So some of the things we did in Perth are:-
– Went bike riding along the Swan River and in Kings Park. We did this on the first full day in Perth and it was a beautiful day for it – about 22 degrees and sunny. We took the kid’s 4 bikes into the city in the car and parked at the bike hire place near the Swan River. We then hired a bike for Michael and I, and got a map for riding along the river foreshore and then into Kings Park and back. It was about 30km all up. The foreshore was mostly flat, but Kings Park had some hilly sections. We were surprised at how far above the city Kings Park is. We entered from the western end of the park and soon came to the ? Area of the park. This was a lovely spot. There was a cafe here and the kids were all very hungry, so glad for a hamburger or hotdog for lunch. The playground area was amazing – an island in the middle with a play area, as well as heaps of different play spaces around the island. As it was Saturday, there were lots of people and families there. It had a lovely atmosphere about it. We rode through to the eastern section of the park where there were some lovely wildflowers in the gardens. We went fairly quickly through this section, as we were trying to get the hire bikes back on time. We actually had trouble finding a good exit from the park to get back onto the river foreshore bike track. Our map wasn’t very good for this. Eventually we did find our way out and rode back, stopping at the bell tower to have a look.
– We went to church Sunday morning at a Church of Christ in Como, South Perth (just south of the Swan River). Interestingly, it is called Lifestreams Christian Church (our church at home is called Lifestream Christian Fellowship). We enjoyed the service and enjoyed a cuppa and cake afterwards. Hannah and Beth really enjoyed children’s church again.
– We went to the Fremantle Port area. Michael and Sam went and had a look at the Maritime Museum and did a submarine tour, while the girls and I went to the E-shed markets. Lauren really enjoyed this as it reminded her of Paddy’s Markets in Sydney, which she had been to a couple of times on a Girls Brigade weekend away. We found a few bargains and enjoyed the retail therapy. Dad and Sam enjoyed their time too.
– Our 3rd day in Perth, the tiredness caught up with me. I felt I couldn’t go out to Kings Park again like we had planned. So Michael took the younger 3 out while Lauren (who was also wanting a rest day) and I stayed home. As well as having a snooze, I also needed to do some planning for the rest of our trip, as I hadn’t done any reading on the area south of Perth before leaving home.
– That afternoon was quite hot, so we took the kids to a swimming pool in Fremantle – it was called Fremantle Leisure Centre. It had a 50m pool, a 25m pool and a water play area. The water play area had a really cool ‘turbo pool’ which I hadn’t seen before – it was like a permanent whirlpool set up in a side section of the pool. I had a turn in this and quite enjoyed it.
– Our last day in Perth, we did some schoolwork in the morning and then took a train ride from Fremantle into the city (Hannah and Beth couldn’t remember being on trains in Brisbane, so they enjoyed this). We went to a place called Scitech – a science and technology centre. This had been Michael’s suggestion and I had thought it might be too much like Questacon back home. But it turned out to have quite different exhibits and the kids really loved it. There was a planetarium theatre there which we all went into first. Apparently Lauren and Sam had been in one like this in Brisbane when they had visited Nana and Papa on their own. But it was the first time I had seen one and I found it really amazing, the technology they had to show us the different parts of the universe. I learnt quite a bit.