Australia plus a few cancellations

In talking to Martin's mum, we found it had been 50 years since any of his close family had been to Australia, and that had been his Dad visiting Sydney for work purposes. The world was a lot different then.

If we'd expected to see a kangaroo bounce up to us as we emerged from the airport, we'd have been disappointed. The airport was modern and the climate, their winter, like that of early October in the UK. More was familiar; driving on the left-hand side, green road signs and of course, everything in English. It was dark and midnight, we were tired and that, plus the clear, wide neighbours (TV) streets were first impressions.

We were staying with Jacqui’s sister and brother-in-law for our 12-day stay, and our first outing was a weekend in Margret river, noted for its wine. We toured multiple vineyards, tasting countless fine wines and enjoying gastronomic stops including a fine meal at Witchcliffe vineyard. We also managed time at Busselton Jetty with its underwater observatory at the end of a 1.8km pier, and art trail. Kangaroos were everywhere and afterwards, late Sunday we drove at dusk the 250 km back to modern Perth where they lived.

Sharon, Simon and Brad were keen to share what they loved about their new life, 8 years after leaving the UK. We spent time in the port city of Freemantle with its vibrant arts, culture, wonderful weekend market and historic feel. This included a tour of the former Freemantle prison, constructed by convicts themselves and only relatively recently closed (1993). From Freemantle, we also got a 30-minute ferry to Rottness Island (the aboriginal name is Wadjemup), another former prison island and the only place you will see the friendly Quokka's. Rottnest was laden with beautiful clean beaches and we hired bikes to see as much as we could in our short visit. Equally, we enjoyed the home comforts of a rare Sunday lunch (not many of those to be found in Asia!), and a warm jacuzzi. Martin even managed to run in nearby parks.

Perth, whilst spread out, had its own central business district, climbing high into the sky. It was modern and clean and clearly laid out. They had managed to incorporate early settlement buildings into this growing metropolis which we viewed whilst eating lunch from its only sky-high revolving restaurant.

We also visited (both day and night) king's park, which overlooked the city with its fine collection of plants.

Perth Mint was fascinating, allowing us to hold a real bar of gold. Martin visited the city’s art collection and their excellent cultural museum, squeezing in time at their video game console museum where many were available

to try - from pong to donkey kong, Atari space invaders to Nintendo Mario kart.

We sampled plenty of local food, enjoyed an evening painting our partners, and even an hour or so playing darts. We even managed another full day’s tour of the nearby wine area Swan River, with Jacqui's cousins Mike and Pauline . Martin was also thrilled to see koala's in a nature reserve 55 minutes north of Perth.

We enjoyed our 10-day visit which got extended as Jacqui caught covid, resulting in a 7-day isolation period. So, after squeezing in a post-Covid visit to nearby Perth hills settler museum and waterfalls, we were off again - Jordan and Singapore were cancelled and so we sped off (some 18 days later) to Perth airport to catch a flight to Dubai. This was the second time we'd had to change plans as our trip to Japan was cancelled due to their continued covid restrictions and at that time we'd booked a replacement tour to Jordan. Whilst a shame not to have been to all the places we wished at the outset, we've been fortunate to make alternative arrangements whilst on the move.

M and J

See also: Impressions of Australia