we were waking up that early anyway. 

Places around Perth

We went for a drive to a place called Mandura which had a market which sold art and crystals and where you could get a tarot reading. Arthur was quick to point out that I could get an Australian tarot reading, but I didn't do it. Teresa bought a painting of a bird.

We went to Rockingham, where, they said, you could get a boat trip to an island but nobody wanted to, because the reason for going was to see the baby penguins and it wasn't the season for them.

Everyone here is very vigilant about wearing hats and sunscreen and insisting that we do the same, and warning us about remembering to apply sunscreen to the tops of our feet. It's supposed to be 37 degrees today, we were told.

Because they get up so early, Paddy and Teresa nap every afternoon and Arthur is only too happy to join them. They all seemed quite amazed that I didn't want to sleep as well, and preferred to use the afternoon to write my journal and read instead. And ogle a couple of tanned young men using the pool below the bedroom window!

Sunset beach

As a thank you for accommodating us, we took Paddy and Teresa out for a meal, but first of all we drove over to a place called Cottesloe, which has a west-facing beach and is the spot in the area to watch the sun go down. There were lots of people there doing just that - groups of students who were celebrating the end of their exams, romantic couples and photographers. We took lots of pictures, of course.

Sunset at Cottesloe

Me with Teresa and Paddy

Ashleigh and Jasmine had recommended a place to eat but when we got there we saw it was full to the brim with noisy "schoolies" (school leavers - in Australia it is the end of the school year in December, and the exams are in November, so those who are taking exams are pretty much free now until January, and they're in the mood for some exuberant celebrations) and so we decided to find somewhere else. 

A short drive away there was a quieter hotel bar where we could have a pre-dinner drink, and then we chose to eat in a restaurant called Barque. The two waitresses who served us were from Belgium and Norway. The food was excellent there; and so was the wine, and we ended up having three bottles of the stuff!

Day 8; 16 November:  Perth

Woke up regretting that third bottle of wine. Paddy had knocked on our door before 6am to get Arthur to go cycling with him but we didn't hear him, so he went on his own. 

Teresa drove us down to the coffee shop where Paddy and his cycling buddies usually stop for refreshments after their ride. We met Kevin and Lester: Kevin is a New Zealander and was telling us some good places to go in Queenstown.

"Freo"

We decided that we would leave Paddy and Teresa in peace for the day and catch the ferry down to Fremantle, known to the locals as "Freo". It was a sunny, hot day, a good day to be out on the water. The running commentary they broadcast on the boat pointed out all the largest and most expensive properties, most of which belonged to business tycoons who were no doubt well known to the Australians but I had never heard of any of them. Mostly, it seems, they made their fortunes from mining.

Fremantle

We got off the ferry and, after watching a gigantic container ship being guided in by the tugs, went in search of something to eat. 

Main Street sounded like the place where all the cafés and bars would be, but it turned out to be as deserted as the City of London on a Saturday. 

Eventually we found an Indian restaurant - the sort of place we'd eat at in the evenings at home, and we really only wanted a snack, but it looked like there might not be anything else open. We were the only customers, so the staff were very attentive. We had the full attention of two waiters, a black guy and a guy in a turban and even the chef came out - we could tell he was the chef because he was wearing chequered pants and his hands were stained orange with spices.

Arthur ordered a rice dish, I went for a main course without a starter, which didn't come with rice so I ordered rice as well - so we had far too much rice. Not bad food, it filled a gap, and it was cool in there with a nice loo. Only after we came out did we turn a corner and find all the cafés where we could have got a coffee and a sandwich. Apparently Market Street, not Main Street, is the place to be!

Following the recommendations we'd been given, we went and looked at the Round House, a museum which used to be a prison. The exhibit we found particularly interesting and amusing there was a series of letters written by the captain of a merchant ship that docked in Fremantle in 1892. He'd written about 10 letters over a period of about 6 weeks, all of them complaining bitterly about Fremantle: the weather was awful, the docking facilities were not suitable and his ship got damaged, the workers were lazy and stole things and absconded to go and work in the mines and so on and so on. In his last letter he wrote, "A curse on Fremantle and every son of a bitch in it", and stated categorically that he would never return. Although he'd stopped short of saying "I Quit!".

Outside, an elaborate flag pole was flying numerous flags - the Australian flag, the Fremantle flag, the Aborigine flag - with a space reserved for flying the national flag of any incoming vessel. As the ship arrives, their national flag is raised and lowered after 10 minutes. Every port used to do this as a courtesy but Fremantle is the only place that continues the practice to this day.

Flagpole

We then found a gallery which had an exhibition of photographs of elderly residents of the town, and beside each photo was a piece of writing telling the life story of each person, where they came from, why they ended up in Fremantle, what they did for a living, what their passions were.

