OUR LAST DAY IN FREMANTLE

We had a wonderful day on Sunday.  Diana took us for a drive around to look at some of the old neigbourhoods with their lovely old colonial homes. The iron filigree work is lovely and for the most part the homes have been restored to their original condition.  The Aussies love their gardens and with the vast array of beautiful flowering plants that grow in this climate, they add a lot of decoration to the yards.

Moreton Bay Fig

We drove down by the Swan River and had a lovely walk around the University of Western Australia.  There are plaques in the pathway with John and Diana’s degrees and the dates they attended.   We stood beneath the spreading branches of an enormous Moreton Bay Fig tree.  Don’t recall ever seeing a tree with such a spread.  There are peacocks living on the grounds and we were lucky to find them and take a few photos.  Even saw my first Kookaburra, but was unable to get to the camera fast enough to take a photo and I have not heard one “laugh” yet.  It was a lovely walk on the beautiful grounds. 

We got back in the car to take in some more of the streets and views that make up this part of the state.  So glad to have come to Western Australia – it is certainly worth the extra travel to get here.  With all the public parks and beaches it is a great place to raise a family. 

We returned home to finish the mundane things like laundry and packing and then we went to a great spot for coffee – again on the Swan River.  The river is busy with pleasure boats coming and going on these beautiful sunny breezy days.  There are many wonderful spots to just sit and gaze and perhaps dream a little.  Laureen was in her element perched on the rocks looking out while Diana and I enjoyed our lattes at a table in the restaurant nearby

Oyster Catcher

Pelicans

We found our way down to Point Walter Reserve to get out for a walk – how lucky we did.  There was a sand spit in the river that went out for quite a ways.  I was able to get a great photo of some pelicans, a pair of black swans and an oyster catcher.  I forgot to bring Diana’s camera along so had to rely on my phone for the pics.  Glad I had the cords with me to upload the photos to my computer so that I can add them to the blog. 



Point Walter sand spit
 

black swans if you look hard

We returned home to watch the last two episodes of the first season of SILK with Diana – we have really enjoyed this show in the evenings when not much else was on – other than the football games that is…Go Eagles!! The grand final is this weekend, I will be trying to find it on TV on the ship I think!  So we are at the end of a great week with such a wonderful friend.  Diana has been the most thoughtful and caring host for the first leg of the adventure.  She gave us a lovely little book to remember our visit to Perth.  It contains lots of pictures of the places we saw and some that we didn’t but will save for another visit.  I would love to get back here one day!  So after bidding a fond farewell to Diana and this part of our travels, we are off to Sydney and our cruise around New Zealand.