Our trip to Western Australia 2003

We flew by Qantas across Australia on Wednesday 24 September – it was a five hour flight! This was my first visit to WA - it had taken me 60 years to do it. Travelling in your own country has many advantages - no worries about exchange rates or language and, yes, they do speak English there, and in fact there are more British accents to be heard in Perth and Fremantle then in Sydney. We were to have two weeks of uninterrupted touring around Perth and Fremantle before returning by the Indian Pacific train, leaving Perth at 11.55 hours on Wednesday 8 October and arriving back in Sydney on Saturday 11 October. Australia is a large country and there are no superfast express trains like you find in Europe and Japan! The train trip may be slow but it really enabled you to see the country. The Indian Pacific is a "must do" if visiting WA. For more details click here.

WA is approximately one third of the land mass of Australia. It is incredibly rich in minerals and it was the gold rush in Kalgoorlie that led to it becoming an established colony in the 1830's.

Agriculture now also plays an important part in providing income for the state: wheat, vineyards, cattle, sheep and other agricultural interests.

One of the latest developments is tourism. WA is attracting the tourist dollar. Yes we went there specifically to see the Spring wildflowers. The Wildflower Festival was held from 25-29 September in the Botanic Gardens at Kings Park, Perth. To behold some of the spectacular displays of wildflowers we saw in the Botanic Gardens click here.

We spent most of our holiday in Perth and Fremantle with short trips to Rottnest Island, Pinjarra and New Norcia.

We hope you enjoy our travel tales and if you wish to contact us about any of the information in the website please email us.