A taste of the West
Trip Start
Oct 2006
1
2
Trip End
Oct 2006
Perth, Australia
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Couldn't get much further west & with the desert east of the city we could only really head south or north, we chose the former first.
It is easy to drive around Perth with big wide roads & no where near as much traffic as Sydney but it did seem that plenty wanted to hit the road the same time we did.
Heading thru the city across the Narrows Bridge we were on the Kwinana Freeway, heading towards Mandurah, which is a mostly newly refurbished motorway with a new rail link added to the centre of the road to the expanding southern suburbs.
It seems that it takes quite some time even on the multi-lane road to clear the sprawling urban nightmare that are these new 'estates', which are similar to those in the western suburbs of Sydney, that are a blight on the landscape.
These is no infrastructure, even with the railway, so that all the residents need to use their big fuel guzzling machines to get about.
Not the best idea.
There is a massive resources & minerals boom in the West at present, with China consuming the worlds Iron Ore reserves to construct a new planet within their country, which means that employment is an easy thing no matter what your skill levels.
Jobs for all.
This has also resulted in the local economy to be very buoyant & the real estate market to go thru the roof, they need places to live.
People are moving back to the west from the rest of Australia or others are moving over to join the good times & that means prices are going up to levels that can only be seen in this countries largest city which has a population of 4.5 million.
The mean average price for an average house in Sydney is around the $550,000 mark (Aussie Dollars) & in Perth it was closing in whilst we were there & has now surpassed that, but how long will it last?
Minerals booms always slow down eventually then it will be interesting to see how things go.
But make the most of it whilst you can.
Our short sighted politicians are gloating about these good times but ultimately we will all pay for this with the scar on the environment & when the global economy slows, but for now............
Heading towards Bunbury the crowds of cars thinned out & we started to see the countryside, rather than the concrete roof tiles, which was nice to see as the sun started to head west we looked at staying at Busselton for the night which we got to late in the afternoon.
The local tourist info directed us to the 'Paradise' Motel where we booked in for a couple of nights that wasn't the Ritz but good for us all the same.
Busselton is know for its long timber pier, 2kms in length, that stretches out into Geographe Bay, named after French explorers, which is very shallow for quite some distance & hence the need for a long pier for the old days when whaling was the business around those parts, thankfully no longer.
Not much else happens around town which is home for around 11,000 & as you walk down the main street at around 5pm you could almost fire a shot down the road & not hit a soul, a bit like Canberra.
But then again this is why we go to these places & the local corner pub served up some good food, for a 'healthy price', & I had to try a couple of the local brews.
Of course we had to take a walk along the jetty which was as the sun was going down & the locals headed out with their fishing rods to try their luck wetting a line.
Return trip of 4kms was a good way to stretch the legs & work up an appetite.
Margaret River is the most famous wine area of Western Australia & we were just on the edge of all this in Busselton so it made for a good place to set out & explore the district the next day.
Firstly off to Cape Naturaliste National Park where we had a fantastic view out to the Indian Ocean from the lighthouse which we had a short tour of.
It is still an operational feature of the coast where we got to go up & see the old French crystal prism that is nearly a century old that is now worth over ½ a million dollars, couldn't fit it in the backpack.
A few seals could be seen sunning themselves on the rocks in the bay which is protected from the Indian Oceans mostly southerly swells & if you are there at the right time of the year you can see whales going by, none that day.
The coastline of the Margaret River area is battered most of the year by the huge swells that come off the Southern & Indian Oceans so you can imagine the landline is scared from the years but it also makes for some wicked surf if you are a wax head.
We headed down to have a look at Yallingup, which is a small coast retreat, & then to Prevelly where the annual Margaret River surf tournament is held & the 'sea was angry that day my friends'.
Huge swells just off shore, massive gutters with a savage wind swell caused all sorts of rips & sand bars to be all over the place which I wouldn't even know where to start to paddle out.
Then again it has been a few years since I got the board out.
No one out when we were there as it just seemed a little too rough.
Cutting back across to the town of Margaret River Sharon had to check out a few of the wineries on the way but it always seems the cellar door charges more than the local bottle shop so we didn't get too many bottles.
A better place to visit, well this is a personal opinion, is the Bootleg Brewery which we happened to run into for a bite to eat at lunch & a half of their Pale Ale which wasn't too bad, still not as good as Coopers!!
Of course when you are driving you cant have very much at all, there is never an excuse for drink driving, so I had to get a 6 pack to take home, actually two so Byron & I could have a few, which was a selection of their brews.
Some good names too.
