Perth 11th to 16th September

Entry to Kings Park

Tree Hider in the Rio Tinto kids area

Rope walking and climbing in the Rio Tinto interactive section

More Rope walking

City Views from Kings Park

On the tree top walk in Kings Park

At Kings Park

Women's memorial lake and fountain (acknowledges all the leadership and women's achievement in WA)

Hannah with some of her favorite flowers

City Views from Kings Park

Sitting with some Wildflowers in Kings Park

Wild flowers

Wildflowers

City Views from Kings Park

War Memorial in Kings Park

The BIG DNA Tower

Hannah and Strick at the top of the DNA tower

Views from the top of the DNA tower

Top of the DNA tower

Boab trees in Kings Park

Ringing the Bells at the Bell Tower

With their Bell Ringing Certificates

The bells that they were ringing

The Bell Tower

At the entrance to Fremantle Prison

Inside Fremantle Prison

Stirring up some stew in the Kitchen within the Prison

Sitting in the Anglican chapel in the Prison

View from the watch house tower

Inside one of the Divisions within the Prison

On the Ferry ready to go to Rottnest Island

One of the Lighthouses on Rottnest Island (We rode to this one)

Jacob and a Quokka

Hannah and Quokka's

Louise and a Quokka

Strick and the Kids all riding on Rottnest Island

Hannah and Louise at the Lighthouse

Beach on Rottnest Island

Beach on Rottnest Island

View while riding around Rottnest Island

Kids having a swim in the Basin on Rottnest Island

Swimming at the Basin on Rottnest Island

With their bikes on Rottnest Island

Jacob and Strick made their way to Strickland Bay

Strickland Bay

We made our way into Fremantle via the coastal drive (so the back streets). We eventually arrived and set up camp with us then going for a drive to find the Visitor Centre and to see what was around so that we can complete a plan of attack for while we are in Fremantle/Perth.
Our first full day was spent going to Kings Park and finding the famous DNA tower that Hannah had been talking about since before our trip as it was on the BIG AUSSIE ICONS list. We found a car park and ventured again to the Visitor Centre in Kings Park to get a map. Kings Park is a rather large park with various components to it. Our first stop within the park was the Rio Tinto Interactive Education section. We found a tunnel, some tree toppers, Hut building, Rope walking and a small walk that had information about different flora and fauna you find in different parts of Australia. The kids enjoyed this component of the park and had some fun to begin our time in Kings Park.
After finishing the time in the Education section we went to the Botanical Gardens section to find boabs (one that had been transported from Northern WA), various flora from different parts of WA including the Pilbara, Kimberly's, South West and many others. We also walked along a tree top walk (thankfully it was a little more stable than the one at Walpole). There was a Women's garden that also acknowledged the achievements of women in various organisations in Western Australia. We saw some pretty spectacular wild flowers with Hannah finding a favorite flower in the Kangaroo Paw thinking it was pretty and has asked that we put some in our garden at home.
The BIG DNA tower was our next stop. We had one very excited girl who is now able to tick off another BIG AUSSIE ICON from her list. The kids had fun counting the number of steps to the top of the tower and seeing the views from the top.
The war memorial was the next stop to view the city and to point out different aspects of the city to the kids. It was time to find some lunch and head to the Bell Tower to have a look.
We took the kids for a walk around the city, had lunch and visited the Information Centre where we booked our trip to Rottnest for Monday. It definitely is a different city to Melbourne and the other cities that we have visited with the kids. They enjoyed having a look around. The Bell Tower was almost closed and we had missed a chance that day to have a go at ringing the bells, so we decided we would come back to this another day.
We had walked some distances this day and the kids slept very well. Our next day we decided to try out the free CAT buses around Fremantle after visiting the Bell Tower again. The Bell Tower is the only place there are Bell Ringers in Australia. They are Bells that have come from England and there are opportunities to ring them. We watched and listened to the bells and the team of people who rang the bells for 45 minutes straight. It was something that Louise was fascinated with and really enjoyed. We all go a chance to ring the bells and have a look around the bell tower. There is also a viewing platform and a platform where you can view the bells being rung and see them ringing. Some of bells were around 250kg with the largest bell being over 800kg.
After lunch back at camp we walked to meet the CAT bus where it took us into the centre of Fremantle. We walked up to the Fremantle Prison. There were two different tours that we could choose from with our kids wanting to do both, so it was decided we would do one today and the other the next day. We completed the Doing Time Tour where we were shown around the Prison with the admittance room, some different divisions, we saw the kitchen, some of the different yards, the cells, the Anglican Chapel, the flogging yard and the place where prisoners were hung. We were shown how they communicated with the outside world, the different jobs that they could do while doing their time. Fremantle Prison has World Heritage Status and was used both for convicts and Prisoners with it only being closed in 1991. The second tour that we completed the next day was Great Escapes where we learnt about some of the different escapes that had happened at the Prison both with Convicts and Prisoners. On this tour we visited the Women's Prison, the Watch house, the Catholic Chapel, some more of the cells, the cinema and entertainment hall. The kids really took in the different stories we were told and once again on both tours we had fantastic tour guides who made the whole experience a positive one. Both tours were about 1.5 hours and full of interesting facts and information. We really do believe that the tour guide can influence a tour and this was something that we had been lucky with on all our tours so far on our holiday.
After completing the first tour we then went and walked through the market to catch the bus back to camp. Sunday we drove the car to a free car park only minutes from the caravan park, where we then caught the CAT bus back into the centre of Fremantle. We completed the second tour at the Prison before coming back and walking down to the Wharf where we gave the kids fish and chips for lunch (Unfortunately this was the worst meal of our holiday). We walked back to the market after dropping Strick off at a pub (where he then slowly moved around sampling a couple of different pubs in the Fremantle area). The kids and I walked around the market with the girls buying some anklets and they found some pretty fancy cupcakes that they wanted to try. We also had a wonder around some of the streets of Fremantle and had a good look around. We eventually made our way back to the car and camp. The free buses run around Fremantle (and Perth) until 6.30pm each night and run every 10 or 15 minutes. It was a great service and one that Melbourne would learn from.
Monday was a trip to Rottnest Island to visit the Quokka's and to go for a bike ride. This was something that I had been unsure about with Strick's back and not with whether he could do it but more how would he pull up after completing the ride (unfortunately I was correct with Strick pulling up rather sore and stiff after riding around the Island).
We caught a Ferry across to Island and got our bikes and started to ride around the Island. It didn't take us too long before we saw some Quokka's but more importantly some spectacular views. The kids did well with Strick and Jacob riding close to 25km and the girls and I riding 15km. After we had lunch on a beach, Jacob and Strick went further to see Strickland Bay, while Hannah, Louise and I ventured to the lighthouse and we met further down the line. There were some hills to climb, but then as Hannah soon realised it then meant that you had something to roll down. Once we got back to the main village on Rottnest we then rode our bikes to the Basin where the kids had a swim before heading back to have an ice cream and a drink. After all riding around the Island we all had very sore bottoms and were exhausted and ready for bed. This resulted in some quick take away so that we could get to bed sooner.
This was our last day in Freo/Perth. We have had a very full and adventurous time while in Freo/Perth with there still being things that we could have done. It was time to move on and head towards Kalgoorlie via Hyden and some more BIG AUSSIE ICONS. It was also time for Strick to pay visit to another Chiropractor with the ride around Rottnest not helping his back at all!!