Time to end the holiday and head back to Sydney again. It has been a very interesting week and I enjoyed myself at least. Not sure if Kenneth was a bit bored at times – hard to gauge. Back to the grindstone in a couple of days.

We got up late and had breakfast through room service at the Chifley on the Terrace where we were staying. Was passable I guess – but nothing compared to the feast we enjoy on Harris St most weekends. It does however show the value of having Visa Platinum when you stay at these kinds of places – for a reasonable price we managed to get the best room in the place and a few extras.

We got the car out of the garage and then headed off to drive around and take a few photos. We did a drive by of the Government House and Perth Concert Hall. The first actual stop was the Perth Mint which is an amazing old building, unfortunately they don’t actually let you take any photos – so decided to pass. We then checked out St Mary’s Cathedral which has one of the most amazing priests quarters I have ever seen.

We did a drive through Northbrigde checking out the WA Museum, Art Gallery of WA and State Library. On the way to Kings Park we checked out the very impressive building of the Electoral Education Centre, the National Trust building and Parliament House. Kings Park itself is amazing with fantastic view of the city and Swan River and it appears that the whole of Perth goes out to the parks to enjoy themselves on a Sunday. I have to admit I was left thinking it would be a fantastic place to live.

We head south of the Swan to take some more panoramas of the city and a couple of pictures at the very imposing Burswood Casino and Resort before heading back to the Perth Airport for the last time. Having filled up at a BP just before the airport, we returned the car to Hertz and gently informed them of the cracked windscreen (to which they informed me I had enough insurance cover to pay for it).

We checked in with Qantas for flight QF556 and then Kenneth got a taste of the efficiency of the security over here. Despite going through the x-ray twice he was convinced he had no scissors in his bag – but the security guys pressed the point and to his mild embarrassment he opened his bag to find his sewing kit complete with scissors inside. The worrying thing is that he actually made it through security at Sydney Airport on the way over with no problems and the scissors were in his bag then.

We sat in Qantas Club waiting for the flight. I did my journal and my photos and did emails (and chatted). The plane was cram packed with the gayest flight attendants you will find in Australia. It also saw them play Johnny English instead of Take Away (the advertised flick). Not that I think Take Away is worth watching, but I have already seen everything on offer this month.

We got home about 11pm and I proceeded to upload the rest of my photos and put the journal online. A late night but tomorrow is a public holiday – we have lots of plans but nothing too stressful.

Today we were heading back to Perth again. The big smoke was a welcome place – especially since we were staying at a reasonably nice hotel tonight – and gave us a chance to see a fair bit without driving 200km to get there.

But of course we did have to drive about 250km to actually get to Perth. We checked out of the Pinnacles Motel in Cervantes. We hit the road and headed up to the small town of Gingin – which has been described as an English village in a Western Australian setting. It is set amongst really big Red Gums. We sat in the local park and had some breakfast before hitting the road again. After going through the tiny village of Muchea, we finally hit Perth.

On the advice of the tourist brochure we headed through Whiteman Park in the north of the city. It was a little bit of let down because the tourist information pictures made it look a lot different. I was expecting some level of historic features (other than the motor museum) and in reality it was just a park for kids (I think just about ever kid having a birthday this week in Perth was there).

From there we headed over to the Aquarium of Western Australia which was pretty interesting. The underwater walk was cool for looking at the sharks, but unfortunately the camera was pretty useless (as the photos will testify) and the promised dolphins were non-existant. We did get a good look at stingrays, sharks and seals though – making it worthwhile. Before heading into the city we also visited the National Trust listed buildings at Tranby House (the first farmhouse built on the Swan in 1839) and Woodbridge House (the home of Perth personality Charles Harper). We tried to visit the Railway Transport Museum but unfortunately it was closed – which I would have known if I read the brochure properly.

After some excellent directions from Kenneth we arrived at the Chifley On The Terrace in the heart of the city. We checked in, organised Internet access (the hotel has hella expensive broadband provided by ETT Access) and a late checkout tomorrow. We were being inspected by the queer boy working on reception at each of these encounters. Oops.

