Bart Bear's Blog

Here are two of the most embarrassing moments of my stay in Perth. In the foyer of Crown Towers there are two things that look like huge slabs of gold. I was trying to get a scrap of material off this one so that I could test it and see if it was real or not when I was grabbed and taken outside to the lion. He didn't look very fierce and wasn't moving at all so I thought he would be friendly. No way! As soon as I was feeling like he might be a new friend he moved like the Flash and quick as a wink I was in his mouth. Fortunately, the Oldies were nearby and Dad snatched me out of the mouth before the jaws closed. I still don't know if that's really gold in the foyer. Mum just laughs when I ask her and wants to know how I was planning on taking it home if it was real.

Labels: Perth, Western Australia

Here's a lighthouse that is a bit different. Instead of being built on a clifftop or near the bank of an estuary, it is on the top of a 100m high hill 500m from the ocean. The lighthouse is only 20m tall, much easier for visitors to climb the stairs for the view from the balcony. It is the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse in Western Australia. It was built in 1904 and went into service the next year. It is built from limestone which was quarried nearby. It is one of the few lighthouses that still use their original Fresnel lens. I like these lenses because they are a clever way of making a big lens that is much lighter and flatter than a conventional lens. If you get the chance to look closely at a lighthouse lens you will see that is a lens that has several steps ground into it, sort of folding the lens into itself. Fresnel lenses were actually originally invented for lighthouses. Mum still aims to get to every accessible lighthouse in Australia, including historic lighthouse ruins and ones that have been deactivated and moved into museums . This was number 91.

Labels: lighthouse, Western Australia

One of the favourite beach suburbs of Perth is Cottesloe. As you can see from the first photo, it is just north of Fremantle. This photo was taken from a headland at the southern end of the long sandy strip of the beach. On the headland I noticed a strange-looking structure and headed down a convenient path to see what it was. If I had been tall enough to read the signpost at the start of the path I would have seen that this is the Cottesloe Bicentenary Sundial. It is very different to the small garden sundials you often see. It is actually two sundials, a morning one and an afternoon one. The big limestone ramps are gnomons, which throw their shadow onto the curved brass strips. These strips are engraved with time markers. The curvy markings show the difference needed to correct the time shown by the shadow to Western Australian Standard Time, which is set at Kalgoorlie, 4.3 degrees east of Cottesloe (click on the photo for a larger view). We were there at 3:17 pm and the sundial and Dad's watch agreed on the time. This sundial is similar to the giant 18th century ones at Jaipur in India. The beach? Well, it's not bad, but in my opinion we have much better ones in the eastern states.

Labels: astronomy, beach, Western Australia

Our cruise up the Swan River took us to Sandalford winery. As you can see from the photo of their award wall, this is one of the best-rated wineries in Australia. Our only problem was that we arrived soaking wet from the trip between the wharf and the winery. A large golf buggy was there to take us, but it had no side curtains and we got soaked anyway. Fortunately, there was a fire going in one of the dining rooms and we were able to steam ourselves dry. Near the fireplace were 2 large candle stands. These looked like something out of Frankenstein's castle as the melted candle wax had been allowed to drip down and form fascinating patterns as it solidified. Before lunch was served we had a lesson in the art of wine tasting. There were 6 samples and the idea was to test and rank them. Mum did OK, but Dad's idea of wine tasting is to raise the glass and gulp the contents. Actually, Sandalford wines are pretty good. There is, of course, a large cellar door shop and we left loaded down with wine "gadgets", presents for family and friends. Is the Sandalford cruise worth it? Too right, even in bad weather.

Labels: Perth, Western Australia

During our stay in Perth we took a cruise up the Swan River to Sandalford winery. Our boat was Captain Cook Cruises' "River Lady". Like nearly all the vessels that go upriver from Perth, she is built low to fit under some of the bridges. In fact, at a really high tide there is one bridge that she has to wait at for the river level to drop. The weather on the day of our cruise was terrible - heavy rain and gusty strong winds. The map tells the story, Perth is right under the densest part. The weather system stayed pretty much the same all day. Anyhow, I had fun. The captain was a lady named Catherine. I called her Cap'n Cat and she let he help drive. I worked the throttles while we were clearing the dock, and did a lot of the steering when we were on our way upriver. How does a small bear steer when the wheel is so big that I can't reach all the handles? I just jump on the appropriate handle of the wheel until the boat is aimed in the right direction. As this was a winery cruise, we had wine tasting on the way. I managed to get a small taste of Mum's samples; 4 whites and 4 reds. I think whites are much nicer, but reckon that the ones from Marlborough in New Zealand are the best. Mind you, we tasted some really good wines later during our road trip in the Margaret River region south of Perth. We met some wonderful cheeses as well. One was so good that the Oldies bought a Kilogram back with them; it didn't last long. If you have a free day in Perth, this winery cruise is well worth doing, regardless of the weather.

