Up the Swannee River

 
November 27-29th

Friday morning, I fly to Perth. It’s a 4.5 hour flight – Australia is a continent, not a country – but I gain 3 hours in the process, so meet up with Robin at the airport by lunchtime. He has been here for a several days to present a paper on cosmology at a conference at the University of Western Australia – idyllically sited on the banks of the Swan River. But now we are both on holiday – and the sun is shining out of an incredibly blue sky, so we go to the Park. Kings Park is the biggest in Perth. It is beautifully kept with large areas of “wilderness”, the botanical gardens, and acres of space given over to recreation – today it seems that the local school is holding an annual sports day, complete with cheering parents and picnics. The botanical gardens are fascinating, but the plants are like nothing I’ve seen before. Western Australia (WA) is home to over 80% of the country’s plant species – most of them only found in Australia. The Park, like much of Perth, borders the Swan River, which sweeps out to the Indian Ocean at Fremantle, which acts as the main port for the city. Leaving the Park, we stroll along the shoreline until we reach the university. Although it was probably built in the 1960s, the attractive campus is vaguely Italianate – red-roofed, limestone buildings with pillared walkways – over looking paved courtyards and grassy banked amphitheatres. Many Italians settled in WA, and the region is known for its wine, olives and Italian restaurants.

The following day we head downtown and follow the tourist information guide’s local walking tour, which takes us through the compact business district to the relaxed but busy shopping streets, taking in the city’s historic buildings, and the its modern art gallery – home to some wonderful examples of contemporary aboriginal art. I have no idea how to interpret these intricate paintings, but hope we get an opportunity to understand more about the “dreamings” later. It’s a hot day, so we take a rest on a river cruise upstream. The captain is happy to point out landmarks – many of which have a degree of controversy to them. Perth is known for its “controversy” – though it all seems pretty tame to me. I guess they are so far from the other main cities of Australia that they have to find something to pass the time – other than boating, shopping, eating out, and generally enjoying an affluent, laid-back lifestyle. I have rarely seen so many restaurants, so full of people. We are lucky to get tables on both Friday and Saturday night.

If they know how to live life to the full in Perth, the port of Fremantle – about 20km away, but now pretty much an outer suburb – is overflowing. We take a trip down there on Sunday. Our first stop is a tour of the prison – a must-see tourist attraction, that’s about to become a world heritage site. It’s fascinating. Built in the mid 1800s by prisoners to house themselves, it was used as a high security prison until 1991 – and only closed down as there was no way to plumb toilets into the cells. Our guide was an ex-prison guard, who clearly liked locking doors behind him, and delighted in showing us the solitary confinement cells and the hangman’s noose. But his strangest revelation was that the prison chapel now hosts at least two weddings a month. I can’t wait to see it feature on “Four Weddings”!

Every town in WA has a cappuccino strip – we eat lunch on Fremantle’s and watch the world go by. In this case in souped-up cars and motorbikes from the 60s and 70s – including a classic three-wheeler bike with the passenger holding onto a small dog, complete with goggles.

Then it’s on to the maritime museum – in which Australia II – the America’s Cup-winning yacht – takes pride of place. Much of Fremantle’s charm stems from its many old buildings. The area was a rough dockyard until the mid-1980s, when it was renovated to host the country’s defence – and loss – of said cup. It’s made Fremantle a gem of a place though, and still with a bit of edge.