Perth

G'day

As the countdown to my leaving Australia continues (just under two months - sad face) I'm trying to see as much of the country as possible, which meant that the weekend just finished I flew 2800km (1750 miles) to Perth, capital of Western Australia and as far from Melbourne as you can go without leaving the country. It's a long way to travel for a few days meaning I ended up doing the 'Benny Hill' runaround tour of the sights (minus the bikini-clad women) - exhausting but good fun. Mostly. The worst thing about Perth is the huge number of Brits who live there and who give the city's best going-out neighbourhood the dodgy feel of a provincial UK town (drunk, aggressive, loud). But let's ignore the negatives and concentrate on the positives. The weather was great (23 degrees and sunny - not bad for the equivalent of mid February in the northern hemisphere), there was quite a lot to do, and I got to swim in the sea (always a good thing in my book). So here's the moment you've all been waiting for - the photos.

Perth city centre skyline. The city was founded by Brit Captain Stirling in 1829 on the banks of the Swan River (named after the black swans seen there by the first Europeans to arrive, the Dutch in the 1690s).

A few miles west of the city centre are the beaches along the Indian Ocean. This is Cottesloe, popular with surfers and families.

Along the beachfront they've created their own 'walk of fame' but this one is local people not z-list celebs. Noice Aussie touch.

The Cottesloe Walk of Fame

Cottesloe sunset

City skyline. Yes again, but this time from the river on the ferry, heading out to Rottnest Island ($90/£60 for a day-return ticket - what a rip-off). The commentary was very good except the way she turned nouns into verbs (a fairly typical Australian thing) leading to such statements as 'He impacted the environment in a big way (instead of 'he made an impact') but eventually he suicided (instead of 'he committed suicide') and was farewelled by a large part of the population (instead of 'a large part of the population bid him farewell). Ridiculous.

Properties along the river go for big money. One last year was sold for $58 million (nearly £40 million). Apparently it has gold-plated toilet roll holders so it's very classy.

Rottnest Island - named by the same Dutch guy, Vlaming, who named the Swan River, and so-called because the quokkas he saw there made him think of giant rats.

And if you're thinking 'What the quok is a quokka?' I give you exhibit A m'lud.

And exhibit B. I think he was deciding on his best side. These things are unique to southwestern Australia and incredibly tame.

Lovely views of The Basin beach on Rottnest Island.

Why aye man, it's Geordie Bay.

You can hire bikes on the car-free island and cycle around. This is the western-most point, Cape Vlaming or West End. Not bad. It was whale season but I didn't see any.

Cliff makes it to the West End! I knew I'd get there one day. Is that a whale behind me? (No, it's not)

Beach with boats (couldn't think of anything else to say)

There are loads of shipwrecks around the island including this one from World War II.

Back on dry land, this is the Round Tower in Fremantle, the oldest building in what is now a suburb of Perth but was once a separate town and port. The Round Tower was used as a prison and built in the lovely local limestone.

This map inside the Round Tower shows just how big Western Australia is - look at the size of Britain and Ireland at the top. If it were a separate country, WA would be the 10th biggest country in the world. That's big.

Haha. In the continuing tradition of finding signs that incorporate my name here's one that should be taken very seriously.

Obviously they got the St bit the wrong-way round here here as it should clearly read St Cliff, not Cliff St.

The Shipwreck Museum in Fremantle is fantastic, especially the bit about the Batavia. This was a Dutch ship that sank of the WA coast in 1629 on the way to Indonesia. Most of the men, women and children (around 180 in total) made it safely to an island and a small rescue party left in a boat to get help. While they were away, one of the remaining men decided to make himself 'governor' of the survivors and ordered the murder of around 125 of them to help preserve the few resources they had. When the rescue party returned they captured the murderers, chopped their hands off and hanged them. Above is part of the ship that was salvaged, with, in the background, a cannon and a stone gateway that was on its way to Indonesia to form the entrance to a castle.

More treasure retrieved from the Batavia.

On my last day I did a walking tour around Perth to see some of the lovely buildings. This is the Post Office.

No, not some bit of York transported down under but the entrance to a 1937 shopping mall.

The 1937 shopping mall.

Massive Moreton Bay Fig tree outside the old hospital.

Looks like Hampton Court; is actually the governor's house.

Skippy had been down the gym (how many skippy jokes can I get into this blog before October?). Council office behind.

Perth theatre.