Labels: boats, cruising, Perth, Western Australia

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse is on a headland that is near the spot where two oceans meet. To the right is the Indian Ocean and to the left is the Southern Ocean. Now I should mention that geographical nit-pickers will claim that the Southern Ocean is only south of 60 degrees latitude and the cape is only at 34 degrees. But there is only ocean south of this point until you hit Antarctica, so as far as most Aussies are concerned this is indeed the meeting of the two oceans. I reckon that I could see the churned-up area of ocean where the currents of the Indian and Southern were meeting and causing bigger, rougher waves. In fact, some ships have been badly damaged or sunk by sudden gigantic rogue waves in the ocean to the south. The cape is named after the Dutch ship Leeuwin (Lioness) which was the first European ship to map this area of coast in 1622. The lighthouse is built of local stone and was built in just 1 year. It has been in operation since 1896. There has not been a shipwreck on the cape since then.

Labels: lighthouse, Western Australia

One of the places we visited in Western Australia was Cape Leeuwin. This is the most south-westerly point on mainland Australia, and has a magnificent lighthouse on it. It is the tallest mainland lighthouse in Australia and has been in service since 1895. Before you can get to the lighthouse you have to pass its fierce guardian, the Moorine Marauder. This pirate cow is complete with eye patch, rum keg, hook replacing a hoof (presumably lost in previous fighting), telescope and parrot. She keeps a sharp eye on all visitors coming up the path from the car park. She is one of the multitude of pieces of cow art made for the international cow parade in 2010, and is probably the only one remaining in her original location. I quickly made friends with her. She let us pass but would not let me sample her rum. More of the lighthouse next post.

Labels: animals, lighthouse, Western Australia

As some of you noticed, I have been away for a couple of weeks; thanks for your emails asking if I was OK. Nothing bad had happened, I was in Western Australia. The Oldies decided to see a bit of Australia that was new to them, the south-western bit of WA. Naturally, this corner of the continent has many wineries and some lighthouses. That seems to be the way that the Oldies plan itineraries these days. It takes 4 hours to fly to Perth (I used to call it Perf when I was younger) so the Oldies decided to use all our frequent flyer points and go business class. We had great flights over and back in this aeroplane. For a couple of days at the start and end of the trip we stayed at Crown Towers in Perth. Big brother Trent managed to get us a special deal there and we stayed on the second floor from the top. We had great views over the city, but the weather turned bad for most of our stay and I couldn't try out the pools; I guess Mum wouldn't let me anyhow, she has this thing about me getting wet. Despite the rain and wind, we saw 3 amazing lighthouses and visited some superb wineries.

Labels: aircraft, Perth, Western Australia

As long-term readers know, I don't like crabs and things that look like crabs. It's not that I am scared of them, I just don't want to be anywhere near them. The Oldies say that that is not a good thing, because we all like beaches and rock pools and sea-side things and that is where crustaceans live. Fine, just as long as the Oldies are there to keep the horrible critters away from me. So, you may think that this photo is a bit strange. Here I am, sitting next to crab and lobster pots, with a huge lobster climbing out behind my back. Don't worry, I haven't lost my strong sense of self-preservation. This is actually a display about the Western Australian fishing industry and the crabs and lobsters are only model ones. It is in the WA Maritime Museum, somewhere you should visit if you are ever in Fremantle. I can assure you that I would never get this close to real lobsters, but the photo is good for bragging rights when I am showing travel pictures to other small critters who don't know the story.

Labels: crabs, Perth, Western Australia

One thing that small bears are NOT known for is their patience. Why do we always have to wait until somebody else decides it is time to do something. I mean, just look at this. The QM2 is there, just waiting for passengers to board. The Oldies, Scruffy, Milkshake and I are all here at the terminal, just waiting for our group number to be called. Why do we have to wait? They even have this grid gate up to stop me getting on before they think it is time. Actually, I could have climbed through the gate and sneaked on, but Mum told me that there was no use doing that because she had the boarding passes. The Oldies sat around, talked to people they had just met, and soaked up cool drinks, but I stayed out there rattling the gate until we were called to go on board. And guess what, I was hanging onto the wrong gate!!

