Day 10 - Perth & Kings Park.

Once again we got the train into the centre of Perth, from here we got a bus to Kings Park. This park covers about a 1000 acres of land. It was here I discovered they sell Maxibons in Australia?! I just thought this was a Europe thing but clearly not… as you can tell my diet is getting significantly better! This park is famous for holding weddings and that day we saw 2, that’s a great factor of getting married over here is you are likely to have pretty good weather.

The views from Kings Park are amazing as it looks right over the whole city and swan river. You can see everything from up there! We also went on the bushland walk trails looking at various plants, walking over a glass bridge and seeing the Pioneer Women’s Memorial fountain and water garden.

We got the bus back to the city and walked to see the Bell Tower which holds the Swan Bells. There are 18 bells all together and are held in a building which is about 80m tall, I have been told they are one of, if not, the largest set of change ringing bells in the world.

From here we went and grabbed some food in the Lucky Shag Waterfront Bar. To  tick off another thing I haven’t tried we went and got some Bubble Tea… lets just say it didn’t really hit the mark nor will I be buying it again!

Day 8 - Fremantle.

Another crazy hot day but that wasn’t going to stop us! As it was a weekend the markets were on in Fremantle, a place just south of Perth which is about 40mins by train from where Michael lives, so that is where we spent our Sunday. The public transport in Perth is on top form, if only it was like this everywhere else in the UK!

We decided to take the ‘Fremantle Tram Tour’ around the city as it wasn’t too expensive, a good excuse to get some shade and we had a very informative driver! The bus took us from the train station to the town hall, the markets, the prison, the harbour and a few other places. We went on one round trip then got off at the harbour to have some fish and chips from the No.1 shop in Western Australia – Cicerello’s! It was pretty tasty and definitely filled me up for most of the day. From here we walked around the markets where yet again I didn’t buy anything! (I’m getting good at this.)

Our next and final stop was the Fremantle Prison. This prison operated until 1991 with the last hanging in 1948… or was it 68? I can’t quite remember but it was pretty recently. What I do know is that 41 people were hanged and only 1 was a woman. When they knew they were going to close the prison the inmates were given paint and were allowed to paint on the walls which is partly still there 13 years later. It was weird to walk around and think that this place was in action not so long ago as most things you end up seeing are ’80 years ago…’ or some time length which is way before I was born. 

We got to go on 2 tours with our ticket, both very informative and thoroughly enjoyable. We were taught all about what happens day to day and how people tried to escape and whether they succeeded or failed. Both tour guides said they get quite a few exinmates come back just to have a look at places they may have never seen and where they spent quite a few years of their lives.

Before getting the train home we popped into Little Creatures brewery for a drink and then stopped in Leederville where we bought some frozen yogurt for dinner from Tutti Fruittis! I can live on water and frozen yogurt/ice cream can’t I?