Perth Trip 2022

 Perth trip day by day 

Day 1 (Thursday) - Perth.

Staying in an area called Subiaco, this is a suburb of Perth in the north west, about 2km from the train station. Walked to train station to into ‘town’, a number of different types of ticket available and after speaking with a very helpful guy, we got the day saver as this allows train and bus all day. 10$ each. We later realised its not what we needed as we didn't use the bus part, as there are free bus routes in Perth. 

Before going into Perth, we wandered around Subiaco first; there was a park with a monument to the Irish arriving here. Actually ended up being young girls sent over to be wife's of residents already here.

 

Anyway enough of Subiaco headed into Perth again more wandering. Did the museum!!!! 

Walked to the Botanic Gardens (Kings Hill), bad idea, on the map it looked just around the corner, in actual fact it was 3 km away on a hot day, through traffic :) 

Anyway. Had a spot of lunch, sausage rolls and a salmon sandwich.

Took the free bus back down to the town, which we should have taken to get here.

Strange day, still trying to get into the mode of travelling, not working etc. 

Day 2 (Friday) - Perth.

Today JC had arranged tours. First was the bell tower in barrack square. 

History of bells. We got to do bell ringing. Seen the 6 ton bell ring at midday.

Quick 20 min walk to the Mint, we arrived just in time for the start of the tour to see how gold was made. The mint here is the second largest mint in Australia. Canberra mint is larger.

Lunch in a pub across the road, quick pint and glass of wine with chips and a chicken wrap.

Afternoon was spent wandering the pedestrian area in Perth 

Back to apartment that evening to the Airbnb where Jem cooked fajitas for dinner, lovely

Day 3 (Saturday) - Perth/Fremantle.

Heavy rain overnight woke us a few times. In the morning no rush to get up, we had planned to go to Fremantle today; rain lightened off and we got to the train station by 10am only to find train didn’t go all the way to Fremantle due to engineering works, so instead had to catch replacement bus. All part of the adventure :) 

 

Arrived in Fremantle around 11am. 

Walked to shipwreck museum first, just as we entered the place fell into darkness, they had a power cut, we later found out it was a whole area/streets.

So we decided to head back out, walked along some of the harbour, loads of fish and chip places but too early for that.

So instead headed into town, market street towards the market. Stopped for coffee. Meh and custard tarts in an Italian café. 

Next headed to prison museum. This was an interesting guided tour, different options for tickets, we just took the next available one.

Tour starting in 20 mins at 1pm.

22$ each. 

Lunch in Cicerellos fish and chips place. Food was good but the seagulls annoying.

Back to the shipwreck museum after lunch as power now back on.

Time for a pint next, Little creatures brewery is based here so as they say might as well. But we walked in looked about and decided no, not sure why but it just didn't feel right to me. 

A better choice for a pint and one we would return to is the Norfolk hotel. Great selection of ales.

That evening, back on the train to Subiaco. Too early to go back to the Airbnb though. Two choices in walking distance, the Village Inn or The Bark.  The village inn had a large area reserved for a party so we went to the bark. Great choice, lovely choice of wines and a great crowd. Also got a ham and cheese platter board here. More wine too:-)

Eventually back to the Airbnb. Clothes washing to be done for DC.

Day 4 (Sunday) - Perth.

Late start but got train back into Perth. This time we just bought single tickets.

Western Australia National Museum first, 20$ entrance to see the dinosaur exhibit. Also had several other floors general (free) admission. 

1pm needed a coffee. Found Chet’s cafe where we had a muffin and sausage roll, with our coffees.

Wandered around the streets some more. 

Returned to a great bookshop -  planet books.

Had lovely ice cream next door.

Then we had to go Myers shopping center, I needed a new pair of jeans.

It was Sunday so a lot of places closed or closed early.

Started raining so ended up in a Belgian café for drinks. 

Jem had a Taster platter- Trappist ales. (Duval was favorite)

I stuck with lager. 

