A visit to Perth

We have visited much of the East coast of Australia, but to visit Perth from Sydney is like Boston to LA, so it remained off our horizon. But from Indonesia, Perth is due south of Bali and a 3 1/2 hour flight. Same time zone, even. So, off we went for four full days plus travel time.

Western Australia is known for premium wines, notably In the Margaret River area. We decided to spend two days in Perth and two in wine country. Perth was fabulous and everything Indonesia is not, such as clean, organized, lots of green space and flowers, good public transportation (and hence, not much traffic). However it is very expensive. Breakfast in the hotel was a breathtaking $38. (we went elsewhere). Their dollar is almost exactly on par with ours. Perth is the boom town in the center of the mining area. Salaries in mining are very high- we met a self described "pipe fitter", who make $200,000 per year. He is flown to the mine site, housed and fed, and works 28 days straight, before flying home for 7 days off. There is a lot of money chasing luxury goods like steak, wine, yachts, housing. [I hear they're hiring!]

It is a gorgeous city with many "fingers" of water here and there. It reminds me most of Vancouver, BC. It's 15 miles inland, up the Swan River, from the coastal city of Fremantle. We took a cruise downriver to Fremantle, a charming port city that has done a remarkable job preserving its 19th century buildings.

Otherwise we ate well and soaked up the crisp, clean fall air. Public transportation is frequent and free in the downtown area so very easy to get around. The locals were delighted to meet Americans. I think they feel a close kinship to us, especially those in Western Australia. Something about the can-do attitude. We heard quite a bit of grumbling about the Federal government and not a little bit about secession.

On Sunday morning we picked up a rental car with some trepidation as they drive on the "wrong" side of the road. I had to work at getting Tom to agree to a GPS unit for the car, but by the time we got finished, he was sold. We made our way out of town and headed south along the coast to Margaret River. After a somewhat boring drive, with a notable stop at Busselton jetty, we arrived in wine country and began to visit some tasting rooms. The region is known for Chardonnay and Cabernet and we tasted and socialized our way into the town of Margaret River. It's what Napa must have looked like 50 years ago. We could walk the full length of the main street. I think the descriptor is "funky". The next day we took a wine tour with 10 other people, mostly Brits, visited 6 wineries, including a lunch at one, and gained a bit of knowledge. Our best dinner was a wine called "the Sledge" paired with venison rib chops. Yum! Since we usually have neither wine or red meat, you might imagine what a treat it was. We also had some wonderful bread. (I may have mentioned that Indonesian bread all tastes like cardboard.). We even brought a loaf of whole grain fruit and nut bread home with us and ate every morsel, including the ends.

In sum, nothing earth shattering, but a nice break that gave us a wee bit of homesickness. Oh yes, we did see kangaroos in the wild.