Day 14 – Leaving Perth/Arriving in Melbourne.

My flight was due out of Perth at 11am but on arrival was told it was delayed and wouldn’t be leaving until 12.30 which I thought was annoying but it could have been worse! Boarding began at 12.30 and once on the plane they said there had been problems from Melbourne, which is why the flight was delayed. As they were about to demonstrate the safety procedures they realised the PA system or something wasn’t working and needed to be reset… eventually at 2pm we started to make a move, this meant the flight didn’t land in Melbourne until half past 8. (The flight was only 3 and a bit hours but Melbourne is +3 hours from Perth.) I took the Skybus to Southern Cross station where normally you can get a Skybus to your hotel but this service stops at 5.30 on a Saturday so I knew I was never going to make it even if my plane had been on time, which is why I had already planned to take the free City Circle tram. On arrival at the tram stop I read the timetable which said the free service stops at 9pm… could my day get any worse?! This meant there was only one thing for it… to walk the whole way there which I knew was about a 30minute journey... lets just say by the time I arrived here my back was dripping and I definitely needed a shower! Both bags combined are probably about 20kg and a lot of Russell Street was all up hill… NEVER AGAIN! Will my bad luck ever end?

Does anyone else have an outfit they always wear on the plane? This is mine!

Day 12 – Caversham wildlife park.

Today I finally got up close and personal with some of Australia’s finest wildlife! When entering the park we were given a map and on this map it had the times of talks and things that were happening in the park that day. I decided to take control and plan our afternoon (the 4 or so hours until it shut) so we could see as much as possible, this is also because I know Michael had a rubbish sense of direction (sorry but it’s true!). When given a map you never really know how big the place is going to be, I quickly realised it wasn’t that big at all and we would be able to see everything.

 Our first stop was ‘Meet the Koalas’.  We were actually allowed inside their enclosure where there were two long branches covered in about 10 – 15 Koala bears. They had selected one on each branch that we could stroke. They are so soft, exactly like any cuddly bear you can think of. The main rule they asked was not to touch any of the leaves because as soon as humans touch them, the Koalas don’t want to eat them anymore. That’s just fussy if you ask me!

Our second stop was ‘Molly’s farm’. This is where we saw some sheep herding, one of those sheep being sheered, how to crack a whip and we even got the chance to milk a cow! That got added to the list too, as I’ve never milked a cow.

Our third stop was ‘Wombat and friends’. The ‘friends’ were lots of different types of birds, some owls, reptiles, a possum and a few other fury creatures. We could see anything we wanted but most people started at the birds and worked their way towards the wombat but as I’m a logical thinker we worked backwards, meaning less people around each animal making it easier for us to see. The possum was a light yellow colour and very cute, will you buy me one please mum? I’ll walk it… honest!

Our fourth stop was the ‘Tazmanian Devil talk’ and our last stop was to see the Kangaroos! I just love Kangaroos, they jump about a bit but mostly just end up sleeping and get fed endless amounts of food by people who just want to stroke them and have a selfie. Saying that, it was pretty hard to take a selfie as I guess they’re too famous now for little old me! One in particular did lean it’s feet on me and I had 3 of them eating out the palm of my hand, literally.

Day 11 - Hillary's.

To save some cash and just to chill out for the afternoon we popped down to Hillary’s. As I said in a pervious blog it is a boat harbour with shallow waters to swim in, along with an array of shops and restaurants. 

We laid in the sun/shade for a bit but slowly became a bit peckish which is when we decided to walk over to San Churros for; yep you guessed it some Churros. These came with white and milk chocolate dip. The main reason we came here is because Michael said they did the best hot chocolate he’s ever had… so obviously I had to try some. My chosen flavour was Dark and it was pretty delicious. This is where I also tried and tested my first ever macaroon. I went for standard vanilla flavour as I thought it was best to start boring. I don’t really know what to make of them, I think they might be like cupcakes for me and I just prefer to look at them instead of eating them.

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 9 - Chilled day.

I got up pretty late, about 11am? I’ve become quite lazy in my week in Perth but that’s ok. Michael had a driving test around 3pm so we decided just to chill around the house for the day. This meant I spent most of my time reading in the garden by the pool or in the living room. I also looked through a local paper where I found something I recognised...

a small article about the city of Portsmouth which is where I am from! Pretty crazy and quite fitting as I got some news from back home that day.