Back to Airbnb. Needed food, supermarkets closed so we found a  lovely Thai restaurant called Six Senses in Subiaco. 

Jem - Prawn Chili basil noodles and Dave - chicken green Thai. Yum.

Heavy rain all night, this was our last night in Subiaco before we picked up the car the next day to head off on the open road.  

Last night. Packed/repacked etc.

Day 5 (Monday) - Fremantle - Car pickup.

Heavy rain overnight meant for a wet morning.

Packed and out by 9am. We never seen the Airbnb hosts, keys are all through lockboxes etc. Great idea really. The Airbnb in Subiaco was lovely, a modern granny flat with everything you would need for a stay. 

Of course Uber app wouldn’t work, still not sure why, foreign number or foreign card maybe anyway, ended up calling a cab company. 

Taxi to Fremantle $44.50, they had quoted approx. 50.

Straight to Avis, lovely friendly girl checked us in and brought us to car. 

Toyota Camry hybrid

2307 including returnable 400$ bond.

Headed out of Fremantle heading south. Ah the open road...

Stopped for a coffee and sausage rolls on-route.

Headed then to Turat forest to see them Thrombolites a 650m year old stones that live in the water.

Then onwards to Bunbury, stopped in Coles supermarket for some snacks to have picnic by beach. 

Walk to see a lighthouse.

A lot closed on Monday's, dolphins etc.

Headed onwards to Busselton where we were staying in a Baudins B&B.

A strange house. Communal living room and kitchen area with 4 bedrooms off it. Each had there own lock box to access bed room. 

Comfortable evening, planning next few nights where staying and booking them. Done now till next Monday.

Food wise lovely pub on crossroads just down from the B&B. 

Fish pie and Glass of rosé  (JC) and a burger, chips and a pint of coke (DC).  

Day 6 (Tuesday) - Margaret River.

Communal breakfast area had cereals juice and bread for toast all laid on, help yourselves.

Headed off by 8:45am. Heading to Cape Naturalistic lighthouse first. We had a booked tour thankfully as all booked for the rest of the day.

Interesting tour up the lighthouse only one of two on west coast still in working order. 

Seen whales (humpback) breaching, this was a common passing point for them. 

Afterwards headed to Bunker bay this is where the reef dropped 75 meters and two oceans meet. Conflicting waves interesting to watch. great surfers here. 

Then along to eagle bay again more waves and surfers. 

Lunch time, we had booked Eagle bay brewery. 

After lunch headed to Yallingup. This will then lead us southwards to Margaret river.

Staying tonight in Margaret river for two nights.

Day 7 (Wednesday) - Margaret River.

Breakfast across the road in a café called drift (38$)

Went to

Betteny winery first, but as it was only 10:15am we thought to early to be visiting too many vineyards after this one. So, instead headed to Gracetown to watch the surfers. Walked and took photos, until it started raining.

Found Gracetown general store and had a lovely coffee there, strange store with strange stuff in it. catered  guess for people living in vans :)

Next stop was Vasse Felix we did a tasting here and bought a lovely sparkling wine to have later. 

Headed then to Redgate coast and ate a turkey sandwich picnic.

Back to Margaret river that evening, were we had evening dinner drink with a friend (Nadeem).

Dinner was Thai. Green curry, lovely. Had to book though. 

Day 8 (Thursday) - Pemberton.

The day of the drive to Pemberton

We had a lovely breakfast in Margs cafe. Bacon, a mountain of bacon and some eggs.

First petrol 40$ on way out of town.

Detour to Augusta to see Cape leeuwin lighthouse. This is also where the Southern and Indian Ocean meet. The lighthouse completely covered for painting and/or repair work at the moment.  Not as good as Cape Naturalistic I thought.

Continued the drive, stopped at Nillup Village general store (in the middle of nowhere) for a coffee.

Onwards to the falls- Beedelup falls. Strange wobbly bridge to cross here. $15 dollars to park in the carparks but ticket could be used all day if went to other parks, we didnt. 

