Sunday 30th Oct, Monday 31st Oct,
Tuesday 1st Nov, Wednesday 2nd Nov, Thursday 3rd
Nov, Friday 4th Nov and Saturday 5th Nov.
Sunday
Went up to Fremantle again today. This is the first time we have been on a
Sunday and there are a few stalls that aren’t there on a Friday. The markets are a very interesting place and
before you make purchases in the fruit and vegetable area you are encouraged to
try the produce. In most cases there are
containers of pieces of the fruit there for you to take a piece to try. Some of the fruit is a good price. We got good size mangos from there for $2.50
each and they were $4.99 each from Woolies and you couldn’t try the Woolies
mango.
Ruth came to Fremantle with us and then headed off to
Perth. She went to see some galleries in
Fremantle and then went to the art gallery in Perth. Jan, Bernie, Deb and I went to a pizza place
for lunch. Andy took us there when we
were here in 2008. The place was exactly
the same and I think the prices were as well.
Nice pizza, quick service and good price.
Managed to park in the same car park where we did in
2008. It was really close to the markets
and the main business area in Fremantle.
After lunch we picked up some stuff from the Oxfam shop for Caron and
headed south. We did a small detour into
Rockingham and since it was a very hot day we had to visit Baskin and
Robins. Generous serves of rum and
raisin, citrus swirl, double chocolate and others that shall remain nameless.
Deb picked Ruth up from Mandurah station. Ruth rang us as she was leaving Perth and
then Warnbro. We were than able to time
our run to Mandurah station. Deb got
there as Ruth’s train arrived. Good
timing.
Monday
Today we went up to a little town called New Norcia. This is a town that was started in 1847 by
Spanish Benedictine Monks. It was originally
an Aboriginal Mission. Getting there
took a little longer than I thought because we tried to bypass the main part of
Perth and used some of the roads other than freeways or highways that skirted
the centre. It was a nice run and we saw
parts of the country that we hadn’t seen before. Went past Pearce RAAF Base and didn’t realise
it was so far from Perth. I hope there
is good public transport for the airmen employed there.
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| New Norcia Hotel Was once hostel for the community. Still run by the monks |
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| St Gertrudes College |
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| Olive Workshop where they process Olive Oil |
Ruth did a 2 hour guided tour of the village which she
thoroughly enjoyed it. The tour covered
most of the buildings and their functions over the years which were things like
olive processing, bakery etc..
Unfortunately some of the buildings are falling into disrepair either
because they are not being used or because of the construction. They produced their own bricks and used a mud
mortar which looks like it is breaking down in some of the more exposed
external walls.
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| The Church for the Community |
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| The Monestry |
Some of the old colonial buildings like the old court house
are still there and being used as private residences.
Tuesday
Cleaning day today.
Jan, Bernie and Ruth fly out this evening and as it is our last day in
the house here in Falcon it needs to be put back into the same shape it was in
when we arrived, not that it was put out of shape to any degree. We used the barbecue and outdoor setting
which had to be put back in the garage and all the linen had to be washed and
put back on the beds.
Everyone got stuck in and got everything done. We had all the cleaning done pretty early and
had to wait for the washing. Our biggest
problem was transport because we had all our travelling gear which spilled over
into the back seat and we had acquired 3 passengers plus their luggage. We solved the problem by putting Jan, Bernie
and Ruth along with some small suit cases on the train at Mandurah and sending
them up to Rockingham where Suzanne picked them up and took them to Caron and
Andrew’s place.
We loaded the rest of the gear and then went to Warnbro
where we unloaded into the house. I’m
sure David believes he is related to Gypsies because we keep arriving,
disappearing and turning up again. We
took Ruth, Bernie and Jan to the airport at about 10.00 pm as their plane left
before midnight. Jetstar had moved the
time of departure around a few time so they were determined that they would be
there on time.
We returned to Warnbro for the night.
Wednesday
Headed up the Indian Ocean Drive today towards the town of
Cervantes and a geographical formation called the Pinnacles which are limestone
formations that protrude from the floor of the desert. The town of Cervantes is the closest town,
about 15 km, to the Pinnacles and was first settled in 1962 as part of the
Western Rock Lobster Fishery.
On our way, we did something that we seem to do regularly
and that is to turn off the main road.
We headed for the Moore River Roadhouse where we were going to have some
morning tea. What we found was the town
of Guilderton which is absolutely beautiful.
It is on the mouth of the Moore River and has to be seen to be
believed. The caravan park is set so
that it looks out to sea over the mouth of the river between headlands on
either side. We have already recommended
that Jan and Bernie visit there on their future caravanning adventures.
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| View Overlooking Guilderton |
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| View Looking Out to Sea from Caravan Park |
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| Looking Upriver from Caravan Park |
When we got to Cervantes we went to our accommodation where
the owner was a font of information, where to eat, where to have a nice cuppa,
the best way to get the most out of our visit to the Pinnacles. He also informed us that there was no crime
in Cervantes by informing us that there were 265 residents in Cervantes and 260
of them were in bed by 7.30 at night.
This was borne out by the fact that when we turned up at our unit which
was a couple of streets away the door was wide open, the screen door was not
locked and windows were open to get the breeze.
