Perth

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December has been busy. We started the month by going to Perth to join Phil who was already there for a conference at Scarborough Beach. The rest of us had never been and Nicholas and I wanted to cross off our list the last Australian State/Territory we needed to visit. We also brought Mom with us to celebrate her birthday.

Catherine and I dropped off Comet at the kennel first thing in the morning. Catherine was so good with him. He is usually anxious and overexcited in the car. We were the first to check in and off he went. Next stop we picked up Mom. Our taxi arrived on time at 9.30am and took us from our place to the airport.

We flew with Qantas this time. We haven’t flown them in years. The flights were good, and it was nice to have food included on domestic flights. Our flight from CBR to SYD was a bit bumpy but we survived. We had about an hour and a half layover in SYD. A highlight of this leg of the trip was discovering that Harry Connick Jr. was on our flight to PER. He was with his daughter and crew at the gate, and I snuck a few photos of him.

The flight from SYD to PER was 4 hours and 50 minutes. I watched two entertaining movies – Past Lives and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. We arrived in the late afternoon local time (3 hours behind CBR). We took a taxi from the airport to our apartment for the next four days – Nesuto Mounts Bay Apartment Hotel. After we checked in, Phil arrived about 15 minutes later. We were excited to find an American dinner at Tony Roma’s in the CBD.

The next day was Mom’s birthday. We explored Elizabeth Quay which was about a 15-minute walk from our hotel. This precinct didn’t exist the last time Phil was in Perth about 10 years ago. There was still a lot of construction happening. We walked a short loop and found the best gelato at Gusto Gelato – strawberry with dark chocolate pieces was amazing. We took a ferry across to South Perth and had Mom’s birthday lunch at Mister Walker. We ordered the meat and seafood platters which were fresh and delicious.

After we took the ferry back, Mom and I went for a long walk to find St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral. It was a warm day, so we walked slowly and had to take a couple of breaks. There was a Filipino wedding on when we got there. Then it was another long walk all the way back to the apartment. We passed families hanging out and saving their place by the road for the Christmas Pageant (parade) later that night. Mom stayed back at the hotel while the rest of us braved walking through the city and the crowds a few hours later. It was incredible to be amongst it, but we didn’t stay long. We passed through to find some Japanese takeaway for dinner.

It was another warm day ahead of us. We went out for breakfast and walked up the hill and over the motorway to Mount Street Breakfast Bar. It was popular, especially on a Sunday morning. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long and were given a table outside. We had a lovely breakfast (food in Perth is surprisingly good) and enjoyed some dog watching.

From breakfast we walked further up the hill to Kings Park. I wasn’t too impressed with Perth until then. Kings Park is vast and beautiful. We managed to spend a significant amount of time there, walking, exploring and taking in the stunning views. Just before leaving the botanical garden, we had gelato, nachos (American style liquid cheese) and hot chips. Our late lunch gave us energy to walk down Jacob’s ladder (242 steps) back to our apartment.

After a good rest, we went out into the CBD. The girls got bubble tea, shopped at Kmart and picked up dinner at Sushi Hub to take back. The boys went to Woolworths for some more groceries and a birthday celebration mud cake.

On our last full day in Perth, we booked a Sealink ferry to Rottnest Island. The ferry left from Elizabeth Quay and made a stop at Freemantle to change to a bigger ferry. We had a nice river cruise for the first hour. A highlight was seeing black red-tailed cockatoos fly past the ferry. Seeing container ships up close was a sight to see too. Another pleasant surprise was that we were given Zooper Dooper ice blocks for a treat on the ferry.

Once at Rottnest Island, we walked quite a lot in the heat. It was very exposed, and we got sunburnt. The white-sand beaches were beautiful, and I got to paddle in the Indian Ocean at The Basin. We walked up to the Bathurst Lighthouse and were rewarded with more magnificent views. The quokkas were very cute and entertaining. They hopped like kangaroos but were small like rats. The island felt touristy but I’m happy that we got to see this pretty part of Australia.

We caught the ferry back to Freemantle a few hours later. We explored and walked some more. We had an early dinner – good fish and chips at Cicerello’s. We walked through the town to the train station and took a train back to Perth. It was a neat experience, but I think everyone was tired from such a long and hot day.

It was another early start the next morning. We got an UberXL (Nissan Xtrail 7-seater) that picked us up at 7.15am and took us to the airport. It was a bit tight with five of us plus the driver and all our luggage. This time we flew back to CBR via Adelaide. It was another long day of travel and it felt like we had gone overseas with the jetlag we had a few days after coming home.