One of the most popular trips that many people seem to do from Singapore is to fly to Perth and then visit the Margaret River area which has become very well known for it's wineries and great food. For some unknown reason it has taken us nearly 5 years to get around to arranging this trip but three weeks ago we met up with good friends of ours at Singapore airport and boarded the flight to Perth, Western Australia for the 4 and half hour flight.
We arrived in the early evening, checked into our hotel and then headed out to explore, we had been warned by friends that Australian restaurants close early so didn't want to leave it until late to find somewhere to eat. It was Saturday evening and despite being in the city centre the street's seemed almost deserted, where was everyone?
The following morning was much the same with empty streets, hardly any traffic on the roads and a lovely cool temperature of 18c which coming from busy and steamy Singapore was blissful.
We walked to Elizabeth Quay which is being developed into a very nice pedestrainised area
with dramatic sculptures and bridges
most of which seemed to have a nautical theme
We chatted to 1 person and had to stop her to admire her dachshund; Harvey, she said that he was dressed up for a photoshoot with Santa that she would use on her Christmas cards!
Nearby is Perth's Bell Tower which contains the royal bells of London's St Martin in the Fields. The bells were given to Western Australia by the British Government in 1988 and are the only set known to have left England
The bell tower building looks pretty impressive from the outside, we didn't have time to visit the bells or go inside, anyway it was too nice a day to be inside
One of the major sights in Perth is Kings Park and the Botanic Garden and we were all keen to see these, so we walked along the lovely wide, waterfront pavement to the gardens
The gardens were beautiful and filled with spring flowers and interesting plants, including these Kangaroo Paw plants which are endemic to the south-west of western Australia and come in several colours
We had only been in the garden a short while before we heard the very recognisable bird call of the Kookaburra, we followed the calls and found this pair resting on a branch just above our heads, seemingly unconcerned with people walking close by. I'm sure most Australian's are very blasé about seeing Kookaburra's but I was very excited
At the top of Kings Park there were extensive views across Perth's waterfront and Swan River
We arrived at the impressive and thought provoking State War Memorial.
We were a bit worried that this duck would shortly become roast duck as he swam closer and closer to the eternal flame!
In a few days time it would be Remembrance Day, there were little red poppies next to many of the names on the memorial wall
We walked on and found the entrance to the Botanic garden
I just loved the beautiful spring wild flowers on display. So many new and completely different plants to those that we have in Europe
It was interesting to see Banksia plants, named after the English botanist; Sir Joseph Banks, who travelled with Captain Cook to Australia in the 1770's. Many species of Banksia the fruits will not open and release their seeds until they have been burnt by fire
This tree must have had some tasty seeds as several parrots were busy feeding on something
I think this flower is from a type of eucalyptus (gum) tree
There were many species of bottle brush trees (Callistemon) including this pretty candy pink one
One of the major attractions within the Botanic Garden is this attractive 220m long glass and steel bridge passing through a grove of eucalyptus trees
Leaving the park we passed by this statue of Queen Victoria
and lastly a plant bed entirely filled with Xanthorrhoea or Grass Trees. The Aborigines used to call these plants "Balga "which translates as "Black boy" possibly because after a bush fire their blackened trunks would resemble a child like black figure. The term is now considered very racist so the old name has been replaced with Grass tress. Grass trees can live for hundreds of years, if it has a trunk height of 1 meter it is estimated to be 100 years old!
Whatever their name and age they were very impressive with their long flower spikes which bees and insects seemed very attracted to
We spent several hours enjoying the gardens, made all the more enjoyable by the fact that they were completely free to visit.
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Day 2
The following morning we collected our hire car and drove the short distance to Fremantle (called Freo by Aussies) and Hilary's boat yard where we got the fast ferry over to Rottnest Island (known as Rotto, although there's a drive to return it's name to it's original Aboriginal name of Wadjemup)
Rotto is a small car-free island with glorious beaches and lots of wildlife including the island's only land mammal the Quokka which we had been told we would be sure to see.
