Andiamo: 2/16

Today we are spending the bulk of the day in Perth – just 30 minutes to our North. We walk down to the train station and after messing with the dumb ticket machine and having our card denied (when will we ever get the PIN technology Europe and Australasia has????) – we finally pay cash for our tickets and catch the 8:40 train. After a nice 30 minute ride, we are deposited right in the middle of town on one of the Malls (what they call pedestrian shopping streets). Tons and tons and tons of shops – all just opening – and people. No economic woes here – not that you can tell anyway.

We’ve got crib notes from Brian (the travel lecturer on Solstice) and we head out in search of the Mint, which is supposed to be an interesting way to spend some time. On the way we stop for cappuccino ($4.50 each – sigh) and study our maps. It’s another gorgeous day, and it’s early enough that it is not overly hot yet – so we plot our course to walk now, and end up on the free CAT buses later.

Perth is a great mix of old and new. There are beautiful stone buildings everywhere you look – like the Town Hall building which was the only town hall to be built with convict labor.

Then there are the modern high rises framed by older stone buildings and many places where single story houses are nestled up against newer 5 story apartments. Really fascinating scenery.

We walk to the Mint, a fabulous building with a great sculpture in the courtyard, but the entrance fee is a bit steep and we decide to keep walking.

It’s beginning to heat up, so we decide it is time for the bus. There are 3 routes – the red and the blue being the best to see the whole city and get around to the main areas. We grab a red bus at St. Mary’s Cathedral – a huge, beautiful stone church with a wild looking new addition protruding out the side and a totally smooth stone façade on the front of the cathedral.

The bus takes us all around the Eastern suburbs, past Queens Gardens and lots of suburbs. Then we circle back into the main CBD (where the bus gets absolutely packed with passengers), where we get off at Murray Street Mall to catch the blue bus that will take us to the harbor. This is a great route – takes about 1/2 an hour or so, but we get to see the State Museum, Library, Cultural center and then the backpackers area – complete with backpacker hotels, tons of restaurants (mostly Asian) and the obligatory strip joints and clubs. Very vibrant and busy – could be a good alternative choice for lunch if the harbor doesn’t work out.

At the harbor, we confirm the time of the last ferry back to Fremantle, 2:15, and cogitate our options. We decide upon a drink while we make our decision. We hit the Lucky Shag, thinking we might lunch here as well. Drinks are one thing – great atmosphere -

- but lunch – not so much. We’re paying for the view and location – so we decide to head back to the backpacker area and look at our choices there.

Back to the bus – uptown in no time – then walk over to James Street – and peruse the restaurants. There are tons – and we finally settle on Thailicious – a cute name and an even cuter little Thai restaurant. Great affordable lunch of Cashew chicken and Seafood combo – with sticky rice!

Lovely change of pace from all the burgers, etc., we’ve been having. Appetites sated, we head back to the bus stop –keeping our fingers crossed that the buses will run on time to get us to the ferry.

And it does! Bus drops us off in plenty of time – we buy our tickets and stand on queue waiting for the ship. Great way to get back to Fremantle – an hour and a half of sailing down the Swan river on a perfectly gorgeous Saturday afternoon. In addition to a fabulous retreating view of Perth…

….we’re also treated to the biggest “regatta” we’ve every seen! Seems like every one in Perth with a sailboat is out there on the water on this gorgeous Saturday afternoon. Holy cow – there are thousands of sailboats out here – everywhere you look, of every type and size, zipping about – in front of us, in back of us, all around. A great show for most of our ride back to Fremantle.