Perth
I arrived in Perth from Singapore after a nice relaxing flight, it certainly was a lot easier and relaxing plus it took a lot less time than an earlier time I arrived in Australia, a total flight time of approximately 24 hours compared to 1 month by sea.
After a really nice week spent with my cousin Betty in Perth, where we travelled together in the Perth area to downtown Perth and Fremantle visiting places I had last visited around 47 years ago, and boy how things have changed, I made sure however, I visited Graeme’s favourite brewery, Little Creatures in Fremantle for a pint.
Whilst in the area we did the usual tourist things like going on the hop on hop off buses and taking part in some walking tours of the city.
I, as usual, took plenty of photographs of the tourist sights and of the multitude of street art installations within the area.
<See my photographs and read about my time in Perth>
Alice Springs
I visited Alice Springs to enable me to see the red centre, and visit places like Uluru and the Kings Canyon, and the desert region of Australia. I had prebooked a tour called Goanna Dreaming, with a company called Wayoutback, leaving from Alice Springs, I had a great time but never managed to see a Goanna.
Some of the walks we did were a bit strenuous for an old-timer like me, especially up one hill called ‘Heart Attack Hill’ and all in high temperatures, I’m quite pleased that I made it through to the end.
The tour I was on was great fun with a good bunch of people and our guide was an interesting guy, he took us to loads of interesting places and kept us occupied, it was really warm in the area, much of it being a desert region, but when we had to do any climbing they were usually steep climbs, just as well I’m used to walking.
There wasn’t much to see or do in Alice Springs but I did manage to find some street art to add to my collection.
<See my photographs and read about my time in Alice Springs>
Melbourne
I had an awesome time in Melbourne with Briony’s parents Pat & Kay. We had great fun together, we met up with Sean & Moni and their children Jensen & Ollie, and Andrew & Sheree with Isla-Rose & Leo, and it was nice to spend some time with them.
I visited Pat’s ‘Men’s Shed’ and met all his mates, we went to a classic car and motorcycle show and I was taken to Pat & Kay’s weekly art class to meet their tutor who originally lived in Clarkston.
And no visit to a city would be complete without the obligatory wander around different areas to see the street art, some of which was spectacular, including some from my favourite ‘Smug’, and one of a girl on a turtle near True South in Black Rock where Briony & Graeme had their Australian wedding.
<See my photographs and read about my time in Melbourne>
Sydney
Well, that’s my trip to Australia over, I leave tomorrow morning for Auckland to start my New Zealand trip.
I’ve really enjoyed my time here revisiting places visited in the past, travelling to the outback and experiencing life there in bush camps, the highlight though, had to be meeting family members and spending time with them.
As I was only in Sydney for a week, and as I had previously taken trips to the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley wine region when I was here with Jean 7 years ago, I gave them a miss and concentrated on the city highlights. I took trips on the red ‘hop on hop off’ bus, visited the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens, went out to Bondi and, as my knees couldn’t take the Bridge Climb, I reached the heights by going up the Sydney Tower Eye to get some photographs of the city at sunset. On Saturday I took a trip over to Graeme’s old stomping ground of Kirribilli, and I had a bit of a trip down memory lane, as we had visited the same market previously, a walk back across the harbour bridge took me to the buzz of the Rocks Market to finish off the day.
Of course, no visit to a city would be complete without photographs of the street art, which proved to be quite difficult in the centre of Sydney, where I found only a few. On Friday I took a trip out to Newtown and Enmore, a couple of suburbs where, I was informed that the local council supported murals, and I found plenty, the best ones by a guy called Fintan Macgee (you can see them on my Street Art Around The World page).
<See my photographs and read about my time in Sydney>
Jim's travels 