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It was a Chinese New Year Celebration with a buffet in the Lido
dining room, our usual dining spot. So for the first time in
the cruise we ate in the dining room to avoid the crowds and
the chaos. Our dining room steward was surprised to see us,
but the tuna was done to perfection. The next day our port was
Freemantle, which is the port city for Perth. (Itinerary)
Sunrise over the port.
Hundreds of small boats were heading out as we sailed in. There
was a swim race out to an island and the boats were on their
way to support the swimmers and protect the swim area.
We jumped on the train to Perth. This photo is from the train
window looking back toward the ship as we crossed the Swan River.
We asked for help getting to the right bus for the botanical
gardens.
Perth was a city with some interesting architecture.
This tower housed some old 15th century bells that had been
brought here from England. We were urged to be in the vicinity
of the bells at noon for a concert. We did hear them at 8am
while we were walking around, but the whole area near the tower
was torn up.
We walked away from the bell tower area to catch a bus to the
gardens. We liked the classic cabs.
The bus let us off at the overlook area near the garden entrance.
You can see the extent of the construction around the bell tower.
At the overlook we found these grass trees (We found out what
they were at the garden, so see more details below.) and on
one of them that had died, a colorful lizard basked in the sun.
Near this classic pavilion we saw this colorful gallah bird
and nearby Queen Victoria overlooks regally.
Another World War I monument...
And speaking of queens... Queen Elizabeth II planted this Eucalyptus
tree in 1954.
 
This 750-year old baobob tree was transported here and planted
in 2008. It still has scars, but the signs say that the tree
is healing well from its injuries.
There are quite a few Banksia species native to Australia and
most of them have zigzag leaf margins and spectacular flower
heads made up of thousands of florets.
This curvy bench and tile patio are based on Banksias.
The grass trees (Xanthorrhoea preissii) here do not have
their dead leaves removed. These are flowering plants, which
are related to those in the amaryllis family, which surprised
me. I thought they might be some type of cycad.
We liked the view from this elevated walkway.
These don't look like the bachelor buttons that I know and another
Banksia flower head.
Huge staghorn ferns grew up this tree trunk and then we like
the coiled fern fronds of a nearby treefern.
We liked the birds. We tried to get this kookaburra (on the
right) to sing by trilling our R's as we'd been instructed in
one of our lectures, but he didn't go for it.
A native Queensland bottle tree...
 
This couple went all out for their picnic. How elegant! But,
as the sun moved across the sky, they'd have a lot of stuff
to shift to keep up with the shade.
 
We left the cultivated areas of the gardens and enjoyed our
walk on the wilder side.
 
 
We enjoyed climbing up the double helix of this DNA tower to
see a better view...
 
 
We caught the bus back to a train station, took a train and
then a bus headed out to a place called Hillary's Harbor, which
someone had recommended.
 
The bus stop was at a place that was a combination of amusement
park, family beach, aquarium, marina, & shopping mall.
 
But once we walked out of the craziness, this was a lovely beach.
Looking back toward the commercial area inside that jetty, you'd
hardly know it was there from here. We followed the beach walk
for a couple of miles and then caught a bus back to the train
and the ship for supper.
 
The chefs put on a yummy Outback cookout feast for dinner on
the poolside Lido deck. After dinner we walked toward the Maritime
Museum at the end of our dock. A square-rigger looked nice in
the early evening light.
Across the river we'd seen this livestock ship for transporting
sheep. This was a new one for us.
 
Out by the museum, there was a wall of immigrants display that
documented the various waves of people who came to Australia
through this port.
 
We took the train for just a few stops to get to Cottesloe,
a beach town up the coast that was recommended as a great place
to enjoy a sunset. We saw a few colorful gallah birds and then
we walked over a small hill toward the beach: and the setting
sun.
 
A group of sulphur-crested cackatoos were working on a golf
course next to our route. Nice houses lined the beach road.
 
As many people were on the lawns above the beach as were on
the sandy beach itself.
A little farther down the beach was backed by this rough limestone
bluff.
It was very windy and we wondered how these wind surfers would
get back to their starting point. When they landed past the
main beach area and rinsed off their gear in the shoreside showers,
it was clear that they would get back by bus.
They take their life guarding very seriously here in Australia.
You can spot the lifeguards in their yellow and orange uniforms
and their weird tie-on hats.
 
We walked along the street above the beach and spotted several
stretch limos carrying prom goers to the upper floor of the
lifeguard building. This limo, based on a Ford Model A, which
was the same model as a car Dean owned when he was in high school
in California. So he was particularly interested in this one.
The kids looked nice for their prom. We headed back to the train
and called it a day.
Sunrise the next morning. We were up early to spend the day
in Freemantle, itself.
We noticed that backpacker hotels were available in our various
Australian stops.
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