Sunset over the Indian Ocean

Sunrise over the port of Fremantle; in an hour we will dock

The skyline of Perth from the Swan River

Squeek and Moss tasting Sandalford Wines on the Swan River


Squeek inspects the Cabernet grapes at Sandalford; harvest is still some weeks away

We help the economy of Western Australia

On walkabout among the historic Victorian-era buildings of Fremantle


Day Twenty-eight (Monday, February 16, 2009)-- We are in the Great Australian Bight; it is the first of three days at sea. Squeekie and I spent most of the day catching up on our writing, but there is nothing to write about. . . .


Day Twenty-nine (Tuesday, February 17, 2009)-- This was our second day at sea, and we were half way across the Great Australian Bight, which has been a bit rough. Today Squeekie and I forewent computer work. I took the Galley tour for the second time and had a nice chat with Bernie in the galley. Afterward I met Squeek for a demonstration of fruit and vegetable carving by two of our Filipino cooks. It was very impressive! At noon I joined my group for another bout of Trivia, but we continue not to have done very well. . . . Tonight was a formal evening, but not otherwise very interesting.


Day Thirty (Wednesday, February 18, 2009)-- Today was our third day at sea. We have crossed the Australian Bight and have turned back to the north around the southwest corner of the Australian continent, now in the Indian Ocean. Squeekie and I spent much of this day in the Crow’s Nest, she doing Edison work and I writing blogs and notes. The day started out foggy but cleared by the afternoon; we are still so far south that the weather is cool. In the afternoon we took our long extension cord and did our computer work in the Lido, but I didn’t like it as well because it was noisier and busier than the Crow’s Nest usually is. These three days at sea have been quiet but tomorrow will be different as we will be in our last port in Australia.


Day Thirty-one (Thursday, February 19, 2009)-- Today we are in our last Australian port, Fremantle-Perth. When I awoke at 6:15 am, the sun was just beginning to light the sky in the east and the lights of Fremantle were glowing on the horizon. Rotterdam was scheduled to land at Fremantle at 7:30 am. It was interesting to stand on our verandah and watch as we approached this busy harbour; the ship glided past the north breakwater and into the mouth of the Swan River, which forms the harbour for Fremantle. We tied up right on time.

A bit of history first-- The West Coast of Australia was explored by Europeans from the seventeenth century onwards. The Dutch, who used certain landmarks on the Australian coast to help them get to the Spice islands (modern Indonesia) had no desire to colonise here, but when a French scientific expedition showed up in 1801, the British, who had already claimed the East Coast of Australia, decided that they had better take claim to the West Coast as well. In April 1829, Captain Charles Fremantle landed his ship, HMS Challenger, at the place where the Swan River (so called because of the many Black Swans which lived—and still live—in the river) empties into the ocean and claimed the land for Great Britain. He later gave his name to the town established on the site. This was to be the first “private” colony—that is, one managed by business interests rather than directly by the British government—since the American colonies some two centuries earlier. The first settlers found the going very tough despite the fact that the land along the Swan and Margaret Rivers was very fertile. Few people came and there was a labour shortage in the colony which was alleviated by the importing of some convicts from Britain. Western Australia thus became the last place in Australia where convicts were imported and housed in a so-called “Convict Establishment;” from 1850 until 1868 they were brought in and used primarily for labour.

Western Australia struggled along until the gold rush of the 1890s, when thousands of people passed through Fremantle on their way to the goldfields of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie, creating a boom time for the town. Many nice buildings were built during this time, and many of them remain today. It was also at this time that the mouth of the Swan River was turned into a port—the very place where our ship docked. Since then Fremantle has been Western Australia’s major commercial port.

Perth, which is located some ten miles up the Swan River from the port at Fremantle, also was founded in 1829, and originally was known as the Swan River Settlement. This town slowly grew despite being designated as the political capital of the colony known as Western Australia, until it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1856. Today it is a busy city but with one curiosity. The Perth-Fremantle urban region can be considered to be the most remote city in the world, located far away from any other city; it is closer to Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia, which lies on islands over a thousand miles north of Australia) than it does to Sydney and Melbourne on the east coast of the Australian continent.

