Before you breathe a sigh of relief that this is to be my last trip report, forget it. Dorothy and I took a 10-day trip to Perth in March and the city is on the banks of the Swan River (so-named because of the number of black swans which were on the river when it was discovered).
Our 3-hour flight to Perth on 7 March was relatively uneventful. By coincidence I sat next to an Australian I work with. He was on his way to a reunion with his military buddies. It struck me that those types of reunions may be more prevalent here since high schools (or secondary colleges as they are called) don't have the hoopla associated with graduation that we do, and hence don't seem to have high school reunions the way we do (at least not here in Alice).
The plane was a smallish jet (holding about 100 passengers) and the pamphlet on-board said that with a maximum load (which it appeared to have) the range was 2400 km. I figured the distance between Perth and Alice Springs was not much less than that (I figured out yesterday that it is actually a little less than 2000 km). However, I wondered at the time, how much allowance that gave the plane and thought maybe the reason the flight was in the evening was so the plane could make a direct approach into Perth.
It was almost 11 o'clock when we arrived at the motel and the laid-back attitude of the owners meant that there was a note on the office door saying our room was number 9 on the first floor and the key was in the door. I forgot the Australian method of numbering floors and walked all around looking for number 9 until I remembered the first floor is actually the second floor (the first being the ground floor).
Friday morning we headed for the Fremantle Markets. Fremantle is a separate city, but sort of like a suburb of Perth (although it is older than Perth), is a port city, and was the site of the running of the 1987 America's Cup Race (after Australia won the cup in 1983). A huge effort was made to spruce up the town for the Cup and it shows. Although it is still a port city, the city center is very nice with lots of shops, and the older buildings were all fixed up. We went to the markets (a flea market in an old building - found nothing), then walked down by the docks past the yard that played a major role in monitoring the regulations during the Cup, and walked past a building right on the point of land from which there is a good view of the harbor area. And guess what is in that building, a McDonalds, or course. I'd hate to think what they must have paid for that site. We walked around some of the older buildings dating back to the 1830's in the area where people first landed on the west coast of Australia.
To digress a moment - we feel we are isolated in Alice Springs, but even though Perth is larger than Alice, and there are some small towns within a reasonable driving distance, it is still further fro any other major city than Alice Springs is.
We walked around downtown Fremantle, looked for someplace to eat and finally ate mediocre sandwiches from a small cafe, after which we walked one street over to find wall-to-wall eateries which had anything you can imagine - oh well. Also saw a nice little miniature golf course, inside a building with shops surrounding it -would be great for occupying the kids while you do a bit of shopping. We managed to find some comics for Toby in a couple of shops, then visited a neat museum and art gallery in an old lunatic asylum. The museum had an extensive display of artifacts from various shipwrecks. It seemed like everywhere we went in the Perth area there were displays of this type. I don't know if it was the area near Perth or the Indian Ocean in general.
We drove into Perth and into the large Kings Park on a hill overlooking much of Perth. We did not do much walking except to climb a lookout tower. After all the walking I had done earlier, it was all I could do to climb up. We stopped at a bookstore and then returned to the motel. Rest - forget it. Back out to find a restaurant - first choice had a line out the door (one of the few family-type restaurants) onto another after which we went to the Burswood Casino.
The Casino was very impressive after our little one in Alice Springs. Whereas we have 2-4 Blackjack tables in operation with $2 and $5 minimum bets, they had 15-20 tables with $5, $10 and $25 minimum bets. Where we have 1-2 roulette tables active, they had at least 5. The only other things Alice has (besides slot machines) is a wheel, two-up (an Australian game using two coins), and Keno. The Perth Casino also had them, as well as baccarat, mini-dice, and craps. The other big difference was in the type of slot machines.
To digress again - for those of you who don't frequent gambling establishments, let me tell you about the revolution in slot machines. The old machines with handles you pull are almost a thing of the past. There are a few left in the Alice Casino, but most slot machines today have a button you push instead - quicker to work -takes money faster. Also instead of paying each time, you get credits marked up (you can cash in the credits whenever you want, but you are more apt to use them that way.) In addition, besides the old style (both with arms and buttons) with the five wheels which rotate, the new generation of slot machines are video types on which you can play draw poker. The Alice Springs Casino has both types. The Perth Casino has gone to all video types on which you can play draw poker, Blackjack and Keno. In addition to accumulating your credits you can also get a credit card to put into a slot on the machine which will allow you to keep playing without worrying about actually putting the money in. I'd like to think you can only play until your account is depleted and not allow you to go into debt. Anyway, Dorothy was not impressed there were no "old" type slot machines.
