NEW ZEALAND – AUSTRALIA: 11-18 January 2018 – Perth

11 January 2018: On both flights, (Christchurch to Auckland to Perth), Oliver and Sophie were asked to hand out lollies. Both children travelled really well. Sophie even found a friend to play with in between doing forward rolls down the aisle.

12 January 2018: Sophie devouring a large piece of watermelon – just gearing up for an African sized slice!

13 January 2018: We wandered down to the nearest beach only to discover it was a dog beach! It made for an interesting experience; one dog stole Sophie’s sandwich while another, who sat down on top of Nicki, was an ex-military dog whose owner was an ex-soldier who had been a sniper! Bluey was the most adorable dog – half Doberman (for brains) and half Pitbull (for brawn), bred especially in the US. He was learning how to be a dog again.

We have been to Fremantle many times by train as it’s very close to where we are staying. We visited the market twice, the café strip, saw buskers and Shed B to travel to Rottnest Island (Rotto to the locals). Oliver and Sophie love the trains. Oliver likes to disappear into another berth to pretend he’s travelling alone while Sophie enjoys climbing the poles like a monkey! Twice we have accidentally caught the express train which races on past our stop – luckily there was no third time!

15 January 2018: The Art Gallery in Perth was a great wet day activity. Heath Ledger’s exhibition was on and we saw a few Antony Gorman sculptures and a lot of interesting art. On the way we stopped at Subiaco for an iced chocolate and brownie at The Dome.

16 January 2018: Rottnest Island is a 30 minute ferry ride from Fremantle. We spent the day hopping on and off the bus to visit different beaches. The day began stormy but ended up scorching hot. Our first stop was Parker Point where we were greeted by five quokkas, (like mini-kangaroos), who wanted our morning tea and a large friendly pelican.

Next we got off at Little Salmon Bay where we were greeted by a large black crab. An amazing swimming spot but when about 60 cyclists turned up with their snorkel gear we reluctantly decided to move on.

We travelled right around to the other side of the island to a beach perfect for snorkelling if only it hadn’t had so many Stingers (small clear jellyfish with long black threadlike tentacles)!

It was getting close to our ferry crossing home so we walked to our last beach where we found a black skink and swam and snorkelled. After Subway and an ice cream we headed for the Ferry home.