It certainly is a beautiful island and we hired bikes to explore as much of it as we could. As Rotto is mainly flat it was lovely easy cycling with amazing scenery around each bend and the most beautiful azure blue sea
We passed by all sorts of interesting plants and at one point a snake slithered across the track right in front of Papa T's bike
It didn't take long before we spotted our first quokka, an extremely cute, furry, placid type of marsupial. Quokkas used to exist all over Western Australia but predators (cats foxes and dogs mainly) they now are only found on Rottnest & one other island in WA
While Papa T and SS had a break LS and I cycled a small loop circuit and found a wonderful small bay
I spotted a stack of twigs on top of a rock jutting out of the sea just off the beach. Looking through the binoculars we were thrilled to see some Ospreys
It looked like a family of 4 with 2 adults and 2 quite large youngsters
The whole island seems to be bird watcher's haven with it's many types of environment; heathland, woodland, swamps and saltwater inlets. On one saltwater inlet there was a large number of Fairy Terns and a sign asking people to give the nesting birds plenty of room
A few other birds were in the same area including this Australian Pied Oystercatcher
and this tiny plump chap, which I think is a Red-capped Plover
and this a Red-necked Stint
and several beautiful Banded Stilts
Before leaving we spent time trying to get the 'perfect photo'. A friend told me it's become a bit of a 'thing' to take a selfie with a quokka, and this is my best shot. Every time I look at it, it just makes me smile, perhaps I should try this in a caption competition.
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Day 3
We left Fremantle and set off for our next destination, Dunsborough, a small coastal town on the South West coast. Only 250kms away we were able to take our time and enjoy the scenic views and driving pretty empty roads.
Just outside Dunsborough we saw a herd (is that the correct collective term?) of kangaroos and stopped to watch them graze
In the long grass there were also some parrots eating the seeds, I think this is an Australian Ringneck
After admiring the wildlife we finished our journey and settled into the 'cottage' that we had rented for the next few nights
and of course did what all Aussie's do....fire up the barbie and throw some prawns on (actually think these were lobster tails)
That evening I walked the few feet from the cottage to the beach to catch the sunset, which was lovely, there was no-one on the beach and only the sound of some birds calling.
By the time it was dark the warmth of the day disappeared and the outside temperature dropped to 6c! Coming from Singapore we really felt the cold but loved lighting the open fire inside our cottage and warming up
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Day 4
Whilst in Singapore we had pre booked a day's wine tour and the next morning we were picked up by our guide and driver; Adrian from Margaret River Unplugged Tours. As it was still a bit early to visit the first winery Adrain took us on a short walk to Big Rock nature reserve
This is a lovely small nature reserve with a wonderfully diverse selection of plants for its size
including more attractive Grass trees
Then it was time for our first winery visit, this was to Windance a small family owned and operated estate
We must have tasted 8 wines there and although you only get a small amount to try we felt distinctly merry by the time we purchased a few bottles and waved goodbye to our host. Back in the vehicle Adrian gently pointed out that we had 4 more wineries, a brewery and a gin distillery to visit before the end of the day and he politely suggested we might ask for a spittoon or we would probably not last the day!
We took heed of Adrian's advice and at the following wineries used the spitoon (well some of the time) and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the tastings
Each winery was quite different, we mainly visited smaller estates where we were made very welcome and the owner would proudly tell us all about their wine. The one large (and very well known) estate we visited was very impressive but not nearly as welcoming, we were one of probably hundreds of people visiting that day and it felt like it, we didn't stay long nor buy any of their wine
After a very tasty platter lunch we were re-energised for the last two stops, including the brewery and gin distillery, unfortunately the photos I took there are not up to much, too much to drink maybe?
We were back at our cottage by 6pm and had an early night, wine tasting is hard work!
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Day 5
The following morning, after a reasonable night's sleep (although I had woken up briefly at 5am for some reason) LS asked me if we had felt the earthquake? LS had been woken at 5am feeling the bed moving, I thought she was imagining it but she then showed me news footage that there had been an earthquake locally, magnitude of 5.4! There didn't seem to be any reports of damage or injury fortunately.
We were all really excited as this day as we were going whale watching. We got on the boat from the beach at Dunsborough…
..and headed out to sea.
The boat crew explained that when they, or anyone else spotted something, the position of the time on a clock face would be used to state where the sighting was, i.e if dead ahead of the boat that would be 12 o'clock, etc.
Binocs and camera at the ready we scanned the water looking for our first sighting of whales in beautiful Geographe Bay
15 minutes after setting off there was shout and we saw our first humpback whale
and then a few moments later another back appeared; a much smaller back, we were delighted to see a mother and her calf
We were lucky to see many more whales, mainly mothers and calves, this was the season for their southern migration when humpback whales travel from the north; where they have given birth to their young and return to their feeding grounds in Antarctica, taking on the longest journey of any migrating mammal, around 5000kms.