The Casino is part of a complex which also contains a 5-star resort hotel and a convention center. With shops and restaurants there as well you could stay there and never see anything else in Perth. The hotel was impressive in that it contained 10 floors with the roof of the foyer descending from the tenth floor to ground level in a long arc resulting in a huge foyer. We didn't stay in the Casino long, we walked around awed by the place wondering who could afford to stay there (probably Japanese tourists) and finally went back to our 1-star motel.
Saturday, we went to a flea market in Perth and then went to the central business district where we walked around for hours window shopping. We visited a couple of comic shops and the Post Office, which had a mail box out in -front which talked to you if you get close to it. There are several street malls, with numerous arcades running between them - I believe we were in each one - finally Dorothy allowed me to crawl back to the car. We drove north to some of the beach areas, visited one neat area which even had boardwalks (most beach resorts in Australia don't have boardwalks). After stopping to eat at the family restaurant (arriving at 5:10) which we couldn't get in the night before, we returned to the motel.
Sunday we spent the morning going to flea markets. The highlight was Dorothy finding a book written in 1928 by the Australian mystery writer whose books I collect. These books are extremely hard to find so even though it was not in good shape I was very happy with it. We drove into Perth, stopped at a very pretty flower garden which had a small lake with water lilies and ducks including a couple of black swans (the symbol of Western Australia).
Visiting that park gave me the idea of going to the zoo. The Perth Zoo is very scenic with lots of plants, but is not overly impressive as far as what animals are there or how they are displayed. That evening we went to the movies ("Postcards from the Edge") in Fremantle, ate dinner and returned to the motel.
Dorothy wanted me to be sure and add that I had a street index of Perth (in book form) which helped me immensely to get around the city, but I drove constantly with the book in my lap - trying to only look at it at stoplights. (Dorothy doesn't do well as a navigator.)
Monday we left the city and headed south to a very scenic area. We ate lunch at a snack bar on a beach in a small town on the coast and made a spectacle of ourselves feeding bread to the seagulls. Since I am known in various circles as an agitator I get a kick out of throwing bread right into a large group of seagulls and hear them all fussing at each other over it. We drove on, past an area known as Toby Inlet (but couldn't see it due to trees between the road and the ocean, and up to a point where a lighthouse stands. We didn't buy tickets to go see it (we can be cheap), but drove off on a side road to a beautiful bay where people were fishing. A large sailing boat (possibly some type of training vessel) road at anchor in the bay providing some good material for photos. Nearby we went through a rather extensive limestone cave - something neither of us had done before. The area is known for its line of caves all along the coast. We had a nice chat with some of the employees working in the cave.
The area is also known for its vineyards and we randomly selected one to go in. It is relatively new and undeveloped for tourists (there were two chairs and a refrigerator in a shed). The amazing part was that when we told the lady we were from Alice Springs she mentioned someone she knows here and we know their son very well (and Dorothy had met the parents). The lady let us sample three white wines and a red. I am not a connoisseur, but I enjoyed all of them, and thought the Cabernet was especially good. We didn't buy any for fear of trying to carry them home (good thing after we found our bags were stuffed on the way home). We stayed in a small town called Margaret River for the night at a Quality Inn which fortunately had videos on their TV's since nothing was open in the evening.
Tuesday we drove south to the tip of the peninsula where we saw another lighthouse and more spectacular scenery, then headed north, passing through some beautiful wooded areas, including a karri forest. Kari is a type of gum tree. They are tall straight trees with red wood, reminiscent of the California redwoods. We stopped to take some pictures of the karri forest and I picked up a 2-foot piece of branch laying on the ground, as a souvenir. We stopped for lunch at the same beach where we had eaten the day before and once again put on a show for the other people by feeding the seagulls (including holding bread in the air and having them fly up to take it).
Further up the road Dorothy expressed interest in seeing the harbor area of a town called Bunbury and that chance decision resulted in the highlight of our trip to Western Australia. We stopped at the town's Information Bureau and in looking at the pamphlets found one about the dolphins of Bunbury. There is a town 800 km north of Perth famous for the dolphins which come into shore to interact with humans. We decided not to drive that far since the area between Perth and Shark Bay is supposedly not that exciting. It turns out that Bunbury has been trying the same thing only for about a year and has not advertised it very far because they are not really organized for large groups of tourists and for monitoring the situation to protect the dolphins. We drove to that part of the beach where the dolphins appear and were fortunate that two happened to be there at the time. Since we had shorts on we were reluctant to go very far into the water, but I couldn't stand it and went to the car and changed into my bathing suit. I waded out until the water was just over my waist, and as I waited patiently (unusual for me), the dolphins swam within 4-5 feet of me. I wish that like some other people I had a mask and snorkel so I could have gone under water. I saw one lady do it and one dolphin came up and looked at her head on. Nevertheless, it was a thrill to get that close. The tourist literature says that you can actually touch the dolphins at Shark Bay, but the Dolphin Watchers group at Bunbury ask that you not attempt to touch them.
