Perth

Back into the big smoke, Perth really is an impressive city with its big skyline right on the Swan river. We were originally going to stay with my Aunt and Uncle but she unfortunately is really sick at the moment so we stayed out in the Swan valley nearby and stopped in for a few visits. They loved seeing the boys and it was great to catch up with them. We also caught up with another friend of mine (and bridesmaid) Melainie and her husband, Barry for dinner for a couple of nights. They have 2 boys so it was fantastic as they all got along really well so we just had a great time catching up while the boys entertained each other.

Melainie, Barry, Lachlan and Jeremy

During the days we managed to pack in a fair bit, we went to AQWA a great aquarium with lots of sharks , stingrays and a great touch pool………..there’s nothing quite like patting a stingray?!

We also spent a day down in Fremantle, went to the old prison did a great tour through the old cells and exercise yards, a very bleak place. Woodsy tried to put Toby in solitary confinement but he managed to escape. Had fish and chips on the pier, (actually I had seafood chowder it was YUM). Went to the Shipwreck Galleries for the final bit of the history lesson from all the monuments and places we had seen up the coast. Fantastic place, they had so many artefacts that had been salvaged from the WA shipwrecks plus the history behind it all, as well as the salvage stories. They actually had part of the stern of the Batavia reconstructed from the timbers pulled from the water. It was incredible. The poor old Dutch had a terrible time on the WA coast.

We also had one beautiful afternoon when the sun actually shone up in Kings park, had lunch and walked around. The views of the city were great, the park is really lovely, all the wildflowers are out on display……..even the boys appreciated them so they must be good.

 AQWA

Touch pool at AQWA

 Freemantle Prison

 Nice lunch at the boat harbor in Freemantle

 Samuel and I in jeans for the first time since leaving home

 Stern of the Batavia

This is the closest the boys got to seeing a Quokka

 Kings Park

Now the reason I mention the one beautiful day is because the rest of the time it rained and on our last night it rained and rained and there were storm warnings of winds up to 100km/hr so we took the awning down so it wouldn’t blow away and wouldn’t you know it…………that’s where all the rain came in, in a BIG puddle right in the middle of the floor. At least there was an industrial strength dryer close by the next morning, it worked overtime. So the sun came out and dried the canvas briefly and we made a run for it east as fast as we could, only the next night we had 50km winds near Wave Rock and honestly we sat awake all night wondering if we going to wake up in some paddock over the road. (But it was a beautiful drive on the way there and we went through the lovely historic town of York – no castle – and saw the rabbit proof fence.)

 York Town Hall

 Dog Cemetery in Corrigin

our camp at Tressies museum. Almost blown away overnight