Jan 11 Perth & Freemantle

In a rapid pace unusual for this cruise, we're at another port a day later.  This time Perth, with us docked in neighboring Freemantle.  We're scheduled for a single day here, so we planned to get a quick overview of everything we could.

Our arrival in Freemantle port, yet another container port.  Although everything you read about containers as a method of transport talks about the rapid turnaround when a ship enters port:  Containers unloaded, new containers loaded and the ship is off again.  Of the three container ships across the river from us, only one had a crane operating, and that sporadically.  That ship did leave later that night.

 It's not home, but it's much.  Regatta at the dock.

 Here's our Australia welcoming band playing Waltzing Matilda as we exit the Cruise Terminal.

 The rail station is only a couple hundred meters from the Cruise Terminal.  It was easy to purchase a ticket to Perth and we were off.

An unplanned entertainer on the train ride.  A hungry and happy two year old asked for his BoBo, which turned out to be a granola bar and sippy cup. After a few bites he would just bend over and take a drink.  He was bouncy, giggly and ever interested in the passing surroundings during the trip.

 We quickly decided that Perth is just another big city.  There's not that much to see, and I think we hit all of the highlights.

 Big city window washers

 St. Mary's Cathedral

 After wandering around for a couple of hours we caught the Captain Cook cruise back to Freemantle along the Swan River.  Departing Perth...

I thought this was the Royal Perth Yacht Club (as announced by the boat captain) but I must have missed the exact spot.  That's where the Americas Cup lived back in 1987.

 This is a sister ship to our cruise going upriver.

One of the very expensive family compounds along the river

 We saw dolphin playing in the river.  Here's the only half-decent shot we managed.

Lots of sandbars and twists in the Swan River, so this bridge is not a problem for upriver traffic.  Anything big must stop in Freemantle.

 We walked around Freemantle, much older and more accessible.  This is the Round Room, a former prison.

 This is an authentic Australian pub where we ate lunch.  Our streetside picnic table also had two authentic Australian gentlemen commenting on the follies and foibles of the world.

 The strange yellow stripes are actually part of a neat city design feature, to be shown later.

 Bather's beach.  Not very big but adequate for Freo.  The temperatures of the tropics have vanished, leaving us with beautiful days and a high of about 24C.  The only thing wrong is you felt the need to wear a jacket for the first hour, then had to carry it in the backpack the rest of the day.

Dinner tonight in the Terrace was an Australian Buffet. Crocodile, emu, lamb, Pavlova and Lamingtons were all part of the meal.  An excellent watermelon carving by one of the chef's.