Labels: boats, climbing, cruising, Perth, Western Australia

Here's the "Queen Mary 2" docked in Fremantle harbour. She has just arrived and has a 4 hour wait before the Oldies take me aboard. To give you an idea of the size of her, the dock is over 1.5 km long. There are some interesting craft moored at the dock. The small boat in the foreground is one of the Pilot boats that met the QM2 and put the pilot aboard before she entered harbour. The sailing ship behind the pilot boat is the "Leeuwin II", Australia's largest sail training ship. The warship is USS "Shoup", a guided missile destroyer. Shoup was in Fremantle for a rest break after a period of counter-piracy operations off the coast of Africa. I love harbours, there is always something interesting to see. And it's even more interesting when the biggest ship in port is there to take you cruising.

Labels: boats, cruising, Perth, Western Australia

One very interesting museum in Fremantle is the Shipwreck Museum. It has lots of stories about the ships that were wrecked along the Western Australian coast, from the time of the first explorers to the present day. There are cannons, coins and cutlery from old wrecks and even a big section of the hull of "Batavia", a sailing ship with a very gruesome history. There are also lots of models. Dad and I make lots of models, mostly aircraft although there is a kit of the QM2 that we will be tackling soon, so we spend a fair bit of time looking at the absolute masterpieces of museum models. This one is a model of a Dutch East Indiaman. I don't know which one it is because I got Dad to write the name down and he lost the bit of paper. It is a superb representation of the first type of European ship to investigate the coast of Australia. Most of them had got too far south on their way across the Indian Ocean and were not sure just where they were and lots of them were wrecked on the reefs and islands along the coast. As far as we know, they never tried to settle here .Their reports of a big unknown land was the start of the exploration of Australia, which they called "New Holland".

Labels: boats, Western Australia

Last week was one of the most exciting ones ever. We flew across to Perf (for new readers, Bart refuses to say Perth) to go on board the "Queen Mary 2" and sail back to Sydney. Because Mum has this thing about luggage getting lost, we went across a day early and stayed overnight in Fremantle, the port for Perf. Freo was very hot and the Oldies didn't like that much. However, there are a few very interesting museums there. One of them is the West Australian Maritime Museum, and it is built right on the water's edge near the entry to the port. The QM2 was supposed to be in port around 7am on the day we were leaving, but it had some engine trouble and arrived at mid-day. That was great for us because we were at the museum and were able to go outside to the boardwalk and watch her come in. What a huge ship! It is 345 metres long and 72 metres high. It dwarfs all the other ships in port and makes the dockyard buildings look tiny. In the background you can see the green lighthouse at the end of the south breakwall; you can see a bigger photo of it in an earlier posting. There were hundreds of people watching the ship arrive but they made space for me to see. As soon as it had docked we hurried back into town for lunch and to get things packed ready to go down to the terminal and board ship. The ship had a full load, so there were 2,620 passengers to sort out; offloading for shore excursions, offloading the ones leaving at Fremantle, getting the excursionists reloaded, and finally getting us new passengers loaded. It looked chaotic but went very smoothly. As for the week at sea, more in following postings.

Labels: boats, cruising, lighthouse, Perth, Western Australia

This is a picture of Scruffy and I looking out of the window of the Indian-Pacific as it passes the tiny settlement of Rawlinna in Western Australia. Rawlinna was one of the main bases for the construction of the trans-Australia railway. Now that the steam locos have been replaced by diesels the passenger trains only stop here when needed. There are still goods trains though, taking lime from the Loongana mine to Kalgoorlie. Beside the railway station there are only a few houses and a Post Office. Rawlinna is almost right at the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain and as you go further west scrub and trees are visible from the train window once again.

Labels: train, Western Australia

Australia is certainly a country of huge contrasts. I love travelling around it. It is so big that things change fairly slowly as you go so you have time to soak up the different scenery and the feel of the places. Here's a couple of pictures of two very different places. The top one was taken out of the window of the Indian-Pacific train on out cross-continent trip. It is somewhere on the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. The country is very flat, very dry, and there are no trees, just some low bushes. The only thing that rises above the plain are the mullock heaps of a gypsum mine in the distance. The bottom photo shows a very different scene. It was taken at Red Point near Eden in New South Wales. Plenty of trees and water here, and spectacular views of ocean and ancient volcanic rocks. I like both sorts of scenery, but have to admit that when it comes to walking I prefer the trees to the open plain because there are more logs for small bears to rest on and shade to cool off in if the Sun gets too hot.

