Perth, West Australia -A sparkling, modern city

 I had a good feeling the moment I set foot in the large, airy, new railway station at Perth airport, it was a great first impression of the capital of West Australia.  And the good impressions continued, from the friendly, chatty locals on the train to the helpful people along the way when I couldn't find my hotel.  I had arrived mid evening on a Saturday night, the streets were thronging with good natured people out for the night and, as it turned out, my hotel was hidden down a side street.  There was a good vibe about the place and I was looking forward to exploring the city over the next couple of days.

Perth from King's Park

First off, the next morning I did as I usually do in a new city, I took the Hop On, Hop Off bus to orientate myself and see a few of the sights. Our first stop was at King's Park, reputed to be one of the largest city parks in the world at 400 hectares. It is perched high above downtown Perth with magnificent views of the city and the Swan River.  You could easily spend a day in the park with its beautiful gardens, bush areas, cafes, restaurants and shops, or you can take a walking tour with one of the volunteer guides.  I spent about an hour strolling around, enjoying the gardens and views before getting back on the bus.

The Perth Bell Tower

Below: The Anzac Bell

   

 Then it was off to the Bell Tower, located close to   the river in   downtown Perth.  It is a stunning   modern tower housing mainly   ancient bells.   Unfortunately I had just missed a guided tour and   the   chance to ring the bells which would have   been fun, nevertheless I   climbed  the tower and   viewed the set of 14th century bells which came   from St Martins -in-the-fields, London.  St Martins   had had a new set   of bells installed so these   were  restored and gifted to Perth to   commemorate Australia's bicentennary.  On the 5th level of the   tower   I saw the massive 6,500kg Anzac Bell, cast in Perth as a   tribute to the   soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.  It rings every   midday for one minute. On the 6th level there is a viewing platform offering panoramic views of the city and Swan River and a coin operated 26 bell carillion.  At night, when lit up, the tower looks like an enormous jewel in the city scape.

Perth Mint 

From there the bus took a winding route through the city centre, out to the casino and stadium and back to the Perth Mint where I got off to take a tour. This was a fantastic tour, it covered the discovery of gold in Australia, countless examples of gold nuggets, some very large, and the amazing one tonne gold coin which is 99.99% pure gold and is valued at 90 million Australian dollars. Needless to say it would be impossible to move. In one room you can view, and drool over, the glorious Argyle Pink Diamonds, some of the rarest diamonds in the world, and there are plenty of jewels and jewellery for purchase  The highlight of the tour, though, was entering the smelting room to watch molten gold being turned into a gold bar in a spectacular performance. I even had the opportunity to weigh myself to see what I am worth in gold.  I highly recommend this tour.  Make sure you include it in your trip to Perth.

The One tonne gold coin - at night it sinks down into a secure vault.

In the smelting room making a gold bar

And here it is

My weight in gold - who said I wasn't precious?

So all in all I was highly satisfied with my first day in Perth and looking forward to what the next day would bring.

Margaret River, West Australia (Part 3) Food and Wine

 It was another glorious morning in this lovely part of the country and we were up and ready to go by 7.30. But first, breakfast, which we had at the White Elephant Beach Cafe overlooking the sea at Gnarabup Beach. This is a popular surf beach and we enjoyed the sublime view while eating our breakfast and then drove the length of the beach to watch the surfers tackling the breakers. With the sunshine, surf and gleaming white sand it was a fantastic sight.

View from the cafe, Gnarabup Beach

The next stop was at the Yahava Koffee Works, a coffee roasting company where we were greeted by the divine smell of roasting beans wafting through the car park. Here we were given a short talk on the production of coffee from the plant to the cup and then had a coffee tasting.  This was the first time I had been to a coffee tasting and it was an interesting experience, I was surprised by the range of flavours that come from different beans. You can buy coffee to drink at their on site cafe or all sorts of coffee products from the shop.

Our first winery for the day was Edwards Wines, named for the founder, Brian Edwards. Brian was a fascinating man who flew his 1943 Tiger Moth plane from London to Australia in 1990. He was daring and adventurous and loved a challenge. Developing the winery fitted the bill. His beautifully restored plane, Matilda, sits inside the entrance to the new and very glamorous winery building.  We had a tasting of 7 different wines there while gazing out over the vineyards. Edwards Wines is conducting a very interesting experiment by submerging wine 18 metres under the ocean in the belief that the wine will mature to perfection away from light and with constant temperature and pressure. Intriguing. Before we left we browsed  some stunning photographs of the sea and surf in the winery's adjoining gallery.

Waiting for the wine tasting at Edward's Wines

On our way to our second winery visit we drove through the pretty little town of Cowaramup.  The locals call it Cow town and have taken a cheeky twist on the indigenous name, which means place of the cowara (a bird) by displaying numerous full size, fibreglass, black and white cows at various spots around town. It is charming.

