Perth kept us busy....

We spent three weeks and three days in Perth....could have stayed longer.   Everything is close, it takes no time at all to get somewhere.

Take the Swan Valley Winery's for instance,  it only took 30 minutes to get there.  We had a lovely day starting at the Mulberry Winery at 10am (yes, I know, it is a tad early, even for me) and it just went on from there, who would have thought...haha.  We visited the Margaret River Chocolate Factory...OMG...devine!  Bought dark chocolate, nougat, chocolate almond clusters, some salted carmel sweets and chocolate ginger.   We also went to Morish Nuts.  Didn't like them very much....too expensive and the candy almonds only have half an almond (yes, can you believe they cut them in half) and then have a very thick coat of candy....not nice at all.    And, visited the Honey Shop.

We went to the Cheese factory for lunch.....had a lovely cheese platter and a glass of wine.... bought some Brie and blue cheese and some 'pan de higo' (Spanish Fig Cake) and tomato relish.  Forgot to buy olives!  Sorry there are no photo's, enjoyed it too much and forgot to take any.  This is all I have.

The evidence...all gone now.

The Nougat Shop

We visited Kings Park, 400 hectare of parklands and natural bush on the banks of the Swan and Canning Rivers.   There is an impressive War Memorial and a number of lookouts that provide panoramic views of Perth's skyline and the water.

Nick and John went to the Perth Mint - Deb and I went shopping.  The Perth Mint was founded as a colonial branch of the Royal Mint in 1899 in response to the gold rush which began near Kalgoorlie in 1893.  It was to refine the gold that was discovered in Western Australia and turn it into bullion bars and sovereigns for use throughout 'the Empire'.  The ownership of The Perth Mint was transferred to the Western Australian Government in 1970.  Under the authority of the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury, The Perth Mint now refines the total of Australia's gold production and gold sourced from surrounding countries.  The taking of photo's inside the mint is prohibited for security reasons

The Perth Mint

We visited Hillary's Boat Harbour,  which opened in 1988 and has marina's, lots of restaurants (even a South African one called 'Hippo Creek' which has Boerewors, Peri Peri Chicken, Biltong, Droewors,  and dishes with names like the '400g Hunters Assaghai', 'Lion Kill' and Chicken Shazaloza").  There are shops, art and craft markets, cycle paths, charter companies, Rottnest Fast Ferries, walkways and parklands as well are the Aquarium of Western Australia.

We also went to Scarborough Beach for lunch, beautiful white sand against the blue Indian Ocean with lots of green parklands.   Thats one of the lovely things about Perth - 75% of the foreshore has been kept as parkland for public use.

Scarborough as seen from Hillary's Boat Harbour.

There were two "cold weather fronts" that went through while we were in Perth.  They brought the temperate down, a lot of strong winds and rain. It's the wind that is the problem.   These fronts last for about three or four days from go to woe.  One of them was considered a "severe front" which would only happen once or twice a year.  We spent that day at a shopping centre.....safer and dryer.

Well, due to the bad weather, we had to take our annexe's down and roll up our awnings and we stopped having dinner together, which is a pity because with the annexe up and the heater on, it is toasty warm and we have dinner and then read, play on our iPads or play cards, or heavens above....talk (and drink, of course). With no annexe, we hibernate in our own vans and whilst that is good from time to time, it is no fun when that way of living is forced upon you.

We went down to Secret Harbour to have lunch at the Whistling Kite with our friends Michelle and Henry who we met at Lake Placid Caravan Park in Cairns....it was good to catch up.

(L-R)  John, Henry, Michelle, Gail, Nick and Deb

But with the weather being so bad in Western Australia this year, we decided not to go south and would make our way to Kalgoorlie and then head for South Australia.  Unfortunately, this also meant that we didn't get to catch up with a lovely couple, Carol and Gina, who we met in Harvey Bay earlier this year.  That will have to wait until we come back or we met them on the road elsewhere :)

We did get to go to Fremantle....twice....see next post.