Monday and Tuesday....27th and 28th Nov

 MONDAY

After a night of lightning, thunder and a little rain, we woke Monday morning to much cooler, although quite humid temperatures. The cool change had arrived and promised to stay with us until the end of the week.

After breakfast we headed into the city to check out Elizabeth Quay and surrounds. We wanted to visit the Bell Tower and thought to catch the ferry. Parking nearby was not easy, but we eventually found a spot, although it did cost quite a few gold coins in the meter.

All looked promising.............

..............until we found this sign!!!

Oh well, let's see what the ferry is doing.............but it wasn't our day, because it had just departed!! Note to selves, check out things before you drive anywhere, and we have discovered that Monday is not a good day for touristy venues to be open.

But all was not lost, as we walked around and enjoyed a lovely lunch at the wharf.

After lunch we booked seats on the ferry for Tuesday afternoon and then drove around the city a bit before heading to the suburbs for some shopping.

On the list was a new tool box for Barry to organise his collection of tools and spare parts. Note, he is well prepared for almost anything that might break down or need fixing and the tool box he was using was too small and a bit crowded!!

Later in the day we enjoyed a cuppa and chat with Sarah and Glenn at their van.

TUESDAY

After breakfast, I made some phone calls to my mum and a couple of other friends from home, and then we were on the road by 9.30. Destination Perth city again. More money in the meter, and the park was very close to the square. You can only put in 3 hours at a time, so this meant a trip back to the car later to top up the meter.

We were on a mission to tour the Bell Tower and this was a very popular place. This was opened in 2000 as Western Australia Millenium project.

The bells come from St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, one of London's most famous churches. The bells of St Martin's have rung out over the past 600 years to mark historic occasions in England, and more recently they ring for ANZAC day, Australia Day and WA Day.

The photo below is of the Anzac Bell, sorry about the photo, it was hard to get without the reflection of the glass. Information below re the Bell, which weighs 6,500kg!!!

Barry took a video of the Anzac bell ringing, but I can't seem to get the link onto the blog. It sounded amazing.

We had a turn on the ropes, but don't think they will be asking us to join the bell ringers society any time soon!!??

On the 6th floor is the Observation Deck with panoramic views of the city and Swan River.

On the ground floor was this Turret Clock............

The intricate workings of this clock was of interest to many.

Following our tour of the Bell Tower, we enjoyed lunch on the wharf again, and then it was time to head back to the car and feed some more dollars into the meter. We were only able to add 3 hours, which would expire before we returned again. There was no notice or ticket on the car when we were more than 1/2 hour late, or perhaps they send it in the mail?? 

Then it was time to board the Ferry for our trip to Fremantle and back again. The weather was perfect and it was a lovely relaxing way to spend the afternoon, and seeing how the 'other half' live. 

 

The amount of boats sitting in the marinas, the huge houses with the views, and "millionare row" was staggering.

This house was sold for $57 million in 2009!! 

                               

Arriving at Fremantle we were able to get a much better view of the ships in the water and all the containers being loaded or unloaded.

                               

                       There was also a couple of car carriers in dock, unloading new vehicles................

...and this Japanese Ice breaker ship.

We shifted seats for the journey back to Perth, and ventured to the front of the boat for a photo opportunity, with the city of Perth in the background.

Our trip back to the van coincided with peak hour traffic on the freeways. We stopped at the supermarket on the way back, and the evening was spent sorting photos again for a blog post.

Be back with the next update of newsfromjude sometime soon.

Blessings, From Jude