We went out for a walk and checked out the The Cloisters – built in 1858 as a school, National Trust listed Old Perth Boys’ School which was built by convicts, London Court shopping area complete with Elizabethan architecture, and His Majesty’s Theatre – Australia’s only remaining Edwardian theatre.

From there we headed towards the Swan and checked out the now abandoned Central Government Building, the Supreme Court and the pretty spectacular Swan Bell which are the actual bells that welcomes Captain Cook back to England after he discovered Australia.

We walked through famous King Street which is still largely intact with retail businesses in buildings dating back to the 1890s gold rush, then up to the Barracks Archway which was once part of a very large barracks at the west end of the CBD. We walked back down to the Hay Street mall and had dinner at the less than impressive Jaws Sushi and then settled into the hotel for the night. That consisted of a spa and some crappy movies on the hotel movies including The Real Cancun (not to be recommended), Anita & Me and Wakin’ Up In Reno.

A late night – but we can sleep in tomorrow. Look out for all my photos from this trip online by tomorrow night. Most of them are online now.

Today we headed off to Nambung National Park so we could visit the Pinnacles Desert which is actually one of Australia’s best known landscapes.

We checked out of the Windmill Motel and left Corrigin and hit the Dog Cemetry before moving on to the townships of Quairading, the amazing historic York, Northam and then the amazing old jail at the tiny town of Toodyay.

From there we headed on to the township of New Norcia. This amazing place is Australia’s only monastic town. That means that it is littered with Spanish architecture, is home to a group of monks and brothers and is flocked to be all kinds. The current buildings including an art gallery and museum, the monastery, a hotel (which was built for the visiting parents of kids at the school), the abbey church and seperate boys and girls residence buildings. The flour mill is the oldest working flour mill in Australia, and the flour is still used to bake the monastery’s bread.

Before reaching our destination we ventured through Moora and then the scenery completely changed as we headed up to the pretty seaside location of Jurien Bay. Then after visiting the local lookout it was off to the Pinnacles.

The Pinnacles Desert itself is about 270km north of Perth and is part of the Nambung National Park. There are thousands of huge limestone pillars in this ‘desert’, making it resemble a alien scene – it is a truly amazing site. After driving around for about half an hour – we decided to head into town.

At Cervantes we cruised the streets and checked out Thirsty Bay Lookout (which is pretty unexceptional) before checking in to the Cervantes Pinnacles Motel for the night. We booked in to have dinner at the hotel restaurant (there was very limited choices) and after dinner I tried to catch up on processing all of my photos.

Time for bed I think.

Today saw us hit the road and head off to the wheatbelt regions of Western Australia – leaving the goldfields behind. A lot of the towns reminded me of the kinds of places I hung out in as a kid.

Up early this morning so we could check out of the Kalgoorlie Accommodation Village and get on the road (after quick stops at Woolworths and McDonalds).

We found the right road and then went through a bunch of town including Coolgardie, Southern Cross and Merredin before starting the road south towards Hyden where we visited Wave Rock and Hippo’s Yawn before grabbing a late lunch. We saw a heap of older style buildings and a really quaint railway museum in which one of the locals almost took us on a personalised tour.

Afterwards we drove back to Corrigin were we were staying at the Windmill Motel. It was typical ‘Psycho’ material I must say – stuck in the 1960s. When we checked in, the woman on the counter made a joke about my ‘wife’ who must be in the car. I am sure she got a bit of a shock when we went into the motel restaurant (there was no alternative in town) for dinner.

Corrigin is famous for the 2002 Ute and Dog Challenge for the worlds longest continuous line of utes with dogs in the back. I think the record has been broken by somewhere else since then though. It also has a dog cemetery in a bit of a wacky twist.

We have an absolutely huge day tomorrow as we make our way to Cervantes to the north of Perth. Better get a decent nights sleep.