Days 9-12 (February 18-21, 2024): AUSTRALIA

We knew the trek from the Philippines to Australia would be one of the toughest travel days of the trip, and it was.  For complex reasons (see the Transportation Log), we had to book separate airline tickets from the Philippines to Singapore, then Singapore to Indonesia, then Indonesia to Australia, with very little time to connect from one to the next, in order to make it to Perth in one day.  It all worked out in the end, but by the time we landed at Perth at 1AM, we were exhausted beyond the beyond.  Oh well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, as the saying goes!

When we exited the airport at Perth, the heat struck us like a brick.  Perth, which is on Australia’s western coast, is normally in the 18-30C range in February.  But they were in the midst of a major heat wave when we arrived, with highs into the mid-40s.  Even at 1AM, it was in the mid-30s.

Our hotel was a great choice in the heart of the city, and we were treated like royalty, with a free breakfast buffet each day and many other amenities.  We picked up our rental car — a very snazzy and spanking lot new red Audi Q2 — around 11:30AM the next morning and started in to explore Perth.  As this was our fourth trip to Australia, we were used to driving on the left.  Perth is filled with cameras at major intersections and along the highways to ding speedy drivers.  So when you consider driving on the left, all the cameras, and the tough (and crazy expensive) parking situation in Perth, driving was a wee bit stressful.  Somehow, we made it, however.  Time will tell whether we end up with a stash of red-light and speeding tickets from those cameras!

Our Aussie plan was simple:  one day to explore Perth and its neighbouring city, Fremantle;  one day to return to a favourite spot from our last trip — The Pinnacles;  and a morning to sew up some last sights around Perth.  Happily, all went according to plan.

We loved our time in Australia.  We were taken with the extraordinary natural sights; all the wildlife; the warmth of the people;  and the cleanliness (not a scrap of litter or graffiti), order and pride of property that is apparent everywhere.

The photos below detail our exploration.

You can see that our Perth arrival coincided with a major heat wave!

Central Perth

Perth has so much public art, like these cute geese. 

The Bell Tower in the heart of Perth’s downtown was built in 1988 to commemorate the bicentennial of Australia. It is the second largest set of change ringing bells in the world.  The 18 bells, known as the Swan Bells (after the Swan River that runs through Perth) were a gift from St Martin’s in the Field in London.

‘Spanda’ is one of Perth’s most noteworthy art installations, located in Elizabeth Quay. 

 

Taking a cruise of the Swan River is a big thing in Perth.  We didn’t have the hours it required, so we opted for a ride across the river to South Perth via TransPerth, the uber-impressive transit network.

Art installation at the ferry landing in South Perth. It is a lion!\

This art installation of five meerkats in South Perth, with a view of downtown, was one of our favourites! 

This art installation is called “First Contact”.  Located on the Esplanade in downtown Perth’s Elizabeth Quay, it is an aborigine work.  When the Noongar people first saw European settlers arrive in 1829, they saw the distant sails of the ships as floating birds that were bringing their ancestors back to life.

The Elizabeth Quay Bridge in downtown Perth. 

The view of Perth’s Central Business District from the Island at Elizabeth Quay. 

 After our ferry ride, we followed Lonely Planet’s walking tour of downtown Perth.  This is the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

These kangaroos (1997) are larger-than-life!  One of our favourite art installations! 

This is Government House, home of the Lieutenant-Governor for Western Australia.  For us, it had a striking resemblance to the Tower of London.  Built between 1859-1864. 

The Perth Concert Hall is the city’s premier performance venue, built in 1973.

In the scorching heat, we ducked in to see a quick exhibition of Howard Taylor’s “Studies in Light”.  The air conditioning — and the art — were wonderful! 

Perth’s City Hall was built in 1870 in a Gothic style.  It is Australia’s only city hall built by convicts!  (One must remember that Australia was a penal colony for Britain.)

St. George’s Anglican Cathedral, built 1889-1984 in a Gothic style.  The striking installation named ‘Ascalon’ was built in 2011.  It was named after the lance used by Saint George to slay the dragon.

Treasury Building, part of the State Buildings cluster.

All through downtown Perth, there are sidewalk inserts highlighting key figures in Perth’s history.

On thing that strikes you throughout Perth is the way that Australia’s involvement in armed conflict is commemorated.  There are so many memorials!  Like this one, on the edge of the Surpreme Court Gardens.

The RAC Arena is an example of the modern architecture one finds in Perth.  It was right across the street from our hotel.

