Fremantle & Perth

We began the next stage of our holiday by flying from Sydney to Perth.  We took the train from the airport to Fremantle where I had booked an Airbnb which turned out to be totally amazing.

After checking in we went a wander around Fremantle.

On Sunday we took a tour of Fremantle Prison.

I was intrigued by the exhibition called Dancing in Fetters.

We had lunch by the beach and then went round the Maritime Museum.  There was a whole exhibition about how Australia won the America's Cup ( a yacht race).  I'm not a fan of maritime museums - I feel like I've seen one - I've seen them all, But Roger is a fan and if there's such a museum wherever we are, he has to visit it.  I liked this Lego replica of Australia 2 which was the winning yacht.

Next we took a boat trip up the river from Fremantle to Perth.  We took a free bus to Kings Park.

The next day we returned to Perth - this time by train.  We wanted to see the black swans at Lake Monger.  It was rather hot day and after walking from the station to the lake and then around the lake I was beginning to be somewhat irritable as there was no sign of swans, let alone black ones.  We had almost finished walking round the lake when we spotted one black swan and a few yards on, another swan with some fluffy cygnets.

We returned to the city centre and visited the Art Gallery of Western Australia.   The building was impressive but I didn't much like the art.

We moved on to the Western Australia Museum.  I wish we had not bothered with the Art Gallery as we had so little time at the museum due to arriving too close to closing time.  One of the galleries was about Connections.

I have struggled with the latest trend in art and textile circles about working on Sense of Place.  It hasn't captured my attention or thoughts.  However 'our place in the world' makes more sense to me.

This is the description of part of the gallery.

This got me thinking about my connection to Australia.  Not only the fact that my son and his family live there, but that my father was born there.  It has set me off on some interesting research which I will share with you in another post.

We returned to Fremantle and spent our last evening there having dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  We had eaten there the night before too.

On our walk back to our Airbnb I took this photo of the Fremantle Markets building.  We had visited the market on Sunday morning.

Coming up: a road trip in Western Australia

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Hunter Valley Gardens

On our way home from the Hunter Valley we went to the Hunter Valley Gardens.

The gardens are divided into different areas.  Some were based on area of the world and demonstrated the style of that area. Others were more generic.

Then there was an area for the children: Story Book Garden

There were gardens dedicated to different story book and nursery rhyme characters.  There were rides to go on and face painting opportunities.

I couldn't resist taking photos of the palettes.

There was a lady creating beautiful large bubbles and I was thrilled to be able to capture them with my camera.

And just as we were leaving I saw this sign for this rose.

After lunch, Andy drove us back home and we packed for the next stage of our hoilday.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Creeks, Loops and Fighterworld

We stayed in the Hunter Valley from Sunday to Friday.  Andy had lots of activities planned.  There aren't many photos in this post of the actual activities as I was mostly taking photos  of the grandchildren and I don't share those on social media.  There are two exceptions in this post.

Monday morning saw an early visit by the kangaroos - hoping for breakfast.

We visited a special sculpture trail called Sculpture on the Farm.  I don't think we had explained to the children that there were no animals on the farm.  However they enjoyed looking at the various sculptures and choosing their favourite to vote for at the end.

I liked this one because of the shadow it made against the wall behind it.

Back at the holiday home a Kookaburra came to visit on the decking.

I love this photo that looks as if Andy and C are playing Piggy-in-the-Middle with a kangaroo.

As there was no water supply to the holiday house, the owners moved us to The Carriageway.  We were moving there on Wednesday anyway, so it was only a couple of nights early.

We stayed in one of the cabins in a row that was made to look a bit like a station.

The family stayed in a converted railway carriage.

The train line was very close.  This was the view from the back of our cabin.

We went out to find a creek.  It took 3 goes until we found one with sufficient water in it.  This is Telegherry Creek.  There was lots of paddling and dam building - but obviously not by me!

Wednesday saw us setting out for another creek in Barrington Tops National Park.  This one had plenty of water and a loop walk of 3.5km.  Plus more dam building and some swimming.

And a chance to get a photo of the scenery on the way home.

On Thursday we visited Fighterworld at RAAF Williamtown outside Newcastle.  It's a museum about fighter planes.  

C landing a plane in the simulator

We went to have lunch in a small town called Paterson, where we saw this quirky cemetery.

A full few days with another one to come on our way back to Sydney.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice