Almost Done in Perth
Thursday
Claire headed out Thursday morning to shop at the outlet mall while I went walking and found the art gallery. Mom stayed at the hotel to wait for a coffee date with 5W women and I met them later once I had sampled the gallery exhibits. We all set out together in the afternoon for the Perth Zoo. To get there we got one of the three free bus services in the city to the ferry jetty and took a 7-minute ride across the river to south Perth. The zoo was a short walk from the ferry dock. I finally saw dingoes (enclosed), plus lots of kangaroos and wallabees in open areas. Good presentation in the African savannah section, but overall this zoo needs better signage and more benches for Mom to rest on. We came back via a regular bus from just outside the zoo. For Thursday's dinner, Mom insisted on lobster, so we found a restaurant just a few blocks walk away in Northbridge (so named, perhaps, because it is north of the railway bridge).
Friday
Thursday morning we had booked Friday's wine tour, so we were picked up just after 9 in pouring rain and high winds. Great weather to spend touring the countryside and drinking wine. We visited three Swan River Valley wineries in the morning, stopping at the third for a delightful lunch, then sampled two more wineries in the afternoon before dessert at a microbrewery. We finished up at the chocolate factory where our driver insisted we sample excessively. An excellent tour, but oh, the calories! If we can manage it this evening, we plan to do some final shopping around the corner from the hotel. Tomorrow is our last morning in the wonderful city of Perth -- great place to visit and lovely people everywhere we've been.