 

Mata Garup Bridge is a suspension pedestrian bridge over the Swan River.  It is locally known as ‘Swan Bridge’, as it appears to show two swans meeting.  It symbolizes the coming-together of diverse cultures.  On the right is Optus Stadium, Perth’s largest stadium.

 

King’s Park is one of the largest urban parks in the world and at 400 hectares is 60 hectares larger than Central Park in New York City.  You can see its size, in relation to downtown Perth.  We spent a good chunk of the afternoon exploring it.

 

This impressive row of gum trees leads the visitor into the Park via Fraser Avenue.

Statue of Queen Victoria 

The view of two TransPerth ferries meeting in the bay of the Swan River, east of King’s Park.  (The same ferry run we took earlier in the day.) 

 

The view of downtown Perth from King’s Park.

War Memorial in King’s Park. 

Lord Forrest was an Australian explorer and politician.

This ‘boab tree” was moved from another part of Australia to King’s Park and seems quite happy in its new location. 

The “DNA Tower” at King’s Park. 

Australia has so many small for-legged animals, including bandicoots.  And, when you are married to a music teacher, there is a song for everything!  So Pam broke into her “Bandicoot Song”! 

It was so moving to see trees all over King’s Park dedicated to the memory of specific veterans. 

As with the damage to Halifax’s Public Gardens, idiotic vandals are also at work in Perth.  Who in their right mind would set fire to a city park!

David, conquering Australia and all its nasty critters! ;-) 

Fremantle

This is the Fremantle Arts Centre.  The building was constructed by convicts and opened its doors in 1864 as the ‘Convict Establishment Fremantle Lunatic Asylum and Invalid Depot’.  What a name!  The building has had many uses over the years, but none as gentrified as its present-day use for the arts.

Lots of churches in Fremantle, like this Presbyterian example.

One of the top sights in Fremantle is the Fremantle Prison, which we toured on our last visit to Fremantle.  (This time, we settled for some external photos.)  The prison was constructed by convicts between 1852-1859.  Britain used Australia as a place to send its convicts and to put them to work at expanding the empire.  There is no better example of all this than in Fremantle.  The prison was used until 1991.  And just to show the pecking order among the prison’s administration, from top left and going closwise:  the prison’s main entrance;  the warden’s home;  the magistrate’s home; and the surgeon’s home.

Fremantle had (has!) such a unique building style, featuring balconies and corrugated steel roofing.  The heart of Fremantle has been stunningly restored to protect these styles.

The Fremantle Round House is the oldest building still standing in Western Australia.  Built in 1830, it was first used as a jail, and later as a police lock-up, living quarters, and storage facility for the Port of Fremantle.

Bather’s Beach in Fremantle.

The Western Australian Maritime Museum moved into this impressive facility in 2002.  One of the things it details is the impact of immigration on Australia.  Similar to Pier 21 in Halifax, all the ships that arrived in Fremantle carrying immigrants to settle Australia are listed, as well as a great amount of information on passengers. 

This moving statue shows two Japanese immigrants arriving in Fremantle’s Port.

The Oberon-class submarine HMAS Ovens is an authentic Cold-War Era vessel that is permanently moored next to the Western Australian Maritime Museum.

The opening of Fremantle’s harbour to the open ocean at dusk.

 Transportation Odds ‘n Sods!

 I’ve included this section because we saw so many neat things on our route from Perth to the Pinnacles.

Western Australia was experiencing an unusually hot spell for February, while we were there.  We’ve all seen media coverage of Australia’s fires in the past.  So seeing this warning on the freeway was a stark reminder of the seriousness of the situation in Western Australia.

 

Perth’s population has ballooned to 2.1 million.  We were impressed at its infrastructure — and by the way the City is adding infrastructure to accommodate this boom.  Take the light rapid rail system.  They have brilliantly added the tracks and stations in the centre of the freeway. 

Another thing that we noted was the strong linkage between the UK and Australia, in terms of the way things are expressed.  Consider the use of the term “overtaking”, for example:  as a word in a highway traffic context, it makes a lot of sense.  But it’s so British!  We would never say that in Canada.

And yet another example of Aussie brilliance:  How many accidents happen on two-lane highways because of people falling asleep and veering over the line into oncoming traffic?  Well, the Aussies have added a buffer, complete with perforated asphalt. 

The wildlife signage is so unique to Australia.  No moose or deer signs here! 

And we just have to show off the Audi Q2 we rented.  It was such a great car to drive!

