The One in Perth and Freo

As we catch the taxi to Alice Springs airport we get chatting to 3 Irish guys who are sharing our taxi.... Only turns out that two of them know Dermot Lavelle; Illusionist.... what a small world!

We land in Perth and are met by Geoff (my Dad's cousin) who we will be staying with. Geoff gives us a quick tour of the city before heading up to his house, and we relish the chance to just chill out. It's been a whistle stop few days.

The next day, H and I catch the bus into town, and do a few chores, before jumping on the open top bus around Perth. It's such a small city, but I like it. It's a sunny day, but the wind on the bus makes the commentary a bit tricky to hear!

On Saturday, we head out early again, and only just make our Ferry to Fremantle. I've heard a lot about Freo and I'm not disapointed. A fab small town, full of coffee shops, and houses with fancy facades. We catch the tram around the city - our driver is a hoot! It's audience participation, and we go the full route with him.

From here we go and have a drink, and then walk up to the Fremantle Prison. The Prison only closed in 1991 and it's shocking the conditions that the Prisoners had, even within my lifetime. The cells are small, there is no plumbing - a bucket was the only toilet, and for most prisoners they spent 8 hours a day outside in the yard. They didn't have electric points in their cells until the 80's, and were only allowed a shower 3 times a week. Considering the temperature that Freo reaches in the summer this is inhumane!

We jump back on the tram, and can almost recite the commentary along with the driver so jump off down the front and head to the Little Creatures Brewery for a yummy pizza and a pint of the good stuff.

From here, we go and look around the Freemantle, and E Shed Markets, before jumping back on the ferry and heading back to Perth.

Every night since we've been here the sunset has been spectacular, but different every day. the first night saw the whole sky turn an Orange colour, and tonight the sky was lilac and pink as we came back towards the skyscraper landscape.

Sunday sees us waking up to torrential rain, but the sky clears, so we grab our macs and head in on the bus and walk up to Kings Park. We spend a pleasant couple of hours dodging the showers and walking through the Botanical Gardens, the Walkway through the tree tops and up the DNA tower.

Geoff comes to meet us with his friend John, and we go and visit Jane and her mum in South Perth. We have areally pleasant afternoon chatting over a cup of tea, and then head back to drop John back and discuss the train set that Geoff is going to build in his garden!

It's been a great few days, and nice to catch up with family - (and reminisce over a few old photos!)