Perth

 Friday, 17 June

On Wednesday evening we had a call from the Rottnest Explorer people to say that the weather forecast was bad for Friday and there would be no ferries running on Friday or Saturday. So today we went to Fremantle instead.

Perth has a number of free bus routes on “CAT” buses. The one that stops right near our hotel took us to the station where we caught a train to Fremantle. When we arrived in Fremantle we discovered that they have a “CAT” bus too so we did a circuit on it and were able to see quite a bit of the town while staying warm and dry. Actually, although it was a showery day it was not that cold.

After the bus we wandered along various streets admiring the beautiful old buildings. I remembered the Roundhouse from childhood visits to Fremantle. We found a shop selling ice cream and I had to have a lemon gelato, again in memory Dad driving the family to Freo just to buy a gelato.

The market was a bit crowded and reeked of incense so I was happy to get out and walk a few blocks to find the church where Judy’s parents were married. Then it was time for coffee at a little French cafe.

We caught the “CAT” bus again and hopped off at an amazing building we had seen earlier on. It was a huge warehouse selling furniture and all sorts of things from India and Asia. Enjoyed wandering through this vast emporium but best of all were the murals painted on the outside walls.

As we headed home on the train there were some very threatening clouds chasing us. There had been showers on and off all day but we were pretty good at dodging them. Luckily we could catch the “CAT” again. However when we were enjoying pre-dinner drinks in the hotel the heavens opened and we had to wait quite a while before we could out for dinner at another nearby restaurant. 

Then it was back to yesterday’s ice cream shop for dessert before parting in the lobby and heading up to our rooms.