 Nambung National Park

 

This is grevillia petrophiloides, a beautiful flowering tree that saw frequently along the highway.

 

These stunning white sand dunes rise out of the desert from nowhere!  If it wasn’t for the 40C temperature, you’d swear they were snow banks. 

And now for the piece de resistance - the reason we drove two hours north of Perth!  We loved the Pinnacles on our last trip to Perth and had to get back to see them.  They did not disappoint!  Scientists really cannot explain them.  The remnants of a petrified forest is one explanation.  But honestly, from reading what we read in the visitor centre, we were left with an overwhelming, “Hmm… they really have no clue how these were made and whey they are here!”  We are sharing a lot of photos of our time at the Pinnacles, because we simply couldn’t choose!

 

 

Also in Nambung National Park, but 15 minutes further north from the Pinnacles, is the saline Lake Thetis with its Strombolites (living fossils).  In 2020, we stumbled upon the Thrombolites in Flower’s Cove on Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula, which are similar but larger.  Thrombolites are found in only a few sites on Earth.  Strombolites are also rare. 

Other Sights in our tour north of Perth  

The town of Cervantes (population 527) is a fishing community north of the Pinnacles.  An example of a sleepy little Aussie town on the Indian Ocean. 

David touching the Indian Ocean! Notice the sunshades in the upper left of the photo.  It’s just another example of the way the Aussies do very practical things:  even this tiny town has great beach facilities and offers sun shades to the public.

On our way back to Perth, we stopped in Two Rocks, a booming community along the Indian Ocean, where great swaths of beachfront are being turned into housing developments.  Advertisements for two-bedroom villas for $425,000 AUD were everywhere.  This tacky but massive Neptune statue oversees all that is going on! 

A little further south of Two Rocks is Yanchep, with a beautiful beach and lagoon. 

Yanchep National Park

Someone at The Pinnacles told us we would be guaranteed to see wildlife if we stopped in Yanchep National Park on the way back to Perth.  We were not disappointed!

Our first wildlife encounter was this huge spider.  Australia is known for its nasty and massive spiders.  This one was bigger than we have at home, but still far less venomous and scary than the ‘big ones’!

We saw three koala bears taking afternoon naps in the gum trees.

We also saw three kangaroos, resting in the late afternoon heat.  (We saw two others napping at the Pinnacles.). They like to dig holes in the sand to form a bed of sorts.

And the birds!  There were so many cockatoos at Yanchep, and we saw a lot of these parrot-like birds.

Western Australia Museum

We decided to spend our last morning in Perth exploring the amazing — and I mean AMAZING — new Western Australia Museum, which was completed in 2020.  It incorporates the old Perth Library in a brilliant manner that combines old and new.

This is the skeleton of a blue whale, which hangs in the main hall of the former Perth Library, now part of the museum.

Some of the ‘macropods’ that inhabit Western Australia.  Did you know that kangaroos and wallabies and possums have forward-opening pouches, whereas wombats and koalas have backward-opening pouches? 

Some of the reptiles of Western Australia.  They have some of the most venomous snakes in the world!  If it’s a snake and it’s brown, don’t mess around!

And let’s not forget about the spiders! Australia has some of the world’s largest and most venomous.  Consider this Giant Spiny Trapdoor spider, which only lives in dry areas of Western Australia.

This is the oldest grape wine in Australia, dating back to the 1800s.

There is a large permanent exhibit at the museum which reflects on Australia’s dark past vis-a-vis the Aborigines. May 1, 1946 was an important day for the Aborigines, as they pushed for the right to be considered as human beings.

There is nothing more Aborigine than the boomerang.

The exhibit explained about the massacres that took place among Aborigine communities.  During what has become known as the 'Frontier Wars', Aborigines fought to defend themselves and their country, with many violently murdered in the clashes with white settlers.

The massacres of Aboriginal people became "larger, more organised and ruthless" as the decades went on.  This map shows locations of the massacres that took place in Western Australia.

A Few Last Odds ‘n Sods

Did you know that, even though you can buy a Whopper in Australia, there is no Burger King?  BK is known as Hungry Jacks across Australia.

This is just another example of the brilliance of Aussies!  Australia Post uses these three-wheeled vehicles to enable its carriers to be nimble in delivery and pick-up of the mail in urban centres.

Restaurant food is quite expensive in Australia.  We were taken aback by the cost, actually.  But still, the food quality was exceptional.  Take these Asian dishes we had for dinner one evening.