Exhibits in the Western Australian Museum are eclectic to say the least.

This is a real, live frog (in the museum)

And now for a geology lesson - sit up at the back. These things are called Stromatolites. They are only found off the Western Australia coast and are the oldest living things on the planet. See below.

Cool eh?

And that's it for now. Perth - long way to go for a weekend but good all the same.


G'bye.

Cliff

A game of four quarters - and some culture

G'day

As seems to be my wont these days, I had another weekend consisting of a mix of sport and culture recently, including my first live footy match. Organised by a workmate, and attended by some of the most important people in the company, it was an interesting experience. Interesting because while I've become a big fan of Aussie Rules Football, I assumed that the mate who'd got us the tickets was a far bigger fan and, seeing as his team was playing, would be taking it very seriously. Oh no. We watched the first quarter in which the Blues (Carlton, my mate's team) had a tougher ride than had been expected from Melbourne (my boss's team). At the end of the first quarter we adjourned to the bar for what I expected to be a quick drink, but the second quarter started and we were still there - watching the game on a TV screen, even though it was happening for real just a minute's walk away. It wasn't until the last quarter, by which time Carlton had thoroughly trounced Melbourne, that we went to watch a bit more (at my instigation). Shame on you so-called footie fans! A Pom had to show you how to watch your game!

The 'boys' at the footy (why do I look drunk when I was the only one not drinking?). From right to left: me, Lachie, Jeremy, Big Boss Stephen, Biggest Boss Matt.

The players get ready for kick-off at the MCG.

Carlton about to score a goal (I think I should actually say 'kick' a goal)

Melbourne are on the ropes. Carlton win the game!

And then on Sunday I headed off with another workmate to Heide, on the outskirts of Melbourne. This was an artist's colony where famous Australian artists (Sidney Nolan was probably the most famous) lived and worked. The buildings were impressive and the grounds were nice. The art? It had its moments would be the nicest thing I could say.

Art in the garden.

Art in one of the buildings.

More art in one of the buildings (actually I quite liked this one. It's a digital picture, not a photo at all - what you can do with computers these days eh?)

And that's it for now. I have a few Aussie trips lined up before I leave so come back soon for pics and stories of Perth, the Whitsunday Islands and more!

G'bye

Cliff

Open House Melbourne

G'day

You've probably heard of Open House. It's a weekend (usually around my birthday in September) when normally closed buildings around London throw their doors open to the public (and I pretend they're doing it as a birthday present for me!). So the weekend just finished Melbourne had its Open House Weekend. Ok, so there's no Gherkin or ancient churches but there was still plenty to visit and I crammed as much as possible in, between seeing a film at the Melbourne Film Festival (Jane Eyre - good but a bit slow) and an evening of British sitcoms (Blackadder, Mighty Boosh, and lots of Alan Partridge). What idiot said (in a post quite recently) that Melbourne's dull?

Royal Exhibition Building - as featured in a previous blog (when they had the tattooing and piercing convention). As lovely today as when it was the home of Australia's first national parliament.

Orica Building - at one point (in 1958 when it was first built) this was the tallest building in Australia. Prior to this there had been a height limit for buildings and this was the first one allowed to break the rule. Today you hardly notice it as it's dwarfed by lots of much taller skyscrapers.

Interior of the Orica Building - very Mad Men.

The architecture company that built the Orica Building still works in it. These are some models for projects they're working on (with the real thing behind)

You can't have too many models (maybe I should have been an architect - or a model maker)

St Peter's Eastern Hill - one of Melbourne's oldest buildings, built in 1847, just 12 years after the city was founded.

Church interior

Bishopscourt - lovely bluestone building that's the home of the Archbishop of Melbourne. (Bluestone is a common stone used in many buildings in Melbourne)

Another building that was open was the Old Treasury where the top nugget here is a replica of the largest single nugget of gold ever found. You'd get a lot of Tim Tams* for that.

Parliament House - built in 1880 and home to Victoria's parliament (it housed the national Australian government from 1901 until 1927 when it moved to Canberra).

The main house of Victoria's parliament.

One guess who the statue is of (clue: Melbourne's the capital of the state named after this person)

Rooftop garden in the middle of the city, with the Eureka Tower (Australia's current highest building) in the background.

And that was Open House Weekend. Next time - my first live Aussie footy game.

G'bye.

Cliff

* Tim Tams, if you don't know, are like Penguin biscuits but much better (especially the dark chocolate ones).