As noted previously Perth was not part of our cruise. Our cruise ended in Auckland and we spent a few days there and then we flew to Perth. We'd met some folks from Perth on our Viet Nam trip a couple years earlier and we told them if we ever made it to Australia we'd visit them in Perth.
It's five hours from Auckland to Perth. It's a big world!
We flew with Air New Zealand and you have to love their planes. I don't recall the flight so I guess it was ok.
This is the countryside coming into Perth. It's pretty dry looking.
Our hotel in Perth (at the base of the high-rise tower & directly behind the white statue thing) was once the treasury. Hence the name Como The Treasury. It was the same hotel line we stayed in in Bali. The prices here for liquor and meals were quite a bit higher here. Very nice hotel though.
A very nice room.
The shower was totally glass and there were no doors to the bathroom. So no peeing in the shower!
There was a fancy pool on the top floor but no one was using it.
The interior of the church that was on the same property as the hotel. Beautiful brick work.
One day we took the Hop On - Hop Off bus. Not to much to see in reality. Perth has a population of close to 2 million but downtown seems small.
Some shots from the bus.
Optus Stadium...60,000 capacity.
Click here for a 360 tour of the interior.
A much better picture I snagged from the inter-weeb
And another of the interior. It would almost be worth going back just to catch a game here.
The Crown Casino and Hotel. This, coincidentally, is the same outfit building the new casino / hotel on the waterfront in Sydney AND is the same hotel we stayed at in Alice Springs. That hotel too had a casino attached and all the customers seemed aboriginals. After lunch I asked our guide why there were so many aboriginals in there at this time of day - he said "if you got nothing to do what are you going to do?". I guess the government gives them some money to gamble.
Downtown Perth from across the Swan River.
and a city scene in downtown.
Later we walked up to the King's Park and Botanical Garden.
A view of downtown from the park.
And a cool refreshing beverage at the end.
On the third day we met up with out friends Ross and Wendy. We took the train to where they live south of Perth in Mandurah. We went in their SUV and they showed us around quite a bit. Late in the day we ended up back at our hotel where we tipped a few pints. I think they were genuinely surprised that we came all that way to see them.
I thought we had taken some shots of the four of us at lunch but I'll be damned if I can find them.. Here they are with Terri on our cruise down the Mekong River.
The fourth day , at the suggestion of Ross and Wendy, we visited Rottnest Island. It's a hot spot for the locals. Lots to do; boating, summer vacation rentals, bike rentals, hiking, bus tours, etc. , etc.
We just went for a long walk around the island.
Lots of fine looking boats docked just offshore.
Many low lying watery areas in the island's interior.
And lots of these guys - Quokkas - very small marsupials.
Front view
rear view
Lots of birds feeding.
We scared a bunch and off they went.
The lighthouse.
The Quokkas are very determined to get something to eat.
Cute little buggers.
And the strangest sounding crows you've ever heard.
The video below is not in itself interesting - the audio is though. Listen closely - what you will hear is a crow. Crows here sound entirely different than crows back in Canada.
A beautiful beach...we didn't bring our swimming gear though!
They've built metal sidewalks around some of the ponds.
Leaving Perth on our way to Myanmar for the last leg of our adventure. It's easy to see know how the population could be 2 million.
And a shot of Rottnest Island where we spent yesterday. The light house can be seen in the middle of the island. I can see there are many fantastic beaches that we'll visit next time.
That's it for Perth.