April 30, 2016. Luxury in Perth

LOCATION:  Perth, Western Australia

WEATHER:  Nice. Highs in 60s

We took off early from our rental house in SW Australia, as we needed to hurry back to Perth to return the rental car.   As we drove along, the scenery was vineyards after vineyards, much like the Napa Valley.  Then, it turned to  farms and pastures.  Lots of cows and sheep.  In the USA, it is common to see flocks of wild turkeys foraging in the fields.   Here, the turkeys are on steroids....huge wild emus munching away.

We passed through many little towns with Aboriginal names.  Many names end with -up which we learned means "place of".  So, Cowaramip means "place of parrots"; Yallingup means "Place of Love". On the other hand, one should avoid Kirup, "place of Summer Flies" and Nornalup, "Place of tiger snakes"!  

We made good time, arriving in Perth around noon.  We are staying downtown again, near the rental car company.  We had booked the hotel through Holtel.com. and got a reasonably priced room.  When I entered the room, I thought they had made a mistake.  It is an apartment-sized room.  It has 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, fully-equipped kitchen, and laundry room!

George went back to the front desk to be reassured that it was ok to unpack.....for some reason, they had upgraded us.

We relaxed and strolled around the area, scoping out a place for dinner.  We decided to just get a take-away pizza and eat it in the nice room.  We found a very authentic Italian place and watched the Italian staff make the pizza in front of us, singing Italian songs as they cooked. 

We try to be frugal without bring "cheap".  I bought $60 worth of groceries in Margaret River last week (excluding wine!)   That provided us with 5 dinners, 7 breakfasts and 2 lunches.  Eating in a restaurant can be spendy.  Servers earn a minimum of $29/hour, so restaurants pass this overhead on to customers.  They earn double time on Sundays and holidays, resulting in a surcharge at some restaurants.  We usually split a meal or just order an appetizer when we do eat out.  

April 29, 2016. Margaret River Valley wine tasting

LOCATION:  Margaret River, a Western Australia

WEATHER:  Mostly rain.  Highs around 60

Just so readers don't think that we "play" all the time,  I'll note that we went to a laundromat and did laundry in the morning.

Then, off to wine tasting.  We have a detailed map listing many of the wineries; it is chock full!  Today we are going north of Margaret River, where there are wineries every mile or so.  Most are small.  A few are fancy with gourmet restaurants.  This is a slow time for them....good for us.  We went to this winery where the owner has a WWII airplane in his hangar.  He flew the "kangaroo flight" from England to Perth.

We visited the oldest winery in the region, from the 1960s.

We had lunch in a brewery.  First time we've had chicken wings here.  A bit of a disappointment as they used their popular sweet chilli  (Aussie spelling) sauce.  

Not today...Since George was today's Skipper (designated driver), he spat out most of the wine tastings, and didn't even order pints of beer in the breweries.  

DINNER:  Tuna with pasta.  Used remaining veg, as we leave tomorrow.

April 28, 2016. A mouse in the house!

ILOCATION:  Margaret River, Western Australia

WEATHER:  Rain.  Highs in 60s

Our little AirB&B is comfy but not delux.  It is a shipping container.  The front has a patio door carved out...

 

It is long and narrow inside.  Front area has a TV and a couch that separates the kitchen.

Then, a bedroom and bathroom in the back.

I was sitting on the couch reading when I saw a mouse scurry along the wall.  Then, he did a u-turn and hid under my couch.  Stranded, I called for help, but finally decided he hid somewhere.  The owner says it is mouse season, when they come in from the cold and rain.

One small detail not noted in the AirB&B ad or reviews is that the toilet is outside.  It is ok, but a bit inconvenient in the rain.  

Accommodations are not so important to us.  This is a fun adventure.  We sit on our front step watching the sheepdog rounding up the sheep and goats.

And we gaze out to the 100s of kangaroos that come out nightly at sunset.

Today, we drove out to Surfer's Point, home to world class surfing.

DINNER:  Omelette using as much food as possible, without buying more.

