Perth Holiday 2014, December 29 (All These Things That I've Done)

The last full day in Perth already, and I never managed to adjust to the time zone somehow. I had a bit of a later start for once since my plans weren't as packed full as the two previous days.

I walked over to the WACA after 9:00am to find out if they had a stadium tour running. I managed to take the long way around and ended up covering 90% of the ground instead of 10%. I couldn't find any gates open anywhere, but it was only 9:30am and I thought the first tour wasn't until 10:00am. While I waited I crossed the road into Queens Garden for a few minutes, pretty calm place, you can see the WACA ground and all of the light towers through the trees.

Queens Garden, the poor man's Kings Park.

After killing a bit of time it was back to the WACA where a gate had magically opened. The small museum was just inside and I was able to buy a ticket for the tour from them, I just hoped a few other people would show up as so far I had not seen anyone else. There was just enough time to look around the museum which had quite a substantial amount of memorabilia, the highlights where the Phil Hughes collection already assembled and the New Zealand "underarm ball".

Some old board game, not as good as "Test Match".

Take that New Zealand.

Phil Hughes.

To my relief about seven other people in a few small groups had shown up for the tour, which is about the perfect size, and we were off with our senior tour guide leading the way. The old guy was pretty good as he had a lot of interesting facts accumulated over the years, and didn't mind if we wandered around and did our own thing a bit while he was talking to the group, he wasn't really concerned about the time either. A few things I learned were:

• The ground used to be so big they played two cricket games side by side
• The WACA used to own a lot more land, but had to sell off some to harness racing to avoid going bankrupt
• The Packer world series cricket was played at the harness racing stadium since they weren't allowed at the WACA
• The government is planning to build a new 60,000 seat stadium for AFL right next door
• The WACA was going to fund major redevelopment by building one apartment building at each end, but didn't get enough investors

I thought the tour might run for an hour, but it ended up going for almost two. We got to see all the usual stuff around the ground, plus the media rooms that had just been completed and got to walk around on the ground - just not onto the pitch.

Daily selfie.

Around the ground.

Big Bash !

In the slips.

I took another CAT bus to the city where I was sitting next to this girl having a hilarious conversation, I'm not sure if she was actually talking to someone on the phone or just to herself. She'd just finished off a 600ml iced coffee drink, then began complaining about how all drinks have too much fat and sugar, how she felt sick now, Coke is no good either, she still felt thirsty, she should have just had water, and just kept going on and on for at least five minutes before her stop came up, it was pretty hilarious.

Off the bus and on to a train to East Perth for lunch, a few stops out to Cannington which took about 15 minutes, and then on foot to Westfield Carousel - it might sound like some kind of fun amusement park but sadly it's just a shopping centre. It was a bit of a walk to get to the place, and the day was becoming scorching hot, but I picked the right street to walk down and the parking lot appeared in the distance after a while.

The shopping centre was just a single level and it first it didn't look very big, but then the paths kept multiplying so it took a long time to reach the other end, I didn't see a single store directory in the whole place so I may have missed some also. I didn't find any interesting stores to do some shopping, but that's not much of a surprise. On my way back to the food court I did see a Bread Top - the first and only Asian bakery in Perth it would seem, the prices seemed to be at like a 50% premium to the Melbourne stores - and a "Fit Chips" store which was claiming to have 95.5% fat free french fries - that's a pretty specific number, but doesn't sound all that healthy.

There were a few good options for lunch but I could not pass up Mochachos when I discovered a double veggie burger on the menu! The burger was huge but was served in a polystyrene container, which meant once you managed to dig it out of there you probably won't be putting it down again. The sauce went everywhere and I ran out of bun long before the two burgers were done, but it was a good quality burger quite similar to Nando's - 8 out of 10.

Royale with veggie.

Just nearby was this curious looking drink station called Schake Milk Bar, where you could order your own custom milkshakes on a touch screen. I was intrigued, and it beats standing in a line with twenty people at Boost Juice. The basic idea was you choose a milkshake or thickshake, a base ingredient like chopped pieces of a chocolate bar or fruit (I went with oreos), then your type of milk, your type of ice cream or yoghurt and then any extra ingredients. It was a pretty quick and easy process, and it tasted alright. I'd go back again.

