Fremantle

The flight from Melbourne to Perth took nearly four hours which gives you a pretty good indication of the distances between the east and west of Australia.

We have rented an apartment in Fremantle for a week as we are getting a little tired of packing and driving.

On arrival we needed to eat as it was now 8PM and Perth is two hours in front of Melbourne so we went down into the town centre, there were lots and lots of people dining Al fresco on what is called the Cappuccino Strip but we did eventually find a place.

Fremantle is a very nice town, very bohemian with a lot of 60s hippies still knocking about the place and a free bus service which takes you around town. Where would you get that in UK where everyone can use it?

Just across the bay is an island called Rottnest which has wildlife inhabitants called quokkas, a small kangaroo like animal which the discoverer thought were rats, hence the name Rottnest. We spent a full day there going on various tours both land and sea based.

Going back to my favourite subject, there are lots of micro breweries in the region and we spent a very enjoyable day with Sandra and Dave, who are friends of Alan and Joyce in Melbourne. They took us on a beer tour of the Swan Valley, as opposed to a wine tour, and we visited four micro breweries, Elmars, Druckstein, Mash Brewing and Feral Brewing altogether sampling 19 beers (only small shots). The evening was concluded with a great BBQ at their house, many thanks to them for their hospitality.

A cruise up the Swan River from Fremantle to Perth to pickup the hire car was very pleasant and showed just how many people have boats out here.

I have picked up a foot injury while walking on Rottnest Island, I went over on my ankle but it didn’t start to hurt until 24 hours later and now I can’t put any weight on my right foot. It’s a bit frustrating to say the least and restricts me somewhat from walking around.

There is a brewpub called Little Creatures on the Fremantle waterfront which is probably one of the best pubs I have been in. It is housed in a couple of large modern sheds and has an industrial theme like a lot of modern brewpubs, the music and the wait staff are what I would call diverse and it attracts a lot of the beautiful people. Even Sheila likes it as it is a wonderful place to people watch and the bonus is the beer is of excellent quality.

Today the 16th of January the temp will be 40 deg. C. It’s 10AM and already 35 deg.C.

Bendigo and Ballarat

Bendigo has not got too many places of interest to visit. Its only claim to fame is that it was part of the goldfields where gold was mined in the mid to late 1800s.

The weather is particularly hot at the moment with the temps getting up to 36 deg. C.

Ballarat is some 122 Km away from Bendigo so it didn’t take us long to get there, relatively short trip compared with the last couple of trips. Again it is a town in the Goldfields area and is famous for a small rebellion at a place called the Eureka stockade.

There is a replica of the town, called Sovereign Hill, as it was during the gold rush of the 1850s and we spent a very good day at this place.