We arrived in Perth and quickly ‘Ubered’ to our place of stay in Fremantle. What a great seaside town! Our hotel was right in the middle of things and an easy walk to ferries and trains. We caught one of those trains to downtown Perth the next day. Now I don’t want to slight our fine workers at BART that won’t come out of their little office to answer a question, but the staff here we’re all about helping you get on the right trains and purchasing the right ticket. So friendly and cheaper than BART. Downtown Perth is pretty but pretty much a business center with many modern tall buildings and condos. They do have a great riverside park system along the Swan River. You could walk or ride a bike for miles along here. We explored for miles, stopped for lunch on a little touristy island downtown and then walked for miles thru a huge grand park called King’s Park which is right downtown.
We caught the morning ferry the following day to Rottnest Island, land of beaches and the world’s happiest mammal.
Beautiful weather and an easy ride. We met the Quokkas soon after landing and Katie was fulfilled, a Harry met Sally kind of thing.
We got tickets for the hop on hop off bus to explore the island and hit our first beach within a half hour, Parker Point. Very slim sandy beach and a shallow snorkel thru sea grass for most of our explorations. Beautiful schools of fish for an excellent start. We walked from there to Little Salmon beach, being passed by the hop on hop off bus on the way, but it was only a 15 minute walk so easy peasy. I snorkeled here and thought the fish variety was better than Parker Point. There were some waves pushing you towards the rocky shore but overall very good. The beach was small and a little crowded so we caught the bus to Little Parakeet Beach on the other side of the Island. This was a gorgeous beach and the snorkeling was fantastic. There were large coral and rock formations with large valleys between. Many fish.
We caught the bus back to town for more Quokka love then the ferry home. We had dinner out at an Italian place along the main drag of Fremantle. Very happening downtown with many people strolling and cruisers driving by. After dinner we went to the Metropolis, a fun music venue down the street to hear Lake Street Dive. The lead singer turns out to have been born in Sydney but the group formed in Boston and are somewhat jazzy in style. We saw them at the Greek in Berkeley last summer. We had GA tickets but sat in the balcony center with a great closeup view of the stage. Great show and the Aussie audience was totally in to it. What a great day!
We had a low key day the following day with cappuccino and latte in the am and almond croissants. We read the East Bay Times and caught up up on emails and texts. We cruised around the city visiting a couple of markets where we bought some fresh fruit and surveyed the local artist wares. We stopped in at Gage Roads Brewery on the water for a beer then read our kindles in a beach side park for awhile. Dinner that night was back on Capacinno Lane but this time it was great Asian food at Tonic and Gingers. The lovely bartender whispered to us about a secret bar downstairs so after dinner headed down to the bar behind the bookcase for Old Fashions.
What a great small town Fremantle is. Such a great vibe.
We Ubered to the airport to pick up a car the following day and headed south. We stopped for a short hike at Lesmurdle Falls. Katie got an aura of an oncoming migraine so I did an abbreviated hike here. Very dry all around and the falls were a trickle. Katie didn’t miss much at all except the heat. We continued south stopping at Serpentine Falls National Park. We saw our first grey kangaroo here. Very friendly! Katie’s headache was a memory.
The falls were small but beautiful with two lovely swimming holes attached. Spotted some beautiful ring necked parrots here along with the pink breasted Gulahs which I think are in the Cockatoo family. We had lunch at Mojo’s in Busselton which apparently has won ‘best wine list’ several years running. The lunch was good but I had a hard time deciding on what wine to drink (56 pages). We continued on to Vasse Felix winery, one of the oldest and fairly well known wineries in Margaret River. A lovely tasting at their cellar door. We even purchased their Champagne to take with us.
We checked in at our apartment in Margaret River. We were upgraded to a 1 bedroom with a full kitchen which we never used except for the French press. Great location right downtown with a grocery store a very short distance away. We explored the region over the next several days doing some hikes along the Cape to Cape trail at the ocean, hikes in the Karri tree forests, exploring Jewel Cave near the southern end of the region, and visiting quite a few cellar doors after a modest amount of exercise. Leuwin Estate was beautiful. It is one of the original wineries in the area. Close by was Voyager Winery which was ok not great. On our way back to our apartment we stopped in a nice boutique winery called Stella Bella. Wonderful wines and ring necked parrots or ‘twenty eights’ because of the sounds they make were in their vineyards. We were told kangaroos are often seen near dusk around Kevill Road so we drove there. Sure enough, many grey kangaroos. Katie got up close to a few, even a mom with a Joey in the pouch.
