Perth, Swan Valley, Avon Valley and Perth Hills

Driving into Perth was a bit of a culture shock having not seen a capital city for months but we made it to our accommodation in the Swan Valley. We decided to stay out there partly due to availability (it was still the school holidays) but also because neither of us had been to that area of Perth before. The caravan park sits right under the flight path so we downloaded an app to track the flights and the kids spent hours pointing my phone at planes and working out where they’d come from. It also backed onto a vineyard (which we didn’t visit in the end) but was only four minutes from a supermarket, which we desperately needed.

In fact we spent the first couple of days catching up on things – new tyres for the car, medical appointment for me, new “work” clothes for Jim for all these job interviews he’s (hopefully) about to have, absentee voting for the upcoming referendum, grocery shopping, picking up post, new shoes for the kids…and so on… One of the main reasons we were in Perth when we were was to pick up a 3D printing project from the library that Jim needed to submit for an assignment – so we did that as well so he could finish that off. Had we been able to do that somewhere else we probably would have arrived in Perth a couple of weeks later than we did, but it needed to be done I guess.

All of that took us into Perth City and surrounds. I hadn’t been there for over 10 years and it had changed a bit. The riverfront area is quite nice so we wandered around there for a bit, then we drove over the river to see the new Optus Stadium. We walked all the way along the river from the casino to the stadium and back again, only to arrive back at the car for Jim to realise he didn’t have the car keys (which are also the keys to everything we lock up on the trailer). So he had to run all the way back again, luckily finding them on the seat he had sat on when he took a phone call. Phew.

Our stay in Perth also coincided with Jim’s mum Janice arriving in town to go on a tour, so we caught up with her on another day and joined the masses up at King’s Park. It’s always very nice up there, and particularly this time of year when the wildflowers are out. Driving around the state looking at wildflowers is the done thing apparently, but having just done that (inadvertently), it was far more fruitful walking around for an hour or so looking at them all in a concentrated bunch in the gardens. We finished off our day with Janice out at Swan Valley at a winery called Ugly Duckling. We chose this one for the dog-friendliness, but also because it had a gelato shop. Turns out the gelato shop was closed, so the kids weren’t happy about that. But I enjoyed the wine.

We returned to the Swan Valley for another day, which in theory, was all about me, as I was allowed to choose where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do and everyone else had to just deal with it. Of course whatever I chose had to be kid-friendly and dog-friendly, and I know from experience that dragging kids around doing things they don’t like isn’t much fun for anyone so I ended up choosing a whole lot of things that suited everyone else (typical lot of a mother I guess…). But we had a very nice time going to a coffee roastery, a chocolate shop, the historic town of Guildford (where they had an awesome dog-friendly bookshop), the markets (which were terrible), a winery, and finally the ultra kid-friendly Mash Brewery where not only were the kid’s meals free, but they had a face painter there as well. 

On the Saturday we caught up with a couple of friends, one at a playground where the kids played together for a good couple of hours and one at their house where the kids basically did not want to ever leave (they had a pool), and I don’t think the dog did either – he hasn’t been in a house for a very long time.

Over the last couple of months Jim has been doing two subjects at uni in an effort to finish off his electrical engineering qualification, so our stay in Perth coincided with a whole lot of that, plus some job applications (which of course take forever) and a little bit of contract work. So I took the kids down to Fremantle for a day to give him some peace and quiet to do that. In Fremantle, we went to the Roundhouse (which I’d been to many years ago), the markets and the Shipwreck Museum (which had some actual bits of hull of The Batavia (see my last post for more about that ship and its story).

After lunch at a playground where the kids met a couple of new friends (names unknown of course) we went to the Fremantle Prison. It’s a UNESCO Heritage listed building and you can only get into the good bits (i.e. the actual prison) by doing a tour. So we picked the one that focused on the convict era and the early years and had a very interesting hour and a half on the tour. I’m always impressed with the kids on these things – no matter what the topic, they listen to the tour guide and take it all in. You can do other tours there, but they only allow kids on a couple of them as the topics get a bit gruesome and gritty (it is a prison after all).

That pretty much wrapped up our time in Perth, but we didn’t move far, just up the road an hour or so to the Avon Valley. Even though it’s close, it’s a world away from the hustle and bustle. Here we’re staying in a paddock owned by a nice lady who has a little hobby farm with some chickens, goats, sheep and alpacas (or llamas, we never did quite get to the bottom of that). She also has a rooster that can’t tell the time and liked to crow at 3am, setting off all the other roosters in the neighbourhood. But it’s a lovely spot and very peaceful, and for most of the time, we were the only ones here.

The paddock is close to a little town called Toodyay, which has some nice old buildings, and sits on the banks of the Avon River. It’s also close to another larger town called Northam which has all the amenities you need (including the kids’ beloved Aldi). We spent a bit of time walking around both towns having a bit of a look.

A little further afield however is the town of York, which is the oldest inland town in WA (est. 1831). It has some fabulous old buildings in really good condition such as the town hall, where we started our day and the pub across the road from that, where we ended our day (which is for sale – $1.8m – bargain if you ask me!). We walked around town following the heritage trail and the fairy door trail (tiny doors the kids had to find along the way). The guy in the information centre said that if we’d arrived a week later we might have run into Sam Neill as he was coming into town to film a Netflix series called The Twelve (I had to Google it – a courtroom-type drama, murder mystery thing). In fact we did see evidence of them starting to set up filming at one of the historic houses.

The next day we decided to go in the other direction into the Perth Hills to look at a few of the towns around there. We went to Mundaring, which is quite a big town. Here we did one of the least interesting heritage trails we’ve done – one of those ones where it takes you to “the site” of the old xxx. In other words, it’s not there anymore so there’s nothing to see. Perth Hills does have a heritage pub trail though, and being Friday afternoon (just), we thought we better do a bit of that. So we went to The Parkerville Tavern (1902) which was a lovely old pub with a massive beer garden. Unfortunately the dog isn’t allowed in the beer garden due to the “wildlife” (four sheep and an emu, behind a very high fence), and the playground was in the beer garden, so that didn’t work too well for us.

So then we went on to the Mt Helena Tavern (also est. 1902). This one had both a dog-friendly beer garden and a playground within it, so it worked a bit better for us. They also allow you to bring your horse, so we’ll bear that in mind for next time, should we acquire a horse before our next visit.

So that brings us up to today. We’re spending the day in our paddock, although Jim and the kids are currently in town doing the laundry and collecting some water. We’ve got an exciting day planned – our tax returns, and a bit of study for Jim, then some packing before we depart tomorrow. It’s going to be 37 degrees too – luckily there’s quite a few trees in our paddock to sit under.

Next we’re off to Mandurah, a town I remember quite liking many years ago when I visited it. We’ve got a little treat planned for the kids there too…sshhh….