Howdy mates! How're you all doing? Ha ha! I'm trying to sound like an Aussie in my greetings to you, as this holiday was spent in South Western Australia. We flew from Hong Kong aboard a Cathay Pacific flight and flew 8 hours into Perth, which is the capital city of South Western Australia.
I already wrote one article regarding the trip, but I found more pictures, yay! Actually, since I accidentally deleted the pictures from my laptop and I only had some saved in random CDs, I suddenly thought about taking pictures of the printed copies, which I did, so I ask for your understanding if the quality of the pictures are not very good.
I'll just be sharing some more pictures of the places we went to that I was not able to share in the previous article I wrote, so here we go.
This is the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse in mainland Australia. The lighthouse was built in 1895. Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly point on the mainland of the Australian continent.
The Cape Leeuwin lighthouse is situated at the tip of the spectacular peninsula where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. Cool location, right?
The lighthouse, aside from being a navigational aid, also serves as an important automatic weather station. It is also fully automated, so it functions automatically.
It is also said that Cape Leeuwin is one of the best land-based vantage points for spotting whales in the months of May- September. We did not stay long enough in the area to spot one though.
I love how blue the ocean was, and this just proves that the waters in this part of the world is not yet polluted, because the Australians take care of their oceans and beaches, I believe.
I am not sure what was causing the waves at the back, can't be sure if it's a small boat. Can we pretend it's actually a whale? Ha ha!
It was fun just driving along the coast, being able to look out to the blue ocean and mountains as well. Very different to the everyday sight we had in Hong Kong back then.
When we got to Augusta, which is the southernmost town of Australia, we had lunch at this restaurant. It claimed as being the last eating house before the Antarctic!
This picture is from the port city of Fremantle, located 30 minutes southwest of Perth. It is the place where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean.
There are a lot of restored colonial heritage buildings around the city, and walking on the streets seemed like we were walking somewhere in Europe and not in Australia.
Fremantle has been recognized as the best preserved of a 19th century port streetscape in the world. The entire west end of the city, including more than 250 buildings has been heritage-listed, the largest single place to be added to the State Register of Heritage Places.
In Fremantle we visited an aborigine shop where they sell these musical instruments and we had fun trying them out. They were painted so intricately and beautifully.
But the highlight of our time in Fremantle was this thrill ride we had in a speedboat. We were required to wear raincoats, sunglasses, and wear seat belts.
When the boat departed the harbor, the captain put the music on full blast. I realized why he did that a few minutes after. The boat moved so fast, and then it will suddenly make a left or right turn, causing the boat to sway dangerously on one side, and we were screaming at the top of our lungs!
We wore raincoats so as not to get drenched, because as the boat would suddenly swerve, big waves would be created and splash us all over. What fun! Try to imagine a boat moving at full speed and then suddenly stop and turn sideways. It was indeed a thrill seeking ride which I enjoyed.
We also visited Hillarys Boat Harbor for a half a day, I think. It is 25 minutes north of Perth, and this is a location where families and individuals can have fun.
They have beautiful beaches of course, and the promenade and the shops are a sight to behold. We visited a water resort where we had fun again.
This time the ride was a very tall and long slide, and we had to come down seated on a rubber tube. We had to climb I don't know how many steps to get to the top, and then we slide down. That's me coming out of the slide.
The slide was super long, super dark, and once you start going downwards, you go down really fast. My traveling companion who took the picture said she has never heard me scream so loud, ha ha ha! It was so much fun!
We also visited a sheep farm, where we got to witness how sheep are being herded and such. When you visit a place like this, expect to smell like one at the end of the day. :-)
Sheep are very gentle animals, and Australia, like New Zealand, is a country that raises them in herds. I cannot remember though, which town we went to for this.
It was shearing season when we visited and as part of the visit, we were shown how a sheep was sheared. The man explained that if sheep were to be sheared, they would not be fed the day before before so that they will not be as strong as usual when the day comes.
So the sheep is held like that, and the shearing starts from the head down, using a razor, they do it in a way that the fur is one piece after the whole process.
This is the fur after the whole shearing process. It will then be processed to be turned into wool, and then onto other products. When we left the building, I definitely smelled like lamb.
These are sheep you see of course, and there's the sheep dog, which is a Border Collie by breed. It's job is to guide or 'herd' the sheep into the pen when they come from the pasture. He just runs back and forth on top of the sheep until every single one of them is herded in. Amazing, right?
This picture was taken from the hill where our rental house was located. I was trying to 'measure' the tree in the distance with my fingers.
This is our rental house, although you can not see it in its entirety because of the trees that block the view. It was a two-story house, with a hammock and a balcony so we had fun even when we were at 'home'.
Australia also have a lot of beautiful beaches and we visited several of them. There were pathways in some, where we could go and climb the rock formations, and some of the pictures are in the other article I wrote.
Australia also has four distinct seasons, and since it was April when we were there, autumn or fall was just starting. The picture you see is that of a eucalyptus tree. In other countries, leaves usually change color and then they fall off, but in Australia, and in this case the eucalyptus, instead of its leaves changing colors and then falling, it's the bark of the tree that falls off!
So if its autumn and winter, the trunks of eucalyptus trees become white because they shed their barks. Another cool thing to know.
I'm not sure where this picture was taken from but I like the fact that every thing you see there is either green, which is grass or trees or mountains, and blue which is the ocean. And the people in Australia are very laid back, so everyone seems to be relaxed, no one is rushing or anything.
A grove of eucalyptus trees on my way to the beach near our rental house. Notice that almost every tree has already turned white in preparation for the winter time.
Notice that there are markings on the sand. These markings were made by the wind. It looked nice so of course I took a picture.
The last picture I share is that of two girls having fun in the water, with the waves in the background. I hope to see more of Australia in the near future, and until then, so long!
For more travel articles, you can go to this page.
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