The South West ,Perth-Margaret River & more

Monday, October 29, 2012
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Saturday Oct. 27th
Its another gorgeous morning and it is suppose to be 35C today .
Perth has a Mediterrean climate ranging from 30C to 17C in the winter. The afternoon breezes are called "the Fremantle Doctor" which helps to cool things down for the evening and night. Perth is Australia's sunniest capitol with an average of 8 hours of sun per day.
Today we are doing things we haven't done before so began by checking out the place where we will be staying on Wednesday after we drop off the RV. Guildford looks like a very interesting place and will talk more about it later in the blog.
We drove through Perth and all its suburbs which are cities in their own rights to Fremantle. We were able to find a parking spot right downtown which was very nice and then we started to walk. Now we have been here before but we didn't see any street vendors selling jewelry, leather goods and clothes before so walked around to have a look. Then we headed off to find a coffee and was able to have a nice decaf cappicinio before walking around looking at the neat architecture of some of the old buildings. These are old for Australia but not like what one finds in Europe or the UK . We found the indoor market and unforunately we could't spend too much time there as our parking meter was going to run out and nothing is free on the weekends. We walked quickly through and got a glimpse of what was offered and the size and contents reminded us of the markets in Mumbi. I would love to return here to spend more time so maybe another day.
We stopped in Mandurah which is reminisent ot the Queen's Quay in TO. The weather was perfect and the restaurants were busy and the bay was busy with cruise boats moving around. One could take a cruise along the channell out into the ocean to see the dolphins. The singer was very good as well. We stopped for an ice cream cone as Eric was craving ice cream last night. He was a happy camper as the cones were huge and very tasty -- this was our lunch.
On our way out of Mandurah we saw homes with two care garages and yachts tied up at their back doors an the channels -- like Miami Beach.
We saw subdivision after subdivision and the construction was everywhere. You wonder where all these people are coming from to buy these places . The lots advertised on the billboards start at &350,000 and then you have to add the house etc.
Our final destination for the night was Busselton and after getting gas before we got to the campground we decide to explore this place tomorrow.

Sunday Oct.28th
It is a cool morning but the sun warms things up fast. Eric had trouble getting the step up on the van so wasn't in the best of moods to start off the day. We went into town and Busselton has one of the longest jettys that we have seen. You have to pay to walk out on the jetty and Eric refused so we just stood on the shore and had a look.
We drove to Margaret River and we have been here before. It is so much like Niagara-on-the-lake and that is one of my favourite spots. So we found a great parking spot in the middle of town and walked up one side of the main street and down the other. We even stopped and got a couple of new shirts for Eric as I threw out a couple of ratty ones so these needed to be replace.
We even got a goodcup of coffee. Today the town was busy as it is a tourist town.
Margaret River is surrounded by vineyards and winerys. There are also alot of olive groves with their own tasting rooms as well as B&Bs with restaurants attached.
We happened to come across Gracetown by accident as Eric wondered where this road would lead to and this is a place for surfers young and old alike. We stood up on the pier and watched them for awhile.
Next it was Yallingup which is a resort town catering to surfers as well .The villas are built into the side of the cliff and are several stories high. Most buildings aren't over two stories at the most.
We stopped in Dunsborough at the park for lunch overlooking the ocean. This place looks very new and modern.
Over lunch we decided to go back to look at a couple of winerys which caught our eye as we left Margaret River. The first place was the Saracen Estates and Duckstein Brewery which was opened Nov.1.2008. The landscaping was really something with all the lavender plants winding up the paved driveway. The restaurant sits out over the water which also houses a gift shop and a play ground for the kids. This place was really busy as people out for a Sunday afternoon getting a bite to eat and a drink. We just looked around.
Across the road is the Laurance Cellars with its entrance winding around a small lake with a waterfalls surrounding a statue of a mermaid. The rose garden was out in full bloom and the olive trees in the planter boxes were in bloom as well. The grapes on the vines were the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil in clusters . This is their spring so everything is starting to come to life. This place is also a restaurant and caters to weddings as the front lawn is the perfect setting.
Then Eric decided to go to Eagle Bay and Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. We got to climb the stairs to the top and learned the history of the lighthouse which is still working today. It has been modernized to work on electricity. At the top we could look out into the bay where we saw the humpback whales frolicing with their young. This is a spawing ground for the whales. We then drove down to the coast and looked back at the lighthouse.
Now it is back to the campgrounf in Busselton for the night.

Monday Oct. 29th
Thank-you for all the birthday and anniversary wishes.
We passes farmland with cows.sheep and horses on our way back to Perth this morning. We stopped in Fremantle to see if the markets were opened but they weren't. We were lucky to get a good parking spot right downtown and almost the same spot as we had on Saturday . However we finally got a haircut which we both needed and then had some lunch. On our way back into Perth we decided to drive into the city centre of perth just to have a look around. There is so much construction and road closures that it became a nightmare along with the pedestrian congestion. We found our way down to the water and programned the GPS to get us out of the city and to the campground for the night.

Tuesday Oct. 30th
Today is laundry day as everything has to be done for packing up tomorrow. Otherwise we spent a relatively quiet day sitting outside watching the ducks on the lake and their antics when the kids feed them. Some of them nip the hands and legs so there is lots of screaming. Everywhere we have gone kids are not in school which is something that i just can't understand unless they are schooled by correspondance.
It then clouded over late in the afternoon and the temperature has cooled off alot. We had to turn on the heater in the RV to take the chill off .

Wednesday October 31st.
Happy Hallowe'en
It is cloudy, overcast, windy and quite cool. It rained overnight. Had to have the heat on again this morning.
We had to clean up the RV and finish the packing as we have to return the RV at noon. We took the suitcases over to the hotel to keep for us so we didn't have to deal with them in the cab.
We drove to the airport in order to put in time so we had a coffee and got some lozenges for my sore throat. We returned the RV to Around Australia and once we got it all sorted out we got a cab back to Guildford and checked in before we had some lunch.
After lunch we started to walk around this old historic town dating back to the early 1840s. We saw the Wm. Padbury house, the backery and the Toc H house. The facade is basically the same but the places have changed inside. The Padbury house is now a restaurant and emporium. The backery has maitained the entrance but now is a private dwelling. The Toc H was a place for the troops to go after they returned from the war and consisted of a kitchen and a games room. After afew years it was shut down so the fellows could go on to fight their own battles. It is now a private residence.
Then the visitors centre is in the old courthouse so we went in to have a look around. Then it was on to the goal which was closed but we walked around and saw the house where the keeper of the jail lived. The post office is a counter in a little room but Eric had to buy some stamps.
The Rose and Crown Hotel where we are staying was built in 1841.
It is still cool this afternoon.
We had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant and then we had to get organized for a wake up at 2:30am for our 4am trip to the airport.



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Comments

Colleen
2012-11-03

You went right past Melissa's place. And this is very familiar territory to us. You have seen more than us though.

2025-02-10

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