After a pleasant short 5 hours flight from Singapore to Perth we landed in a very sunny Australia.

We picked up our hire car from the Thrifty desk and set off for the apartment we had rented on the Swan River near Perth, but when we arrived we found it really dingy, smelly and not satisfactory, so we just turned around and left – grrrrrr.

It was nothing like the web site advert – so now what?

Well, we jumped in the car and set off to find somewhere to stay in Perth, eventually after driving around a little, we decided on the Hyatt, a nice hotel near the centre of the city.

After booking in we were told that there was a $30 (Aus), per day to park the car and we also found out that there was a fantastic ‘free’, yes that’s right, a free around the city bus service with several routes that ran all over the place and for further afield, the cost was next to nothing  – yippee!

Wait a minute! A free bus service! Cheap long distance bus and train service – What do we need the car for then?

Ok, we don’t, so off we went to take it back, within a few minutes drive (and walk) of the hotel, we found the Thrifty car rental office.

The very friendly guy there said he was happy to take the car back early and refund our fee and set about logging it in to their system – oh oh, a problem! Because we had booked it through Booking.Com he couldn’t do it and we would have to contact them directly and he gave us their number.

So we rang them, but they wouldn’t budge, according to them and their ‘terms of contract’, once we had picked up the car, we had to pay for the whole original rental period.

Despite telling them that was nonsense and talking to a supervisor and advising them that if that was their stance, we were going to cancel the three other cars that we had booked, they were adamant that this was their policy – grrrrrrr.

So we left the car and walked out, very disgruntled!

’Mum, Dad, don’t get upset, it’s only money haha’

’Yes Millie, but it’s our money – grrr’

’But look on the bright side’  ‘What bright side?’  ‘Well bad things always happen in three’s don’t they?’  ‘So?’  ‘Well, first you had the train cancellation, that’s 1, then the grotty apartment, that’s 2 and now this nonsense with not getting your money back on the car, that’s 3’

’Ahh Millie, thank goodness we have you to keep us sober’  ‘What do you mean ‘sober’, what’s drink got to do with it?’  ’Well if you hadn’t just cheered us up we would have probably drowned our sorrows in the free bar we have in the hotel’

’Just because it is a free bar, don’t get carried away’. ‘Ok xx’

Well as usual, Millie was right, the next five days in Perth were fantastic.👍👍👍👍👍

The first day we went on a River Cruise down the Swan River and although we were told there were some wild Kangaroo’s on an island we passed (twice), we didn’t see any.

After the cruise we explored the Elizabeth Quay area, which is a very vibrant downtown area, full of jetties, bars and restaurants, then got on the free bus back to the hotel and the free bar ahhhh! 👫🍷🍺
The next day we jumped on the train to Fremantle, a seaside town just south of Perth, famous for its beaches, diving, snorkelling and just boating.

The train cost $13 for an all day family ticket, which meant we could go anywhere (and return) on this particular train line – what about that for a bargain 👍

As well as the fantastic beaches etc, Fremantle is also home to the Fremantle Prison, which is a World Heritage Site and a very sobering place it is, with tiny cells where the prisoners were held for 15 hours a day and where the Aboriginal prisoners were kept, there were 6 of them in a 7ft x 10ft cell, with just one toilet bucket between them!

Then it was off on a whole day winery tour, followed by a Chocolate Factory! and although we only covered 5 Wineries and only sampled 7 (small) glasses of wine at each winery Hic Hic, so we were rather tipsy and struggled to take advantage of the free bar when we eventually got back to the hotel that evening.

The next day, was an absolute gem and was a whole day tour to Rottnest Island, which was cut off from the mainland about 6000 years ago and has some unique wildlife, the cutest of which is the Quokka.

Is it a Kangaroo – Noooo

Is it a Wallaby – Noooo

Its a Quokka, a tiny Kangaroo type of creature, about the size of a rabbit, but, because it has no natural predators on the island, is absolutely ‘tame’ and doesn’t even flinch when you touch it, it just ignores you – fantastic experience 👍👍

The next day was a chill out day, with free bus rides around the city, just sight seeing and relaxing, then in the evening getting ready for our next adventure, the Indian Pacific Railway, which runs over four days and goes the 2500 miles to Sidney.

Just a little point, for the next 6000 miles, until we get to Tahiti, we will be either driving, on a train or on a cruise ship, but no flying!

More later, the free bar has just opened 🍺🍺🍷🍷