Our adventure this day-- Our tour was the first one of the day to leave the ship, so Squeekie and I had to hurry to get ready, get some “brecky,” and go down to the Queen’s Lounge to await our call. We boarded our small bus at 8:30 and drove along the north side of the Swan River toward Perth. We arrived at a dock area at Barrack Square, right in the heart of downtown Perth. There we boarded a river cruise boat, the “Miss Sandalford,” and prepared for our tour up the Swan River. As we left the dock we had wonderful views, of Perth and its dynamic skyline on one side, and of the suburb known as South Perth across the river, which at this very wide spot (the river is still tidal at this point) is known as “Perth Water.”

As we went up the river the scenery gradually changed as we left the city behind and moved into the outer suburbs. Clearly, many Perth-ites prefer to live along the river; there were many houses along its bank, especially on the eastern side. I recall passing one home with a large deck overhanging the raised riverbank, with patio furniture and a “barbie” (barbeque) prominently displayed. Many of the riverside homes had docks and boats. Our tour guide, named Lisa, commented that in recent years these riverside homes have been selling for upwards of one million Australian dollars. The scenery here looked a great deal like what one sees in Central California; I think I could live here without feeling too homesick. . . .

As we progressed up the river, enjoying the scenery as suburb gave way to countryside, we also saw some wildlife, mostly birds. Squeekie got some nice pictures of ducks and local species whose names I did not catch. At one place we passed an Aussie family out for the day, fishing and exercising the family dog. We waved at them and they waved back—everywhere we have gone in this land the residents have seemed to be warm and friendly, even in the big cities. The riverboat, which was owned by the winery we were to visit, also served as a venue for wine tasting. Lisa and her helper began pouring wines from the Sandalford Winery. We began with a Verdelho, a white wine with Portuguese ancestry; it was somewhat fruity but not sweet and went well with the Brie cheese they also served, but I did not care for it that much. Next was poured a Chardonnay from 2007. It was drier than the first wine but easier on my palate, and was outstandingly matched with the English-style Cheddar (from Victoria, we were told) they also served. Then came a Shiraz red wine which had a hint of plums, but I am not a fan of this hearty wine; it was paired with blue cheese which was too strong for my taste. Next they poured their Cabernet Sauvignon from 2005; it was fruitier than what we usually taste in California and I really liked it. Finally they poured a mystery wine which our group had to guess what it was and where it came from. I bombed on the guessing game, but it turns out it was a Sandalford Riesling from 2002 which had aged well (unusual for a Riesling); it retained its fruity taste but finished with a hint of kerosene—not something one would normally like to drink, but it was good.

The riverboat landed at the Sandalford Winery and our group debarked—some staggered—for the tour. The winery is small compared to many we have visited in California, but it appears to be very state-of-the-art. I will not go into details, but it appears that they are careful with their use of water (important in drought-stricken Australia), and go to great length to get the right kind of barrels in which to age and flavour their vintages. Their barrel room contained many hundreds of French oak and American oak barrels which were obtained sometimes at great cost. At the end of the tour we were shown the oldest vines on the property, Almeria grapes planted in 1890 and still producing fruit after 119 years! These were table grapes, however; the oldest wine grapes on this property were planted in the 1970s, if I remember correctly. We were shown a movie that told us the history of this property. It was originally part of the land granted to the Engineer-Surveyor of this region of Western Australia. He planted grapes here and the family owned the property into the 1970s, producing wines from the 1940s on. The property was sold to international investors (who they were was never said) in the late 1970s, but was “rescued” in 1992 by its present owner, an Aussie. The wines produced here are quite good, and have won a degree of recognition, but still have a way to go to gain the degree of international fame that (for example) California wines enjoy.

