Perth & Freemantle

The catamarans we had a go at on Swan River
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It felt quite strange -but nice - arriving in Perth on Christmas Eve as we had no idea what we'd be doing for Christmas Day or New Years Eve. Feeling christmas spirited we managed to do a huge grocery shop in Woolworths making sure we would not go short of any xmas staples i.e. mince pies and wine.

On Christmas Day we enjoyed the Smith family traditional ham and eggs breakfast along with a glass of bucks fizz. We then spent a couple of hours opening all our cards and presents from our families. We were totally spoilt which was quite impressive when we're on the other side of the world. Over the BBQ lunch provided by the hostel we hooked up with six other fellow travellers and spent the afternoon together. We made  successful daring raid on a hostel around the corner with  a swimming pool, and invented a new game, half cricket and half rounders, using a saucepan as a bat - naming it 'Panit'.

Our mountain of Christmas presents
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On Boxing Day we decided to go to the beach and headed for Cottesloe for the day. There was a great atmosphere there as lots of families and friends were celebrating xmas.We loved the beach with grassy embankments allowing some shade from the sun. We stayed into the evening eating a fish and chip dinner as we watched the sun set and around us people were playing games of beach cricket.

Perth itself is a very new, shiny and clean city- but its all really about the suburbs and so in the city there is no atmosphere at night or the weekend. It has a first class transport system including lots of free buses. The highlight of the city is Swan River and we had a try at sailing a Fun Cat catamaran one afternoon. Pleased to report we avoided the ferries and even overtoke a few people!

Enjoying Christmas Day in the park
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The port town of Freemantle is more like a suburb of Perth and its party central for Perthites. We had one night there and visited the impressive, enormous Maritime Museum and sampled fish and chips and the local delicacy - chilli mussels. This was our first YHA hostel in Australia and we realised then that the hostels aren't up to the same kind standard as in NZ.