Straya: The First Week

We landed in Perth on a fine, but chilly Friday afternoon. Kiwi’s brother was there to meet us. They hadn’t seen each other for approximately seven years. We drove to Brother of Kiwi’s (Bok) place in the suburbs.

On Saturday, Bok took us to Kings Park, near the city centre. The park is one of the world’s largest city parks. It is on a hill, offering good views of the city and the Swan River. Due to the good weather, the park was busy with locals and tourists. The various native plants and birds were interesting and trying to photograph the birds kept us amused.

The port town of Fremantle was our destination on Sunday. It was another lovely day and Freo, as the locals call it, was busy. It was an enjoyable day out; walking among some of Western Australia’s oldest buildings and through the markets. Lunch was Australian-style currywurst. It wasn’t quite the same as in Germany, but it was tasty.

We went further afield on Monday; driving to Fremantle and then taking the ferry to Rottnest Island, 20 kilometres off the coast. The boat trip was a bit bumpy due to the cold wind causing a swell on the sea, but none of us was sick. Famous for its resident population of Quokkas, Rottnest is a popular day-trip destination. The island is too big to see in a day by walking or cycling, so we used the hop-on-hop-off bus to get around, stopping off at a few scenic places. From our last bus stop, we walked along a path past the saltwater lakes back to the wharf. The weather was pleasant, but the wind could be a bit chilly. But after South East Asia we were feeling the cold.

On Tuesday we visited the reptile centre. This was good fun; snakes, lizards, frogs, and birds were on display. One of the parrots in the walk-in aviary liked Kiwi; walked up and down his arm and didn’t want to get off.

Bok had a meeting in the city centre on Wednesday, so we went to town with him. Downtown Perth is nice; there are large public areas, pedestrian-only streets, and plenty of interesting artwork. Most of the artwork didn’t need explaining to be enjoyed, which was a nice change. We also enjoyed watching local parrots as they went about doing whatever they were doing in the palm trees by the Swan River. Once again, the weather was good.

We were relatively lazy on Thursday and Friday. The local mall was about as far as we got on Thursday, about 40 minutes away by walking.