April 27, 2016. Land of the Tall Trees

LOCATION:  Margaret River, Western Australia

WEATHER:  On and off rain. Highs in 60s

Before we took off for the day, George played with the sheep, alpaca and goats in our front yard. At first, they ran away.

Then, they became his best friends when he brought out some food.

We drove about 80 miles east through many national parks to Pemberton.  We didn't see a house or any other traffic, just the occasional road kill kangaroo.  Unlike the smaller wallabies in Tasmania, these kangaroos are huge!  Bigger than deer.  They call this Australia's Valley of the Tall Trees.  It is Australia's version of America 's Redwoods.  The trees are a variety called karri.  

Then on to a nearby winery that overlooks a pond, vineyards and avocado trees.

DINNER:  I made a wine sauce with onions, mushrooms, local white wine,  and garlic and served it with the leftover rotisserie chicken.  

April 26, 2016. Stormy southwest coast.

LOCATION:  Margaret River, Western Australia

WEATHER:  Rain storms off and on. Highs in 60s

All night long we were serenaded by some animal.  We thought the noise came from these parrots, but later found out it is frogs.  It sounded like a jungle. 

It stormed during the night.  The wind was very loud, and our little container house was noisy.

We took a short drive south to the town of Augusta.  It is on the southwest tip  of Australia.  The Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean meet here.  National Geographic named this the #3 ocean view of the world.

    

While it rained, we ducked into a cute coffee shop and used their wifi.  

We visited two wineries in the region.  The first was very tiny.  The sign said to honk your car horn to get the owner's attention from his vegetable garden.  The owner is an  80-year-old Italian emigrant.  The wine was very cheap, but not that great.  Instead of buying his wine, we bought some of his olives, tomatoes and figs.

The second winery was stylish, overlooking a pond, a pack of wild emus,  and the vineyards.  We had lunch there, some smoked trout pate.  Yum.  I don't  think any of the wineries ever get very busy, as this area is pretty remote.

Then, we took a scenic drive around the area.  Another big attraction here are caves.  We've seen a lot, so didn't go to any.

This is our cute rental car in front of our cabin.

We relaxed in the afternoon, and hiked around the owner's property.

DINNER:  Pasta.  Side salad.  

April 25, 2016. Side trip to Margaret River

LOCATION:  Margaret River, Western Australia, about 200 miles south of Perth

WEATHER:  Rain storms on and off. Highs in 60s

From our Perth hotel, we walked to the Avis office to pick up our rental car.  Today is ANZAC Day, Australia's and New Zealand's Memorial Day.  There were parades of soldiers and veterans all over the city.  Unfortunately, it started to pour during the parade.  

Lots of people were there to cheer them on.  We picked up the car, a small GMC one, and headed south.  We had to make several detours as roads were closed due to the parades.  

Our destination is Margaret River, known for its wine and its rugged coast.  We stopped at a beach town for lunch.  We have rented a house for the week. We plan to use it as base while we explore the area.  I'm anxious to have access to a kitchen, as we are getting tired of expensive restaurant meals.   

We found the house down a dirt road.  Ragged sheep and alpacas greeted us.

The owner is a builder who likes to experiment with different types of houses.  We are staying in their guest house, made from a shipping container.  

In front of the house is a pasture with about 100 wild kangaroos grazing and munching happily away.

We drove about 5 miles to the beach.  We unsuccessfully looked for stingrays which like to swim in the shallow surf.  The waves were really crashing.  We left before sunset as we didn't want to encounter kangaroos on dark country roads.

DINNER:  Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  Sides were a sautée of potatoes, onions and cabbage

Quiet evening.  It started to storm and the TV went out.  Time to read!

April 24, 2016. Fremantle continued

We ate lunch at a Greek seafood waterfront cafe in Fremantle 's harbor district.

We split a platter of marinated squid and enjoyed eating it by the water.

This town is full of sidewalk cafés.  This downtown street is called Capuccino Street due to its many coffee shops.