On the way back to the train station I picked up an energy drink called "Truck It" from some discount supermarket place. I'd never heard of it before, it didn't have a really distinguishable taste but a decent, slightly sweet aftertaste, I'd give it about a 6 out of 10.

So many choices.

Truck It !

Back at Perth I took a break in Northbridge and watched a bit of the cricket on the big screen outside the library. They had channel nine on the screen but ABC radio for the commentary, which was a little weird. I wasn't too hungry for dinner after a big late lunch so I just picked up some random assortment of bread and bakery items at the supermarket - plus lots of water!

Cricket.

One of the local universities.

After dropping off my dinner at the hotel the Perth Mint was just one block away. When I got inside the front door I found that all of the complimentary tours for the day (there was only one left) were full and even worse, you couldn't even take any photos inside the place. Since it wasn't too far from closing time either I figured I'd give it a miss.

Outside the Perth Mint.

Instead of going to the mint I walked down to the Swan River, which was actually the first time I was anywhere near the famous waterfront. There was a massive block of grass, Langley Park, between the first street of apartment buildings and the river, not really sure why so much space was reserved or what plans they have for it in the future. I figured out a plan for a running route a bit later in the afternoon then went back to the hotel again for a quick rest.

World's worst mowing job.

Kind of a boardwalk.

My last outing for the day was a run along the Swan River, since I'd been eating a bit poorly for four days it was long overdue. I started south along the Swan River, having to detour through some construction but made it all the way to the Old Swan Brewery. I turned back the same way and then continued east across the tiny Heirisson Island and over to whatever comes after that. I ended up back at the hotel to conclude a 15 kilometre route.

The river route.

Well earned dinner.

So that was it for Perth, the travel back to Melbourne all went without a problem.

• Perth: 6 out of 10
• Days: 3.5
• Cost: $300 approx (plus hotel and flight)
• Photos: 150
• Taxis: 0
• Words: 5000 approx
• Good
• Free buses
• Kings Park
• Running tracks
• Sunshine
• Bad
• Hotel a bit far from city centre
• No Asian bakeries
• Virgin Australia service
• Missed Out
• Big Bash
• Bold Park
• City or Cottesloe Beach
• John Forrest National Park
• Perth Mint

Perth Holiday 2014, December 28 (The Grisly Rotto)

The stupid fridge woke me up at 2am again, so I gave up and switched it off. Maybe this contributed to the new rocky road flavour Supa Shake being a little disappointing when I grabbed it out for breakfast several hours later, probably a little warm...

I took an early train from Perth out to Fremantle, it only took 30 minutes but most of the stops looked pretty deserted along the way. Following the crowd from the station got me to the small city centre, where Market Street incredibly takes you down to Fremantle Markets. Only the produce area was open before 9am, so I just got some fruit, no good bakeries.

Looks like something from the 1980's.

The Esplanade wasn't far off so there was still time to explore that too. There was a big Ferris Wheel that looked like it actually worked, a shipwreck gallery and a collection of fish and chip restaurants, as you might expect. And some nice beaches too. Walking back to the ferry terminal I also saw the Round House, whatever that is, and Arthur's Head Reserve which was just a couple of houses built in the early 1900's from what I could gather.

The wheel !

Shipwreck Galleries, probably better to come back after I've been out at sea.

Round House, more like Octagon House.

Some Fremantle beach.

Arthur's Head reserve.

The ferry terminal had a big shed across the road with lots of market stores, so I thought there was a good chance I might come across a Fremantle magnet, sadly the closest I found was some useless postcards...

The ferry to Rottnest Island was delayed, but by 10 minutes instead of 10 hours. Even though the boat was large and carrying a few hundred passengers it was a very choppy ride, I was feeling really seasick towards the end but just managed to hang on.

I'm on a boat.

Most people head for the bike hires as soon as they arrive, but I thought I'd be able to suffice on foot, probably a bad idea in hindsight, even though I can't even remember the last time I rode a bike, probably more than 15 years ago. I picked one of the shorter routes around the island and soon arrived at Bathurst Lighthouse, I think it's what they named the V8 race after. The water in each of the bays around the island was quite amazing, a two toned light blue and dark blue swirl.

No quokkas allowed.

Mount Panorama ?

I guess this is Skyline then.