Thompson's Estate is a boutique winery founded by a cardiologist, Peter Thompson, and his wife, Jane. Our tasting was held in the barrel room and this time we had local cheeses and crackers to accompany the wines. Thompson Estate is proud of the fact that their wines are made in a traditional way and I have to say I enjoyed them the best of the three wineries we visited. Thompson's Estate has been recognised by Australia's premier wine critic, James Halliday, as a Five Red Star winery which puts it in the highest echelon of all Australia's wineries.

A cardiologist's wine label

Olio Bello is an olive farm and it was here that we had lunch but firstly we had the opportunity to taste a wide variety of olives, oils, sauces and condiments.  I bought a couple of things there and would have loved to buy more but, luggage constraints! We sat at a long table looking out over the olive trees to eat lunch, it felt like being in Italy. I felt very lucky to have had such a great group of travel companions, we had become friends in the three days we had been together so chatted amiably. 

Olio Bello

Sadly, lunch was our last activity of the tour and then we travelled the 3-4 hours back to Perth and said our farewells.  Many of us were going to continue on to take the Indian Pacific train across the Nullabor Desert but that's another story to tell.

A big shoutout to McLeods Tours, a small, family run, travel company. The tour was well organised, the activities were superb and our guides, Rusty and Jason, were well informed, friendly and helpful. I loved this trip and couldn't have asked for more so thank you, McLeods.

Disclaimer:  I paid full price for this tour and was not asked to promote McLeods Tours in any way.  These views are simply my own.

Margaret River (Part 2) Caves, Forests, a Lighthouse and Wine

 The second day of our Margaret River trip focused on Nature giving us a look at some of the spectacular natural attractions of the area.  After a very enjoyable breakfast at a local cafe we headed into the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, driving through lush bush and large trees to visit the Mammoth Cave. Here we would  see the remains of megafauna, some as much as 50,000 years old.  The spacious limestone cave has easy access and boasts impressive stalagmites and stalagtites.  I love the cool and silent ambiance of limestone caves so really enjoyed my visit there.

This is just a small corner of Mammoth. Note the person on the walk way which gives an indication of the size of the cave.

The remains of a pre historic animal in the cave

Next we drove through the majestic and  beautiful Boranup Karri Forest feeling so insignificant in the scale of things; some of the trees there are 65 metres tall. At certain times of the year the forest is carpeted with wild flowers and orchids but unfortunately this wasn't the right time of year, nevertheless, our guide stopped in a clearing and gave us a very interesting talk about the native trees of the area and described how the eucalypts  and other trees cope with the wild fires prevalent in Australia.

A bit further south we called into Hamelin Bay, a very pretty white sand beach.  The idea was to see stingrays swimming backwards and forwards along the beach.  Apparently this is a great attraction but for me it was nothing unusual, I see them often in New Zealand. Still it was lovely to stop at the beach and see the excitement on the faces of visitors who were thrilled at spotting stingrays for the first time.

Those dark shadows at the water's edge are stingrays, Hamelin Bay

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is at the bottom tip of the Margaret River region, the tallest lighthouse on the mainland of Australia, this was our next stop. Built in 1895 from limestone it is now fully automated and still vital for passing ships. We were invited by the guide there to climb to the top, all 176 stairs. Initially daunted by the open stairs I was quite proud of myself as I climbed it easily.  The views from the top are spectacular with a clear view of where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. We had to cling to the railing at the top due to the fierce wind but it was well worth the climb. 

For a detailed look at its history we visited the small museum occupying one of the former lighthouse keepers cottages close by. 

Looking down from the top to the former lighthouses keepers cottages

Where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean

What a fantastic morning we had had, so much variety and more to come.  It was time to go to a really lovely cafe for lunch and The Colour Patch overlooking the Blackwood River truly fitted the bill.  While we dined and sipped wine dolphins were cavorting right outside in the river.

Time then for a wine tasting.  The Margaret River region boasts around 200 wineries, most quite small producers, and we were going to Brown Hill Winery. There we had a very interesting talk about wine making and the history of this winery by Chiara, one of the owners, while we happily tasted 8 of their wines.

We had all been looking forward to visiting the township of Margaret River which was our final activity for the day.  I think it is fair to say that most of us were expecting a cute, historic country town and that we were rather disappointed to find it was just a suburban shopping strip like thousands of others.  We didn't mind that time constraints meant we had a very short visit there.

Back at our accommodation a few of us gathered in the bar for happy hour drinks, such a lovely group of people.  We were all more than delighted with our day and went off to our rooms contented, looking forward to tomorrow.