Day 639 - Perth, Australia

Day 639 - 9th March 2007 +9:00 GMT

Jill and I headed back into the city centre this morning. We made our way to Northbridge and had a wandera round the streets, it is a popular area full of bars and cafe's.


Northbridge

Here we looked around several hostels as if we stay in Perth for a while we will need to find a nice hostel to stay in. We managed to look around 6 hostels with a couple making our shortlist. We then had some lunch in a cafe before heading back to look around the shops in the central Perth area. We then caught a train a couple of stops out to burswood and had a look around the casino. I made $100 playing blackjack in 20 minutes and then we meet Sarah and she drove us home. We then cooked and played a couple of games of Scene It the Movie quiz games. It ended with the girls and boys both winning one game.

Day 638 - Perth, Australia

Day 638 - 8th March 2007 +9:00 GMT

Today I decided to visit the city centre, so caught a bus from Heathridge to Whitfords station, you can buy a zone 3 pass for $4 which allows you to use the bus and the train for 2 hours. The bus arrives at the station a couple of minutes before the train is due as the transport system in perth is well co-ordinated. The Train system is reasonably new and the trains are very clean and spacious. The train only takes about 15 minutes into the city centre. Jill and I then decided to take a walk around the shops in the pedestrianised zone and visit the Tourist information centre.


Church In Perth City Centre

We then took a stroll through stirling park and down to the waterfront.


Sculpture In Stirling Park

Here they have the Swan Bells, which is one of the worlds largest musical instruments.It is a huge 83m tower housing 12 bells which ring out across the city. The tower looks very futuristic.
Swan Bells Tower

We sit at a bar by the waterfront and have some lunch and a cold beer.


View Of City

Then we take a walk up to London Court, which is a long alleyway housing various shops even a couple of british shops.


London Court


Along London Court

We then decide to cool off by visiting the nicely air conditioned Western Australia Art Gallery, it has two large floors full of art ranging from Aborigini art to pieces produced by local art students. Unfortunately there was not a single piece by anyone I had ever heard of but there were some nice pieces to look at.


Western Australia Art Gallery

By this time we were not hot and tired so decided to head back to whitfords. When Peter got home we went out shopping at Joondalup and Sarah went hockey training, we then spent the rest of the evening at home.

Day 637 - Perth, Australia

Day 637 - 7th March 2007 +9:00 GMT

Had a lazy day as it was far too hot outside to do anything. managed to take a stroll to the local shops and back which was an nice 45 minute walk. The outside tempertaure was 43 C in the shade and up to over 53 C in the sun.

Far to hot....

In the evening Peter took us out and we looked around several car garages in Wangara, saw a coupel of cars we were interested in but the garages were closed. Peter then cooked for us and we spent the night chatting.

Day 636 - Perth, Australia

Day 636 - 6th March 2007 +9:00 GMT

Woke up at 7:30am did not feel to jet lagged. It is roasting hot again 42 C in the shade. Jill and I got ready and caught a bus to Whitford's shopping centre. The shopping centre is quite large and reminded me of an american mall. We went and got some lunch and then went shopping. Jill bought some shoes for the evening and I bought a new shirt. We then manged to open Bank Accounts and buy some toiletries. We then caught the bus back to Sarah and Peters house. Peter came home just before 5pm and at 5:40pm we headed out to Burswood Casino which is where Sarah works for a Burswood Stars - Employee Of The Year Dinner.

Burswood Stars - Employee Of The Year Dinner

We all got free drinks all night and a 3 course dinner, during the dinner employees were given prizes abd awards for there hard work throughout the year.


Jill and I

Two live bands played throughout the evening and we all had a few drinks and had a dance. We headed home just before midnight.



Peter, Sarah, Jill and I

Day 635 - Christchurch, New Zealand - Perth Australia

Day 635 - 5th March 2007 +9:00 GMT

Had to get up early and make pack up all our bags. We got picked up by the airport shuttle at 9am and taken to Christchurch Airport. The airport was really busy and we queued until 10am to check in. All our bags were overweight but luckiyl we were not charged any extra. our flight to Auckland took off at 11am and we were in Auckland just after 12:15pm. We then had to walk from the domestic terminal to the international terminal were we meet up with our friends Kees from Wellington. We had a beer and some food with him and then boraded our 2:20pm flight to Perth, Australia. Jill and I were given an emergency exit row so had extra leg room. There was only one TV screen on the plane which was at the front and was hard to see from our seats. We watched Casino Royale and Stormbreakers on our 7.5 hour flight. We were also surrounded by the New Zealand Hurricanes Rugby Super 14 team. We chatted to them briefly and they insited we come and watch them play on Friday again Perth red's. We landed at 5:55pm Australian time and it was still 39 C at that time. We were picked up by Sarah and Peter who are family friends. I have known Sarah since I was born. They drove us back to their house which is a fantastic 3 bedroom house with an outdoor eating area and a massive living room with high ceilings.

The Front Of the House

Living Room With High Ceiling

Outdoor Eating

The Back Garden

The journey took just over 25 minutes. Then they cooked us some pizza's and we sat around and chatting and catching up until about 10:30pm. We were all tired and called it a night.