After saying goodbye to Dr. Courtney at the airport, Tom, the kids and both Grandmas boarded a plane and headed off to join Chelsea in Perth.
Our Airbnb is located in Victoria Park a suburb of Perth. It is a very cute one level home with a white picket fence. There are only two wall-mounted air conditioning units that don’t keep the entire house cool. It is supposed to be in the ’90s + most of the month so that will be challenging. We are definitely not used to that hot weather. Chelsea was able to score us a free Christmas tree and some decorations from a neighborhood Facebook page. Mason was very excited that the house was looking “Christmassy”.
On our first full day in Perth, we ventured out to Kings Park and Botanic Garden. It’s an enormous park in the heart of Perth. We hiked around checking out all kinds of trees and flowers that we had never seen before. Some of them were pretty amazing. We also walked over a glass bridge that offered up breathtaking views of the city. We ventured further down the park to find the famous World War monuments. Two beautifully constructed monuments paying homage to the fallen soldiers from Western Australia. We found lunch at a dumpling restaurant near our Airbnb. It was so delicious. Our kids have fallen in love with Asian dumplings and demand them all the time. It has been fun to watch them try and like all kinds of new foods. The adults stopped for bubble teas after lunch while the kids opted for ice cream with all kinds of toppings. We finished the evening by checking out the local park down the road.
The next day was in the 90s so we headed over to Scarborough beach early to try and beat some of the heat. Next to the beach is a really awesome kids park called Whale playground. A majority of the park is shaped like a giant whale. The kids loved playing on the head which was a slide, ribcage which was a rope obstacle and tail which had swings. Scarborough beach itself was gorgeous. It was the best beach we had been to on our trip. We were excited to wade out into the Indian Ocean which is the fourth ocean we have been in on our trip. The others were the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. We thought that was a pretty cool stat. The crystal clear water varied in all sorts of different shades of blue. Tired and hot we decided to drive south down the scenic West Coast Highway in search of food. We came across Clancy’s Fish Bar. It was a really cool restaurant filled with all sorts of nautical themed items. We got a table that overlooked the ocean. They had really great food and even better margaritas! It was such a fun day.
To avoid the heat of a 101-degree day we went swimming at Aqualife a local pool near us. It was a very nice facility with an indoor kids pool and a 25-meter pool. They also had a giant outdoor 50-meter pool. Next, we decided a good way to cool off would be to go see a movie about ice. We headed to the mall to watch Frozen 2. Everybody loved it!
Burns Beach is a lot rockier than the other beaches in the area. It had some really cool rock formations from being carved out by waves. We had a great time wading in the water and climbing on the rocks.
After being beach bums once again, we drove day to the city of Hillarys to hang out by the harbor and explore the aquarium. The harbor area was really neat with a man-made beach and swimming area that was surrounded by shops and restaurants. We had lunch at a pizza joint called Little C’s. They had all sorts of crazy creations. We settled on Jane’s Addiction with garlic prawns, prosciutto, mozzarella, and cream sauce. It was fantastic! After lunch, we walked over to The Aquarium Of Western Australia(AQWA). They had all sorts of marine animals native to Western Australia. We loved walking through the glass tunnel of the giant aquarium. It was full of sharks, enormous stingrays, sea turtles and many other types of fish. Tom may have fallen asleep in another smaller aquarium exhibit that had lounge chairs and relaxing music. Overall it was a really nice aquarium that everyone enjoyed.
Fremantle or “Freo” as the locals call it is a magical place. It is where Chelsea stayed during her conference. Our first stop in Freo was the Little Creatures Brewery. We got two samplers to share while the boys played foosball. Australia has some really neat microbreweries that have been fun go to. After the brewery, we sent the boys and the Grandmas on the Ferris wheel. We realized the kids had now been on Ferris wheels in Sydney, Adelaide and now Perth. They have been pretty spoiled and have no idea how lucky they are. Chelsea had made our reservations at Bathers beach house at a table in the sand looking at the ocean. It was a great meal with a beautiful sunset in a really cool area. We even tried Kangaroo for the first time which tasted a lot like steak.
Like in Adelaide Perth has a famous wine region of their own. The Swan Valley area is about a half-hour from Perth. However this time we did not go to any wineries. We opted instead for a cidery, brewery, chocolate shop, and a nuts/nougat shop. Our first stop was at Funk Cider where we sampled 8 of their ciders. Our favorites were the passion fruit, pineapple, and Perth cider. We also ate the most wonderful dessert called sticky date pudding.
Located directly next door and not happy about it is Iron Bark Brewery. Apparently they were there first and also made their own ciders as well as beers. We got a cider sample and enjoyed it in their beer garden. Funk Cider was much better in our opinion. Not far down the road is Whistler’s Chocolate Company. We had a quick lunch at their cafe. After lunch, we checked out the store and bought lots of chocolates to bring back. Our final stop was at Mondo Nougat and Morish Nuts. Two shops that shared a building. We tried some nougat and nuts samples before heading back.
Every Saturday during the holiday season the city of Perth has a Christmas Carnival in the CBD. There are rides, games, inflatable bounce houses, outdoor movies and even a visit from Santa. It only costs $10 Australia for the entire family, and they give you a $10 gift card to spend in downtown Perth. We got a family photo with Santa. As it turned out his Elf had studied abroad in Minnesota last year at St. Ben’s. After the carnival, we walked over to the Elizabeth Quay area. Our first stop was the Swan Bell Tour. A beautiful building designed to house the 18 swan bells in a glass campanile. Some of the bells date back to 1725 and were said to have rung for Captain James Cook when he set sail to discover Australia. The boys absolutely loved the bells and thought it was the coolest building. We meandered over to a huge kid’s water fountain park where the boys got drenched. Finally, we spent the $10 gift card from the Carnival on a carousel ride by the Quay.
Our last day with the Grandmas was spent at City Beach. They like us were absolutely mesmerized by the ocean and the beautiful beaches of Western Australia. We had a wonderful time playing on the beach followed by lunch at Clancys Fish Bar once again. Clancy’s really is such a fun place with great food and unbelievable views. We went with the Grandmas to the airport and said our goodbyes before they went through security. We will really miss them but are excited to see them again in Singapore in February.
