Perth WA

Have been in Perth and surrounding areas for 9 days seeing some amazing things from the underwater observatory, Rottnest Island, New Norcia, Swan Valley, Perth City and Kings Park.

The Underwater observatory is a must to visit displaying all the marine life which is found along the coast of WA.

We spent a day on Rottnest Island which is a 45 minute fast ferry ride from Hillary's Marina near Perth. The boat is large and gets up and goes.

A guided tour of the island paid dividends with the guides showing and pointing out many things including the history of the island that you would not otherwise know about.

At one of the stops we were lucky enough to see a large number of dolphins surfing and torpedoing clear out of the waves. They were certainly having a great time. Don't know who was more excited us or the tour guide. Once again magnificent coastline with that crystal clear water.

Rottnest was once an military observation post with a large gun and emplacement still there.

Can't forget the Quokkas which are all over the place looking for food from the tourists but you are not allowed to give them anything. A quick ferry ride back to the mainland and it was a day well spent.

The next day it was off to Swan Valley. The main attraction here is a little town called Guilford. Historic old buildings and houses can be seen as you walk around this marvellous town. The main street is lined with old shops and antiques and some of the shops now a foodies delight.

New Norcia, a very small village about 90 minutes drive from Perth was founded by the Benedictine Monks in 1847. In the beginning there were 50 Monks but now they only number 11. The community originally had approximately 250 people but numbers now are quite small. Doing a guided tour we were shown a lot of the old buildings from the original chapel, monastry, domitaries and the old mill and bakery.

They also had a video on the satellite tracking station which was used to track Apollo satellites as they passed over.

Today it was into the city for look around the CBD, Kings Park which gives good views of the Perth CBD and up the Swan River. The Botanical gardens was also most interesting showing most of the plants found in WA.

Tomorrow it's off up the coast a bit further with the next stop Cervantes for a three night stop and then head to Geraldton.