Interestingly, unlike in the US, Good Friday is an official holiday and almost everything is closed. Until I arrived in Australia I never heard of "Easter Monday" but the Monday after Easter is also an official holiday.
And this year, in a rare occurrence, ANZAC day (like our Memorial Day, it's in honor of all who've served in the Australian and New Zealand military) fell on the same day as Easter Monday so it was an exceptionally long holiday weekend as the Australian government officially announced the Tuesday as ANZAC day. So, I decided to take advantage of this by heading to Perth which is a 5 hour flight from Sydney (East Coast) to Perth (West Coast) and a three time zone difference.
The first night I arrived, I had dinner on the outdoor patio of Coco's which had a wonderful view of downtown Perth.
In another interesting coincidence - the day after I arrived in Australia was Good Friday (Friday, April 10, 2009). And I'll always remember that all tourist attractions - except the Sydney Fish Market (which is where I ended up going) - and stores were closed. Since then I've always made a mental note to deliberately plan something on Good Friday. Last year for Good Friday I was on Kangaroo Island on a driving tour and this year I was on yet another island - Rottnest Island. I'm detecting a trend here...
On Good Friday morning I took the Rottnest Ferry (40 minutes) from Freemantle to Rottnest Island and once there I rented a bicycle and set out to tour the island (there are very few cars allowed on the island). The island itself is only 11km long (6.8 miles) and 4.5 km (3 miles) wide and hilly so I was expecting to get a good workout. Yet, due to a mixup at the bike shop, rather than getting the multi-gear bike I requested I got a single gear bike and didn't realise this until I hit the first big hill. I should have gone back, but the line was so long at the shop I decided to persevere and take this as a sign that I could use this as an opportunity to burn a few more calories. Oh my goodness, it was really hard work! And I more than deserved the glasses of wine at the end of the bike ride around the island!
Rottnest Island itself is full of dry shrubbery and short trees and lots of dirt. And of course there were lots of quokkas which is what Rottnest Island is known for. When the Dutch explorers first arrived on the island, they saw these huge rats and thus called the island (in Dutch) Rat's Nest Island or Rottnest Island.
And while these quokkas look like humongous rats, they are quite friendly and cute. And they're not afraid to get up close to the tourists. My cousin Tetsuya has either a hamster or a gerbil (I honestly can't tell the difference between the two) but these quokkas remind me of tremendously overfed hamster/gerbil.
About halfway around the island I visited Wadjemup Lighthouse on Rottnest Island and climbed up 150 stairs (as if the bike ride alone wasn't enough, I had to climb up a 30 meter lighthouse) to see the panoramic view of the island.
I stopped at Ricey Beach along the North Shore of Rottnest Island and enjoyed dipping my toes into the water which was very refreshing. There was this hard as rock, sandy surface that when the waves crashed over it was very zen-like, mesmerising and soothing.
Here's an overview of my bike ride around Rottnest Island
On April 23 I went dove with Perth Diving Academy to Rottnest Island. I did two boat dives on this huge boat what had a max capacity of 50 but there were only about 15 of us. Surprisingly no dive master dove with us, but it was fine as my two dive buddies were Tony and Keith and they were locals and had dived Rottnest Island before.
Dive 1 (My dive #126) to Parker Point Wall depth was 56 ft for 60 minutes. I saw West Australian Blue Devil fish hanging out under the rocks, cliff hangs. They were sparkley blue and hand fancy long fins. There were also a few string rays and a purple cuttle fish.
Dive 2 (My dive #127) to Porpoise Bay Caves we went down to 52 ft for another 60 minutes and I enjoyed the swim throughs.
Since I don't have an underwater camera yet (my brother's going to get me a new one - I've pretty much decided on a Canon G12) I'm thrilled that my dive buddy Tony Newman was kind enough to share the FANTASTIC photos that he took! Thank you so much for letting me share your photos with my friends and family!
These next two photos are of the West Australian Blue Devil - fancy fish!
And here's me trying to see if there are any fish or other sea life in and around all that seaweed! Wow, didn't realize I was putting so much effort into my swim kicks. Which reminds me - on this dive there was a young diver in his 20s who carried what I thought was a small fan when in reality it was like an underwater scooter so he could get around underwater much faster - quite ridiculous really and created a noisy, distracting lawnmotor sound that ruined the serenity of the underwater experience (it's like someone bringing a boom box to a beautiful mountain top where you're just trying to appreciate the majestic views).
And here are several shots of cuttlefish, isn't it cool how they change color to blend in with their surroundings!
Here's a stingray:
This is Keith, one of the other divers and you could see that we had 60 minute dives and it did eventually get cold even though we were wearing 5 mm wetsuits.
After a day of diving, I went to do a beer tasting at Little Creatures (when I first moved to Australia, I went to this local Glebe bar called Little Drummer and found I liked Little Creatures) which originates here in Freemantle (or Freo as it's called by the locals). I tried the pale ale, bright ale, pilsner, and a dark beer. My favorite is the bright ale which is described as:
"Bright Ale is a smooth, full flavoured beer that is uniquely Australian. As the name suggests it is a filtered, top fermented ale with a striking clarity in the glass. A selection of specialty malts are balanced with a gentle dose of crisp bitterness from all Australian hop flowers. Clean, fresh and refreshingly balanced. 4.5%"
Then on Sun. April 24 I headed to the Freemantle Markets for some shopping of local arts and crafts (Kenichi and Hiroshi, this is where I got your puzzles) and Morish Nuts also from West Australia - they're roasted and carmelised and I didn't know this but macadamia nuts are also grown in WA.
Then I drove about 3 hours South of Perth to Margaret River the very famous wine region in West Australia to join my good friend Lousie Runkle and her family at their family home in Dunsbourough. Louise and I met when we both worked on the HP account at Cunningham Communication (high tech PR agency) in Palo Alto, Calif. I had a wonderful time hanging out with Louise, her husband Sean, their two boys Jasper and Zachary and her parents David and Julie.
We walked along the beautiful shoreline and of course did plenty of wine tasting!
Saracen Estates and Duckstein Brewary - This is where we met up with Louise's friend and her boyfriend (also from Sydney)
Woody Nook Winery - This is where we had a lovely lunch
Howard Park - I didn't buy any wine here as while the wine was good, it was also very, very expensive and I can probably get it at a local bottle shop cheaper.
Hay Shed Hill - They'd won a number of awards for their wines. I had a case shipped home!
Palmer Wines - This was the last winery I visited, they had a great sale one, you could get a case of wines for less than $99. I purchased a case and split it with Louise and Sean.
Next time, I'll check out Moss Brothers, Leeuwin Estate.