We returned to Perth via train.  Downtown, we found a cute alley called London Court that looks like it came out of a 1800s English town.

Dinner was a Thai noodle dish at a hotel pub.  

April 24, 2016. Ferry to Fremantle

LOCATION:  Perth, Western Australia

WEATHER:  Beautiful. Highs in 70s

One of the most popular tourist activities here is a day trip to nearby Fremantle.  We took a 90 minute ferry ride down the Swan River (so named for its black swans) to Fremantle on the Indian Ocean coast.

The Perth skyline is beautiful.

We passed lots of yachts and beautiful riverfront luxury homes.  Seems like a lot of money here.

Then, in Fremantle, there are a lot of freighters loaded with containers ready to sail across the Indian Ocean.

Fremantle is fairly small, and easy to navigate.  We walked to the central market.  Fremantle is known for its buskers......,sidewalk musicians, entertainers.  This one drew a big crowd.

 

 Then, we hopped on free public buses to tour the city.  We hopped off at a popular beachfront area.  

See next post for more pictures.

April 23, 2016. Exploring Perth

LOCATION:  Perth, Western Australia

WEATHER:  Sunny and warm. Highs in 80s

We spent the morning sorting out our revised travel plans.....train refund, new train payment, flights and hotels.  I'm afraid the credit card was burning up!  

Like Adelaide, Perth has a great public transportation system.  We caught a free bus, right in front of our hotel, and went downtown to the tourist information office.  Loaded with brochures, we hopped on another free bus and went around the city.  We jumped off in a "foodie" area that looked interesting.  Part of the area is Chinatown.  Some of the dim sum restaurants had long lines of Asians waiting to enter.  There was also a food market in a park.

Crazy busy.  George, with his impeccable instincts for craft beer, spotted a brewpub next door.  We stopped there to rest and cool off.

We are farther north here, so it is warmer (Southern Hemisphere).  This is supposed to prepare us for Darwin which will be tropical.  

The state of Western Australia is very remote.  The state is bigger than Texas and Alaska combined.  Perth is very far from other cities. 

We took  three different buses around the city, doing our own version of the Hop On/Hop Off red tourist buses you see in big cities.

 Our tour was free, though, as we did it ourselves with the free city buses.  Perth seems to be growing rapidly.  High rise luxury apartments and hotels are being built around the harbor.

A note about international brands.....We are staying at a very nice Travelodge, which is considered a nice chain here, although in the USA, not so much.  Australia does not have WalMarts, but K-Mart is an upscale chain.  For fast food, we have seen many Kentucky Fried Chicken places (much nicer and many more than in the USA).  Subway is popular.  Some McDonalds, which they call "macca".  Even though Aussies drink a lot of coffee, we haven't seen Starbucks, just local coffee shops.  Proudly, we haven't been in any of these places!  :-)

When we were cruising around the city, we observed an outdoor wedding with white antique Bentleys parked in front of the church waiting for the wedding party.  We can actually see the church from our balcony.

For dinner, we walked to a Peruvian restaurant.  We had some interesting sausages and empanadas.  Guinea pigs were not on the menu!

April 22, 2016. Best laid plans....

After I wrote the last blog, our kind homeowner drove us to the railway station to catch the Indian Pacific to Perth.   It was a bit frantic as it is a different train station, and the GPS led us astray.  We arrived with minutes to spare, only to find that the train ride had been canceled.  There had been a derailment somewhere in the Outback.  

The railroad people were very kind.  They escorted us to our private cabin and invited us to the lounge, then dinner.  (Second dinner of the night).  We slept in our bunk beds on the train.  

After a nice breakfast on the train, we started figuring out our options.  To complicate matters, Monday is ANZAC  Day, Australia's Memorial Day.  So, it is a public holiday, school vacation with everyone traveling.  Flights to Perth that are normally $125 or so one way were $2000+!!!!  The railway staff kindly helped us find a reasonable fare for a late afternoon flight.  

