Land down under part 1 - Western Australia and Adelaide

Perth and West Coast

We arrived in the land down under to gorgeous bright sunshine and not a cloud in the sky which was a nice surprise, seeing as it was the middle of winter. It didn’t last and by that afternoon it was cold, wet and windy in Perth. We were staying in the cheaper, Northbridge area of the city but were immediately struck by how much more expensive everything was in comparison with home and especially with Asia, when we were looking for somewhere for lunch as we headed to the hostel.

That night we met a colleague of mine for a meeting and he took us over to Subiaco, another cool part of the city for a curry and a drink. My first decent glass of wine for months, and the first curry since leaving India.

Perth

We went to Kings Park to see the city lights and the whispering wall, where you can stand at one end of the wall and whisper to someone at the other end… and yes, it worked. Great acoustics.

The next day we took the bus to Fremantle, a lovely harbour town about 40 minutes from the city, to get a boat across to Rottnest Island. We didn’t have very long in Fremantle before we had to get the ferry to the island so we grabbed a coffee and bought our tickets. $158 AUD for 2 of us return, we nearly choked on our coffee. The ferry ride was horrendous; when we weren’t panicking about drowning or being thrown overboard, we were trying not to vomit everywhere. I have never been on a choppier journey in my life.

Rottnest

Rottnest was discovered by the Dutch explorers in the 1600s and was called Rat’s nest, (Rottnest) because of the huge rats living there. These rats are actually quokkas, small, friendly marsupials that live on the island.

Quokka

When we arrived, we hired a bike and spent 3 hours cycling round the beautiful island and taking pics of the quokkas and the bright, exotic birds there. The weather didn’t improve until we had to leave and luckily the ferry was 3 times the size of the one we had come over on, so it was much smoother going back to ‘Freo’. We took the train back to the city as it was much quicker, and decided to go back to Fremantle on another day to explore it properly.

The next day we were up and out early as we were hiring a car and driving 2200 miles down to the most south-westerly point of Australia to a place called Augusta. This is where two oceans meet – the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean. After stopping for some amazing fish and chips (they had to be good, we paid $50 for 2 portions and a pot of tea!) we visited the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin.

Augusta

The lighthouse was opened in 1895 and has seen a lot of sea-faring activity, much of it tragic. It was probably not the best time to visit as the weather was dreadful, but up we went and saw some great views of the wild oceans from the top.

Both of us thought it might have been the lighthouse from ‘Round the Twist’ (remember that kids of the 80s/90s?!) but our guide told us that was over in Victoria.

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse

We drove through Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, visiting the calcified waterwheel which was used to pump water to the lighthouse, and stopping at some ocean viewpoints to look for whales.

At sunset we decided to drive round town to spot some kangaroos. This was Baby D’s first trip to Oz and my third, although the previous 2 times were for work, so neither of us had seen a wild kangaroo. After driving in circles for an hour we finally found some kangaroos but by then it was too dark to see them properly, until 3 jumped out in the road in front of us causing us to make an emergency stop.

We decided to get up at sunrise to see them properly, and to set off early to Margaret River where we had booked to do a wineries tour with wine, cheese and chocolate tasting.

The next morning we soon found plenty of kangaroos including 2 huge guys boxing. These strange animals are actually real and are not made up by Australians just to get tourists to visit.

Fake animal

On the way up to Margaret River we saw a kangaroo lying in the road and at first we thought he was just chilling there, until we saw the bone sticking out of the back of his leg. He managed to drag himself closer to the side of the road and after we got over our histrionics and horror, we drove on a little way until we got phone signal and called the local wildlife rescue. Poor thing, I hope they found it, but I doubt they could do more than put it out of its misery. They would have come out if only to check for a joey in the pouch.

We soon found our accommodation in Margaret River but it was too early to check in so we went to get some breakfast and buy some food for dinner. We headed back to the hostel to wait for the tour bus to pick us up. 30 minutes after the arranged time and we still hadn’t been collected (we’d even seen the bus drive past our hostel), so we called the office, who informed us that our names weren’t on the list for the tour that day. The lady in the office actually came out to pick us up and dropped us at the winery where we met up with the rest of our group. We got a $40 discount and 3 bottles of wine for our trouble so it wasn’t all bad and we didn’t miss anything.

First winery on the tour

We visited 4 different wineries and sampled about 6 wines at each one, so we probably averaged a bottle of wine each throughout the course of the day. We also tried cheese, chocolate and nougat, along with some nougat liqueurs. We ended up at a brewery trying the beers and after that, our group headed to the pub where we stayed until about 1am.

We drove back to Perth the following day with heavy heads, via one of the caves on the eponymous Caves Road.

There are between 150 and 350 caves in this area, including the Jewel Cave, the Lake Cave and the Mammoth Cave. We had neither the time, energy or the money to do more than one - it was $22 for entry to one cave, although the price got cheaper if you wanted to see more of them.

Mammoth Cave

The Mammoth Cave was impressive, and interestingly (and the reason we wanted to see this one in particular), it was found to contain numerous animal bones of mega-fauna; huge creatures such as giant wombats, giant kangaroos, Australian lions and other weird and wonderful animals, many of which are long-extinct.

On the way to Perth we stopped at the Busselton Jetty, a 2km long wooden pier (the longest in the world apparently) which has an underwater observatory at the end, which is accessible on foot or by train. The observatory was closed, possibly due to poor visibility. This was probably a blessing in disguise as the entrance fee was $34 each.

Train along Busselton Jetty

On our last full day in Western Australia, we decided to visit Fremantle properly, so we booked a cruise along the Swan River, learning from the captain about the Swan Valley and stopping to see dolphins and pelicans in the river. The cruise reached Fremantle about an hour and a quarter later and we stopped to get some lunch before strolling over to the Round House.

Busselton Jetty

This building, the oldest in Western Australia, was originally a prison before the notorious Fremantle Prison was opened, and then a home for the police chief. Entrance was by donation. We then walked next door to the Shipwrecks Museum, a magnificent exhibition of shipwrecks and recovered items from the wrecks, stories of the tragedies at sea, and the history of the explorers and settlers. Entrance for this museum was also by donation, so another bargain.

Fremantle prison

 We walked through the town and finally reached the infamous Fremantle Prison. This was originally established for convicts from the Mother Land, shipped over from the British Isles to colonise the country. Punishments were harsh at first, and convicts were whipped with the cat-o-nine-tails frequently.

 Many convicts were sent to Australia for misdemeanours such as pig stealing, and although they may have eventually received a pardon or a ticket of leave, so they could work and marry, they were never able to return to their homeland. The convictions grew more serious over time, and the punishment more severe before new governors were put in charge who sought to reform the prisoners through art and education. The prison is now closed except as a museum and gallery of inmates’ work. It was also free to enter the courtyard and surrounding areas, but tours of the actual prison started from $21.

Our time in Western Australia was all too short and we are already planning to return to this stunning part of the world to dive at Ningaloo with the whale sharks, and to explore the Kimberley, a beautiful wild region in the north of Western Australia. On to Adelaide for a couple of days.

Adelaide arcade

Adelaide

As we were heading up to Uluru, (or Ayers Rock) via Alice Springs, we had to fly in and out of Adelaide so we took the opportunity to see the city of Adelaide and for me to have a meeting.

We didn’t have much time in the end, so we walked around the city centre and the botanic gardens. So nice to be able to afford a room with a private bathroom!




#perth #WA #rottnest #quokka #capeleeuwin #augusta #margaretriver #winetour #adelaide #freo #fremantle #cavesroad #busselton