Sunday 31st March
This morning we set off to visit Fort Canning and on the way enjoyed the mixture of old and new buildings.

As we found that we were walking past it and entry was free today, we visited the National Museum of Singapore which shows the history of Singapore in artefacts and multi-media exhibitions.
www.nationalmuseum.sg

In the museum building there was a busy Sunday market featuring mainly young people and the things they had made, often at home.

We walked up to Fort Canning with lush vegetation in the surrounding parkland. This shows a Sally Port which enabled the defending soldiers to sneak out and surprise the enemy. We walked thorough this passageway to enter the fort itself.

In the central courtyard is this unusual cannonball tree with huge fruits and colourful flowers.

Later in the afternoon, after freshening up at the hotel, we walked down to the area around Raffles Hotel and Clarke Quay. We have always been impressed by the lovely flowers that decorate the roads in Singapore.

Later in the evening we had dinner at one of the many open-air waterside restaurants around Clarke Quay.

As we were returning to our hotel, we had a look round Funan Digital Mall that contains nothing else but electronic shops and made one small purchase.

 

This is our last post for a while as we are returning to Heathrow tomorrow.



Saturday 30th March
Most of today was spent at Perth airport and on the flight to Singapore, which went very smoothly.

After checking in we had a stroll around the hotel locality and passed by St Andrew's Cathedral.

Just around the corner we got a good view of the Marina Bay Hotel where we stayed at the beginning of our journey.



Friday 29th March
This photograph was taken at 7.30 in the morning and shows how early people here get up to go to the beach.

We drove up the coast to North Beach where we found these unusual rock formations just covered by the ocean.

This is a popular beach for surfing though people had to step very carefully to reach the waves as the rocks are sharp.

A few miles further on we stopped at Ocean Reef Boat Harbour and enjoyed watching the birds and the fishermen.

Lots of people were returning from the day out on their boats.

We enjoy lovely sunsets over the ocean from our balcony.

Tomorrow we set off back to Singapore on the first leg of our journey home. This holiday we have covered 7,150km, ( 4,450miles ), much further than we had anticipated.



Thursday 28th March
This morning we drove into Perth to visit King's Park and the botanical gardens there. This is a view south showing the port of Fremantle in the distance.

We found this huge boab tree at the beginning of the raised walkway through part of the botanical gardens.

Further on we walked through the water gardens where there were many different types of dragonfly.

After lunch we sat in the park relaxing, reading in the warm sunshine and enjoying the fountains.

Further on we stopped at a viewing platform that gave us a great view of the city of Perth by the Swan river.

Later in the afternoon we slowly meandered our way back to Scarborough by way of Cottesloe Beach.



Wednesday 27th March
This morning we began by walking through the soft sand along the beach and watching the surfers.

At the end of the beach we had to turn inland to walk behind the dunes which are fenced off because they are a protected area.

In the afternoon we drove to Hillarys Boat Harbour to visit AQWA, the aquarium of Western Australia. There was a special mention of some of the places that we have visited when we have been by the coast.
www.aqwa.com.au

Part of the aquarium was entitled Shipwreck Coast where we travelled on a moving walkway through a transparent tunnel under the water.



Tuesday 26th March
Today was spent mainly travelling from Jurien Bay to Scarborough Beach just north of Perth, where we will be spending our time until we fly back.
On the way we called in at Yanchep National Park.
www.dec.wa.gov.au
The lake here is called Loch McNess and is very dry at present.

Here we were able to see some koalas in their natural habitat while walking along a boardwalk through the eucalyptus trees.

A pair of rainbow lorikeets seemed to pose in front of us until we took their photographs then they flew away.

We checked into our hotel and enjoyed the view of the coast in both directions.



Monday 25th March
The day started off cloudy and this continued all day.
We drove south of Jurien Bay to visit the Pinnacles, hundreds of limestone rocks rising from the desert floor.

We hiked the 1.5km trail and were able to really get a feel for the place as we walked through.

Half way round the walk we stopped at the desert viewing platform and could see 360 degree views into the far distance.

Just at the end of the trail we turned a corner and there just in front of us was this kangaroo resting in the shade of a bush. It didn't run off so we quietly walked around it and continued.

On the way back we could see how the white sand dunes are creeping over the greenery.

At Cervantes we took the gravel road to Lake Thetis to see the stromatolites which are one of the simplest forms of life and related to the thrombolites we saw earlier in the holiday.

As we neared Jurien Bay we stopped at a lookout and as we walked down from the top we noticed this small lizard by the side of the path.



Sunday 24th March
After travelling about 50km this morning we stopped for a couple of hours at Port Denison.

We decided to go for a stroll along this breakwater which is just inside a dangerous reef.

There was quite a bit of activity going on in the harbour.

Just as we were leaving we saw this road train transporting sheep in four levels.

After driving through an area of sand dunes for about an hour we arrived at Leeman and walked up to a lookout. This is the view north.

To the south you can see the sand dunes that stretch for miles along this coast.

We are staying in Jurien Bay for two nights and took the opportunity to visit the marina to watch the sunset.

There were no restaurants open and so we went for fish and chips, choosing the second rather than the fourth option.