Perth

- September 20, 2023

We arrived in Perth and took a taxi from the airport straight to our hotel which was right in the centre of Perth. It was quite overcast and when we arrived it reminded me of the City (London) on a weekend. We left our bags at reception and went off to explore. We decided to head down to Elizabeth Quay and then go to King's Park. The sun had come out and I wanted to see the botanical gardens. We came to a sign which said the park was 10 mins walk away but it pointed up a fairly steep hill. David didn't fancy the hill so opted to stay walking along the road. We ended up walking 2km past the David Carr Memorial Park and then had to climb the Kokado Memorial Track to get to the Park. This track was representative of the climb the Australian troops had in Papua New Guinea. Boy was it a cardio work out and we were very grateful for the milestones telling the troops' story along the climb. The irony was not lost on me that we could see the top of the hill David didn't want to climb but this one we couldn't!! In the end when we got to the top we were both pleased we had come the way we had as we would never have done it had we known how far it was. The Track finished in the middle of the botanical garden section which was also a result. King's Park had stunning views of the City. Their war memorial was very lovely. Lots of photos taken to share. Needless to ssy we got the free CAT bus back to the hotel. We were in bed by 6pm and didn't wake up until 7am on Sunday - we were knackered!!

Unfortunately we are new to blogging and don't know how to set the photos up into a collage, they just seem to come in under one another and you can't move them around. If I ever get time I will photoedit them first. If anyone knows we are happy to learn so please feel free to give instruction😀

Sunday - Freemantle

The wonderful thing about Perth is their public transport system. You can travel free all around the centre on CAT buses. It cost us just over $10 to travel to Freemantle. The ticket was valid all day and covered everywhere.

We loved Freemantle. Our first stop was the market. We loved Eumundi market when we came to Oz last time so expected this to be quite similar. It was. Our best find was guys taking Iris photos which David loved.

We had ours done which we felt was a lovely keepsake of both the holiday and our 40th wedding anniversary. They had all different styles but we liked the infinity.

Nat & Rob had recommended we go and visit the prison so that was where we headed to next. Considering we were in a large group (35 of us) it was really fascinating. The guide did not rush us, answered all our questions and had all of us interested - young and old.

After the prison it was gone 3pm but we did manage to still get our Sunday roast - result!! We then walked down to the seafront and wound our way back to the train station. We slept well.

Monday - Beach Day

We had planned to go to Cottesloe Beach and experience as my brother-in-law believes Perth has the best beaches. Unfortunately we woke up to 12/13 degrees and whilst it wasn't cold, there was no way I was sitting on a windy beach. David suggested travelling around on the CATs to see more of the city so we went down to Barrack Street to see the Bell Tower and started there. We ended up back at King's Park and took the 2km walk right across the top of the park past the pioneer women's memorial , the fireman's memorial and the DNA tower. Fortunately most of it was downhill and the purple cat was at the bottom to take us back to the city. One of our favourite flowers was the Kangaroo Paw - they had a black one too which was very cool.