Mabel and Wilf go to the big City

Or the biggest city hereabouts anyway. We went into Perth to see some of the sights and look at the shops. After much mooching and not getting lost we came across St George's clock. Every hour, on the hour, a little crowd of tourists gather and St George slays his dragon.

Perth is a rapidly changing city. Mining is at boom time, and bringing with it investment that's altering the face of the city centre. Here and there you get glimpses of the old and the new almost side by side.

After tramping about since 8.30am - whaddya know - it was time for sum tucker! Fast food oriental style seemed to be the order of the day - Seafood Laska for me, Singapore Beehoon for Wilf. Yum.

These are a few of Wilf's favourite things

We took a trip to the Swan Valley - WA's wine producing area. Uncle W was beside himself with glee at all the good things he might come across! First up was the chocolate maker. His eyes lit up when we walked through the door to be greeted with three big bowls of chocolate drops - marked 'have a taste'.

Never shy where food is concerned he accepted the invitation - several times! An array of chocolates were temptingly displayed and tastings of fudge and truffles followed.

He discovered a bowl of 70% chocolate drops - though I think by the time we left there were probably only about 35% remaining.... After so much temptation we made our way to the cafe for a restorative cup of hot chocolate - made with real chocolate drops.

He left clutching a big bag of chocolates destined for presents - cross your fingers if you think you'll be a recipient, I'll try and keep him away!

Wine and cheese tastings followed - we passed field after field of glorious green vines with the tiny grapes just beginning to show.

After so much hard work he declared himself ready for a sit down and something light to eat!

An Australian sized portion arrived - and yes, he did finish it!

Stormy skies

After an afternoon of rain, the clouds parted and the sun came shining through.

A fishy tale

Did you know it rained in Australia? No neither did I! But it did - so off we went to the Aquarium at Hillary's, where we saw some colourful creatures;


some large creatures; (a giant turtle, for the hard of hearing). The star attraction of the aquarium was a 100m long tunnel that wound it's way around an underwater tank fill with fish - including full size sharks!


And, some poisonous creatures.

How could something so exotic looking be poisonous? But apparently each spine packs a lethal punch - be warned!

A very pleasant way to spend a wet and chilly afternoon.

Uncle Wilf does breakfast

As well as coffee, Australia does breakfast extremely well. Most cafes seem to offer an array of dishes from croissants and muffins, to Croque Monsieur and Eggs Benedict.

After having sampled the delights on several occasions (a girl will never tire of Eggs Benedict or Florentine), I thought it was time show a pic. By the time I thought of it, mine (a Parma - ham and cheese toasted in turkish bread) was nearly gone. But Uncle W was still tucking into his croissant - can you tell who'd been doing all the talking?!

The coffee is good here - mine's a long black. More pristine photos next time. Also I'll show you the delights of the patisseries later on too.

Time to go and sit in the sun by the pool. It's a tough job bringing you all this news, but I'll stick at it!

Fremantle - convict city

On Saturday we took a trip to Fremantle. It's where the convict ships landed when Western Australia was first settled by the British and so has plenty of old world flavour and history. A real change to all the new settlements we've seen so far.

The market area was full of interesting stalls, but the fruit and veg was what caught my eye - so many stalls full of produce and all with tasters of mango and pineapple, yum! And all Australian grown. This was what just one of the traders was offering.

Then it was off to prison for the 'Doing Time' tour. The prison was built entirely by the convicts and used as a prison up until 1991 and is now a tourist attraction.



The tour was good, the guide had a very dry sense of humour with plenty of tales to spook us. The prison is as complete as possible right down to the gallows cell - which comes with noose! You can do a torchlight tour of an evening - when all the ghosts come out.

Fancy spending the night here?


This was the size of each individual cell when the prison opened in the 1870's. The cells were doubled in size in the 1920's, but you'd've still only been able to swing a very small cat!

And then we had chance to do what Australia seems to do best - having a coffee and watching the world go by. (Who says it's only the British who are good at armchair sport?!) This was the strip, and all the likely lads were out posing!

Look at the colour of the sky - another lovely spring day!

Technical hitch

No sunset pictures yet - we can't find the usb cable for the other camera. We'll try plan B later!