Where's the loo? A quick first trip to WA

[bPeteb]

I’m going to start this with an apology to @JohnM. I had fully intended to arrange a meal/wine with John in Perth but at the time of our recent visit I wasn’t much up for meeting with anyone. I suppose in reality we were lucky we even got away.

This trip to WA was our third attempt since COVID reared its ugly head. First attempt was a long weekend to Margaret River. Second was an Intrepid overland from Broome to Darwin. Third was a second attempt at Margaret River.

Flights were a bargain. Some crazy red edeal where if you booked two it was $603 return for two for direct BNE-PER. Upgrade requested for both directions. Return confirmed straight away. Flight over came through sometime during the week before departure.

Sean, the owner of the tour company we wanted to do a tour with Margaret River Wine Tours & Adventure Tours | The Margaret River wine tour for people who don’t do tours! was on holidays when we were heading over. Change of plans required. bAl decided we should head north to Exmouth to go swimming with the whale sharks at Ningaloo so that’s what we did. Flights to Learmonth def not cheap. I used Amex credit for mine, classic reward for bAl.

Booked whale swim with Home. At JohnM’s suggestion we also booked 60 minute Fly Microlights in Ningaloo Perth Western Australia

We stayed at Hotels in Perth, Australia | Four Points by Sheraton Perth for two nights, in Exmouth at Home Potshot Exmouth for two nights and The National Hotel for our last night.

I’ve been struggling with a flare of my ulcerative colitis since Feb. It has been getting progressively worse, to a point that we were considering cancelling the trip. The confirmation of the J upgrade on the flight over meant that at the very least I had quick access to a loo if needed. A few hours in a wet suit was a bit of a concern, as was being up in the air for an hour. Ultimately I decided I wanted to go and here’s our quick trip.

 

[bPeteb]

Great crew over but the barramundi was truly awful.



I’m not a fan so not sure why I ordered it. Tasted like mud. Not surprisingly when it was offered on the return flight I didn’t try it again.

The much more platable alternative.





Wet when we arrived into Perth, my first ever visit to WA. Easy Uber ride to the hotel. Not sure how Bonvoy has my profile mixed with someone else. Third time in last couple of years. Room was big but on first floor and looked across atrium roof. Pretty ordinary to be honest.

 

[bPeteb]

Wandered around Perth for the day, after a very good breakfast at the hotel. Route planned for loo access.











Visited the The Perth Mint | Buy gold, silver coins and bullion, such tourists, and both of us found it really interesting.









shag on a path

 

[bPeteb]

Stumbled across Van Gogh Alive Australia - OFFICIAL TICKET SELLER and were both terribly underwhelmed.









Planned to walk to Kings Park after very nice lunch of fish and chips and a steak sanger down by the water





and got to the Kokoda trail but recent heavy rain had it closed. I was pushing my limits so we turned back to the hotel.

Had an excellent dinner at Nippon Bar and Kitchen

 

[bPeteb]

Sunday morning, after another excellent breakfast, we walked down to WA Museum Boola Bardip | Western Australian Museum to check out the dinosaurs. LOTS of kids but both loved it.





Still had the room account wrong when we checked out. A completely random email address was suggested as where they’d send the invoice. What the?

Uber back out to airport for the flight to Learmonth. J lounge was very busy.

I thought the flight up north was overland. It kind of was, but right along the coast. Very beautiful.





Saw Monkey Mia off in the distance.

Learmonth airport is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.



bAl thought I should visit the loo before we went to pick up the rental but I knew what would happen if we did. We were second in line at the Avis counter and by the time we walked out of the terminal every counter had a line right across the terminal.

Stopped at the Krait memorial on the way up to Exmouth. What amazingly brave people. Literally balls of steel!





Exmouth is weird. On the southern side a huge canal estate full of huge houses looking down into canals over huge concrete walls. I overheard when we were out on the whale shark swim that they are mainly owned by fifo workers and many are built as multi room sort term rentals.

Stopped at Whalebone Brewing Co for a couple of quenching ginger beers. Excellent.



Crazy cloud bank



The Potshot Resort is an unusual place. Still bearing the scars of a cyclone from years back it’s a mix of apartments, budget motel rooms and backpacker accommodation. We stayed in one of the budget rooms and it was clean and absolutely fine. Ours was the last room in this row.



Had dinner at the bistro. There was a Scenic tour staying (obviously not in the budget rooms) and their dinner orders took precedence over anyone else dining. My request for the rack of lamb for bAl was met with “we’ll know if there’s any left after we’ve taken ‘their’ orders and a resigned glance over to the three tables of oldies.

 

[bPeteb]

After an early brekkie courtesy of supplies from the fancy IGA we were picked up by Ningaloo Whale Shark Swim for the 40 minute ride to the harbour on the western shore. We’d been watching the weather over the week leading up to Monday and knew the wind was going to be blowing. We’d thought we might not even go out but out we went.

It was a magic day. Loved it. Great crew, great guests, good boat, a little (!) rough, humpbacks everywhere, and whale sharks. Snorkel on the reef at the start then out into the ocean. We eventually went much further south than they’d hoped but it was fantastic. Well apart from being surrounded by quite a few people losing their breakfasts.

Finally it was time to get into the water. They have their own spotter plane. So well organised. You jump in, get in a line, get told to look down now, and the shark swims by. We saw three different sharks over four swims. So peaceful. So huge. So beautiful. Just amazing. Photos courtesy of Ningaloo Whale Shark Swim.