The other surprise on the island was how many small houses they had, I thought there would not be much of anything, but there were thousands of these little villas, no idea how many are used for permanent residency or what they are valued at.

After admiring the view at the lighthouse I continued along the northern path via The Basin, Longreach Bay, Geordie Bay and Parakeet Bay which were all good but quite similar. By the time I had stopped in at each of these places I'd used up about half of my time available before boarding the ferry back the other way, so I took a different route back which was further inland. Besides being incredibly windy, there were several lakes which had these really cool orange and pink colour transitions, I guess it was caused by the sand or the rocks below.

Between one bay and another.

The lake is pink, so it's called Pink Lake.

Finally back at the settlement I stopped in at the bakehouse for a snack, the best option was the marvellous looking ronut which is what they call a cronut on Rottnest Island apparently. The general store sadly had no magnets once again. I had made up some time on the way back so I started down to Bickley Bay as well, but eventually ran out of time and had to come back to make sure I got a good spot on the ferry - on the bottom level this time, which seemed to cause a bit less seasickness, although it could very well have just been a coincidence.

Gotta catch em all.

Ronut.

I was back in Fremantle by mid afternoon, so I still had the opportunity to revisit a few places that were not open in the morning. The Round House was about to close so I started there, it was a waste of time though as the inside is just one round foyer with a few artifacts and historical information in some small rooms surrounding it. I was in and out in about two minutes.

The Shipwreck Galleries were a bit better, although it just breezed through this place too. There was a lot of recovered pieces such as anchors, diving helmets and a small part of some larger ship. I was a little bit disappointed that:

• There was no buried treasure
• There were no pirates
• I didn't get the bends during my visit

It's either flotsam or jetsam.

The rest of the Fremantle Markets was also open, but it was just the standard market junk, it was extremely busy as well so I didn't stay long. Across the road was Fremantle Oval which is probably where the Dockers train, or where some local WAFL team plays. I can confirm it also servers as market car parking the rest of the time.

Are you ready for some football ?

Also nearby was the old Fremantle Prison. The tours ran for a little over an hour, which I thought might be a bit long, but also the next and final tour of the day wasn't for another 45 minutes, so that sealed the deal. However...I did find an overpriced steel magnet at the gift shop, so it was a worthwhile visit!

Fremantle Prison.

So my last activity in Fremantle involved a walk up a steep road to reach Monument Hill. I got lost for a moment and wasn't sure what to expect to get there, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice big open space on the highest point in Fremantle. The park had a Gallipoli monument in the middle, hence the name, and you could even see some of the tallest buildings in Perth on the horizon.

Monument Hill.

At the monument on that hill.

I made it back to the station with one minute to spare again - my luck is started to turn around it seems - and headed home to Perth. Northbridge was again the best option for dinner, I did a bit of a search and settled on Outback Jack's because they had nachos and milkshakes. A great way to finish any day!

Nachos !

Perth Holiday 2014, December 27 (Hay Day)

I think there was something wrong with the fridge in my room because every couple of hours it went through this loud routine and it sounded like it was cycling water or something - weird since it was just a bar fridge. That fridge also served as a good alarm clock, since I was planning to get up early anyway for a five kilometre park run over at Heirisson Island at 8:00am. I decided against it though since I was still too tired and more importantly I'd forgotten to bring along a printed barcode that you need to join in these free weekly events, and I obviously had no time yesterday to find somewhere to print one...

I had a Browne's Supa Shake for breakfast then headed off to the city centre by about 9:00am. The east side of the city is a bit deserted - particularly on the weekend - until you get to Barrack Street, which is where both Hay Street Mall and Murray Street Mall begin. I wandered through both of these malls, which run parallel to each other, but it was a little hard to cover everything without going around in circles because there are so many side streets and alleys between the two malls, as well as St Georges Terrace and Wellington Street which surround them.

Most of the arcades and malls I did go past were average and didn't have much worth stopping for, but London Court was the exception - it's designed to look like an old English castle. There were also quite a few old buildings which had maintained their original design, with that old sandstone look. I did stop in at a few souvenir stores to look for a magnet, they were all selling the exact same stuff, so I shouldn't have any problem picking one up later. And finally a quick stop at Coles and Woolies for some drinks on the go, sadly it's all the same crap except for a slightly exciting range of milk drinks.

London Court.