We returned to Perth, to the same motel but had to change rooms when our refrigerator went on the blink and I could smell rubber (insulation) burning. Most Australian motels have small refrigerators and this motel has a complete kitchenette in the rooms.
Wednesday we did more shopping for comic books (these were for Toby's Birthday on March 17th). We went to the Western Australian Museum and went to the movies in Fremantle to see "Green Card." Thursday we went to the Western Australia Art Gallery and finished looking through the Museum. I was very impressed with a work of art involving three poles in a triangle with a wire from each being used to suspend a rock about a foot off the floor - a number of rocks were thus suspended to form a circle. Dorothy and I also got a laugh out of an exhibit in which a guy and his family had travelled 4000-km and he took photos along the way and had mounted all of these photos in five long (about 30-feet in length) strips. Gee, maybe I should start sending a photo album with my reports (just kidding). The other thing we were intrigued with was an exhibit simulating an elevator in which you went inside while noises and scenes were flashed on the sides. Since Thursday is late night shopping in Australia (the stores all close at five even on Friday due to the higher rates they have to pay staff in the evening) we walked through numerous malls in various suburbs around Perth.
We were fortunate that we didn't go into Perth Friday morning -the farmers used trucks to block up all of the main roads into town to bring their plight to the attention of the rest of the populace. To digress again - it is unfortunate that the U.S. is dumping wheat on world markets at low prices - it really is hurting the Australian farmers and as the recent activities in the Gulf showed, Australia is one of our strongest allies - they made the decision to sent ships the day after the U.S. said it was sending forces to Saudi Arabia.
Instead of going into Perth on Friday we went back to Fremantle,
visited a boat museum, went up to the top of the Port Authority building to get a good view of the area, ate at McDonalds and went to another movie "Dances with Wolves." I didn't expect it to run 3 hours so was a nervous when the time my parking ticket ran out came and went - but I didn't get a ticket. We ate on the way back to the motel and I figured I could relax for the evening. Forget it - Dorothy asked me to go back out to another movie, which we did. "Awakening" had the best acting of any of the movies we saw on the
trip.
While walking through one of the malls on Thursday night, I noticed a sign in a bookstore about buying a copy of a book in order to get it autographed. Since it was by an author I have recently discovered and like, I asked if he were going to appear in the store. The clerk said not, but thought he was going to be in another of their stores and gave me the phone number of their main store. I called the main store Friday morning and the lady there said this author, Pat Tilley, was to appear on Monday. I told her I had really wanted to meet him, but I was leaving on Sunday. She took pity on me and told me he was arriving in Perth Friday afternoon, and was staying at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle. I tried reaching him Friday evening, but he wasn't in, so I called Saturday morning. He was not offended that I called. I explained I had read his early books and had wanted to meet him and asked if he were appearing anywhere on Saturday. He wasn't. My next question was, "I don't suppose there is any chance you are passing through Alice Springs?" By golly, he wanted to see Ayers Rock (it turns out he is an Englishman) and was going to fly in and out of Alice to the Rock. I made plans to meet him on the following Thursday at the Alice Springs airport.
After talking to Mr. Tilley, we drove north of Perth to some flew markets and to Undersea World. It is not nearly impressive as Marineland, but they do have something called a touch pool where you may actually touch some non-dangerous marine life. We stopped at a shopping center (I wanted to pick up a couple of Pat Tilleys books that I was missing - I am going to ask him to autograph all eight of his that I have.) and then to a miniature golf course in a botanical garden. The actual holes were not very impressive, but the setting was great - circular areas with 3-4 holes each and the areas surrounded by trees, flowers, and shrubs, with fish ponds and fountains. Once, while we were waiting for people in front of us to play we played a little field hockey on the grassy area. Our kids would have been very embarrassed had they been there. On the way back to the motel we stopped at a lake where most of Perth's black swans reside today and took our lives in our hands feeding them bread. They are big and aggressive and there were many of them, so I spent a lot of time backing up. After dinner, we went back downtown to a Baskin Robbins we had found on an earlier trip into Perth and had a last hot-fudge sundae. There is no place in Alice to get hot fudge sundaes and certainly no Baskin Robbins.
Our plane left at 6:45 a.m. Sunday morning to return to Alice so it was an easy drive to the airport - very little traffic; no problem dropping off the car (remembered to drop the keys in the slot at the counter)- and an uneventful trip home. Our friend Chris was there to pick us up (Toby was bowling) and the house was still standing and the dog and cat were still alive, after Toby and Chris looking after themselves, the house and the animals for 10 days.
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