Arrived in Perth late on 3 December, getting to the hotel shortly before midnight.

Fremantle Goal

Perth

Quokka

Spent the  next day exploring the city and some of its museums before going down the  Swan River to Fremantle the next day. This is a very pleasant place with a good Maritime Museum and the fish harbour. The most interesting visit however was to the old Fremantle Goal. Build in the mid-19th century and in service until 1991, it is now a World Heritage Site.

The next day was spent mainly exploring King’s Park and the Botanic Gardens before going into the city to the food market in the evening for something to eat.

Saturday 7 December and a rather lumpy boat trip out to Rottnest Island. Once a penal colony for the aborigines, it is now a holiday island. It is also the only home to significant numbers of the quokka, a small, about the size of a rabbit, marsupial.

Back in Perth, caught up in the Christmas Pageant before returning to the hotel to pack for the train journey to Adelaide, where it appears that the test is not going well for England with what looks like a horrible collapse in the first innings!