Following the tour we were served a gourmet-quality luncheon with matched wines. A selection of canapés went well with their Verdelho, although I preferred the Riesling. I then had a wonderful, moist and tasty salmon from Tasmania, while Squeek had the chicken. A sampling of their late harvest Riesling topped the meal. After lunch we were introduced to their ports. I tasted a port taken directly from the barrel and it was good enough for me to buy a bottle. Then we were allowed to taste their rare (and expensive), 30-year old “Sandalera” port. It was GRAND! Our tour guide, Lisa, had earlier likened it to “Christmas Pudding,” and it was all of that; complex with a range of tastes and a powerful sweetness that many ports do not have. This port normally sells for $95 a bottle, but we were able to obtain 3 bottles for $150; we split this purchase with Doug and Alice from Newport Beach, “Seventh Deckers” whom we got to know on this tour.

Well fortified with fortified wines, we departed the very lovely Sandalford Winery aboard our small bus for the journey back to the ship. The drive through the Swan River countryside reminded Squeekie and I of Central California—hot, dry, lots of farming, and numerous eucalyptus trees. We drove through Perth, but too fast to really see much, although I was pleased when our bus was stopped at a grade crossing by two local trains which zoomed by, one outbound to Midland and the other inbound to Perth. After the trains passed us and we drove over the tracks, I was surprised to see that they were dual gauge—I think 3-foot 6-inch gauge and standard gauge, but I don’t have a reference book handy to check that for sure. I really haven’t gotten enough of trains on this visit to Australia!

After a mostly scenic drive on the southern side of the Swan River between Perth and Fremantle, our bus spent some time touring through historic downtown Fremantle. Squeekie and I decided that we wanted to walk through this town’s historic district, so when the bus dropped us off at the ship pier, Squeekie took our purchases on board and brought back our walking shoes so we could tour the town. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. We walked over the railway branch line, getting wonderful shots of the local passenger train as we did so, and then walked along Beach Street to the railway station, which was a lovely construction dating from the Edwardian era. (A footnote—passenger service between Fremantle and Perth was discontinued in September 1979, but was restored in July 1982. It was very heavily used we could see by the frequency of trains and the number of passengers.)

Then we went into the heart of Fremantle’s tourist district only to discover that the town quite literally rolls up its sidewalks at 5:30 pm! Squeekie wanted to shop for a few last minute Aussie goodies, but found to her horror that the stores all closed rather abruptly. She was able to go into two stores, and I was able to hit one bookstore, but we did nothing to help the economy of Western Australia here—although we had done our part back at the Sandalford Winery earlier in the day! We spent some additional time on walkabout photographing some of the historic old buildings in town, many of which have been preserved and restored. They mostly date from the period 1890-1910, when Western Australia enjoyed an economic boom thanks to the discovery of gold. Still, the lack of shopping brought some disappointment to us, and we returned to the Rotterdam by 6pm.

We had no desire for dinner aboard ship this evening. We went to the early show in the Queen’s Lounge where a folk-song group called the “Windjammers” sang sea shanties. This historic and interesting group was composed of 3 Brits and 1 Swede, all of whom had migrated to Australia many years ago. After that we went to bed.


Day Thirty-two (Friday, February 20, 2009)-- We are sad today because we are leaving Australia behind. We have enjoyed our visit here, but it has gone by too quickly. I saw trains and trams, and Squeekie got to climb the Sydney Bridge, but I didn’t get my transcontinental train trip and Squeek didn’t get to cuddle with koalas, nor did she get to see a Tasmanian Devil. So there is no doubt in my mind that we will return here someday—hopefully sooner rather than later.

The Rotterdam’s departure from the port of Fremantle was quite spectacular. The gangway was removed at 9am and after being untied from the dock our mighty ship literally spun on a dime in the middle of the Swan River harbour, turning 180 degrees so that it could head out to sea. As we left the harbour, we had to thread our way through over a dozen cargo ships at anchor offshore, waiting to land at Fremantle’s other port to load raw material resources. Captain Olav said that the economic downturn has meant that China is ordering less raw materials at present, and thus fewer ships are calling at Fremantle (Australia’s busiest port for raw materials) to load materials, which also means that the mining industry in Western Australia is slowing down as well. Iron ore, nickel, and bauxite all are mined in Western Australia.

So now, as I write this, we are sailing north along the West Coast of Australia, which we can see in the distance, sad to be leaving this fascinating country. I am using this at sea day to catch up on my blog writing and photo sorting. G’day, mate!