Perth (continued)

Day 199

Carmen is working today and so off she goes on the bus into town and I am left to fend for myself for the day. A spot of bicycle maintenance in the morning and after lunch out comes the computer and games are fired up (call of duty – black ops). Before I know it there is a text saying she is on her way home!!

Day 200

Rabbit in a tent

A trip to Freemantle on the train for some belated birthday celebrations today and so after a quick and straightforward bus/train  journey (it is during the day after all) we arrive in ‘Freo’ and stroll down to the waterfront for a slap up fish and chip lunch in a restaurant on the wharf.

The wharf is right next to the sailing village that has been set up for the sailing worlds so as we sat down to eat the place was packed with yachty types milling about in their boat shoes and generally trying (and failing miserably) to look flash. The fish and chips were very nice and we both pretty much wolfed them down and after a quick look at the Bon Scott statue again we decided to head into town to a bar we had seen on our previous visit.

The ‘Monk’ is a pub and microbrewery and we settled in to sample a couple of beers brewed on site and very nice they were too.

Birthday pint

Time to head home whilst the busses are still running (Lest we be out after dark!) and on the final leg of the journey back to the campsite decide to stop at the ‘local’ pub and check it out (I say local only because it’s the closest one to the campsite, in any other meaning of the word it is in no way ‘local’ to us at all). Friday evening so it is relatively busy with after work drinkers but the atmosphere is not really happy-go-lucky and in fact it looks like a few of the blokes are waiting to kick off at the drop of a hat. Despite this we manage a couple of drinks and decide that rather than walk home from here (still 40 mins) we will get one of the last busses back.

We had both been drinking

Day 201

Carmen is working again today and so I bid her a fond farewell in the morning and (after a quick go on the game:-]) jump on my bike and head for the Karinyup shopping centre in search of Christmas (I should explain that Christmas for me never starts until after my birthday).

Arrive back home and it’s time to put up the tree (which we have been lugging around since Sydney!) 5 seconds later and Polly is looking decidedly seasonal and I spend the rest of the afternoon involved in secret Christmas business.

Day 202

Carmen is working (again) in the afternoon (and as its Sunday and there are no busses) so we cycle to the station and head into town early so we have time to look around the Western Australian Museum. We have deliberately been saving a few things like museums and galleries as we knew we were going to be in Perth for a while and didn’t want to do everything in the first week and so we were both looking forward to this.

Situated in the cultural precinct the building itself is pretty nice and we entered with high expectations. Immediately the signage (or lack of) lets us down as we go the wrong way and end up in the children’s area. Back through the foyer and we find ourselves in the museum proper.

Disappointed, let-down and rubbish are just a few of the words I would use to describe what we found in the galleries, the exhibits were your usual affair and even the dinosaur bones (plaster cast replicas of dinosaur bones) seemed boring and uninteresting (perhaps we are just having a bad day). We saved the best till last and hit the shop, thinking a good shop could save a very mediocre museum but alas it was not to be so and we beat a hasty retreat.

Just outside the museum and we find ourselves in front of the ‘Polly’ coffee bar! Well it would be a shame not to wouldn’t it, so in we go and order ourselves a couple of coffees and stroll over to the mall where we come across what must be the worst ride in world!

Its called the ‘Jumping Kangaroo’ and even though it is a kids ride I seriously cannot believe they are charging money for this. It slowly rises to the giddy height of about 3 feet and then slowly comes down again, up and down a few more times and (by now even the kids have puzzled looks on their little faces) that is it. I should imagine getting out of bed in the morning would be more of a rush than this ride but still they queue up……

Day 203

A day out in the van today to investigate some options for moving out of our (middle of nowhere) campsite after Christmas. We hit the highway and arrive in south Freemantle ½ hour later. A short drive along the coast and we check out a couple of parks and decide on one close to town. After checking they have spots available (they did) we head back into ‘Freo’ and pay a visit to the E-shed markets on the dockside. A quick look around and decide to head over and watch a bit of the sailing as we are here. Considering it is the world championships there seems to be hardly anyone there watching and we just about double the attendance!

Head back under a sky of black clouds and as we are setting up for the night thunder and lightning booms and cracks overhead and the skies open. We are glad that we are inside as the rain gets heavier and heavier until, suddenly I am getting wet!

Somehow water is (excuse the French) pissing in through the top of the door and is soaking the bed. It’s all hands to the pumps, towels are out mopping up the water and bowls are held under the waterfall that has appeared. We sit it out and after a while the rain eases slightly and the water stops coming in. Luckily we had acted pretty quickly and not too much is wet but looking out at the rest of the campsite it seems that we have been lucky. People are bailing out tents, wringing out bedding and trying to rescue collapsed awnings. Quite a storm!

Day 204

The morning after the night before and you would never know there had been a storm (apart from waking up in the wet patch!).

A wet rabbit

The sun is out and it looks like a nice day so we are off on the bikes to the local shopping centre. Christmas is in full swing, Santa is there with a queue of kids waiting to sit on his knee and ask for things their parents can’t afford and people seem to be rushing around panic buying like it’s the eve of Armageddon. We get into the spirit and panic browse for an hour or two but ultimately come away exhausted and empty handed and make our way back home.

Day 205

Carmen is working again today and so she heads off early into town and after a morning of chores (and maybe a quick 5 minutes on the game) I follow in the afternoon.

I return to the state library and wait for Carmen to finish work and when she does we head off in search of a pub. We stroll over to Northbridge and walk up and down the main drag and after a complete lap and slightly disappointed at the seeming lack of watering holes we end up back at the three monkey’s pub. A quick pint later and not wanting to miss the last bus home we head back.