Raging Bull was one of them that is a dark ale & a percentage to go along with its name.
The town of Margaret River isn't that big & is mainly a place to stay to visit the wineries in the area so you can imagine it is a little touristy but not too overtaken by it all either.
I was only 5 years old the last time we had visited the West, from Adelaide where we drove over the Nullarbor, but I can remember visiting a lighthouse which I found out was the one at Cape Leeuwin the most South-West point of the big brown land.
Only a further 50kms down the road to the cape so we headed down to be almost blown away by the fierce cool breeze that hit us as soon as we stepped out of the hire car for a quick visit to this piece of land that is probably never seen a calm day.
Waves rolling in from the collision of the oceans into the granite rocks of the coast line would test the best surfers in the world & you had to stand & stare in awe of the powerful beauty of mother nature as she reminds you that all can be taken away very quickly.
The white rounded walls of the lighthouse rise up from the sturdy base which is a stunning sight against the deep blue sky that seems to completely surround you on the point as she rises as a clear beacon to deter the local shipping that a great danger is about.
This was exactly as I remembered all those years ago & it is also reassuring that the lighthouse will be there for a lot longer yet.
With standing, some what you can only imagine, very rough days indeed.
Our day out in the area was rapidly coming to an end so we headed back to the base camp at Busselton via the coast road to stop off at Hamelin Bay where the pristine white sands stretch on for as far as you can see & a small community lives in very tranquil isolation in this corner of WA.
Most of this area, thankfully, is a national park where you can get a fair look at what the native area looks like with thick vegetation over the other side of the sand dunes.
Black boys, the plant, thrives in the sandy soil & the gum trees do grow very tall there.
The farming paddocks away from the national park had some other natives of the land with Skippy & his hundred mates sitting about enjoying the afternoon sun, I had to get a few snaps of this piece of Australianana.
Unfortunately we ran out of time to make it to the chocolate factory as we got back to 'Paradise' after dark to get something to eat.
Again the main street was quiet.
Heading back to Perth the following day we stopping in at Bunbury which is actually the largest regional centre in Western Australia.
Boasting a community of 28,000 this was another one of those whaling places years ago that now services the local farming community, nice beaches too.
It seems that every second place in the South West ends with 'up'.
Have a quick look at any map of this part of Australia & you will notice that it is popular & apparently means place in the local Aboriginal language which might explain it.
Amazing that Perth isn't actually called 'Perthup' in that case as it is clearly the biggest of these 'places'.
We took a different road back to Perth via Waroona & Pinjarra that is more rural & nice to see something different before we hit the big smoke again.
Past the sprawling burbs of southern Perth again to head back via Rockingham & into Fremantle where we had a few hours to walk about.
It isn't the most pleasant view coming into Freo as this is the industrial hub of the city where smoke stacks out number the trees & a nice green tinge to the local beach which is being 'cleaned' up from years of industrial abuse.
Fremantle is a much better place to see as it is an old heritage village which has had a fair amount of restoration to its old maritime days where all sorts went on.
We went up to the jail hoping to have a look around but just missed the tour & we didn't have enough time to wait for the next one, shame it is apparently full of good stories as it was a penal establishment with Freo being the first 'drop off' from the old country.
Australia II won the Americas Cup in 1983 from the US skipper Dennis Connor onboard 'Liberty' that sent the old mug from the New York Yacht Club to Fremantle for the first time in 132 years, the same one the Kiwis managed to allow some unhappy Maori to smash up.
This had a major part in the redevelopment of this part of town & the now convicted criminal Alan Bond, also broke so we have been told (funny how his family still live in mansions), was a West Australian icon that set about in buying or developing half of the state.
Fremantle had never been the same again.
There is also a big student population in Freo so the local pubs are busy & with the influx of backpackers makes it for a cosmopolitan area with different eatery places too.
Worth a visit.
The markets attracts people too but weren't open as they are open on the weekend
Back to our foster parents place for the night to have a good home cooked meal.
We now headed in the opposite direction to the north of Perth as we had the hire car for a few more days.
The landscape is certainly more arid along this way & the trees that were all over in the Margaret River area have thinned out to be more bush.
The distances between towns grows considerably too.
We cleared the suburbs to get more semi-trailers on the road as well as the odd road train which are something to try & overtake.
A quick stop in Guilderton, which is a fishing town like most around these parts, where the caravan park is on the bend of the river that doesn't flow into the sea until there is a high tide.
Another very quiet place.
On the main road to turn off & head to Cervantes where we would find another motel as this is the closest town to the Pinnacle National Park where a very unusual natural formation can be seen.
