Perth Part 2: The Swans, The Sundial And The Sunset

Heya

So I'm basically still continuing the backlog of photo's that I have. These are some more of Perth that I took while going for a wonder along the river




And so, as the Dutch explorers came up the river they saw the. . . . .


Black Swans, hence the name, River Swan

Talking of Dutch Explorers, the Sundial on the Jetty, by the River is dedicated to

Willem De Vlamingh (I have no idea how to pronounce the surname!) who travelled from Amsterdam to Australia, coming up the (now named) Swan River in Late Dec 1696 and then arriving in mainland Perth in early Jan 1697. On the sail below shows a map of his voyage (although not clear in the photo!)

So from the Jetty, you can jump on the ferry (or walk onto the ferry, however you prefer to board) and go across the river to South Perth, which give really nice view of Perth from across the river

So there we go, little less backlog now, and in the next post you can see where I've actually been for the last 2 months!

Thanks for reading!

Fremantle

Welcome to Fremantle, the Port of Perth, Lots going on. I'd say small, but, compared to where I currently am its Huge, with shops, markets and public transport (wistful staring). On the coast, which I was excited about, as it had been ages since I'd seen the sea. I know I haven't written for ages so these are extremely backdated. But here goes, have a wander around and let me know what you think.

Through the tunnel to the beach!





A tribute to the fishermen, the monument honors families of fishermen who contributed over the years to the fishing industry

Along the jetty, just picture lots of ice-cream shops and imagine you can smell fish and chips!

Everyone loves a sculpture of a sculptor doing a sculpture

As well as sculptures of sculptures (you know when you say a word too much and it doesn't make sense anymore, well it happened while writing sculpture!), and market places, Fremantle in general has a slightly medieval feel

Fremantle Prison, built as a convict barracks in the 19Th century and remained in used until 1991.between 18850 and 1956 almost 10,000 convicts passed through the system. The prison is now open to the public and a variety of tours take place, both dunning the day and at night. Sadly, my funding ran out so I couldn't tour, but here are a few shots of the outside

Thanks for reading

Mandurah

Hey

Not much banter on this post, mostly photo's, just to show you some of the surround areas of Perth. This is, as you might have guessed from the title, Mandurah, about an hour south of Perth

The trees are really cool, the look like stars, or at least the branches at the top do, it was hard to get the angle to show you.

Along the riverside

More Fountains, Auzzies seem to like them, although I don't know if they change colour as the ones in Adelaide did

Coral tree Flowers

Erm, I don't know why, I just thought that it was cool!

These really reminded me of the Exeter Quay, but warmer, with more sun!

Next up will be Fremantle

Way Out West

Hey Guys, welcome to Perth

Sorry its been ages since I posted, but I really didn't know how much you would be interested in the very exciting country news like the arrival of 3 sheep to keep the grass trim, which I went on to name Will, Al and Luka =P

The Occasional Appearance of the Llama

And the Biggest creepiest spider I have ever see in my Life!

But After a week in Adelaide re-adjusting to the amount of people and lack of sheep. I jumped on a plane and 3 hours Later was in Perth. (A lot shorter than the last plane journey I was on!).

Its Pretty Big, one of the most isolated Cities in the World. But being that Western Australia is huge in itself, its 1/3 of Australia, with a population of 2.2 million. Very tall buildings, although not recommended to walk around town constantly looking up. Neck gets sore and people don't appreciate getting bumped into!

Its on the River Swan, named so by Dutch explorers when they came up the river and saw, yup, Black swans, ironically enough.

Down by the River, there's the Jetty and The Bell Tower, home of the Swan Bells, a historic set of bells given to the people of Western Australia in 1988, 12 of the bells in the tower are from St Martin-in-the-fields church in Trafalgar Square.

Its also this really weird combination of places , there are lots of Scottish place names around, Aberdeen, Stirling, Silver Sands. There's a Scarborough beach, There's even a little bit of London, as well as the bells

And then there's the tribute to, Percy Button, local Perth Street Performer, who used to entertain people with handstands and cartwheels while they were waiting for the theatre of the cinema. He was known for his grubbiness, so in November 1929 , the local newspaper dressed Percy in a long-tailed suit, placed his picture in the paper and created a reader competition, the first person to name the person in the picture would win a guineas worth if goods.

Out of town, I've heard that Western Australia has some of the most amazing wildflowers in the Country, and while I haven't been out to see them yet, I have found some one's around the parks in the City.

So there you go, A little piece Perth, I've been exploring surrounding areas, so more to come soon!