Perth was a wonderful surprise. The city’s swan river is very pretty; the green space is abundant and would put most of Canada’s cities of comparable size to shame. Everywhere you look there are gardens, lush green trees, amazing flowers, and FRESH AIR. Shops and restaurants dot the downtown core.
The Swan River area, which is the heart of the city, was occupied by Australian Aborigines for at least 50,000 years prior to the arrival of British settlers, led by Captain James Stirling, who proclaimed the new colony in June 1829. With the help of convict labour – convict built architecture can be seen all around Perth and nearby Fremantle – Perth was declared a city in 1871. To the best of our knowledge, there are no ‘Chuck and Deborah’ relatives in the area. Commercially, Perth provides the distribution point for West Australia’s wheat, mining and wine industries.
Fremantle – from dowdy to seaside sensation
Fremantle, as our ‘Blue group’ tour leader, Elviera Mueller, succinctly described, was “a dump” for the longest while, until the Americas Cup came to town a few years ago, which prompted the locals to clean up their city. They clearly did a fine job and today it is a bustling town with fun shops, bistros and casual seaside pubs to stop for a drink. Deborah got the opportunity to dip her toes in the Indian Ocean following a delicious lunch of red snapper with the rest of the tour group. Chuck explored the town on his own and reported that he stopped for a beer and a light lunch.
It was an early start for our departure from Perth on October 19…a 6:00 a.m. breakfast and then onto the bus for our 11-hour flight to Mauritius - including a much welcomed 30-minute ‘gas stop’ in Jakarta….which provided enough time for Deborah to do a little light shopping.
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Friday, 20 Oct 2006
There were mixed reviews from our travel companions about our visit to Ayers Rock, known to the locals as “Uluru”. However, we liked our short stay there; mind you, we reckon you wouldn’t want to spend more than a day or two there, although our 5-star accommodations were most enjoyable and hardly roughing it.
Ayers rock was impressive. No picture can show the magnificence of the size and colours of the rock. It is 343 meters high with aboriginal sacred caves.
What we found most fascinating was the “Sounds of Silence” dinner – a truly magical experience. We were transported by bus to the ‘SOS’ site just before sunset where we quaffed champagne cocktails and were serenaded by musicians playing a didgeridoo and music sticks. We were then escorted to an open area that was set up with tables covered in fine white linens, wine glasses and silverware and were served dinner, literally under the stars. As the stars came out we supped on a buffet of vegetables, salads and various meats - including kangaroo… but Deborah passed on the dish as she couldn’t bear the thought of eating ‘Skippy’ or one of his relatives.
Finally, when the stars were truly aligned, the lights from the buffet hot table were doused and a man, who held two extraordinary high-beam torches, pointed out the various star combinations as he described their celestial meaning and position in the sky. (Deborah was informed of this later by Chuck because she konked out from fatigue and not booze, btw, on the table. Or so she says.)
Now as Chuck’s many fans are aware, he is the ‘guru’ of marketing and Deborah has been known to dabble in marketing, too, but folks, the promoters of Ayers Rock and the Olgas (another rock formation nearby) have got it all over Chuck and Deborah…why, you ask? Because they were able to get a whole bunch of us (Chuck and Deborah included) to get up at 5 in the morning, board a bus and head out to the rock to look at the sunrise. This turned out to be much ado about nothing…not much to see but we did get to keep the nifty knapsacks that carried our boxed breakfast. The knapsacks have come in handy: Chuck is using his to transport his Panasonic laptop (the one we’re using to tap out our blog). Deborah is using hers to provide for more ‘shopping item’ space.