We had a drive around the town and headed out to the
Pinnacles. There was an interpretative
centre there that closed at 4.30 pm and our host had advised us to see it. He was not wrong. There is a road that wends its way through
the Pinnacles. It is well defined and
suitable for ordinary 2 wheel drive vehicles.
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| Some Limestone Pinnacles |
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| Lots of Limestone Pinnacles |
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| Pinnacles Surrounded by Sand |
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| Looking Back |
We actually did three circuits. The first we did to just have a look. The second we did to get pictures of the
Pinnacles and their environment and the third was to get to the viewing
platform which was about of a third of the way around. I don’t know how many pictures we took but
there were a few. Deb got some beautiful
photographs of a kangaroo with a joey in its pouch, I got pictures of it
bounding away.
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| Pinnacles at Sunset - Can you see the kangaroo? |
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| Kangaroo and Joey |
The sunset was absolutely spectacular. At times it looked like the heavens were on
fire. I should get some filters for the
camera to cut down on some of the glare.
An ultra-light aircraft flew over while we were there. They would have had a magnificent view. We stayed at the viewing platform for about
45 minutes and were rewarded with some spectacular views.
Once the sun had gone down we headed back into Cervantes and
had dinner at the local Bowling/Country Club.
Meal was nice and reasonably priced.
Thursday
Returned to Warnbro from Cervantes today. Decided to head down the Brand Highway rather
than go over the track that had led us to Cervantes. There was a road to the Brand Highway not far
north of Cervantes so we decided to take that.
Betty said recalculating a few times until we turned her off.
Half way between the Indian Ocean Road and the Brand Highway
we came across a wind farm at a place called Emu Downs. There are 48 turbines generation 80 MW of
power. There didn’t seem to be any noise
even though we were about 200 metres away.
Didn’t seem to disturb the cows either.
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| Emu Downs Wind Farm |
Another detour, this time to the administrative hub of the
Shire of Gingin. One word, not like the
two word town in Queensland. The town
was Gingin and it was really nice. We
had lunch overlooking the park where there was a waterwheel (not functioning)
and a church built in the early 1800’s with a cemetery behind the church similar
to what you see in old English churches.
Have had a sore knee and leg for a couple of weeks so I was
convinced to go to a doctor. Saw a
really nice one who had done some training at Tamworth Base Hospital. Very small world. He diagnosed arthritis but wanted me to have
an ultrasound to eliminate a deep venous
thrombosis (DVT) so I will have that tomorrow before going on the lunch time
cruise to Fremantle.
Arrived in Warnbro at about 6.00 pm after another
adventurous day.
Friday
Had the ultrasound plus some x-rays this morning. No evidence of DVT so that is good. Have an appointment with the doctor first
thing on Monday to review the results.
Went up to Perth by train.
Left from Rockingham because we were close to that station after the
doctor’s appointment. Got off at Esplanade
station and walked down to the Barrack Street wharves where we boarded the
Captain Stirling.
We made our way down river past thousands of moored boats at
the various Yacht Clubs and Marinas. It
seems that the only place that has a higher rate of ownership of powerboats than
Perth is the Gold Coast. There was one
property, I won’t say house because it consisted of the main house with 8
bedrooms and 9 bathrooms, a guest house and a caretakers cottage, worth $57
million. When I look at the opulence I
think that money would go a long way to provide low income housing.
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| Old Swan Brewery Converted to Accommodation |
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| There are something like 18 of these around Perth |
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| Another Runabout |
We ended up at the Port of Fremantle where we tied up to the
landing where we got off the ferry from Rottnest. Some passengers got off and some got on for
the return journey. Once we were
underway they served lunch. Lunch was a
buffet style and there were salads, cold meats, ham and salami, prawns, curried
lamb, rice and a pasta dish. There were
also some fresh bread rolls. Really nice
tucker.
Once they had packed everything up it was time to come
alongside. The people who served at the
bar and the meal were also deck hands, very interesting combination. The round trip took nearly 3 hours. Thank you Lizzie and Liam for the Father’s
Day present.
We walked up to the city of Perth, about 500 metres to have
a look at the statues in St Martins Square that depict the stages of occupation
of Western Australia. We saw them in
2008 and had to have another look.
Got the train from Perth Underground station and headed
home.
Saturday
Today has been a nice quiet day. Deb and I went to Rockingham City Centre (Big
shopping centre) for morning tea and then to Baldivus Country Fair. This fair is a once a year thing to raise
funds for the local primary school.
Caron’s Fair Trade Group had a stall there and Deb and I went along for
the afternoon to help.
I thought there were plenty of people there, however because
of the weather numbers were down. To me
there seemed to be thousands but I am a lousy estimator of crowds. It teemed down a number of times during the
afternoon. We were lucky because out
stall was inside the school hall and we didn’t get wet.
I was able to have a look over one of their Bush Fire
Service tankers. Not much different from
the Rural Fire Service tankers. Some
features are better like power operated hoses, others not so good like a
mixture of hose fittings. You work with
what you are given by government.
Caron’s stall made
about $350 for the day. A good result.
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