Fremantle and Perth

Wed., Oct. 30 - On Wed. morning, we parted ways with our traveling companions, Tom and Tricia, as they headed east, back home to Cairns, while we headed west to Perth. On the way to the airport in Alice Springs, we passed the hangars for the "Royal Flying Doctor Service". The RFDS was founded in 1912 by a group of men, including a Presbyterian missionary, and the founder of Qantas airlines, to serve the medical needs of the people in the outback. They are pretty big on using the "Royal" adjective here. The Australian air force is called the "Royal Air Force" and the auto club of Queensland (AAA equivalent) was called RACQ - Royal Auto Club of Queensland. Our shuttle driver also pointed out some interesting facts about the Coriolis Force. We all know about the opposite "spin" direction, due to the Coriolis Force, that exists in the northern and southern hemispheres. These effects include cyclones, whose winds swirl in the opposite direction of the northern hemisphere hurricanes. But the most fascinating fact our driver pointed out is that as vines grow up around tree barks, they tend to climb in the opposite direction around the tree here in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere, due to the Coriolis effect. (We have not "fact-checked" our driver, though, to see if he is correct.)

As we flew from Alice Springs to Perth, we set our watches back 1 1/2 hours.

We are now 12 hours ahead of Pittsburgh time. That makes for very easy math: if it's 3 in the afternoon here, it's 3 in the morning there. The further west we travel in Australia, the less the time difference between here and home, as we travel further from the International Date Line. The city of Perth is in the state of Western Australia and lies on the west coast. It is known as the world's most isolated big city. The Indian Ocean is to the west, and the Nullarbor Plain is to the east. The closest large Australian city to Perth is Adelaide, and it lies 2500 kilometers (over 1500 miles) east of Perth. The first thing we did after we landed in Perth was to pick up a rental car and drive to Fremantle. The town of Fremantle is slightly west of Perth and lies on the Indian Ocean. We walked around the town Esplanade in Fremantle, took a stroll down to the beach and dipped our toes in the Indian Ocean, and walked around an area of shops and cafes. After this, we drove back to Perth (always referred to as Perth City here), and went to King's Park. King's Park is a beautiful, large, green, scenic park right on the edge of downtown, yet with a serene feel to it.

The street leading into King's Park is lined on both sides with beatiful Lemon-Scented Gum trees. In King's Park, we walked along some paths and stopped at some overlooks that offered sweeping views of the city of Perth and the Swan River that flows through Perth. The environment of land adjacent to water, with the city of Perth sitting right on the banks of the Swan River, makes for a very picturesque setting, rivalling that of Sydney with its harbour views. In King's Park, we took a stroll on an elevated walkway, where we "walked among the treetops" looking down on the beautiful Botanic Gardens below.

The elevated walkway included a glass and steel arched bridge. A very unusual tree in King's Park is a Boab Tree - a tree which stores water in its trunk, and so has an odd bloated-looking trunk.

We also climbed the DNA Tower in King's Park, which has 2 winding staircases on opposite sides that form a DNA-style double helix. There are 101 steps to the top, where there are commanding 360 degree views of the surrounding area. We ended the day with a quick supper at McDonald's, where we noticed the menu listed, not calories the food items contained, but kj, or kilojoules - the metric system unit of energy.