Birthday in Western Australia
Trip Start
Mar 13, 2008
1
3
40
Trip End
Jun 02, 2008
Perth, Australia
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The city itself is easy to navigate your way around, and has a nice mix of old style colonial buildings and modern skyscrapers. There's also heaps of cafes, and if you head out down Murray St in particular, there's also heaps of bars. Needless to say, I spent a fair bit of time down that part of town...
It's not all about bars & cafe's though, Perth is a great city if you like to spend time outdoors. For a start, it's very bike friendly, with plenty of cycle ways acrosss the city. It also has one of the largest green spaces to be found in any city; Kings Park. I was in Perth for the Easter holidays, when it seemed that most of the city's residents decended to Kings Park. Not only does the park offer superb views looking down onto the city, it has well kept botanical gardens, and, being in Oz, plenty of pic-nic areas, complete with dedicated barbeques.
Fremantle is a short boat ride away down the Swan River, and was one of the highlights of my stay here. The boat trip was pretty good, but the city of Fremantle is a great place to explore, and has a great buzz about the place, whether you're strolling through the colonial centre, or eating fish & chips at the waterfront. My only regret is that I didn't spend longer here - I will do next time.
The main highlight of my trip though was celebrating my birthday with an old school friend (Al) and his family, out by the coast. It's not often that I celebrate my birthday by popping open the champagne corks on the beach, and then swimming in the Indian Ocean as the sun goes down. It was then back to Al's for a barbeque, a few coldies, bit more champagne, and lots of red wine. Thanks to Al and family for a very memorable birthday, much appreciated!