Stopped off in “hidden river” winery, only $5 for a tasting - bit weak tbh. Wasn’t really impressed with them. 

Stayed in a very quiet town, a lovely B&B but nothing open.

Day 9 (Friday) - Albany.

Left for long drive to Albany today (280kms)

First town we hit Walpole was about 1.5 hours in. Stopped for coffee and a muffin for breakfast.

Onwards to the tree top walk, interesting walkway 40 meters up in the air in the trees. Did the loop twice as people were stopping to talk first time round. 

Onwards then to Albany (100kms) still to go.

Checked in lovely self contained Airbnb for next three days -  Dolphins resort, in Middleton just a suburb of Albany. Would recommend it here.

Went for walk at 6pm it was getting dark. Just around the corner a Little creatures pub. Was packed got a table outside but once we ordered they found a place inside for us. Just the one drink each and a bowl of chips. Before heading back to make dinner in the Airbnb, lamb chops and potatoes with broccoli. Yum.

Evening on the laptop catching up on stuff. Want to transfer this to blog with some photos.

Day 10 (Saturday) - Albany

Great nights sleep. Eyes closed 10:15pm woke at 7am. One of the best beds anywhere we stayed.

We had shopped yesterday evening for groceries. So had egg omelets with potato on toasted bread rolls for breakfast in the Airbnb. Great having a kitchen in these places. Preferred over just a hotel room.

Afterwards a walk down to the beach. Great hill walk, a few kms. Seen some wildlife, watched for whales. 

Back into Albany then walk around Main Street. All the shops.....great book shop here. 

Decided lazy day today. We have some days to spare this time. Thinking of extending by a day here.

Afternoon back for some homemade lunch in the bnb.

We had booked Rustlers steak restaurant for dinner at 7 tonight.

Day 11 (Sunday) - Albany.

Breakfast in apt again. 

Drive out to…

  - The gap

  - The natural bridge

  - The blowholes

  - Frenchman’s bay, lovely beach

Came back into Albany stopped for a coffee and scone, coffee and banana cake. Book shop bought map for later adventures in Australia next year.

Got more petrol ready for long drive back up to north Perth. 

We had tried to extend by one night here but they were fully booked. So decided to move on northwards. 

Day 12 (Monday) - Mount Barker.

Breakfast in apt again

Headed to poroungu area

Castle rock was our first stop. 

A hard 2km climb up to see a rock. (seemed a good idea and not too far). Once there a clamber over more rocks and then a ladder straight up 7 meters to a walkway.

Tough morning :-)

Had a well deserved picnic here before moving onwards.

We then took a drive to the tree in a stone. I wasn't excited about this as much as I should have been maybe :)  tick in the box.  

Short drive into village that had nothing opened.

Drove onto mount barker, hotel here for tonight. 

Quiet town really quiet. Went for a coffee and the cafes were all closing at 3pm!!!! 

Found a hotel had a coffee there they do food till 8pm, so will return later.

Hotel had ok food and ok beers.

Swan beer pint (DC) and a red Shiraz for JC

Ordered food, specials of the day 

• parmi chips and salad (chicken)
• Marmon pie chips and salad (fish)

Tasty food.

Day 13 (Tuesday) - Two Rocks (North of Perth).

Today is re-position day

We decided we had seen enough down south and as we still have a week to go decided to move up to areas north of Perth.

A long drive (for us) though. 432kms. 5 hours with breaks.

The motel last night was fine it did the job.  Bed wasn’t that comfortable but that’s just part of the deal travelling all the time, some are good some are bad.

Last night was on the bad side. 

Anyway awake and up early and out before 8. Headed to the recommended bakery for breakfast. Coffee and sausage roll for me and coffee and muffin for JC. 

Then onto the road, music selected and go... stopped off at 200km for a break. The woolshed, another coffee and food. (Yes another sausage roll, DC loved the sausage rolls in Australia).

