Perth, Margaret River, Cape Leeuwin, & Fremantle

Richard is a Vietnam veteran and arriving in Perth meant we got to catch up with some of our veteran friends and their wives. We'd seen most of them about 4 years ago, but there was one couple I'd never met & it was about 20 years since Richard had seen him, so reminiscing was the order of the day. And a great day we had too.

The next day, we headed south of Perth to Margaret River which is a beautiful spot known mostly for wineries, galleries and beautiful scenery. We based ourselves there and explored the region. Stunning coastline, with lots of things to do & see......we really enjoyed it. The flowers were stunning....grevillias, bottle brush, banksias, proteas, waratahs, kangaroo paw in full bloom and the colours were unbelievable.....

Augusta hotel

view from the verandah.......

This notice was in the pioneer cemetery........I reckon these people were exceptionally brave to come halfway around the world to a place they knew nothing about to start a new life......

and a hard life they had too.......

 Across the road from the cemetery is a War Memorial and this site was dedicated to the nurses.......sometimes I think the nurses were forgotten heroes, although that's changing now.

And this bloke took exception to us being in his park........

 Margaret River region coastline

Part of that region is a place called Cape Leeuwin which is the extreme south west point of Australia and is where the Indian ocean meets the Southern ocean.........what a beautiful place. The lighthouse is open to tourists and for a small fee, you can have a guided tour or simply look around yourself. We opted to look around ourselves because part of the tour includes climbing 176 steps to the top of the lighthouse and that didn't appeal to me at all!! It has a great history and is well worth a visit.

There's also a War Memorial at Cape Leeuwin to honour 10 seamen from HMAS Nizam who lost their lives on February 11th 1945 when a freak wave struck the ship and they were washed overboard.

We stayed a night at Bunbury and went to dinner with some more friends & had a good look around the area. 

Bunbury lighthouse....very impressive

 View from our room.....

View over part of Bunbury

A day at Fremantle completed our little tour before heading back to Perth to spend a couple of days with our friends before heading home.

Fremantle is a major city situated on the mouth of the Swan River and the harbour is the Port of Western Australia. It was settled in 1827 and has beautiful heritage listed buildings, a rich maritime history and is a lovely place to visit. It was quite hot the day we visited, but it was a pleasure to wander around the streets and parks.......fish & chips on the wharf for lunch......great day. 

Well, that's pretty much the end of the Perth trip........have to find something else to blog about now !!!!!