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