Long time no post and there is a reason for this. I haven’t actually traveled any place “new” or where I could escape work to see the city or catch something new so theres been nothing to write about. This will change in the next few months though as I have a few journeys to go on.

Firstly as you may have guessed by the title is PAX here in Australia. For those wondering what the acronym is it stands for Penny Arcade eXpo, basically a giant gaming related expo covering board games, consoles and PCs. It is the first one to be hosted here in Australia so I’m in Melbourne for the event with one of my friends. Over the weekend I’ll post a bit of information on it and some pictures of Melbourne but don’t expect too much as I didn’t bring a camera.

Moving on from Melbourne though on the 5th of August I’ll be off to Taiwan and Korea for 3 weeks during which time I will take my proper camera with me and have constant updates throughout. At the end of October I’ll be off to Germany for two weeks with a possible detour within Europe again so once more photos and posts to come.

Till next time,
Mike

As I mentioned yesterday the general plan was to check out of the hotel today and head up the coast following the water. While it was a very nice drive there wasn’t too much along it in regards to being photo worthy or really visiting worthy besides some fantastic beaches. It would have been nice to go far enough north to the Pinnacles but I would rather do that long of a drive back and forth with someone else and not in a rental car.

So in terms of what I checked out, I dropped into the town of Yanchep and Two Rocks and then northwards to the Gingin Observatory facility (not planned but drove pas the sign and remembered it so figured why not? After that it was a squeeze north to see if I could make it to the Pinnacles or not but decided to play it safe and not go that far and dropped into the town of Lancelin instead to take a break on the beach. Good decision in the end as it was a beautifully warm day and the sun was shining.

And that’s probably it for my trip to Perth in terms of updates and news. If I ever remember I’ll write up a post review of Perth when I get back to Sydney sometime on Friday night. Pictures below as always but not very many this time.

With that bit of weather pitch over its time to move onto the more interesting details of today’s journey, or at least just a recap. As I’m actually having weekends off while over here it makes it thankfully quite easy to plan when and where to go out to and today’s plan was to explore the CBD and head out and run around Kings Park, a giant bit of park land just over the Mitchell Highway from the city (seriously have a look at the size of it and its location to the CBD on a map, its rather impressive).

The CBD itself reminded me a lot of Brisbane, most people packed into some key areas with the streets around the edges of the CBD rather quite, whether this means anything I’m not sure I just found it rather interesting. First stop though was to check out the Swan Bells at the Bell Tower sitting along side the quite beautiful Swan River. The bells themselves have an interesting history to them but I passed on heading into the tower due to the cost of entry and well… It didn’t look like it would have much in it for the price.

After that detour I headed back into the city to make my way down to Kings Park along the way finding the lovely St George’s Cathedral hidden away between some giant sky scrapers. Eventually I made it to the base of the hill upon which the entry to Kings Park is. The hill I found though was a street named Mount St, which by the seems of things was where some of the wealthier families of Perth lived (some gigantic houses and fantastic cars here) and where all the fit people go to run up and down a steep hill. At the top of the hill is the entry to the Kings Park grounds  (while not really an entry its more the main point for cars to enter in and where people wander up). I proceeded to follow the crowds of people and work my way around the grounds until I found the walking trails and went exploring.

From that point onwards there isn’t much else to mention really except that the scenery is fantastic, the view of the city is incredible and the grass so well maintained and inviting in the afternoon sun on a day like today. Such a beautiful place and so close to the city its absolutely fantastic.

Other then that I worked my way eventually back into the city and to the hotel where I’m currently sitting here writing this blog rather then packing. I’m changing hotels tomorrow to something a bit cheaper to keep the budget down. Because fo this though I’ll have everything in the car and be cruising out of the city to discover some of Western Australia a bit more. I’m thinking to the north of Perth this time…

As usual photos below. Theres also an extra panorama included of the Perth CBD and the Swan River taken from Kings Park that I’m really happy with (note to self, consider printing this one).

First stop was the War Memorial on top of Monument Hill for a bit of rememberance and taking in the views that it offers (perfect day for it). Afterwards it was off into Fremantle itself to find the Fremantle markets and the streets that surround it which are famous for their coffee.

My first impressions of this area is that its very much like Melbourne, mainly in the amount of coffee shops and people on the streets and the mixed bag of stores thrown in every where between. After a quick break and a coffee (no photos, couldn’t be bothered to get the camera out though I really should have) I made my way further south to the city of Rockingham to catch a ferry to an island named “Penguin Island” to have a look at… Yup you guessed it penguins.

The island itself is a short 5 minute ferry ride from the mainland, while also accessable by walking across the sand bar the ferry is a far safer / dryer option. Once on the island I checked out the feeding exhibit where they feed their local penguins that are being rehabilitated before release back into the wild. After that there was a nice little walking path around the island (about 2km) which took be through the nesting area’s of the various birds on the island. At the time I went though it was peak season for the Seagulls, bit of a shame as they are such an annoying bird but at least their young were cute. Also discovered while walking around the island was a very relaxed and comfy looking sea lion basking in the sun on one of the beaches.

After getting back from the island I headed to my final location for the day, Lake Clifton to check out an attraction known as thrombolites (basically living formations of stone, I’ve included the info board in the photos) and to watch the sunset over Lake Clifton. Not really much to describe here except it was quite beautiful to watch the sun set like it did.

As usual photos are below. Hopefully I’m feeling a bit better by the afternoon and am able to get out and explore some of Perth. If not its a plan for during the week at some point or next weekend, depending on when I get my days off while working over here.