Labels: New South Wales, south coast, train, Western Australia

Here's what happens if you don't keep a good lookout when you are at sea. This boat didn't and it ran aground on Rottnest Island. I am not sure just what ship it was, or when it was wrecked. There are lots of wrecks around Rottnest and I didn't take enough notes to help identify this one. It looks like the sort of place where the Oldies would like to snorkel, because fish use these old wrecks (the ships, not the Oldies) as places to live in.

Labels: boats, Perth, Western Australia

This big glass tower is near the Barrack St wharf in Perf. It is a bell tower and has sixteen bells in it, one of the largest set of bells in the world. The tower is really just one big musical instrument, big enough to walk around inside. Twelve of the bells come from the church of St Martin in the Fields, in Trafalgar Square in London. They were given to Western Australia for the Australian Bicentenary in 1988. The tower is nearly 83 metres tall and you can go inside it to see the bells and find out how they are played. The bell room is high up in the tower and you get good views of Perf from there. Just about every time we were at the wharf the bells were ringing. They sound great, but I couldn't have a go at ringing them because my paws couldn't reach the controls.

Labels: Perth, Western Australia

Here's a boat that has been in the news a lot here in Australia. It is the Customs and Fisheries vessell "Oceanic Viking". Its job is to keep foreign poachers from stealing Australia's fish and to catch smugglers. We hear about it occasionally catching fishermen who are over-fishing and are catching things like the rare Toothfish. The "Viking" was on TV almost every night a few weeks ago because it had been caught up in an embarassing international problem. It had picked up a sinking load of boat people, who were trying to sneak into Australia illegally, and then couldn't find anywhere to unload them. They had come via Indonesia, but Indonesia didn't want them, and they didn't want to go back to where they had come from. It took weeks before the Australian and Indonesian governments sorted the problem out, and all that time the "Viking" was stuck off Indonesia with a load of passengers nobody wanted. I don't understand why people try to sneak into Australia like that. If they just go about it the right way, through the proper channels, they can usually come anyway, provided they aren't criminals or terrorists or other nasty types. Scruffy and I saw the "Oceanic Viking" earlier this year on our way from Perf to Rottnest Island. It was berthed in Fremantle harbour, being stocked up for a patrol in the cold ocean between Australia and Antarctica.

Labels: boats, Perth, Western Australia

I love this country of ours. It really is a land of contrasts and there is always something interesting to see no matter where you travel. One of the trips that I enjoyed most was our trip across the continent from Sydney to Perf on the Indian-Pacific train (note from Dad: Bart just will not call the place Perth). The changing landscapes out the train window were amazing; the cliffs and valleys of the Blue Mountains, the plains of New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, the mining towns of Broken Hill, Kalgoorlie and small places that were just a pithead and a mullock heap, and of course the oceans at both ends. Here's a couple of pictures that show one big contrast. The top one is the deserted remains of one of the little railway towns on the Nullarbor Plain. I think it may be Forrest as there are some trees near a house in the background. All that's left are the foundations of the goods sheds, the loading ramp, and the old telegraph line. Nothing for hundreds of miles around but flat, treeless plain and saltbush and sand. The only people are occasional railway repair gangs. The bottom picture is one of the bays at Rottnest Island, in the Indian Ocean near Perf. There are not many buildings near this bay but there are lots and lots of boats, and lots of people as well. People from Perf come over in their boats and anchor in the bays around Rottnest for the weekend, or in some cases for the whole summer. They spend their time swimming, snorkelling, fishing and partying. Desert and sea are both great places for small bears to visit.

Labels: boats, South Australia, train, Western Australia

This is the main lighthouse on Rottnest Island, near Fremantle in Western Australia. It is called Wadjemup Light after the local Aboriginal name for Rottnest Island. There has been a lighthouse here since 1851. The first one was built by aboriginal convicts, using local stone, and it was the first stone lighthouse in Western Australia. This one, also built of local limestone and twice the size of the old one, was built in 1896. All that remains of the first lighthouse is a small shed next to the new one. It must have been a hard place to live back when the lighthouse was new, because the first three lighthouse keepers all committed suicide.
We saw the Wadjemup lighthouse on a bus trip around Rottnest during our visit to Perf back in March. The bus didn't stop, it just drove past slowly, so Mum didn't have time to take the gazillions of pictures she normally takes of every light we visit. However, she did manage to get something different in one of the pix; if you click on the picture to make it bigger you can see an aeroplane flying over to the left of the lighthouse. Our lighthouse count is now at 82, nearly 100 if you count the ones that the Oldies saw overseas, but I won't let them include them as there were no small bears present to confirm the sightings.

Labels: lighthouse, Perth, Western Australia