NOW: CERVANTES TO FREMANTLE
As we stopped at the Dongara Jetty a cray fishing boat was unloading crates of live crays at the processing plant. So, with a wild wind blowing we headed down Indian Ocean Drive in search of the Lobster Shack to find our own rock lobsters. We’d read about it and seen the brochure and so had about 10 bus loads of tourists who joined us for grilled lobster with garlic butter! Where did they all come from?
Just when you think you’ve seen everything you see The Pinnacles. Limestone towers stand on dark yellow sand with people and cars everywhere! It’s almost indescribable. From the lookout the scene before you just makes no sense – grey-white towers on yellow sand with the white sand dunes and blue ocean in the background. It was really quite mind blowing!
As we drove down to Perth along the coast road we saw lots of grass trees and wildflowers. We also passed some famous beaches including Cottesloe and Scarborough where I think a few Ironmen grew up! The sun was out but it needed to be a few degrees warmer to get us in the water.
We had our car serviced in Perth by John Hughes Mitsubishi. Not only did they stop an annoying rattle but some lucky person got to wash several different layers of red dirt from our car. We almost didn’t recognise it when we went to pick it up! We spent the day wandering Fremantle’s Cappuccino Strip and the WA Museum Shipwreck Galleries and then we tried just a couple of boutique beers. If I lived in Fremantle I’d have to have a home built from the big limestone blocks that you see everywhere here.
The area around Bathers Beach was full of historic buildings, art galleries and seafood eateries. We chose Kailis’ for fish and chips as we’d seen their fishing fleet in Exmouth but they all looked interesting. We also had a day in the Perth Exhibition Centre at the Food and Wine Expo where we tried some interesting local products including cold pressed aerated coffee that was really good.
We got pretty good at using public transport. The same ticket could get you the bus to Freemantle station, the train into Perth and back home again for just a few dollars. This was much easier than trying to negotiate the traffic and find a parking spot which had an hourly fee. After being out bush for some months we were happy for someone else to drive in the city.
NEXT: BUSSELTON AND MARGARET RIVER
See you on the Emu Track
Cheryl and David
