Perth stopover 1.0

I know you want to hear about Africa,  but I haven't written about Perth yet so you'll have to put up with that for now.   Even though we're currently on the bus driving through dry scrubby land in Africa  (it's not the great southern land the song talks about, but I still have that song in my head).

So the highlights of our first day were the very nice view out to Rottnest Island from our apartment, and the very nice $10 bottle of Victorian Pinot Gris (Barra Valley maybe?)  we bought from our local liquor store.

The plan for the next day was quite leisurely but I woke at 5am so we ended up leaving for the city before 8am.  Kings Gardens were pleasant, but I keep forgetting that the Aussie version of bush is very different from home.  We'd been recommended Zamia's cafe  by a local and were directed to it at the visitor centre to walk along the grassy sward.  Which we then repeated at every opportunity for the rest of the day.  The cafe was lovely but not sure if I'd walk a grassy sward to eat there again.

Back at our apartment we ventured to the nearby beach for a swim.  But we can swim in freezing cold water at home and the sea wasn't appealing  (full of seaweed) so I had a brief paddle in the complex pool instead.

Fremantle was our dinner destination and we met a local couple drinking champagne by the flagpole.  For no reason at all except to celebrate the sunset.  Hashtag goals.  Dinner at Joe's Fish Shack with a vista of some fishing boats and some serious looking oil rig supply ships.  One of these has the distinction of being boarded by Greenpeace in Taranaki. 

(Brief Africa update : we just had a short stop on the side of the road to look at a jen of giraffes that were posing for photos.)

We had a  bit of excitement on the train home.  I pushed the door open button and nothing happened.  The dodgy people on the train who had just been talking about someone pulling a knife on them told us we were on the wrong side of the train but we weren't quick enough and so had to go an extra stop - thankfully not too far. 

A sum total of about 22km was walked.  So much for an easy day.

Another unintentional early morning to start our Swan Valley wine tasting.  First by bus through Guilford and onto Sandalford, our first vineyard. The vintage sparkling was very nice, but the best surprise for me was liking the sauvignon blanc semillon. Mum liked the Margaret River cabernet.  There were only four of us on the tour at this point so we got to try lots of wines. Next was Manduroon for more tasting and a very nice meal, and then a change of driver, a whole bunch more people and Lancaster wines, chocolate tasting and jam, chutney and the like tasting. 

Lastly, a couple of hours cruising down the river with an open bar, and entertainment provided by a crew member who sang very well.