Lots of lovely sculptures and foot bridges in quite a compact area. Lunch was at Little Creatures which is a favourite of ours (Opening in Hobsonville (Auckland) early February👍) - always an enjoyable way to pass an hour or two
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| Heading up the Swan River on our Cruise |
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| Sampling of one or two wines & cheese 😊 |
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| Walking across to the Brewery from Mandoon Estate |
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| Bill sampling one or two beers! |
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| Crew member George serenading Bill |
We had met up with Nick over the weekend at Kings Park to do a walk around the extensive grounds but with the temperature in the 30's it was a bit hot to walk anywhere that wasn't shaded. So after a much reduced walk, we headed back to Nick's for a swim in his complex pool - very nice and refreshing. We worked up enough of an appetite to enjoy a cold drink and a bite to eat at Three Sheets near Rocky & Daniels - just the right distance to walk to. By the time we returned to R&D's we were hot enough for another swim at the local beach where everyone but Sheryl enjoyed body surfing 😖
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| A little bit of gardening (amazing photography!) |
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| The finished job |
Having been away down south before Christmas and then Christmas itself, we hadn't had a chance to catch up with Daniel's parents Cathy & Mark whom we met last time we were in Perth. Rocky organised a barbecue at theirs on our return. It was a lovely catch up with what they had been up to since we last met and for them to catch up with Nick one last time before he heads off down south.
Rocky's keen to do more barbecuing - as she says ... it's in her blood just like her father! Daniel's parents, although both were born in Australia, have very strong Italian customs with their parents being immigrants and pretty much sticking to their traditional ways - so barbecuing isn't a usual method to cook. So it was nice to do a normal Kiwi style of entertaining.
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| Bill's cousin Mark & wife Fiona |
We caught up with Nick after work one evening at his apartment near the city center and walked to the new Optus Stadium, which was officially opened early 2018. It is Australia's 3rd largest stadium, seating up to 60,000 people. It is built out on a peninsular where people are encouraged to catch a train or bus to events along with the Matagarup foot bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. It's been planned out well along with Camfield Pub providing good food and drinks where we went for dinner.
Our plan was to see the City by lights once the sunset, which it did soon after 7 with no daylight saving in Western Australia.
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| On our "small walk" out to dinner Daniel 😉 |
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| Optus Stadium and Matagarup Bridge at night 😍 |
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Lovely residential area with their own lagoon and Perth City
in the background |
And what a beautiful sight it was too with the bridges and the stadium all lit up.
When we visited Perth 2 years ago, we decided then that on our return we would do a Swan River Wine Cruise - and so it was we booked a Captain Cook Cruise which gave us a great day out. Once again we caught the train into the city center and boarded the boat down at the waterfront.
The Captain of the boat gave us a great commentary of the history of Perth and the Swan River right back to the early indigenous Noongar people. We were also offered a selection of white and red local wines to taste along with some local cheeses, making it a very pleasant 2.5 hr trip up the Swan Valley to our lunch venue at the Mandoon Estate. After a pleasant lunch we walked around the estate and visited the attached Homestead Brewery where Bill tried a tasting board, which went down well on such a hot day.
The return journey had advertised live entertainment along with an open bar. So you can imagine how much more vocal everyone was on the return journey and with the "live entertainment" which was one of the crew members singing easy sing along songs - most of us got into the swing of it. The singer kept hitting on Bill - serenading him much to the enjoyment of the other passengers.
By the time we arrived back into port and disembarked, caught the train back to Rocky's suburb and then walked back to her place - we were shattered after a full but very entertaining day out. We would highly recommend this Cruise to anyone visiting Perth.
We caught up with a cousin of Bill's, who also lives in Perth, at a local pub for lunch down at Cottesloe Beach - catching up on Mark & Fiona's news of the past two years since we last caught up. Perfect spot for a swim afterwards.
On our last night we caught up with Em's parents who also live in Perth, whose company we enjoyed when we were down in Dunsborough and had a lovely barbeque with them along with Rocky and Nick. Hopefully we will see them out in New Zealand sometime where we can return the dinner.
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| Last day in Perth - it was a sad day! |
Our last day rolled around sadly but we had been away long enough to look forward to our return to lush NZ and back into our Bus once again. We spent the morning at the beach enjoying one last swim (or two), returning to Rocky's to finish packing up before walking to Three Sheets for one last meal with Rocky. Daniel swung by before he headed off kite surfing for the afternoon, where he allowed me a final hug. Thank you Daniel & Rocky for sharing your home with us once again. It was 2 weeks the first time, 7 weeks this time, who knows how long next time.....
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