We arrived pretty much on time on Friday and were whisked to our hotel by a very friendly and talkative native! After unpacking we walked down to Elizabeth Quay in the hot sunshine and the LLW insisted on a G&T whilst I had a cold beer. We overlooked the Swan river and it is as lovely as we remembered.
It had been a very good flight and as usual we were well fed and watered (or rather wined). The A380 really is a lovely plane to fly on.
An early night ensued and the next morning (Saturday) we awoke bright and early, ready for our first cycle ride.
Our hotel in Perth is The Duxton, which was selected as it is very close to the centre and when we last visited Perth, four years ago, we regularly waked past on our way to the centre from the Hyatt Regency.
After an excellent breakfast we walked the mile or so to Fraser Point where Ray had identified a suitable bike hire facility ( About Bike Hire ) and quickly we were equipped with good hybrid bikes. The plan was to cycle around the swan river, which at this point is more like a large lake, and initially went north and crossed the Matagarup Bridge (pedestrians and cyclists only) which connects the west bank with the east where is located the Optus Arena
This magnificent new stadium has largely replaced the WACA as the main venue for cricket matches in Perth. Ray is hopeful that the Optus will prove more friendly to the England cricket team than the WACA which he believes has been the least successful venue for England in Australia.
After crossing the Swan river we cycled south along the river bank along the very best cycle track we have encountered. As Ray commented, it even put the cycling track in Netherlands to shame with a perfect surface, excellent directions, beautifully landscaped grounds, and wonderful views across the river to the CBD of Perth.
We cycled through the Sir James Mitchell Park ( former premier of WA) with the opulent houses of South Perth on our left and crossed the Narrows bridge back to the centre of Perth. Whilst being a busy road bridge their is a wide and protected cycle track at the side of the bridge and easy ramps on and off the bridge. Shortly we were back at ElizabethQuay and the LLW declared it was time for a pit stop. Smoothies were the order of the day and then we cycled north along the west bank and back to our cycle hire depot.
Within 5 minutes the number 24 bus arrived and we were transported in air conditioned comfort to a stop very close to our hotel. A word here about the excellent bus system in Perth which is FoC for all within the city limits. The Perth Central Area Transit System (CAT) consists of 5 bus routes either circular or there and back in the centre of Perth. The free service also applies to through routes as long as you get on and off within the central area It demonstrate what can be done when high successful businesses make Perth a wealthy city and help fund services for all.
After a brief interlude at our hotel we set off to explore the centre and the shopping area, walking initially past Government House
Next we passed the local council offices outside of which are some excellent Kangaroo sculptures.
This part of Perth was very quiet but as soon as we entered the shopping area that changed. It was busy but not overly so and we wandered around for a couple of hours. We both rather like the quirky, cricketing Father Christmas
After a short rest in our hotel we walked across the road to the Balti Indian restaurant which, after a fair amount of investigative work, was found to be recommended. We were very early and the restaurant was already busy but they found us a table for two and we studied the menu and more and more customers came through the doors. It was an excellent meal with every dish being delicious and we both agreed that the onion bhaji's were the best we had ever tasted.
A very good end to our first full day in Australia and one which reminded us how much we love this city.
No comments:
Post a Comment