Hi all, I have one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions for you. The Girlie and I are keen to get over to Perth from here to see the Red Bull Air Race this April (17th & 18th). We've done the maths and while we were originally intending to ride, it will eat 2.5 weeks to get there, do the do and get back. Fuel and running costs for two bikes guestimated at $1500 or so to get there and back. At the end of the number crunching, flying is looking good solely because it costs about the same to get us there AND hire a car for a few days but will give us more time to noodle around and do things. If we were to spend 7 to 10 days around Perth, what would you locals over there suggest we go and see or do? Neither of us have been before. We want to be around the water for the duration of the flying but the rest of the time is there to be enjoyed wherever the interest takes us. Not interested in nightlife (we have our own) but we are interested in outdoorsy things, good food, local history - the sorts of things they don't necessarily put in the glossy brochures. Would love some input from some locals. Thanks in advance!
Margeret River/Yallingup is about 2.5 - 3 hrs south, more wineries, fine food, spectacular limestone caves and scenery than you can poke a stick at. Aim less than an hour east into the hills, drive around for days through Mundaring, Northam, York, Toodyay (ESPECIALLY Toodyay on a Saturday lunchtime, it's like a bloody bike show for hours, eat at the Cola Cafe), same deal. Head north under 2 hours to find rolling hills through Gingin, Bindoon (stop at the bakery) then onto New Norcia, Australia's only monastic town, buildings built Spanish-style over 100years ago. Or drive 3.5 hours north, to be met by a stooooopidly hot (47 today), really dusty, barren sand dune with prickly scrub.........aaaahhh, there's no place like home!
I did a Swan river wine tour with DannoJ which was pretty good, we got bussed around about 5 vinyards, had a nice lunch then got the ferry back in to Perth, the price (about $120 I think) included all the travel, wine tasting (there were some very nice ones) and Lunch, and we also visited a chocolate factory on the tour and sampled ome lovely cheeses and olives, the only problem was poor Dan had to wait until 10am for his first wine of the day! I think if I had more time I would have liked to have done the Margeret river tour but for the time we had Swan was our only real option. Make sure you go to Freemantle and go to the Shipwreck Museum, we spent a good couple of hours wandering through there (Gold coin donation to get in) there is also a Maritime Museum that has a big Sub parked out the back ... war ship not sandwich! but we didn't get to that
Check out bonneys water ski park aswell, it's rated as top 3 in the WORLD. Frank Bonney is about 81 now and still does the slalom once or twice a week, legend. +1 on the wine tours, Get over to Rottnest island it's great no car's allowed but the snorkelling is great huge ray's and dolphins are what we encounterd, it's gov run so get on the web if ya want accomadation. Lancilin (Hr)is ok bit of a drive and then further on is the Pinniacles which is like a Moon scape , best at Dawn and Dusk for awesome pic's. Fremantle is great, the Sail and Anchor balcony is a favorite , you can get a Coopers largy over the bar . And Gino's cafe has been there for ages and wont dissapiont, good steak and great coffee. the markets are near the Sail and Anchor and are worht a look , there's a bar in there which has free entertainment on friday evening's and a fire. Clancy's fish pub , also good. Over the Rail way line @ Freo you can go to many good pub's reasturants but only one give ocean veiws, the Little Creatures is an experience also. For the best veiw over the city before you leave , head up to Zig Zag rd in the hills one evening. Have a good time.
We took 4.5 days from Perth to Phillip Island. And that was very easy. Biggest day was 900k's. You could easily do a 1000k's plus a day and do it under 4 days I reckon. The roads are good and if you don't fancy camping there is plenty of budget accommodation. No comment on the 25 year old bee-ems.
only 7 to 10 days! Woah, your going to be busy mate! You really should go for a cruise "down south" (as suggested above). Personally, I would base yourselves in Dunsborough for a couple of nights. From there, you should duck over to Smiths Beach for an early morning body surf, then back to Dunsborough for a 'down south breakfast' (ie a pie and an iced coffee). Book yourselves in for lunch at either a winery or brewery (Wills Domain and Duckstein would be my pics). Then do some wine tastings at the plethora of vineyards along Caves Road for the rest of the arvo. Make sure you leave time for a late arvo swim at Yallingup beach. Then you can have dinner and a drink at one of the wine bars in Dunsborough, or a meal somewhere if you need anymore food! But my preference would be to grab some fish and chips and head off to a beach and watch the sunset. The best bit??? You can get up and do it all again the next day! :) Back in Perth, you should definitely get over to 'Rotto.' At least for a day, but if you want to stay, then grab a room at the Lodge. Bak on the mainland - get out to the Swan Valley for a look at the old towns, and yep more wine tastings :) Pop down to Freo for a look around the weekend markets, stroll around the "West End" (some great old buildings to look at), the Maritime Museum, the Round House, Freo Port etc etc etc. Then wander down to Little Creatures for a late arvo lunch and spend the rest of the day drinking pints of the local specialty on the deck overlooking the fishing boats. Maybe go for dinner one night in Subiaco and catch a show at the Regal Theatre. Kings Park - overlooking the city, is well worth a look too. As for shopping, well its not great, but its ok if you know where to go, so depending what you want, ask around. And keep in mind that shops close early here (5.30/6 ish during the week) and only shops in the CBD and surrounding suburbs are open on sundays.
Lazarus thread! Just waiting for the Girlie to get up so we can go get a good pozzie on the river. The race qualifying yesterday was brilliant. Perth on the whole has been wonderful so far. We could see ourselves living here for sure. Planning to hire a car tomorrow and head south to Margaret River. We considered taking a bus down but I hate buses and crowds and tourists so I think the automotive autonomy will be the way to go. We'll just follow our noses. Aiming for Freemantle for the weekend, flying out on Sunday night.
Were you down the river on Thursday when the plane went for a swim? I'd just driven over the narrows before it happened.
<object height="385" width="480"> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GGIydKxEoUo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></object> Red Bull Gives You Water Wings Mezo.
No, we flew in on Friday morning but met a bloke who had seen it. He was lucky to get out of it without injury. They had the pilot interviewed at the event today. The racing was fantastic! Even though it was a long morning it was well worth camping out for a good spot on the river front. Plenty of people but compared to the sh!tfight that is the F1's in Melbourne or that stupid AFL... or that game with the bat and ball it was a total breeze. We've just booked a car and accommodation in Margaret River tomorrow and the following 2 nights, and then off to Fremantle. The girlie likes the idea of posh nosh one night and fish'n'chips on the water the next. Nice place this WA!
Update. Went on a brilliant "winery and other things" tour in Margaret River. Having a ball so far. I can safely say that a Hyundai Getz does not a happy 2 metre tall motorcyclist make.
We're down here in Margaret River until midday tomorrow (22 April) then booked in to stay at Fremantle for 3 nights, then flying home on Sunday night. No set plans in Freo.