I remember seeing 'Billy Connelly's world tour of Australia' where he visited this site on his three wheel trike but was dancing thru the sandstone pinnacles in the buff as the sun set over the water, an amazing sight the stone formations are.
Not so Mr Connelly.
We had a few hours to wonder about the rocks which some might think is too long but it was a very peaceful place with the wind blowing the shapes into the sand in the afternoon sun.
The deep yellow hue of the pinnacles against the blue sky with streaky white clouds & a dash of green vegetation made it a great place to shoot some snaps as the shadows stretched along the dunes that also gave these formations definition.
Almost sounds like an advert for a High Definition TV.
You could drive amongst them on a track as the area that these covered is quite huge & not what I expected.
A great afternoon in nature.
To set it all off we went to see the sun drop below the Indian Ocean water line as living in the east we don't get to see the sun set over the sea.
Another day in the west as we now headed back towards the city via an interesting little town called New Norcia that is actually a monastery town.
It was established in 1846 by Spanish Benedictine Monks to covert the local aboriginal population to Catholicism but ended up a refuge for European orphans after disease struck back home.
The Iberian Peninsular influences are apparent in the local church & style of the buildings in a town of less than 100 people that are mainly all within the church boundaries.
Something that you would never expect to find in the West or even anywhere in Australia.
Interesting & also worth a look.
Back to Perth in the afternoon as Byron & I had a date that evening at Gloucester Park, that is just on the east edge of the CBD, where a special stage had been set up for Rally Australia which was the last year it was to be staged in Western Australia.
The World Rally Championship (WRC) www.wrc.com cars were coming back in from the special stages that are around the city for their service area at Langley Park where we went for a look to see these multi-million dollar machines that are covered in dust & a few with some panel damage.
These drivers are something else & they wonder around the area as if they are around friends unlike their Formula One cousins that are living on their own planet.
We had a couple of hours before we had to be in our grandstand seats so we went for a beer, or three, firstly at the lucky shag which is on the Swan over looking the city & on a Friday afternoon one of those places to be.
Byron & I have shared a many beer over the time we have known each other which started back on a 6 week Contiki tour of Scandinavia & Russia which would change our lives.
More so for Byron than I as he would meet his future wife.
Ah the good old days.
There is nothing like a few beers to have all those flash backs.
Our seats at the special stage were great over looking the whole course so we sat back & watched these guys go at it for a few hours which was great.
For the record Mikkola Hirrovenon won the last WRC race in WA that has been staged since 1988, shame to see it go from Perth.
It seems that it is very difficult to get a taxi in Perth as we started to walk out & find our way back to Bedford which is only 20 mins out of the centre.
We almost made it half way home before we got one after most would ignore our attempts at waving them down.
In Sydney taxi drivers would pull across three lanes of traffic, run up the footpath in a no stopping zone & sacrifice a lamb to get a fare but in Perth you have to stand in front of them to get any reaction.
Then again in Sydney you are lucky to get one that speaks English or even know where the city is.
They are by far the worst taxi drivers in Sydney & believe me we have caught a few around the world.
Another place you must go to in & around Perth is what the locals refer to as Rotto!
So we got a ticket to get the ferry from the Barrack Street Wharf which took us on a cruise firstly down the Swan River to Fremantle & onto Rottnest Island which is only a 45min trip from Freo.
As it was a Saturday the boat was full of day trippers, as well as others that stay on the island for a few days, that is an institution in the Perth way of life.
You land at 'the Settlement', which is the only settlement on the island, where all the main facilities like shops, restaurant & pub are.
Most of the island is national park, you need to go thru them to book accommodation, with no cars around, very good, so you hire a bike to get around on the tracks.
A bus does run around too so that if you can't ride a bike people can still get to different parts of the island.
The water is a deep turquoise colour that is great for snorkelling, which is a favourite past time, along with what seems some of the whitest beaches in the world that are almost empty.
As you move away from the settlement the crowds thin out & you can easily have most of a cove beach to yourself.
Just watch out for the red-belly black snakes that we saw dashing across the road.
Another native are the Quokkas that populate the island & it is the only place in the world that these little marsupials can be found as well as how the island got its name.
The Dutch originally discovered this part of Australia in the 15th century but didn't think there was anything worth settling for, if only they knew about the iron ore!
They came across the island & found the little fellas to think they were some sort of rodent so hence Rottnest or rat nest island.
We had most of the day there, on the bikes we hired, & headed back on the late ferry with a few others that were a little sunburnt as it is very exposed & not too many shady trees to sit under.