Some whales rose their huge heads out of the water, we were told this is called 'spy hopping' and that's exactly what they were doing, spying on us to check what we were doing and to see if we posed any potential danger to their young
We were excited to also watch several whales slap their enormous tails on the water
We watched several whales as they 'breached' which is when they rise out of the sea and crash back down creating a huge splash, try as might I wasn't quick enough to get a a photo of the whales actually in the air, only the splash as they landed. The noise of the splash, we were told can be heard up to a kilometre away
After a few hours of exciting, wonderful whale watching the boat turned back to the shore but our wildlife encounter wasn't over yet. As we left the whales behind a pod of dolphins caught up with us and swam alongside. We watched quietly until the boat captain urged us to make lots of noise saying this would encourage the dolphins to play with us for longer, we clapped our hands, whistled and shouted and the dolphins put on a fabulous display right beside us
That afternoon we drove to Cape Naturaliste and the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park. This 155sq km park has many walking trails many of which have fantastic views of the coastline and the Indian Ocean and we would have the opportunity for further (although more distant) sightings of whales.
At the tip of this cape is Cape Naturaliste lighthouse was built in 1903 and is still in continuous use
LS and I decided to walk one of the trails, it was perfect walking weather with blue sky and a lovely cool breeze. A few minutes after we set off we were approached by another walker who advised that a large snake was in the middle of the track a few meters further on and he was turning back. LS was hesitant to continue so I suggested that we give it a go, walk slowly and stamp our feet as we went which would warn the snake we were coming and hopefully encourage it to slither away. LS reluctantly agreed so we carried on with me in front, stomping my feet. However the path became narrower and more overgrown making it difficult to see the track clearly and when a group of 3 walkers came towards us and said the snake was still on the path LS had had enough and turned back!
Actually that was the sensible thing to do, no need to put ourselves at risk and there were other lovely routes to enjoy with wonderful views of the headland
We finished this wonderful day watching the sunset over Sugarloaf Rock. To get to the best spot we first scrambled over some rocks and passed this interesting rock formation, a little rock garden
We were treated a stunning sunset but as the sun went down the temperature dropped rapidly and we were soon frozen, back to the cottage to the enjoy the open fire
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Day 6 - our last full day
The previous day we had explored the northern most tip of the Cape and today we set off for the southern most tip at Cape Leeuwin, the most southwesterly point in Australia. On the drive down I suddenly spotted some emu's, we were able to pull over and watch these graceful creatures for a while. The second largest living bird, by height (the ostrich being the largest) is flightless and like kangaroos considered by many Australians; particularly farmers, to be a pest but they and kangaroos are a protected species and it's illegal to hunt, kill or capture them.
Clearly kangaroos must be quite a hazard on Australian roads
but they must also be important to the people of Western Australia as they are included in their coat of arms
When we reached wild and windy Cape Leeuwin I was blown away, not only by the wind but by the fantastic display of wildflowers growing in the cracks amongst the rocks
There were so many of them, lots of different types and the most vivid colours
It was a stunning display and completely natural
We visited the lighthouse. I enjoyed looking at the plaque nearby, erected by the Royal Western Australia Historical Society pointing to local wrecks and historical sights
There was also this photograph taken from the sky looking down onto the cape and lighthouse and showing where the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean meet
It felt rather exciting to be at such a place, and to actually see the disturbance in the sea where the two oceans meet.
This also happened to be another good whale watching spot and we saw quite a few breaching in the distance
On our way back to Dunsborough we took a detour, following signs to Boranup Drive, a dirt track road through the forest with 50m high Karri trees on either side of us. We seemed to be the only people in the forest which was silent except for the occasional bird calls, it was a rather magical place
Towards the end of this beautiful drive we came to a lookout point giving us far reaching views of the beautiful landscape in this part of Australia ( and posed for a few photos)
At the end of the drive we came across a small cafe tucked into the woods and stopped for a very late lunch. Whilst sitting eating our sandwiches 2 fire engines appeared and stopped a few feet behind the cafe. At this point I caught the faint smell of burning and then saw some wisps of smoke, we went to investigate...
...and saw firemen spraying water over the forest floor. During our week in WA we had noticed how dry the ground was and had seen many notices highlighting the danger of bushfires, we had been told that come the height of the Summer in a few months time the danger would be even higher
It had been an exciting, relaxing, wonderful week in beautiful WA and we had so enjoyed sharing it with our lovely friends. With Perth being only a short flight away from Singapore I really hope we can return there again