Then the rains started oh so heavy but thankfully short, these happened several times on the drive. Only once did we have to pull in and stop as we couldn’t literally see the end of the bonnet. Got more petrol here, cheapest we had seen it (1.38, everywhere else was 1.70's)

Eventually got to Two Rocks. Quiet place. Rested the afternoon. Went looking for a place for dinner again everywhere shuts by 5, the tavern we were looking for showed as open on google but was closed along with everywhere else. Eventually found an Italian cafe / restaurant had a lovely parmi and chips. Jem has a prawn pasta dish. Over dinner started discussing next few weeks and we’re we will be in either uk or Ireland etc.

Back to the b&b for the evening read and wrote up notes etc. so quiet here.

And so ends another day. 

Day 14 (Wednesday) - Two Rocks.

Breakfast at the b&b. Made our own brekkie. Scrambled eggs in microwave on toast. Lovely instant coffee.

Spoke to the other couple staying here, they are travelling south had been way up north. 

She mentioned an author to look up

Peter fitzsimons - wrote a book about the Bativia ship story.

Headed out later than usual. To Yanchap park. 15$ entry again, same deal.

Looked out for the (single) koala then further onto the park we spotted kangaroos. 

Walked a few walks here.

Very quiet. 

From here headed to the gravity center and observatory. That the bnb couple had told us about.

Interesting visit. 

The observatory had a long roof not a dome. So opened by sliding on rails.

Interesting chat about darkness and finding out where was darkest place.

From here drive to beach. 

Went looking for mall or cinema found neither. Back to Two Rocks and found the pub that was closed yesterday (closed they said at 6pm), we won’t get used to this closing early lark. 

Had two pints here before going back to Oscar’s (the Italian) from last night for dinner. Again really only place opened.

Lasagna and chips (DC), Lamb chops with wedges and a salad (JC).

Back to the apt around 8pm. Early nights are still hard to get used too. 

Too early again. Tired but can’t go to bed at that time. I went down to lounge and was on phone etc.

The end of another day; tomorrow we head further north, basing out of Cervantes for three days.

Pinnacles also planned for tomorrow.

Day 15 (Thursday) - Cervantes.

Breakfast in apt, chat with the other couple.

Headed off around 10am for Cervantes. 1.5 hours, but with stops will be longer.

Stopped off first at Lancelin had a quick coffee. Took pictures of the sea. Probably alive at weekends with surfers. Great place for cray fishing you can buy directly off the boat on their return. Not today for us though. Back on the road.

Next stop was because we seen a sign for Nilgen lookout. 

Pulled in. 15 mins to lookout, 30 mins for flower walk. 

Wow the flies are aggressive here, fly by attacks. DC stayed in car.

Onwards to the Pinnacles national park where we did a 1.2km walk thru the pinnacles. Decided not to drive the 4km route as not tarmac just hard packed red sand. These are amazing standing stones that have been covered in sand for thousands of years and now uncovered (winds) there were different theories as to how they were created but they are still here. We were going to drive around but it was sandy roads where we decided 4 wheel drive would be better so instead we did a 1km walk that overlapped the drive anyway so seen the same but closer up. Would recommend the walk over drive for this for sure. 

After the pinnacles we went looking for the B&B in Cervantes; again a quiet town but found the place. Lovely 2 story house, the owners live upstairs and rent out the 3 rooms downstairs. English couple living here 30+ years.

Asked about places to eat only a few but we decided after driving round on the tavern. 

We had a few drinks in the tavern and dinner. Jem had fish (Spanish mackerel) and chips, I had a lovely Wagyu burger. 

Seen the steaks they looked good maybe tomorrow.

Back to the B&B around 8. Had Netflix etc. lovely warm room. 

Day 16 (Friday) - Cervantes.

Good nights sleep, woke up to electricity gone but owner had a generator.