We decided we would fly to Perth, then after a week, fly to Darwin, then take the sister train called The Ghan from Darwin.  They don't know when the Perth-Adelaide track will be repaired from the derailment.  This way, we will still get the train experience across the Outback.  They gave us a 20% discount.  We were able to book an additional hotel night in Perth.

After making all those arrangements, we stored our bags, and went in to Adelaide.  We visited some museums and a Japanese garden.

 It was a beautiful day for walking.  Then, back to the train station, then to the airport, and a 3-hour flight to Perth.

DINNER:  Airplane snack. :(  

April 21, 2016. Last day in Adelaide

Today is our last day in Adelside.  

We took the free bus ride around the perimeter.  I saw this old man needing help at the street crossing...

Then he went to our favorite local pub and was resurrected...

..

We said goodbye to our favorite pub conveniently located on George Street

Tonight we are catching the Indian Pacific Railway (similar to the Orient Express)  across the Outback from Adelaide to Perth on the west coast.

We picked up a pizza for dinner with our homeowner, then we will be off..

April 20, 2016. Good-bye to the Barossa Valley

LOCATION:  Adelaide, South Australia

WEATHER:  Beautiful. Highs in 70s

We had coffee on our deck at the Lyndoch Hills Hotel in the Barossa Valley.  Small world....our homeowners in Tasmania once worked at the hotel, and Terry was the chef for the restaurant at the then-fledgling Jacob's Creek winery.

George is a Bernie Sanders look-alike, badly needing a haircut.

We said good-bye to the winery's dog named Merlot.

To return to Adelaide, we needed to walk about 1 mile to town, then take the bus, then train.  We thought we'd try hitch-hiking first, but didn't have any luck.

So, once in the town of Lyndoch, we had an hour before catching the bus, so off we went to taste wine, of course!

Our homeowners in Adelaide kindly invited us to stay the night.  We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner.  Tasty!

April 19, 2016 continued. Brutal biking in the Barossa

Then, we picked up our rented bicycles and headed out.  I immediately had concerns.....the bicycle seat was the skinny, hard kind used by professional cyclists.  Terribly uncomfortable!  

We biked about 2 km to town on the area's beautiful bike paths.  Then, out to the country.  The sun started beating down.  No shade!  Then, we hit the steep hills.  By this time, my face was beet-red, my glasses were steamed up, and my head began to pound.  So, we stopped in a winery to rest and cool off.  Brilliant!  

The Barossa Valley is best known for their Shiraz.  Unlike in Napa Valley, and most USA wine regions, the tasting is free, pours are generous, and the number of wines to taste is limitless.  

We had lunch on the winery's patio, in the shade and with a refreshing breeze.  We shared a beautiful, huge smoked salmon platter.

Then, this interlude had to end, and we hopped on the bikes again.  Our destination was Jacob's Creek, about 2 more miles.  I was just miserable, and we only saw steep hills ahead, so we stopped and turned around.  Maybe next time.....

We stopped at another winery on the way home.  I was so miserable that I couldn't even try the free tastings, just drank a liter jug of water.  (Passing on free, delicious wine gives you an indication of how bad I felt!!)

Back at the hotel, we cooled off around the swimming pool.

We opened the refrigerator in our room and found complimentary wine and a cheese platter.  Life just gets better and better!  We had that for dinner in the room.  

April 19, 2016. Brutal biking in the Barossa!

LOCATION:  Lyndoch in the Barossa Valley, near Adelaide

WEATHER:  HOT!  Very sunny. Highs about 85

Our hotel is part of a beautiful winery, the Barossa Chateau.

We learned that the owner, about 15 years ago, had a burning desire to meet the Queen of England.  So, he built the world's biggest rose garden and invited her to preside over the grand opening ceremony.  She did!  The roses are not at their peak now, since it is Autumn here, but still pretty.

We strolled around the gardens, then went on an art tour of the chateau.

The tour showed us the beautiful artwork collected by the owner.  The chateau is used for high tea.

See next post for more news about this fun day.