kalamunda shoping

I caught the bus into Kalamunda to do a bit of exploring. While there I bought my self a Trans-Perth Card and some air time for my cell phone. They don’t call it air time here, but rather Mobile phone credit. The phrase Cell phone will get you odd looks, and air time is what Michael Jordan has.

I found an awesome second hand book shop, and bought my self an old Si-Fi Magazine from the 70’s.

I also got my self a new hat, as the existing one was cheap and already starting to fall apart.

Swan Valley – Perth

After church, we loaded the kids into the car and headed out to the Swan Valley, a region known for its vineyards, wine and crafts.

Maalinup Aboriginal Gallery

The first stop was Maalinup Aboriginal Gallery. This gallery of authentic Aboriginal paintings and crafts is owned and operated by Dale Tilbrook and family, descendants of the Wardandi Bibbulmun people from the Busselton/Margaret River region of the South West of Western Australia.  I bought some hand panted and carved boomerangs, and Dale showed us “bush grub” in the specially planted garden of indigenous plants.

My search for Australian whisky came to a dead end at the Wild Swan Distilling Company as their whisky will only be ready in the next 2 years.

We popped into Duckstein Brewery and the Great Northern Distillery, but both were too packed with other tourists and we needed some lunch.

It seemed that all the good restaurants were packed as this is prime season for the Swan Valley…then we discovered Waldeck on vine café, right on the far end of the valley. By now we all were hot, tired and hungry. The Milkshake hit the spot while the play-pen kept the kids occupied. Lunch was basic but good, and afterwards we wondered around the Waldeck nursery.

This is what the Auzies call a “High Way” one lane for each direction and intersections with traffic lights.

Caversham Wildlife Park and Zoo – Perth

Me chilling with the Koalas

On Saturday the whole family went to Caversham Wildlife Park & Zoo.

Caversham is part of the Whiteman Park nature reserve, a 40-square-kilometre bushland area purchased by the state government in 1978, to protect the underlying aquifer as a drinking water source for Perth.

They have most of the indigenous animals, reptiles and bird life along with the plant species found throughout Australia. The park is divided up into the regions of Australia so that you can easily tell where the wildlife is native.

RoadSigns in the Whiteman Park nature reserve

There is also a small farm with animas that can be petted.

The best parts of Caversham were the kangaroo feeding park, where you could “mingle with the roo’s and even pet and feed them, as well as the koala bear inclosure, which understandably had a more closely supervised petting.  

At lunch I had a Mrs Macs pie, the local equivalent of a Ma Baker pie… only much better.

Apart from the flies, which seem immune to the fly repellent, we had a great time.

Blue winged kookaburra

A kangaroo and an emu

black cockatoo

Petting a Roo with my Nephew

The infamous Tasmanian devil

Family time

I spent the 27^th Just hanging out with my nephews and relaxing. We built a Tomas the Steam Train track, and I read them some stories.

Train track I built with the boys

Perth Central

Frozen Coke

Cathy (an old friend from SA) gave me a lift into Perth central today. Armed with a map of the CBD, I set out for some solo exploring. I got the map, along with some podcasts (kinda like a radio show that you can play on your cell phone or MP3 Player) that I had downloaded from the Perth tourism website. It’s a great idea, and works really well. You just follow the map and listen to the cometary for each of the sites on the map. You can walk at your own pace and wander off the tour at any time if you see something interesting that you want to check out.

I tried the MacDonald’s Angus burger for lunch, made using “prime Australian beef”. For the drink I had the frozen coke, it’s kinda like a Slush Puppy made with Coke a Cola. It somehow retains the fizz, and is pretty awesome if you can avoid the ice headache from eating it too fast.

WA Museum Dinosaur

I popped into the WA Museum, entrance is free, but donations are encouraged. They had some interesting displays on the early settlers and the aborigines. They also had a life sided Dinosaur replica in one of the displays. I didn’t have time to see the whole museum as I had to go meet Ray (another old friend from SA) at the bus stop to get home.

