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.