Paddy and Teresa came and picked us up and on the way back took a small detour to the streets with the most jacaranda trees. I'd been noticing these lovely trees all over the place as we were driving around and hoped I would get a chance to photograph one. They were all in flower while we were there, bright lilac flowers, and there was this one street which had loads of them.

Jacaranda trees

We had a quiet night in and ate Teresa's delicious chicken casserole with mashed potatoes and roasted courgettes.

While Paddy did the dishes the rest of us went for a walk by the river, and out along a disused jetty; well, disused as a jetty, anyway - it's a popular spot for anglers and there were quite a few people out there fishing. It was lovely and cool there, a relief from the hot stickiness and 37 degree temperatures. The city lights twinkling in the distance, the lapping waves and a full moon. I was surprised there weren't more couples out for a romantic stroll, as well as the fishermen and people walking their dogs.

Day 9: 17 November:  Perth

Quinn's Rock

Despite our insistence that we would be perfectly happy to use the train, Paddy and Teresa insisted on driving us to Quinn's Rock where my cousin Debbie and her husband Mitch live. 

Quinn's Rock is quite a way out of Perth and a fair distance beyond where the commuter trains stop. We found Debbie's address without too much trouble and the two families met over a cup of tea, and then Paddy and Teresa left us as they had a play to go to that afternoon.

Debbie's son Richard is now in Australia too, working in IT. Apparently he'd applied for a work permit and then procrastinated until there was a last minute rush for him to get there before it expired. He made it - just.

Originally we had planned to visit a nearby national park, but it turned out there was a big event on, so it would have been extremely crowded. Instead we went to a nearby marina where there were shops and places to eat. We sat down for drinks and lunch, and who should walk around the corner but Paddy and Teresa, who had decided to go for a walk before returning home. They had another drink with us before they left. They had just been saying, wouldn't it be funny if we met up with them again - and then they did! 

Near Quinn's Rock
Left to right: Debbie, Mitch, Richard, Teresa, Paddy, Me

That was the first of many coincidences on this trip. There were some even more amazing ones on the New Zealand leg.

After we'd eaten we moved on to a place called Hillary's - a similar sort of place but bigger and busier and more commercial. There was one bar which was heaving, and none of the restaurants would serve drinks without food. We finally got a table in the bar and had another drink before going back.

Mitch fired up their barbecue, which is the size of our oven at home, and made an evening meal of burgers and sausages and salad, but none of us could really do it justice because we'd had such a massive lunch.

They drove us to the nearest station and pointed out the really good Indian restaurant it had taken them six years to find. 

Debbie came in to help us negotiate the ticket machine. Buying transport tickets for any form of transport here seems a lot more complicated and prone to problems than in Singapore. The ticket machine we'd tried to use at the ferry stop yesterday didn't seem to work properly - which the local alcoholics and beggars tried to take advantage of by coming over and offering to help and then asking for money - and then it turned out you could purchase tickets on the ferry itself, anyway.

Even with a local to help us at the train station, we must have looked confused as a strange, skinny young man, aged about 13 with blond curly hair and acne, came over and offered advice. He caught the same train as us and was walking up and down the carriages asking people for money - but since he'd seen us put all of our change in the ticket machine, he didn't hassle us, and just passed by with a smile. At one point the ticket inspectors got on (they work at 8pm on a Sunday there, it seems). They had a serious conversation with the young man but didn't make him get off. I wondered if someone had reported him begging or whether they were purely and simply checking tickets. Debbie sent a message later saying she hoped we got home OK - she was a little concerned about this kid because he was so odd, and had watched to make sure he left us alone.

The train took us into central Perth where we enjoyed the Christmas lights while waiting for our lift home. One large building had a slide show projected onto it which changed every few minutes.

Christmas lights in Perth

We ended the day watching a documentary about the history of the Australian wine industry (apparently in the 70s there was a wine called Kanga-rouge!).

Day 10: 18 November:  Perth - Melbourne

Spent the morning packing. Ashleigh came to drive us to the airport for our Melbourne flight, with Virgin Australia. Arthur, convinced we'd have to pay for food on the plane (Virgin Australia being a budget airline) insisted on buying sandwiches for the flight. But there was food included, so the sandwiches were superfluous and had to go in the bin. 

This plane had a couple of interesting features I'd not come across before. As well as the usual map showing the progress of the plane and the places it's flying over, and how long it is till you get where you're going, on this one you could also look at a "pilot's view cam" and a "down cam". However, most of the time the down cam was just showing turquoise sludge and the pilot's view a grey blur. It was a bright sunny day and I certainly hoped the actual pilot had a better view than the camera was giving us! Looking again as we were coming in to land, you could suddenly see things on the down cam - roads and things, and the horizon on the pilot's view, then scenery, and on the final approach you could make out the runway and a good view of what the pilot could see as we taxied to the gate. So for most of the flight it's pretty rubbish but worth looking at during landing.