After a loop hike around Margaret River in the morning, we visited Cape Mentelle winery, another original vineyard from the 70’s. Beautiful setting and the wines were good. Xanadu which was close by was not very impressive. We asked about good lunches and ended up at the Margaret River Brewing Company. Again the IPA’s are just not like those in the States, more malty, less hoppy. Food was good though and a great atmosphere. We went on to visit Windance, another boutique cellar. We had good wines and a particularly good tasting experience with many birds in the vineyards. We’d been trying to catch sight of the Black Cockatoos and here we were in luck as a flock of thirty or so flew around the vineyards and over our heads. There were also Guinea Fowl and many Gulahs about. We drove from there up to Sugarloaf rock at dusk as we had read that the Tropic Birds frequent here. Apparently that was in the past. A sign there says they are down to a pair returning once in a while. Katie had her heart set on seeing ring-tailed possums which are nocturnal so we hiked a loop along the Margaret River with our flashlights up in the Peppermint Trees having been assured there were numerous of them there. After an hour and a half and my neck crying in pain we abandoned the walk with no sightings. On our way out of Margaret River we drove along Kevill Road and again saw numerous Grey Kangaroos. Great start to the day. We stopped at Woodlands winery for their Chardonnay that was supposed to be like Rombauer. No. Stopped at Cave House Gardens for lunch. Beautiful and extensive gardens with many birds. Moved on to a hotel close to Perth airport as our flight out was at 7 the following morning. Interestingly, at the airport, there were hundreds of men and women in yellow work uniforms. I asked one what was up. They work for the mines. Typically the company flies them to their worksite for a two week shift then they fly home for two weeks off. They are flown all over the place. We had some on our flight to Exmouth.
We arrived in Exmouth quickly and the change in temp was very noticeable. Easily over 100 here. Our hotel had a room ready at 10 am which even the clerk was surprised by. Beautiful grounds, expensive restaurant. We borrowed a sun shelter, some chairs and an ice chest and we were off to Lakeside Beach. We had to hike a ways from the parking lot at the beach but set everything up and plunged into the water. Lots and lots of fish and coral not far from the beach. Unfortunately the water was hot. Probably 90’s and quite a bit of the coral was bleached. We still were enthralled with the variety of fish about the reef.
We tried Oyster Stacks the following morning and it was even better. Water not so hot and a huge variety of fish we really haven’t seen before. Swam with a Green Sea Turtle, saw a Snake Eel about 3-4’ long, a Blue Ring Sting Ray and tons of other fish. There is no real beach here and in fact it is a rocky entry that you are only supposed to do at high tide. After our initial snorkel we met up with Yardie Creek Cruise for a 1 hour boat ride up Yardie Creek. Yardie means ‘creek’ so it’s kind of a weird name. Our goal was wallabies and our guide found quite a few in the crevices of the rock walls. They are smaller than kangaroos and have black flanks thus they are called ‘Black Flanked Rock Wallabies’.
We also spotted Osprey with their huge nests, Kestrels, and very noisy Fruit Bats in the Mangroves. A very informative tour. We moved on to Turquoise Bay. Here you hike down the beach a little ways, swim out, then let the current carry you over the coral Boomies. Again tons of fish. A large variety of hard coral. We haven’t seen any soft coral or anemones yet though there are some Anemone fish that hang out on the plate corals. We swam with turtles again, a white tipped reef shark came by, and we saw a large sting ray that I swam over (made me think of Steve Irwin!). We got out just in time as the current turns and takes you out to sea. We had to climb up a wall of sand. A full day in the sun. Dinner that night was at Exhale which turns out to be probably the best restaurant in Exmouth. Excellent flavors in tapas style dishes. Close by was a brewpub called Froth’s. They had a lone guitarist noodling on an electric guitar with a looper. Not quite Ed Sheeran but interesting. The visibility in the water has been about 20 feet so we thought we would try Turquoise Bay again but in the early am. Really no change in visibility. Some say it is the wind direction. I don’t know. It certainly isn’t the rain. People in town, books, etc all say Emu’s are everywhere. Not the case. We have asked locals for their hot spots. Driven all over town. No Emu’s. No Dingo’s. Well coming back from Turquoise Bay we spot 2 dark shapes along the road. Mind you, nobody is stopping. No scene. But, there are 2 Emu’s walking along the road. Katie, of course, is out of the car. Luckily, I had slowed down some. We tracked them for a short while then high fived each other.
We tried the other brewpub in town that night, called Whalebone. Pretty good pizza but the beer is pretty much like everywhere else. Malty, not hoppy. Dive Ningaloo took us out to the Muiron Islands the next day for two dives there. Katie and I were both a little anxious having not dived for 3-4 years. After the first dive much more comfortable. The water was warm enough that I just had a swimsuit and swim shirt on. Water visibility still about 20 feet. We didn’t see much new but it was really nice to be able to stop and observe the fish rather than down and up with snorkeling. The video should provoke less dizziness as well. We saw several different Nudibranch’s and a black tipped reef shark. All in all, good to get back to diving. I did get some skin pain again on my abdomen which represents skin bends. I really will be stuck only diving with Nitrox in the future.
Yesterday we caught sight of another Emu. This time next to our regular coffee shop in downtown Exmouth. We stopped at Oyster Stacks again for a high tide snorkel which again was great, then on to Turquoise Bay one last time. Less heat today but less wind so still felt pretty hot. We managed until about 2 then headed back to the hotel. We did see an Australian Bustard along the road which was unexpected. After a Gin and Tonic and a glass of wine we went downtown to pickup tacos for home. Yes tacos! On the way the police , one of a handful of times I have ever even seen them on the road in Australia, we’re stopping every car for a breathalyzer test. I have no idea what my alcohol level is. I don’t feel drunk but who knows. The legal limit is 0.05 so I could be close. I blew, smiled and was told I was close to the limit and should not have another drink if I was going to drive! Oh my god! That would have been disastrous and all for a taco.
Today is moving day with several flights in our future to end up in Adelaide. Western Australia has been fantastic.
