12/03/2023 From Sydney to Perth
When you’re flying for almost five hours and you’re still in the same country, you know you are in Australia.
What to expect
Perth
In Perth we could stay with a friend of Blake’s who he had met in Indonesia in 2018. Funnily, his friend also has a German partner Nadine, who he had met while travelling.
See a concert in the Optus Stadium
In the evening Blake, Nadine and I went to the Optus Stadium. We knew Eddy was in town, so we had to see him! I’ve already been to an Ed Sheeran concert in 2012, where it had been just him and his guitar (which was also great!).
What we saw today, however, was next level! The entire stadium was booked out (over 70 000 ppl – WA record)! There were massive screens, a light show, fire and even fireworks for some of the songs. For “Galway Girl” he had a girl on stage that played the fiddle live. Overall, the entire show was highly entertaining and so enjoyable to watch!
13/03/2023 Perth
“Home” again
I have to be honest: it is amazing to be in a real home again! Sleeping in a big comfy bed (and not sharing a single bed in a hostel like on the East Coast), having space and having a proper kitchen again and great company is just awesome!
Small world
In 2016 when Blake had worked in a hostel in Vietnam, he had hired a Dutch girl, named Simone, to work there too. This Dutch girl had moved to Perth for an Aussie guy years later and is now friends with Dan, Blake’s friend from Indonesia, who we were staying with. They both realized through Facebook that they had Blake as a “mutual friend”. And today, seven years later, it was going to be full circle where we’d all meet up together for a BBQ.
Baking and cooking again
I’m not going to lie: I’d never thought that I’d be so excited about being able to bake and cook again in a real kitchen (instead of in a camping cooker in front of the van or in a small dirty hostel kitchen – not that we had done either of it on the trip).
BBQ with friends
It’s so often the small things in life that you learn to appreciate when you can’t have them on a daily basis. Today was one of those days: no exploring, no adventure, just a really great time with like-minded people and good food in a really nice home.
14/03/2023 Perth
Do a free walking tour
After a bad walking tour in Brisbane and in Sydney, we wanted to give it one last go. And luckily, this walking tour was really good, informative and interesting.
Walk around Elizabeth Quay
Next we went to Elizabeth Quay, which is a cute area by the waterfront with a lot of bars and cafés.
Relax in Kings Park
After that we walked along Swan River to Kings Park, which is one of the largest inner city parks in the world.
I was actually quite excited to get back “home” to Nadine and Dan’s place, just to be in a home again and also for the great company of course 😉. Once we got home we had some home-made burgers with them and then tried to have an early night as we had to get up really early for tomorrow’s exciting activity.
15/03/2023 Rottnest Island and Fremantle
Why so early?
Our alarms went off at 4.45 a.m.. “Why?” was the first question that came to my mind. But then I remembered and got quite excited (while still being half asleep).
We were going to spend the day on Rottnest Island and hopefully were going to see some quokkas today!
Rottnest Island
Just 20km off the coast of Fremantle, but an entire world away, lies the sunny holiday island of Rottnest, blessed with a casual atmosphere, picturesque scenery, dazzling marine life and some of the world’s finest beaches and pristine bays. […] Rottnest Island is surrounded by the expanse of the Indian Ocean, with uncrowded beaches, traffic-free streets, and home to the world-famous quokkas.”
destinationperth.com.au
Take a ferry to Rottnest Island
I was pretty surprised to see that many cars on the road this early. But then I reminded myself that it was a normal work day for Aussies. Furthermore, it gets pretty hot early in the day. This is why a lot of people start working even earlier to escape the heat.
After catching two buses to get to Fremantle, our ferry left at 7 a.m. and only took half an hour to get to Rottnest Island.
Rent a bicycle and explore the island
On the island we rented bicycles and started exploring. The island was so beautiful and the water was the most turquoise water we had seen in a while! We stopped at lots of different viewing points around the island. Then we relaxed at a beach called “Salmon Bay”, which was absolutely stunning!
Find yourself some quokkas
When we continued our bicycle trip, we finally saw them: quokkas! I remembered them always smiling or even laughing from other photos, so “obviously” I pictured some quokkas smiling at us. Somehow this didn’t happen, but I was still really excited about finally seeing some quokkas.
Fremantle
Have a beer in the Gage Roads Brewery
When we took the ferry back to Fremantle, we caught up with the Dutch girl Simone at Gage Roads Brewery. Afterwards we walked around Fremantle, renowned as Perth’s Old Town, which was full of vibrancy, colour and culture.
Dinner with a view
Since both of our birthdays are coming up, Blake’s mom was so kind to invite us for dinner in the city of our choice. We thought it would be a great time to use her gift for our last night in Perth. So we went to the rooftop bar of the National Hotel, where we enjoyed our dinner and drinks during sunset.
Take part in a ghost tour
As Blake loves history, he joined the ghost tour in the Fremantle prison at night. I, on the other hand, was more than happy to catch the bus home to go to sleep after a very eventful and amazing day on Rottnest Island with the quokkas (even though they weren’t smiling at me 😉).
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