Day 146 Karrinyup, (Swan River Cruise), Perth, WA

One of the first tours we booked when we arrived into Perth was a Swan River Cruise that included lunch.  I was also lucky enough to find a "special" that included tickets for the Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus that we will probably do tomorrow.  We decided once again to use Uber to take us into the Barrack Jetty that is in the heart of Perth.  It is so much easier than trying to find a park in the city on a Sunday morning and just to make it doubly difficult there is a Van Gogh Alive Exhibit at a nearby venue.

I pre-booked our Uber but 15 minutes before the allotted pick up time the driver texted us to say that he was waiting for us!  Sorry, but we will be there at the allotted time!  He was a nice driver though and didn't mind the wait.  He got us to the jetty with plenty of time to spare.

Once everybody was boarded at 11.15 it took no time at all for us to be on our way along the Swan River towards Freemantle.  The ship we are on is apparently the largest commercial ship to sail along the Swan River.  A couple of the bridges that we passed under are very low so it would restrict a lot of ships.  The commentary was great with a visual display on the TV monitors in case you missed the commentary.  We learn that there are over twenty boat clubs in Perth and Perth has the highest number of boats per person than anywhere else in Australia.  It does't surprise us though as the city certainly lends itself to water sports.

We sailed past "Millionair's Row" where there are homes worth many tens of millions of dollars.  These mansions are homes to the likes of mining magnates Twiggy Forest and Gina Reinhart and countless others.

The old Swan Brewery that is now apartment blocks and restaurants, looked quite different from the water and Philip commented that he couldn't remember the building being so large but then again, like he said, he had never seen it from this perspective.

Once we arrived at Freemantle and off-loaded passengers who were not on the boat for lunch the smorgasbord was laid out with some delicious dishes that catered to everybody's needs.  There were both hot and cold dishes and a very good variety of sweets for those who needed to finish with a sweet treat.  We had skipped breakfast again so we were quite ravenous by the time lunch was served!

It was a lovely three hour cruise and even though the day was gloomy we were in the perfect spot to enjoy it.  If there was any complaint at all it would have been that they did not need the air-conditioner turned on.  The highest temperature it got to today was just 16 degrees so heating might have been more appropriate.  Not one person took off their (mostly) puffer jackets and I could have done with one more layer.  But hey, it's only a small complaint and many would have disagreed with me 😜 (I'm looking at you Katie!)