Perth – 15 November to 2 December 2009

We arrived in Perth on and stayed at the Perth International Tourist Park at Forrestfield. This is a well run camping Park near the airport but still country. They will also store your caravan for you while you are away.
We had a bit of a holiday from sight seeing and just enjoyed ourselves visiting friends and swimming at Cottesloe. We saw the wineries in the Swan River Valley and one of the oldest hotels in Australia at Guilford.
We visited Fremantle with another Bushtracker Family and saw the shipwreck museum. Before navigation was an exact science ships from the Dutch East India Company used the roaring 40's as a route to the Dutch East Indies. This saved them from a long hot trip crossing the equator twice, which wasn't good for men or product. If they missed the turn they sometimes ended up wrecked on the coast of WA. They weren't very impressed with what they saw and declined to land and raise a flag. They did name some of the coast. The most gruesome wreck was the Batavia, where a mutinous crew went on a murder spree before being finally brought to justice. A portion of the stern is preserved.

We took the ferry out to Rottnest Island. This Dutch thought the native quokka's were rats, hence the name.
Rottnest was once a gaol but is now a popular destination for holidays and day trips from Perth.