Touring around Perth

Now that the racing is done for a bit, time for sightseeing. The beach was only about a 5 minute drive from our house. Beautiful white sand, just a bit too cold for laying around (high of 22C, windy).

Just north of Hillarys Boat Harbour

First stop was the Aquarium of Western Australia which was just down the road from where we were staying. Displays showed animals from different areas around Australia.

Leafy Seadragon (Southern AUS)

The big tank had many different creatures in it, including sharks and rays. You walked through a 98 metre clear tunnel that had a moving walkway around the bottom of the tank.

There are many beaches along the coast. With the afternoon wind, there were kiteboarders setting up and playing in the waves. Lovely white sand.

Kiteboarder	Bobtail lizard (skink) on the walk to the beach

Water on dry sand	Double shadows

They do have different vegetation. This is a Norfolk Island Pine. Odd upward bunches of needles. See them all around Perth.

Norfolk Island Pine

We visited Caversham Wildlife Park

Parrots are native to AUS	Kookaburra
Wombat for petting (we did not)	Possum
Koala	Tasmanian Devils
Flying Foxes	Dingo
Peacock showoffs	Kangaroo with joey

There is an auto museum just across the road from the park. Wide variety of cars.

1963 Lightburn Zeta (made by washing machine mfg)	2003 Byfield Jaguar V12HE - home built

We visited the Bell Tower in the harbour.

Clocktower	St Martin in the Fields Bells gifted to commemorate Australia’s bicentenary in 1988

Bells rung by the Royal Ascot Racecourse Clock (on main floor)

From the top of the Bell Tower, we could see down into the construction site next door for condos.

Condo foundation construction

In the park near the Bell Tower, there was sculpture called 'Signature Ring'. There are the signatures and schools of more than 200,000 students etched into copper to commemorate the construction of the Bell Tower.

Signature Ring

We did a lunch cruise from Perth to Fremantle and back. The captain gave a running commentary of the famous people's mansions on the way.

Container cranes that unloaded our transport	Under road (outer) and rail (centre) bridges

Ship for live animals in the harbour

We wandered through King's Park at the end of the day.

Gum trees are big	Lots of wildflower gardens
War Memorial	750 year old Boab tree moved here 3200 km from northern West Australia in 2008

The next day was visiting the Maritime Museum in Fremantle. They have the America's Cup sailboat (Australia II) that took the Cup from the US in 1983, the first to do so. They also have the Parry Endeavour, taken 3 times around the world by Jon Sanders solo and non-stop (25 May 1986 to 13 March 1988).

Australia II controversial winged keel	Parry Endeavour mounted as it was hit by a huge wave in the Southern Ocean

On the museum grounds, we toured an Oberon class (cold war era) submarine 'HMAS Ovens'.

HMAS Ovens	Buoyancy control
Braces that go across the torpedo loading hatches (oval, so weak in the small dimension)	Coin marks from sailor putting coins at the end of the brace to stop it rattling when not submerged

Time to go to prison. The Fremantle Prison was constructed by convict labour from 1852 to 1859 using limestone quarried on site. The cells were doubled in size in then 1890s by combining two cells into one. It finally was closed in 1991.

Dave going to prison	The cell blocks
Lower floor	Wooden roof
Original cell size (townspeople complained that the prisoners had running water while they did not)	Solitary confinement outer door

Off to Adelaide for the next adventure.