 

[bPeteb]

 

[bPeteb]

I went in twice, bAl four times



great lunch spread



and even bubbles to finsh the day



Much nicer ride back to the boat harbour with the wind and seas behind us. So many humpbacks everywhere around us.





Emu just strolling down the road on the way back to town.



Had drinks/dinner at Home - Froth Craft Brewery where they sadly no longer make their beers. Trucked up from Bunbury now.





real estate of Exmouth

 

[bPeteb]

Beautiful sunrise for our last morning in Exmouth.





The wind was howling and we both kinda knew the microlight flight would be a no go. And so it was. We’d had the option of the 7am flight and hindsight is a wonderful thing. It was apparently perfect. 10am and it was just not possible. The guys were great. Full refund apart from credit card fees. Something for next time



and we will go back, next time for a humpback experience and maybe some fishing as well.

Drove back out across to the west coast and visited the lighthouse and the wreck of the Mildura. Wind was HOWLING. Apparently the boats all went out. It would have been horrible.

 

[bPeteb]

Uber out to Fremantle. Didn’t realise how far it was. National Hotel really nice. Booked a verandah room. Very nice room.















Few drinks in the bar before wandering around the corner for dinner.

 

[bPeteb]

bAl had sat next to a guy who worked on the offshore rigs on the flight back. He recommended Lions and Tigers. Very happy that he did. We got a seat at the bar. Service, food and drinks excellent.

Nice crockery (we have this at home)





the only food shot taken



Breakfast next morning pretty much next door to Lions and Tigers at Good Things. Delicious. Went back to the hotel and checked out and stored our bags as flight wasn’t until 6ish.

I’d managed quite well until today but it kinda turned into a where’s the nearest loo. We still had a great day. Fremantle really turned it on. It was cool, but a spectacular sunny day.







WA Maritime Museum | Western Australian Museum first

mum, dad and my sister came to Australia on the Castel Felice. They arrived late 57 and of course Fremantle was first Aussie landfall before continuing around to Sydney



Home - Gage Roads Brew Co for lunch (very ordinary fish tacos),





Agegate – Little Creatures for some more drinks and then back to the hotel. bAl was out talking to someone when I returned from the facilities. Turned out they were one of the owners. What an interesting story. Hotel was under renovation then pretty much burned down and they bought the ruin. Just 12 very beautiful rooms. Had just opened another venue and I think mentioned purchase another hotel.

Lounge not quite as busy on our return but I just wanted to curl up. After not the barramundi for dinner



I slept most of the very fast flight home.

I was released from hospital on Friday after a couple of nights stay to get an Infliximab infusion and to pump as much IV prednisolone into me before we head off to NZ on Thursday night. Flare has now got to a point that I’ve been introduced to who will more than likely be my colorectal surgeon. I’ve been lucky for 31 years but I think time has caught up.

We’re gunna have a blast in NZ. Apart from a whale watching cruise already booked out of Kaikoura, we have zero planned. It might have supposed to have been a summer campervan holiday but early spring it is. DSC J flights to CHC, Big Kit camper from Kit Campers. 18 days to just breath out.

Stay tuned.

 

[VPS]

Beautiful sunrise for our last morning in Exmouth.

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The wind was howling and we both kinda knew the microlight flight would be a no go. And so it was. We’d had the option of the 7am flight and hindsight is a wonderful thing. It was apparently perfect. 10am and it was just not possible. The guys were great. Full refund apart from credit card fees. Something for next time

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and we will go back, next time for a humpback experience and maybe some fishing as well.

Drove back out across to the west coast and visited the lighthouse and the wreck of the Mildura. Wind was HOWLING. Apparently the boats all went out. It would have been horrible.

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That sunrise is fantastic.

Thanks for the TR and hope you stay well. Poor health sucks

 

[RooFlyer]

Dunno abut you, bpeteb, but I'm exhausted! Thanks & regards to bAl

 

[dk4]

Wandered around Perth for the day, after a very good breakfast at the hotel. Route planned for loo access.

Not just Ningaloo , while in Perth you could have visited Innaloo (for your convenience)

Nice pics btw.

 

[drron]

The cyclones were in April 2021 and prevented me getting to Ningaloo so no whale sharks for me.

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the TR - a busy few days. Hope the hospital stay on return was successful so you can enjoy NZ without the constant search for a loo. A friend's son and his wife are experts at loo finding - he has Crohns and she has MS so when they need one it's an urgent matter. My mother had UC for many years, but then had an ileostomy in 1972 which she had for nearly 50 years.
Love the photos and looking forward to a NZ TR as well.

 

[kookaburra75]

Goodness @bpeteb you do it the hard way. MrsK also suffers from something similar, so we feel for you. But, at least you and Al got out and about. I spent a lot of time in Exmouth in the early 80's, so it's interesting to see what it's like now.
All the best for your and Al on your trip to the Land of the long White Vowel, and hopefully we'll get up your way soon

 

[ALH]

Great photos, and thanks for posting. Swimming with the Whale Sharks has been on my bucket list for a long time.

 

[Stewey]

Great TR

 

[bertflyer]

Uber out to Fremantle. Didn’t realise how far it was. National Hotel really nice. Booked a verandah room. Very nice room.

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Few drinks in the bar before wandering around the corner for dinner.

I agree that Freo has done a great job getting their old hotels up to scratch for some great accommodation options! The Esplanade hotel is over priced and poor value. As an ex WA person I also always choose these when visiting family in Perth.