8th Dec: We started the morning with a really nice breakfast served on the terrace; the hotel kitchen burnt down last week – I kid you not. We’re not having much luck so far this holiday. After speaking to Qantas we determined that our bags had missed the French connection (they’d FCUK’d off to Paris), and we are unlikely to see them again

before the 13th so this morning was spent shopping for essentials like t-shirts and clean underwear! We walked around the local malls and surf shops.
In the afternoon we set out to explore Perth. Our first stop was Kings Park. We walked round the war memorials and the eternal flame and took a look at the new Bali memorial, which was created to commemorate the 88 Australians who died in the Bali terrorist bombing in 2002. It’s an amazing memorial made out of slabs of red granite and at sunrise on the anniversary of the bomb the sun comes through a glass gap in the granite and hits a plaque listing all the names of those who died. After a quick refreshment stop we set off round the botanical gardens. The lawns are laid out beautifully and there is a giant glass suspended walkway, which runs through the lower garden. They appear to be having quite a harsh summer this year so the displays mainly consisted of slightly browned sticks but the idea was there. After the botanical gardens we visited the Barrack Street jetty and took a

look at the bell tower, which holds the bells from St Martin-in-the-fields church in Trafalgar Square in England! Finally, after about 8 km’s of walking, we decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel (via an ice cream shop mmmmmmm) for a bit of a wash and brush-up before dinner.
Tomorrow we are being picked up at 07:20 to go on a guided tour of The Pinnacles and sand dune surfing! That should be good :o).

Bye for now……