Perth, Western Australia

Indian Ocean at Cottesloe Beach, Perth Skyline, Swan Bells, Here I am in the parklands along the Swan, Highrise of St Georges Terrace, and Cottesloe Beach.

Over the weekend, I took a short sojourn to Perth, in the faraway land of Western Australia. Perth has the dubious honour of being one of the most isolated cities in the world, and having flown there from Sydney, almost 5 hours flight away, I would agree... There was very little to see on the flight. Flying over the lights of Canberra would have been the highlight!

However Saturday morning I woke in Perth and found it a thoroughly pleasant city. The main CBD of Perth is on the banks of the Swan River, however a little further afield is the gorgeous beach of Cottesloe on the Indian Ocean. I wandered around town, did some shopping, and took a cruise down the Swan, as well as wandering along the parklands lining the river. I also made the trek out to Cottesloe, at this time of year a rough, and predominantly surf beach.

Home of the Dockers

A 20 minute train ride (or an hour's ferry ride) down the Swan River from Perth takes you to Fremantle, the main docks of Perth. Fremantle is a really pleasant spot to pass the time away. I spent an afternoon in the glorious sunshine to explore the historic old buildings, the cappuccino strip and the Fremantle markets, followed by sunset at the docks. Fremantle comes alive at the weekends, full of people at cafes, in the shops, and wandering around the markets.

Clockwise - Sunset at Fremantle Docks, Marina on the Indian Ocean, Historic buildings on Mouat Street, having a Latte on the Cappuccino strip, Fremantle Docks and Hotel Fremantle.

Rottnest Island

As part of my WA trip, I spent a night on Rottnest Island. Rottnest is about 18km from the mainland, and after a rough trip over, I found the island to be very pretty. There is a restriction on motor vehicles on the island, and you can either ride a bike around, catch one of the shuttle buses, or walk. The island is also home to the Quokka, found nowhere else in the world. It looks a bit like a giant rat, but they are quite cute all the same... The island actually got it's name from the Quokka's likenss to a rat. The time I was there, the ocean was pretty rough, and the relative calm in these pictures was not the case. There were strong winds, and changeable weather, but the scenery was still fantastic.

(Left to right) Little Parakeet Bay, The Basin at dusk, Reflections at the Settlement, a friendly Quokka, Parker Point and Salmon Bay)

(Top picture) Sunset at the Basin

Brisbane by night

After a hard week's auditing, I thought I should spend my last night in Brizzy in style, and went for a stroll along the riverside, followed by dinner at one of the trendy restaurants along the river's edge.

Brisbane is a very pleasant city, and has quite an impressive skyline by night, with the Story Bridge and the city skyline.

Brisbane

I've been seconded to the Brisbane Office for this week's work, so I spent this afternoon wandering around Queensland's capital. Brisbane is a rather pleasant (albeit very quiet), and I'm staying right by the river with a view to the Story Bridge, and right next to the Botanic Gardens. I also took a stroll over to Southbank, which has been done up full of landscaped parklands, including an artificial beach, with lots of restaurants and cafes... All in all, I've had a great day.

Photos: The Treasury Casino, Brisbane by night, My hotel - the Stamford Plaza, Brisbane bridges (including the famous Story Bridge), and Brisbane highrise.

City to Surf

Every August sees the City to Surf here in Sydney. For the 3rd time, I participated (to say I ran is probably a bit too much of an exaggeration) in the 14km route from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach, including the famous "Heartbreak Hill". Overall I would have run about a quarter of the way, walking the rest. I finished the race in about 2 hours (only an 80 minutes longer than the winner!!) and overall my position was 35,094 (out of 60,000-70,000 participants). I have to admit, the final push came from the smell of the barbecue in work's marquee, all the way down the hill to Bondi Beach.

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera (it would have slowed my blistering pace) however a great day was had by all. It was a beautiful day, on a beautiful beach, one of those glorious winter days we get here in Sydney. Looking forward to taking part again next year!

South of the Border

Last week I had to travel to Wangaratta, Victoria for work. This is one of the largish country towns in the North-East of Victoria, and is the home of the church below. Following the week's work, I spent the weekend in Melbourne, doing some sightseeing and wanderings.

Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne

On Sunday, the Exhibition Buildings at Carlton held an Open Day, so we went inside to take a look. Here are some pictures of the external view, and the internal view of the dome.

Shopping in Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital of shopping in Australia... and for good reason. There are some great shops & shopping centres like Melbourne Central, recently refurbishing, and featuring the magnificent shot tower and cone. Also, the refurbished GPO shopping centre on Bourke St Mall was one of my destinations (thanks Mark for showing me!) I loved the wine bottles filled with pink flowers floating in the air.

I also visited Block Arcade, one of the historic shopping arcades off Collins St.

As for something to show for it? All I managed this trip was a new jumper. I promise to do better in my shopping next time :)

Cocktails at Cruise

We went to the Cruise Bar, at the Overseas passenger terminal for some cocktails on my birthday!

Mi Cumpleaños en Capitan Torres

We celebrated my birthday at Capitan Torres over Sangria and Tapas... Here I am with some Rioja, Dad with a mix of food and Matthew and Justine and some Sangria!

Eastern beaches with Al

I visited Alison's new pad a couple of weeks back. She and Cam are now living in Randwick, within a convenient walk of Coogee and Clovelly... Al took me on a walk to show me the sights.

Top: Alison under the Bali memorial at Coogee.
Above right: Here I am on the beach at Coogee

Clovelly beach

Waves crashing in at Clovelly...

Winter wanderings

It's been a while since my last post, so to update on my wanderings...

It's turned cold lately, and we've had a fair bit of rain lately as well... I'm also heading Wangaratta-ward in a couple of weeks, though I will get to have a shopping weekend in Melbourne afterwards, so it should be good!

I turned a respectable twenty-four on June 10. I had a great birthday (or weekend as it turned out)... With the girls, we had dinner in the Rocks followed by some schnapps at the Löwenbräu, followed by a cocktail at Cruise, one of the trendy bars at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay. On Monday, a public holiday here in Australia, the family and I went to Capitan Torres for some Sangria and Tapas. Yum! (Photos to come...)

Other than that, June has been pretty uneventful. I did fit in some ice-skating last weekend (only stacked it once). I've also got some photos from that to post.

Anyhow will update the photos soon, once I remember to hook up my digital camera.

Autumn in Sydney

The view from my bedroom during Autumn, the prettiest time of year!

Bindu's Birthday

We all caught up on 21 May for Bindu's birthday as she was back in the country... We had a great time at the chocolate shop in Camden.

Chocolate Wombat and Penguin at Camden 

Dianne at Bindu's birthday