As we do in most cities, we spent our first day in Perth walking the city. Leena blew out her flip flop (after ~7 years; nice job, Nike) getting off the plane as we arrived in Perth, so we started by heading to a Nike store in the downtown core of Perth. They’d never seen a “Retired” Nike badge like mine and gave a discount on a new pair of flip flops for Leena. We continued to Kings Park and climbed quite a hill to get to the top of the park.
The view back to central Perth:
The view towards the ocean:
Now starring Leena!
We walked through the park ready for a late lunch (and some water). Unfortunately, not knowing the city, we ended up in a university area. We walked on and came upon a large hospital campus. (Both of these areas have food for sure, but likely in student/employee cafeterias.) We finally found a nice cafe and got our order in just before they closed the kitchen. That was a delicious burger!
We grabbed a bus out to Cottesloe Beach and I took a dip in the Pacific. The water was, of course, chillier than Bali, but not too cold. We caught a train back to Perth and grabbed some Mexican near our AirBnB for dinner. We got “home” about 9p and our host Neil treated us to a glass of wine on his lovely back patio. He gave us great information in planning the next day: Rottnest Island.
We caught a train to Fremantle in the morning and had just enough time to buy tickets and board the 11a ferry to Rottnest Island. It’s an island about 20km off the coast. We bought tickets to a hop on/hop off bus that circuits the island all day. We hopped off many times for walks and beaches and amazing scenery.
Rottnest Island gets its name from the Dutch Rotte Nest (rat nest). It seems Captain Willem de Vlamingh mistook the native quokkas for giant rats. We found a nice family – I didn’t even notice the baby (lower right) until I looked at the picture later!
We caught a 5p ferry back to Fremantle and enjoyed the sunset at the beach.