The busses, trains and ferry’s can all be used with a Trans-Perth card that works similar to a prepaid SIM card. You pay money into the card, than when you use the public transport, you swipe the card and it is debited the relevant amount. You are not changed per bus, but rather per zone crossed. So you can swap buses on your trip, just swiping your card when you get on and when you get off. And the computer will automatically work out the cheapest fare.

I had and awesome day in the city, and now that I know how to use the public transport I have true freedom to explore on my own.

The old Prison

City Hall, Built by convicts

Some weird modern art display in the centre of town

Heritage building being restored

Guildford and Midland – Perth

Inside Asian antique shop

Debbie took me to Guildford and we explored some of the old second-hand / antique shops. There were quite a few items that I would have bought if I didn’t have to worry about bringing them back to SA… a concern that has probably saved me a lot of money since I’ve been here.  These shops can probably be best exemplified by the sign that reads ”We buy junk and sell antiques”.

We also stumbled upon a warehouse full of Asian antiques and artefacts… I’m sure I’ve seen a movie that starts like this.

After Guilford, I was dropped off at the mall in Midland for a few hours of exploring.  I tried Red Roster skin-free wrap for lunch. The chips were good, but the wrap was not exactly tasty.

Fremantle – Perth

A friend of Sean and Debbie, offered to show me around Fremantle as he had the day off from work.

We wandered around the shops and had lunch at the local Hungry Jacks. I had the double whopper with cheese meal; this comes with a bottomless soda. Hungry Jacks is like the Australian version of Burger King

After that we just drove to the beach, then to south Perth, and finally back home. The drive around Perth helped me get my bearings and understand the lay of the land better.

Mundaring Weir – Perth Hills

Sean had taken the day off from work, so we packed the family into the car (affectionately know as Hendry by the kids) and headed out for some tourism.

Helena River Reservoir

After a short drive we arrived at Mundaring Weir, and yet again there was no cover charge for entry. 

The Helena River Reservoir, also known as Lake C.Y. O’Connor was formed by building the Mundaring Weir. The weir was built as part of a project to supply water to the gold mining community’s further in-land and was so controversial at the time that O’Connor who devised and oversaw the most of the construction was harassed to the point of committing suicide. The project was a great success in the end and the “Golden Pipeline” is still used to this day.

Mundaring Pump station

you can read more about it at http://www.goldenpipeline.com.au

While on the weir we were thoroughly harassed by flies. The flies tend to go for your ears, nose, corners of your mouth and eyes. They are persistent and shooing them away with the “Auzzy wave” has little if any effect.

We saw some Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo birds in the gum trees by the weir. They are endangered in some Australian states and are a protected species.

After exploring the weir, we headed over to the Mundaring Weir Hotel for lunch. I had fish and beer battered chips and a pint of Axe Golden Lager to drink. The fish was a bit strong in flavour and didn’t seem to go too well with the tartar sauce, but the chips… ah those chips were awesome.

Mundaring Weir Hotel

We stoped off in Kalamunda along the way home to pick up a SIM card for my cell phone. It’s quite a beautiful little town in the heart of the suburbs. I will write more about the Shire of Kalamunda after I spend some time exploring it.

Kings Park – Perth

My flight had arrived in the morning, and I was informed by Debby (my sister-in-law) and Sean (My Brother) that I was not to sleep until 9:00 at night, as this would help reduce the effects of jet lag.

So after I settled into my room, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out to Kings Park, with Sean telling me about the suburbs and points of interest along the way. I have to admit that most of the trip was a blur, and I did nod off once or twice despite my best efforts. The flight in had not been restful.

The view of swan river from Kings Park

We got to Kings Park and I was amazed. The lawns are beautifully maintained, the park has no litter, and entrance is free. I suddenly realised, that back home, the only parks that are clean and pretty are the ones that require payment for entry, and even those are not as clean as this.

At the vantage point where we had our picnic, there is a great view of the Perth Central Business District and the Swan River that runs through the middle of Perth.

After Kings Park we drove over to Fremantle and had ice cream on the beach… I have never seen so many beautiful girls wearing 2 piece bikinis in my life. It was awesome!

View of Perth from Kings Park