Week 40/2024: WA travel blog part 1
Week of 30 September 2024
A week of travel on the sunny west coast of Australia.
Go West! Part one
Day 1: To Perth
As I wrote last week, we headed off on Sunday for a ten-day holiday to Western Australia. I’d been to WA twice previously, both times for work, and I’d tacked on a couple of extra days each time to look around Perth and Fremantle, and catch up with friends.
For Kramstable, however, WA was the only state he’d never been to.
I was looking forward to the trip and was telling anyone who’d listen how glad I was to be getting away from Hobart’s gloomy, wet weather. (You might suspect this would come back to bite me. You might be right.)
Luckily, we’d scored a direct flight from Hobart to Perth, which departed at about 5 pm. While it was great to not have to change planes, it was a long time to not move much. And finally, after almost five hours in the air next to someone who coughed the ENTIRE trip, we arrived in Perth on schedule at 7.40 pm (WST).
We were now on the land of the Whadjuk people, with a welcome to their Country, “Wunjoo Whadjuk Boodja”, greeting us on the wall of the baggage claim.
Thank you.
Our accommodation for the first night was in East Perth. By the time we found the hotel, we had time for a late dinner and it was way past my bedtime. Slabs went out to find a bottleshop and reported that it was a ‘hole in the wall’ so he could only ask for what he wanted, rather than going into the shop to browse. I imagine this was for security purposes, and it was a sign we weren’t in Tasmania any more.
Day 2: Perth to Busselton
The trip itinerary was mainly Slabs’ idea. My constructive input had been something like, “Sure. You have to drive, so however much driving you want to do is what we’ll do.” I figured there’d be things to do and see wherever we went, and I didn’t have anywhere particular I wanted to go.
Although if it had been up to me, we might have spent the entire week in Perth photographing brutalist architecture.
Fortunately for everyone else, it wasn’t up to me, and we did a lot more than that.
Our plan was to leave Perth on Monday morning after breakfast and drive to Busselton, home to the southern hemisphere’s longest timber piled jetty.
It’s famous.
Busselton is about 220 km south of Perth, an almost three hour drive, so I had about two hours to take in as much architecture as I could before it was time to pick up the hire car.
I originally thought I’d head out for a walk and see what I could find. But a couple of days before we left I decided it would be more sensible to figure out the ‘must-sees’ and try to fit them into a two-hour photowalk. I came up with Council House, the Perth Concert Hall, the former Commonwealth Bank on St George’s Terrace, the Christian Science Sunday School and Royal Perth Hospital R Block.
Anything else would be a bonus, and wow, were there a lot of bonuses! (More photos to come on my photoblog.)
Two (and a half) hours in Perth
I decided not to take the big camera walking because I didn’t want to be mucking around with that on a Monday morning in the middle of a city I didn’t know, so I just took my phone.
It was a wonderful walk and I reckon I’ll be updating my photoblog for weeks with the photos. The phone battery lasted about two and a half hours and I saw so many amazing buildings in that time.
But I had to go back so we could have breakfast and pick up the hire car for the trip south.
To Busselton
En route, we took a detour into Bunbury, where we’d be coming back towards the end of the trip, before arriving in Busselton at lunch time.
Along the way I learned that this is the land of the Wadandi people, the traditional owners of the South West of Western Australia. There is evidence of their occupation of this land for over 50,000 years. “Wadandi Boodja” means Saltwater People’s country.
Busselton Jetty
Busselton Jetty is a well-known Western Australian attraction. Stretching 1.841km out to sea, it’s the longest timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.
The original jetty was built in 1865 to make exporting crops and livestock and, later timber, easier. It was extended over time, but it closed as a working port in 1973. Following years of no maintenance and a destructive cyclone in 1978, the Busselton community set about raising money to restore the jetty. It now operates as a tourist venture with a train running to the end where there’s an underwater observatory.
The observatory would be our main activity the next day, but for today we wandered round the foreshore.
After we checked into our motel, we came back to watch the sunset from the jetty.
After 5 pm there’s no entrance fee, so local fisherfolk and walkers make their way out to sea.
It’s beautiful.
Week 40 summary
Habit tracker
Let’s pretend this week didn’t happen for the purpose of accountability. I did a lot of walking but not much else from my exercise plan. Here’s my step count for the whole week.
- Monday: 24,208
- Tuesday: 22,528
- Wednesday: 13,992
- Thursday: 7,536
- Friday: 26,192
- Saturday: 25,790
- Sunday: 16,432
What happened on Thursday? All part of the “let’s go to WA to get away from the rain” story.
What was the best thing about this week?
Being on holiday and making lots of photos . . . with more to come.
What did I notice this week?
In Perth, how close to the big buildings some little buildings are. It’s a strange vibe. The smallness is so close to the largeness. It’s like you step out of the city into a country town.
By the time it occurred to me that this was strange, I’d walked past being able to take photos of what I was actually noticing.
What did I learn this week?
Council House in Perth was constructed in 1962 to coincide with the VII Empire and Commonwealth Games.
Queen Elizabeth II opened it in 1963.
What am I reading?
- The Good Life by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
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