Monday July 27-Sunday Aug 2

Perth - lovely city about the size of Calgary (1. 5 million) and about the same feel - people come here to seek their fortunes in the mineral business.The last few years saw a major housing boom and the prices skyrocketed.Most people work in the downtown core (CBD) and then retreat to the suburbs in the evening, so the shops all close at 6 pm and it is a ghost town.

Our friend Gina, an Aussie who used to live in Calgary, was so kind to pick us up at the airport and pick up Shane on a different day.She also took us on an impromptu driving tour or Kings park which is 4.06 km squared (in comparison Central Park in New York is 3.41 km squared).The tour ended at Gina's parent's apartment which overlooks the park and the Swan River.Kings parks is a great place to go and pick-nick or just lie in the grass - which resembles Astroturf!There are also a lot of pathways through the native forest.

On Wednesday, we wandered around the city of South Perth, happened upon the oldest building in Western Australia - a windmill that was built in1833.It now sits right beside a freeway and seems to have been forgotten.

In the evening, we managed an after work drink with Wally, a friend of Maria's who used to live in England when she was there.He gave us a lot of touring suggestions and wineries to visit when we go to Margaret River.

On Thursday we went to the Perth mint as both Chris and I are both big coin nerds.They have a nice tour and they do a gold bar pour which is fun to see.We spent a lot of time checking out the gold bullion collection from around the world and pondering purchases in the gift shop.

On Friday evening, we went with Gina and some of her friends to the "Good Food and Wine Show" - light on the food, heavy on the wine.We did manage to try some nice lamb and plenty of cheese (learned that we like Pecorino - like a parmesan with more bite) along with many, many varieties of wine.We walked away with a fair amount of give-a-ways like hats, travel mugs and marinades for meat.Overall it was a good time!Afterwards, we all went to a local club to see a live band.Shane impressed the ladies with his salsa dancing skills.

Sunday we took a train out to Freemantle.We went on a fantastic tour of the Freemantle Prisons' tunnels.Western Australia (WA) was the last state to get convicts, and the only one to request them when they realised they were short on labour.The convicts actually built the prison that would house them.Toilets and sinks were installed but they broke within a few years so they used a "two bucket" system (one for fresh water, one for all else).After WA stopped taking convicts, it became a federal prison, used up until 1991…with the two bucket system!On our tour, we got to dress up in coveralls and gumboots then climb down under the prison into the water canal system that was built for supplying it and the town of Freemantle.We crawled about and paddled our way around the labyrinth of tunnels on flat bottom rafts like they would have used - very difficult to steer I might add.I tried to get our guide to sing the national anthem, Advanced Australia Fair, (but it is "un-Australian" to know the words and also something about an issue with the word "girt" being used in the lyrics).He asked instead if I could sing ours "of course" and I gave him the choice of languages.So in the dark, paddling under the Freemantle prison, I belted out Oh Canada in French.