We were hugely impressed with Perth - a clean modern city with excellent transport facilities in such a wonderful setting on the Swan River.  We were renting an apartment in Mounts Bay which was close to the 259 step 'Jacob's Ladder' leading up to King's Park (phew!!).  

 

Apart from several visits to the city centre, we went to the market in Fremantle, cycled around Rottnest Island, paddled on just about every beach up the coast as far as Hillary's Harbour, visited the Aquarium, saw koalas and parakeets at Yanchen National Park,  and watched the Rugby World Cup game where England beat South Africa in the Brass Monkey pub.

 

We had some smashing meals in restaurants and enjoyed the 'sharing plates' (a new idea for us Brits).  But it was enjoyable just wandering along beside the Swan River through lovely parks with shady trees and fountains.

 

The wedding took place on the paddle steamer 'Decoy' as it cruised up and down the Swan River - a good time was had by all!

 

Daughter and I then set off on our tour - first we drove up the coast to the Pinnacles Desert, then back down through Perth to Rockingham, Bunbury, Bussellton and Dunsborough to Cape Naturaliste National Park where we swam in the Indian Ocean at the beautiful Bunker Bay.  We saw humpback whales off the coast at the Cape.

 

At Margaret River we went on a wineries tour (thank you Bushtucker Tours) and sampled wine at five different vineyards, and visited a cheese factory and a chocolate factory and had a bushtucker lunch (witchetty grub pate mmmm).

 

We carried on down the coast to the Beedelup falls, then to the Gloucester Tree near Pemberton (I managed to climb up about 20ft but it was very scary). Next we walked round he Tree Top Walk in the Valley of the Giants before driving right down to Albany to watch the blowholes.

 

It was quite cold this far south, so we turned inland and up towards Narrogin then on to York (an atractive town with well restored original buildings).  The final section back to Perth was through wheatfields where we saw emus and flocks of parrots as well as just two kangaroos.

 

It was altogether a super trip - we stayed at friendly guesthouses and saw a great deal of the country in quite a short space of time.

 

When we got back to Perth, I flew back to Singapore for two days on my way home, and she set off for the other side of Australia for the rest of her trip.

 

In Singapore, I managed to fit in quite a lot of sightseeing - visiting Chinatown and the Temple of the Sea Goddess, Little India, the Orchid Gardens, Mount Faber, a night city tour, a cable car ride to Sentosa and an evening trip on a bumboat ... a packed finish to a very exciting holiday.