Mum and Dad arrived very late on Thursday and were shattered after the long journey. After a little catch up they went straight to bed. On Friday we stayed local and had a lazy morning with a stroll along the river at Waterman Point. We dropped them off at Fremantle Prison and promised to pick them up after their tour if they were good!
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| The hangman's noose at Fremantle Prison |
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Later that evening we caught the sunset at Cottesloe Beach and stopped in at Salt for a drink. Little did we know that Mum had ordered a pear cider that was $16 a bottle!! Welcome to WA!
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| Cottesloe Beach |
On Saturday Steve had arranged to attend his first bike maintenance course. Whilst he tinkered with his bike, the rest of us pottered around Fremantle Markets and had a walk along the boardwalk at the harbour. At lunch time we got a call from Steve - he had broken his bike and would be a little late as he had to wheel it rather than ride it.... oops! We finally met at the Shanghai Markets for a huge yummy noodle lunch.
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| Banga Folks on the harbour broad walk |
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Sunday was a glorious day and we decided to venture into Perth and spent the day in King's Park. We did the Tree Tops walk with views over the CBD and had a guided tour of the Botanical Gardens. a picnic lunch, we dropped Mum and Dad off at Barrack Street Jetty and they caught the 'Golden Sun Gossip Cruise' back to Freo. That evening we had a bbq on the balcony.
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Banga Folks at Kings Park
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| Weird bird like flowers at the Botanical Gardens |
| On Monday we headed South to the Margaret River region stopping in Bunbury for a coffee on the way. Dad chatted with some Sikhs that were visiting Bunbury from Perth! Our next stop was the most South-Westerly point of Australia - Cape Leeuwin. We had a walk around the lighthouse in the gale force wind. We then headed to Jewel Cave where after a picnic lunch we had a guided tour of the Cave, where we saw impressive limestone formations and the fossilised remains of a Thylacine (an ancient stripey dog thing that is now extinct). The last stop of the day was our accommodation at Margaret River - Rosewood Guest House - a lovely B&B run by Keith and Jane. |
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Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
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| Cape Leeuwin - Where two oceans meet |
On Tuesday we had arranged a surprise for the folks and had hired 'Rose Royce' - a 1956 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud for the day. Keith drove us round the wineries including Cape Mentelle, Redgate Estate and Voyager. We were then dropped off for a leisurely lunch at Leeuwin Estate and were picked up much later when we were fed and watered!
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The Gang ready for wine tasting in style
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| Let the tasting commence |
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A break from all the wine tasting at Red Beach
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| Nose bag at Leeuwins - Yummy |
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| The Cheeky Monkey |
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| A wind swept Shelly Cove |
After a visit to the shops in Margaret River we made our way home on Wednesday - with a few stops along the way of course... We popped into Vasse Felix but were feeling a bit too 'wined out' for a tasting, so sampled some beers at the Cheeky Monkey Brewery instead. We then made our way to Cape Naturaliste and the Shelly Cove lookout, but the wind and rain made this a rather brief pit stop and we headed all the way back to Freo. Steve managed to drop the wine that we bought, the good news was that only one bottle broke, the bad news was that it was the most expensive one - typical!! I wonder where he gets his clumsiness from?!
Our original plan for Thursday was a trip to Rottnest Island, this was foiled by the rain so instead we ventured into Perth again and dodged the worst of the rain at the Royal Mint. We learnt about the gold rush and even saw a 1kg block of gold being poured! Following this we explored Northbridge and had a late lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant - not really sure what we ordered but it was quite tasty!
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| Nice hat! The Perth Royal Mint |
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| Friday cleared up and we headed north, stopping at Hillary's Boat Harbour where Rupan managed to purchase a top - we were only there for a few minutes! Our final destination was Yanchep National Park where we had a picnic lunch followed by a walk around the lake. Steve tried to do a spot of twitching but the Bangas were chatting noisily and scared most of the birds away... Nonetheless, the parents were very excited to see Koalas and Kangaroos and it was amusing to watch Mum chase them away whilst Dad was trying to video them! We caught a gorgeous sunset at City Beach on the way home and popped into Clancy's for a beer and a snack. Mum was a little bit freaked out by the prawns that are to be eaten whole - without taking off the heads or tails... |
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| Too much excitement for one day! |
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| Rainbow at City Beach |
On Saturday Rupan had to go to work (well a course that the boss had arranged) so Steve took the folks to Rottnest Island. After arriving at Thomson Bay they headed for a coffee at Quokka Joe's and were joined by a friendly quokka on the scrounge for some scraps. After a short bus ride to Parker Point they walked the coast road taking in the picturesque Little Salmon Bay and Salmon Bay before jumping back on the bus. They took the bus to Wadjemup and walked up to the Lighthouse, on the way down they again spotted more quokkas. After a picnic lunch it was back on the bus to Geordie Bay. From here they walked back into Thomson Bay via the Bathurst Lighthouse and Basin Bay. The return ferry was not until half four, just enough time for a pint. The ferry blasted its way back to Freo where they met Rupan. No trip to Fremantle would be complete without a Flipside/ Mrs Brown's evening, so we settled down with a bottle of SBS and ordered our burgers on Saturday night.
On their last day Fremantle was lashed by wind and rain - the worst it had seen in over a decade. The water level in the harbour was so high that the boardwalk was about 10cm underwater! We still managed to get a few beers in at Little Creatures and then tucked into traditional fish and chips.
| Despite the flying visit, we managed to pack in a lot..... Hope they have as much fun in Singapore. |
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