With the city centre covered I set off on foot to the west of Perth to the Watertown Outlets. I had little hope for this place since the Nike store had shut down a long time ago - and not been relocated anywhere - but it was on my way so why not. So if there's a bad day for bargain shopping, then the day _after_ Boxing Day would probably be a good choice. The Adidas, New Balance and Puma just had the stock nobody was interested in, or the odd sizes like small and triple extra large.

Perth Arena on the way out of Perth.

Even Harbour Town might be better than this.

I had another couple of kilometres still remaining in the heat before I made it to Subiaco, at least it was downhill. On the way I passed by Subiaco Oval or Patersons Stadium, it all seemed closed off but it was interesting to see how much parkland was still left around the ground and the surrounding property all looked pretty expensive and new. According to Google it's 1.2 million for houses and 600k for units, so not too bad actually.

Somewhere in Subiaco.

After making it to Subiaco I noticed the Station Street markets were still open, they had standard fruits and vegetables and whatever, but also a heap of international food stalls representing a lot of different cuisines, pretty good, but I didn't really want to try my luck with any of these. I went to Zambrero for lunch where I faced a dilemma that has been confronting man for centuries - the burrito or the nachos? I thought the burrito looked like better value.

After a bit of a break I was back on foot down Rockeby Road through Subiaco. This road is the main shopping strip, which reminded me of South Yarra and Prahran, but a smaller version, lots of food and fashion, a bit trendy. The shops ran out after a while and I was walking by myself down some empty streets, but I knew where I was going and found my way to one of many entrances to Kings Park.

Rockeby Road.

The north-east area of Kings Park is parkland - as advertised - but the south-west where I was coming from is simply bushland. There was a small map of the park with a few main trails shown, so I knew roughly which direction to go in. A few of the paths I started out on were dirt but mostly thereafter it was either 1) soft sand or 2) really soft sand. It was pretty crazy hot out in the bush, so it's no surprise that I only passed one group of people going the other way, but even better, no snakes!

Probably by luck I came out in front of the DNA Tower which was roughly where I hoped to be. It's called DNA Tower because it looks like a DNA strand pair - pretty clever. I climbed to the top hoping for a good view of the city, but most of the view was obstructed by the tallest trees, I was able to see just how much more parkland there was to the south though - lots.

DNA Tower.

Across the road I found some pavilion a little closer to the city with a better view, which also led to the Lotterywest Federation Walkway - how kind of the state lottery to donate a walkway at their own expense. The walkway was slightly elevated above the ground level but you could also see Perth and South Perth a little better. A better option would be to keep on walking to the highest point in the park at the State War Memorial. The memorial was pretty cool, it was also not only the highest but closest point to Perth pretty much, the best way to view the skyline - although not as memorable as many other cities, but for the slightly interesting BHP Billiton building and Swan River.

Looking directly into the sun at Kings Park.

Kings Park again.

State War Memorial.

Having visited most of the park I backtracked a bit and exited down a "mini Kokoda Track" which simulates the points along the Kokoda path like the 1000 Steps, but much shorter than that - like two minutes going down, and a lot longer coming back up, sadly I did both while I was trying to work out which way to go next. I came out on some random street and tried to find Jacob's Ladder, I was about ready to concede that I'd missed it when a sign showed up, pointing to a staircase hidden between two apartment buildings. The ladder is just a set of 242 steps, which was a little bit of a grind after a long day but not all that hard.

Jacob's Ladder without ladders. Also no Jacob's.

I was approaching my limit for the day after that and walked back towards the city centre, stopping in at a comic book store in the city which had an awesome Flintstones Phone in the window but not much else. I made one last detour down to see The Bell Tower which is situated alongside the Swan River, somewhere near where the ferry departs for Fremantle. I didn't stay for long so I don't know the whole story about the tower, I assume it has bells that ring.

7-Eleven selling only coffee, donuts and slurpees. Lose the coffee.

The Bell Tower.

For dinner I jumped on the free CAT bus over to Northbridge. These CAT buses are quite good, they have about four different circuits, are free and run often and until late in the evening. I stayed on the bus for a free tour of the area before getting off near Flipside Burgers for dinner. This place was like many other gourmet burger shops that are multiplying in numbers recently, they had a good veggie burger, 7 out of 10.

Flipside.