Arriving In Perth

Arriving In Perth

Arriving in Perth rather later than we expected, as usual our first job was to collect the hire car. Wendy always requests a reliable and comfortable medium size vehicle, but it's an interesting experience, to discover what car the company has actually allocated to us. Very often, it's a free up-grade, and we really appreciate the additional luxurious perks! It also gives us a chance to try out the latest models - a good thing for future reference, when the time comes for us to think about getting a new car ourselves. 

The car we rented in Perth was really lovely: a Hyundai Kona. Wendy enjoyed driving it very much and, although I wasn't a named driver, and so couldn't drive it myself, I sat in the driver's seat, and found out for myself how comfortable it was. It had excellent visibility, adjustable seats, and nice high driving position; it is available in the UK, so certainly one to bear in mind for the future.

We found the Vetro Blu apartment complex quite easily; it was very close to the Airport, which suited us well. It's made up of a number of separate buildings; we parked up by the one housing the reception and checked in. There was a very nice man on duty, and because the apartments buildings are quite far apart, he volunteered to accompany us, and help us with our luggage. 

It's interesting having taken quite a long tour like Wendy has organised for us on this trip, and how you come up against snags you wouldn't think at all likely to occur! This one was a bit different: we couldn't get in to the apartment at all, because the electronic key would not unlock the door! The receptionist took over and had a go, but the door remained stubbornly closed, and would not open! It took him a dozen or more efforts of swiping the card, until at last there was a satisfying "click" and we gained admittance to the apartment. We asked him to wait whilst we tried it for ourselves and, sure enough, there was an on-going problem. 

After being so delayed at Adelaide, we just wanted to get in and get ourselves sorted out, but until we were sure we could open the front door, we didn't dare risk going out together. The receptionist was very apologetic and assured us the "Maintenance Man" would be with us first thing in the morning, and so I stayed behind to unpack whilst Wendy went out for our provisions. After making our dinner, we finally got to bed at about 2.00 a.m. We were a bit tired!

As good as their word, Eddie the Maintenance Man arrived at 8.00 a.m. the following morning; it took him a while to discover the problem was because the lock had being fitted upside down! As we and the receptionist had been busily swiping the card up and pulling the handle down to open the door - to no avail - whoever had recently re-fitted this particular arrangement had done it "upside down." Once we twigged it was "swipe the card down" and "pull the handle up," it worked perfectly every time!  How weird; but now that we knew how to do it, we could happily set off to visit dear friends, and see what else Perth had to offer since our last visit back in 2008.

First, though, after all the adventures in Adelaide Airport, and sorting out how to open the door in Perth, we needed to catch up on some sleep. After shopping at Woolworths, and buying some more delicious chocolate eclairs (I could get used to these!) what bliss it was to have a long afternoon kip, followed with nothing much else to do at all for the rest of the day and evening. It was good to have a day off.

Feeling refreshed, in the early evening we went for a drive to Cottesloe Beach; we loved the fresh, salt smell of the spray, as the sea rushes to the shore, and where the Indian Ocean is the vast expanse to cross between Australia and Africa, making us realise what tiny grains of sand we are.

A sign at the start of the street lying just behind the main promenade read: The Secret Gnome Garden, so of course we had to explore! and sure enough, at the end of the road lay a garden populated by gnomes - and other creatures, too, all welcome to join this community of delightful imagination. Having seen it by night, we took a couple of photos, but decided we'd come back in the daylight for a better view of this magical place: