Thursday 13 September – Today was a family day.  After brekky we set Zola up with our intended destination – well actually to Fremantle which is about half way to Aunty Gwenda’s at Shoalwater Bay, cos if we had put in Shoalwater Bay from the start, and the done some sightseeing around Fremantle (which we intended to do) then Zola would have nagged us that we were on the wrong road!  She can be a pain sometimes.

  We made our way south, following the beach road where we saw blue skies, calm seas and no wind.  We bypassed Perth city and made straight for Fremantle were we did a self-drive cooks tour of the city.  Obviously we didn’t see everything (this is the start of the list of places we will need to see in more detail when we have our next trip to W.A.) but I really liked what I saw.  There is obviously a huge history attached to Fremantle, with its very quaint old buildings dating from the 1800’s and beautifully preserved, its narrow side streets, it’s maritime background, and the fact that it is the first area settled in W.A. by the Swan River colonists in 1829.  

Some nice old buildings in Fremantle.

We had a good drive around, eventually following the signs to South Beach.  Well we soon discovered that South Beach is a newly establishing area of Fremantle, with very modern concrete and glass box-like houses with no gardens and no eaves.

The streets in this new area were narrow, winding and had speed humps located every hundred metres almost – and most of them led nowhere.  So after about ten or fifteen minutes driving around this ‘maze’, we realised that we were driving around in circles or figure eights, or infinity signs, and we couldn’t find our way out.  We must be too used to long straight stretches of road and became baffled, but with all streets and houses looking much the same, perhaps we can be excused.  Eventually we found an out, and with a big sigh of relief we reloaded Zola and followed her directions to Shoalwater Bay.  She did well, as we found exactly where we were looking for first go.

Aunty Gwenda’s son (my cousin Geoff, who I hadn’t seen since they moved to W.A. 43 years ago, when he was 11 years old) was there to see us so he came out to the door and welcomed us, immediately followed by Aunty Gwenda who I discovered is now 85.  It was lovely to see them both.  We went up the stairs to the main area of her house – stairs which my Dad always described as like a ladder, they are so steep.  And he wasn’t wrong!!  And as the bathroom and toilet are downstairs, and almost everything else is upstairs, the stair run would need to be tackled several times a day.  No wonder she is still so fit!

We did lots of talking, had cuppas and lunch, then another of my cousins (Richard McGenniskin) called in to see us too.  We’d last seen him when he came to Victoria three years ago to his brother’s funeral, but hadn’t seen him for at least twenty five years before that. So that was a really enjoyable afternoon.

From there Zola took us to the new home of ‘the bride’ and very-soon-to-be groom.  Here we caught up with Alan, Janine and Mark, Steve’s Mum, step-dad and his aunty.  Beck had gone into Perth to pick up some friends from the airport and Steve had gone to his buck’s night, so we didn’t see them.  It was lovely to see Alan and Janine again, and we talked non-stop until we left there at about half past five.  We’ll see then all again tomorrow at the wedding rehearsal.

For the drive back to the caravan park, Zola took us via the freeway, so that was new territory and was much quicker than the coast road.  And though there was a bit of traffic, which became more solid as we came through the city, it was a breeze compared to Melbourne’s arterial roads at that time of evening.

Perth at sunset.

The breeze (Fremantle doctor?) did come up this afternoon, and by the time we got back to camp, the sun had set and it was again a little chilly, but it was a lovely day just the same.