March 18 ( Fremantle & Perth Part 2)

March 13 Fremantle/Perth Part 2

Perth – Western Australia’s “City of Lights”.

“It was 1962.  The United States’ manned space program was operating in full swing.  Astronaut John Glenn had been selected as the first American to orbit the earth.  While in flight, he and his craft flew directly over the Western Australian city of Perth.  Though this was during the deep dark of night, Perth’s 1.2 million enthusiastic citizens flicked on, it is said, the switches for every single working light bulb in the entire city.  In doing so these jubilant Australians signaled a luminescent hello to Colonel John Glenn from his “down under” land-based comrades below”. The city repeated the “hello” in 1998 when John Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle.

Alaska and Texas combined are not as big as the 960,000-square mile, Western Australia, the nation’s largest state. It is home to a little over 2 million people.  (India is approximately the same size and has 700 million people!)  Perth is the capital, the largest city of Western Australia and the fourth most populated city in Australia. It holds the title of the “world’s most remote capital city”.

In 1827, the British government sent Captain James Stirling to establish a British stronghold in this part of Western Australia, to hold off the any interest in the French doing so.  Stirling selected a site along 10 miles from the mouth of a river. He later named the river, Swan River for the black swans that were there.  Within two years Perth was born with 300 permanent residents. Not many were eager to follow in these first pioneer footsteps.  Even as late as 1858 only 3000 residents called Perth home.  It took gold being discovered in the 1890’s 300 miles away and a frenzied 30-day period where a staggering 200 pounds of gold was mined to bring droves of people to the area seeking their fortunes.  Both Perth and Fremantle grew and flourished during this time.  Today, Perth looks likes any large modern city with skyscrapers, museums, theaters, beautiful parks and homes.

We chose a scenic bus tour around Perth from Fremantle through million dollar suburbs into downtown.  We stopped at a beautiful botanical garden for a chance to see the eternal flame honoring soldiers killed from WW1 to present day, plus panoramic views of the city.  Our return trip to Fremantle was aboard a ferry boat on the Swan River where we could view the many marinas and beautiful river view homes, including the most expensive home sold in Perth.  We even saw some of the Black Swans!

Hooray!  I am finally caught up to date with the blog!  Luckily, I’ve had these sea days crossing the Indian Ocean to work on it.  We should arrive in Port Louis, Mauritius around noon on March 20 (March 19 in the US).  After that we skip between ports and sea days until finally on March 30 we reach Durban, South Africa where we depart for our safari at Lion Sands Ivory Lodge at Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve….can’t wait!!  

Rick has started taking an IMovie class and is learning how to make movies using our pictures and videos on the IPad.  He’s really enjoying it and learning a lot.  I started attending the golf clinic on board.  I love it and plan to book a couple private lessons closer to the end of the cruise, so I can be ready for my golf league when I get home.  We are still having a great time.  Even the sea days fly by with so much going on.

Enjoy the pictures…tomorrow I get to rest!  Cheers! 

King's Park Botanical Garden

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A really cool tree, but we couldn't find out what kind it was.  The sign below it said Danger Watch for Bees and Wasps

The eternal flame at the War Memorial

The streets in the Botanical Garden are lined with Karri trees. Under the trees are plaques
to honor fallen soldiers.  Where there was more than one plaque it designated brothers.

The Wooley Blanksia...we just thought it was an interesting plant.

View of downtown Perth from the Botanical Garden.  The brown area on the right
side is reclaimed land under construction for a new waterfront project of hotels and
restaurants.

A view back to the visitors center of the Botanical Garden

Waterfront Esplanade leading to the Ferry Terminal. The
bell tower in the background is part of the new waterfront project.

A view of the construction area from the ferry

View of Perth from the Ferry

Houses along the Swan River

Multi-million dollar homes along the Swan River

Example of a knock down and new construction

One of the many marinas on the Swan River

The most expensive house along the river sold for $39,000,000

Another not-to-shabby house!

The Black Swans

One of the original river homes