A Dutch Twist (afternoon of 30th July)

This monument down by the wharf commemorates Mr O'Connor who set out the township, and for those early days he seems to have done a splendid job.

We  visited the Ship wreck museum. This was fascinating as they had an extensive display of the wreck of the Batavia (from the Netherlands)which stranded on a reef in  1629. I can see why Australia was nearly called New Holland with several Dutch vessels nearly making a settlement nearly a century before the British.

Reconstructed hull

A variety of hand made nails

A pair of scissors calcified from being on the reef.

Model of the type of ship that the Batavia was.

And why did it sink? Probably because this stone archway stored in pieces was in the hold so that when they did start a settlement they would have a grand entranceway!!! Incredible!!

Then we walked to the Round House which was a sentry and a prison. Curved rooms which echoed Andrea and Todd's place in a way.

The bells to relay the time and events of the day.

Freo - 30th July 2016

Complimentary breakfast at the hotel, then onto the Fremantle Explorer for a cruise to Fremantle for the day. Warm and only a little cloudy.

The trip up the Swan River to Freo takes about 1 1/4 hours and we passed some spectacular real estate.

Units 3.3million. Boats extra.

On  landing we caught the Blue CAT which is a free bus service.

Waiting for the bus.

Fantastically restored  old buildings.

We got off at the Fremantle Yacht club expecting to see some vestige of the America Cup venue - but we hit a brick wall - all very exclusive!

Pretty succulents

This would have been the approximate yacht racing area.

A photo opportunity beckons

Back to Perth - 29th July 2016

Packed up and headed to Busselton  - without the GPS on. Busselton has an extremely long jetty,but the wind was howling and it was starting to rain so we didn't venture along it. Even a photo was just a grey blur. We had tea and coffee in town (Yuk) and then set the GPS for a macadamia farm north of Mandurah. Unfortunately it was just a paddock of trees, a shack of a house and a large noisy dog. (but such a lovely website!) We stopped only long enough for Duncan to relieve himself! Fortunately the GPS got us back on track with ease. Our hotel in Perth was in the midst of road works which meant a trip around the block. The hotel (Good Earth)  is dated but well laid out. 

Duncan returns the car and we walk to the Southern Star Vietnamese Restaurant.

Sunset view from our window

Good fresh tucker for tea.

Lights of Perth - the Bell tower.

Carbunup, Yallingup, Cowaramup

All these Aboriginal names - and yet I haven't seen one Aborigine in this district!

As we left Lake Cave it was raining very hard, so we missed the Mammoth cave., and headed North. The rain soon eased and we took a side trip to Ellenbrook to look at a surf break - Umbies - but it is a bit confronting when there is a memorial to Boydy taken and eaten by a shark just a few years ago.

The beach was deserted

Small snails on the beachfront succulents.

We travelled further north to Yallingup where the statue proclaims this as the "Home of Surfing in WA" I saw a young mum looking after two babies as we had lunch there. Later the other mum appeared out of the surf, "Your turn tomorrow" I laughed, but she replied "No I had first surf today and I'll be second tomorrow."

We drove through to Dunsborough and along the beachfront where each denomination - Seventh Day Adventist, Anglican, Brethren, Uniting (Methodist and Presbyterian) and Baptist had all been gifted campsite areas bordering the sea.

Then through Vasse, Carbunup to 3Oceans winery where we gleaned a lot of useful information as well as trying some good wines.

We stopped at Cowaramup to take some photos as the village has been invaded by cow models!

Steering the steer.

Can't this cow read??

It was a short drive off the beaten track to Colonial Brewery for a beer tasting.

Even the Colonial brewery had a cow

After a short respite at the motel we headed of to Swings. It had tapas, but all five that we ordered arrived at once which was very unsatisfactory. They didn't even fit on our table!.