We ran into Sharon's cousin Kim whom was over from Sydney at a friends wedding as it is a popular place for the locals to get hitched as well as other celebratory events.
We now had a few days in Perth to see the city after having explored the surrounds so had to go past Subiaco (Australian Rules) Football Ground where the current AFL premiership cup is after the West Coast Eagles beat the Sydney Swans by 1 point, Sharon is still mad about that, then again now it turns out that half the team was on drugs at the time which I am mad about too.
Bloody West 'Coke' Eagles.
The beaches of the city are a popular place to go for the locals on a nice sunny day with the favourites being Cottesloe & Scarbourgh that have many watering holes or places to get a bite to eat lined along them so you can sit & watch the sun go down, we did this one evening.
Of course these areas are also quite expensive patches of real estate.
The main CBD of Perth is quite a large piece of real estate, that might be worth a few dollars too, that stretches along the foreshore of the Swan River with a few high rise business buildings & more new inner city apartment buildings.
It isn't the busiest place in the world in downtown Perth & even in the mid-morning of a Monday work day there wasn't a lot of people around in the Burke Street Mall where we ventured to.
The usual array of shops that we have all over Australia are in the city, with a few other additions, but I managed to keep Sharon away from most of them & held onto the credit card tight.
Although she did manage to find the Jurlique day spa for an hour of treatment whilst I went off to see the mint.
I wouldn't rush back to the mint as it is quite small with not a lot to see considering how much they were charging to get in, a mint, but I did get to lift a block of gold, lots of the shiny stuff in the West, that was worth nearly as much as our flat.
If only I could have got it out of the reinforced box that it was contained in, then again the guy out the front with a pistol might have something to say.
The main drag in Perth is St George's Terrace which is where most of the business premises are located & just a few blocks away are the old Victorian style houses with a couple of posh private schools.
Like most cities in Australia, & even the world, they are going thru an urban renewal at present as inner city living is returning but at a cost.
Lots of tower cranes adorn the skyline with the resources boom happening people are investing.
The walk down by the Swan is a nice way to see the city which has been built mostly along the river with some prime real estate suburbs of Dalkeith, Peppermint Grove & Mosman Park being the pick of these.
Great views over the water & with the almost set your watch Fremantle Breeze, known as the Doctor, in the afternoon it is a cooling place to be under the big tree lined streets.
You can see why they like to live there.
We also caught up with one of Sharon's old work mates whom has returned to the west to start a family as well as being closer to her own & Kath was only too happy to get out of the house & have lunch in her local area which is only 10 minutes from the city.
The property boom was just about to take off when they moved back to Perth from Sydney so they were lucky to get a great little old house when they did.
Perth is a very family city in that it would be a great place to grow up as it is very safe but then you can imagine that some of the younger people wanting to get out to see some of the world as soon as they can, which we know some, but they do return to restart their lives after their 'crazy' days are over.
Then again this can be said for quite a few people living in different cities in the world.
It wouldn't be a visit to Perth if you didn't go for a walk around the Kings Park which provides you some of the best views of the city as it is elevated & gives you an idea of the surrounds, which for the most part are fairly flat.
Some of the wildflowers were still out in the afternoon sun as this was the end of the 'season' which has people from all over the world come to see these unique Australian plants in bloom.
The West Australian floral emblem is the Kangaroo Paw which comes in an array of red hues, yellows & greens which is a very unusual looking flower.
The lifestyle of Perth is one of living with the water as it is a city that embraces its carefree lifestyle on the west side of the country that seems completely removed from the fast pace, stressful lifestyle of Sydney & you could swear you are in a different country.
Boats & yachts can be seen dotted all along the Swan River under the big blue skies especially in the afternoon when there is that breeze.
Lots of English & South Africans have emigrated to WA as you can hear their accents all over town which also gives you the impression of not being in Australia.
No wonder the local rugby team, the Western Force, has a good fan base in the Super 14 competition.
One amazing fact is that the West Australian capital is actually closer to Jakarta than it is to its own national capital of Canberra but there is a lot of nothing between the two Aussie centres, which could also be said for the politicians that occupy them.
If you like to get away from it all & still be in a centre that has just about all you want you could do worse than spend a few days in Perth which even though it is a long way from the rest of us is a comfort that these qualities can still exist in a city of a million people.
Go West they say so we did to see almost quite literally how the other half live in a city that few from the east side will venture across to see & it is only those that don't go that are missing out.
It is different to the rest of Australia but then again that's what makes this country so very special in that we have such a huge variation to explore.
So explore you must.