One other couple from Brisbane at breakfast. Breakfast was continental but tasty. Fruit, breads, muffin, egg. All very tasty. Loved the fruit and yogurt.

Great chat with the owners over breakfast.

Headed off to next town called Jurien bay (??) stopped at IGA (Supermarket) to pick up groceries for picnic. Then headed off for Laseur park. But the last 10km was not tarmac. So we turned around as the going was rough and slow.

Headed along the coast to place called “green head” were we stopped for coffee. In a house that had a gallery in the shed out the back. Surreal place really could have been anyone's house.

Leeman beach, I read Jem walked.

Back to b&b stopped off to see the Strombolites on the way.

Food at the tavern again, delicious Pork belly (JC) , Steak (delicious also) - DC.

Day 17 (Saturday) - Cervantes

B&b breakfast again, more chats about travel this time. 

Hadn’t really decided on anything today but after breakfast decided that a drive anyway in order. We had only gone north last few days so decided to go south not far just to a beach. 

Closest we could get was a park with a 1km walk to beach. It was lovely. It was empty. 

After that we headed northwards again pulled into another stop by a beach. Jem walked.

At this point it was now midday or so. 

So headed back to Cervantes to the lobster shack for lunch. It was busy but we got a nice seat outside with umbrella etc. Jem ordered half a lobster I had chicken burger as only none fish option.

2 drinks later we were still there. Glorious day, sun shining but a cooling breeze every now and again. Perfect.

After lobster shack we came back to B&B for a relaxing read. Jem sat outside on porch area. I stayed in bed reading. 

Eventually both had siesta. hah lazy day holiday. 

Sunset at 6:12pm we decided at 600pm to go see sun setting.

Then dinner at the tavern again.  This was the only option as the club we wanted to go too was closed, no chef we found out afterwards, he had left. 

Jem had pasta I had wagu burger. Enough burgers for a while, please.

Back to room repacked as wanted an earlier start tomorrow.

Day 18 (Sunday) - Fremantle.

Breakfast and chats with owners and another couple. Again breakfast took longer than usual, but its good to hear other people views about places. Local knowledge :)

Headed off at 9am….

New Norica to see the Spanish Benedictine created town with active monastery known for their food. Visited the museum and art gallery. Abbey church open. Coffee and sausage rolls (!!) with sauce at local cafe petrol station. ($24)

Then headed south to Sorrento to visit the West Australian aquarium.  ($32 each, paid cash). Interesting exhibits as all based on local reefs in west Australia. 

Then south to Fremantle to stay in the Hueguonot (?) cabin hotel. Hip hotel with micro brewery next door. Very small rooms, wasn't impressed but it was central. Dinner booked at Norfolk hotel had a live DJ. Smoky Tommy margarita pizza and dark lager to drink. ($24)

Dinner burger (again) and a pizza -$43

Day 19 (Monday) - Fremantle

Quiet day. Had quick breakfast in hotel toast and coffee. Jem then headed off to the gym. I walked the streets (5km). 

After gym went out to maritime museum. ($15 each). Half hour video on whale’s.

Phone call (Russ) quick catch-up.

After this wandered back for lunch. Little island brewery closed today. 

We ended up in lovely Thai restaurant around 2:45pm with closing at 3pm but they served us, food delivered by robot. 

More wandering around ships and then back to hotel for queens funeral showing on TV.

Spent rest of evening watching that.

Day 20 (Tuesday) - Fremantle.

The final day. Today we fly to Singapore. 

Up at 7am for breakfast first then back to the room to re-pack both cases and charge up everything. 

Jem had admin emails to do.

Check out at 11am. 

We had asked hotel about booking a taxi ($120) but they didn't really want to, said they were unreliable etc. So we decided no problem, 10 min walk to train station, $10 each for ticket to Perth and bus out to airport, so saved $100 on that trip. 

Flight at 6;00pm. Of course there were delays, so instead of arriving at 11pm it was closer to 1am the next day.. In bed by 2:20am. Night.

The End.