There is normally a reason that cruise ships don’t traverse the southern coast of Australia in the cooler months. That reason is the prevailing weather – cool, wet, windy and ‘wavy’. After all the next land mass to the south is Antarctica! I have described the ensuing 3 days at sea between Adelaide and Perth. 

The cruise ship ‘Cough’ has also started … just as well we brought masks with us!

For sea days, the entertainment team schedule a full and varied programme of quizzes, music and enrichment. Between Sydney and Perth, the enrichment lecturer was a Forensic Odontologist, who present some great talks about her ‘craft’ and case studies of some ‘mass murderers’ and ‘natural disasters’! Ok, yes it sounds dry, but it was fascinating and presented with humour – so a Forensic Odontologist is someone who identifies victims of crimes and disasters from bite marks and dental records. She is married to a Coroner, so just imagine the Dinner Party conversations!

It is easy to establish a world cruise ‘routine’; it is quite different from a short 1-2 week cruise. Much more emphasis is placed on enrichment and experiences – the ship being the ‘destination’, and less empasis on the ports. That doesn’t mean that the ports are forgotten, but having a mix of some port intensive days and then 3-7 sea days in between, means that you can ‘recover’ from an active day ashore, and be ‘fit and raring to go’ for the next port. This voyage encompasses many repeat port calls, more than 50%, but there is usually something new to discover in ports you have been to before. I am more likely to ‘free-wheel’ in a repeat port, and do a shore excursion in a new port.

The original itinerary was to do to Europe via north of Australia, the Sri Lanka, the Middle East, Suez Canal and Mediterranean before the half way point in Dover. The main reason the Suez Canal was built was to shorten the trade routes from Asia to Europe, saving an average of 10 days sailing by avoiding the Cape of Good Hope. The hostilities in the Middle East necessitated a rerouting of the voyage, so the voyage then goes via Cape Town. This meant a lot of ports were bypassed, but moreso they needed to compensate for those 10 extra days sailing, by having less ports and more sea days to meet the arrival into Dover on the same day. We have done the original route several times, BUT, this itinerary had a stop in Alexandria, Egypt; and I already had an excursion to the Pyramids earmarked. Plus we were going to Valeria, Malta, where friends of ours emigrated to via Cruise ship, 10 years ago. I understand the rescheduling of the ports but would have chosen different ones in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. I would have preferred Reunion to Mauritius, I would have loved a stop in Madagascar, and a second stop in South Africa – we missed this port due to winds the last time we cruised the Indian Ocean. We have to stop at Cape Town, as it is a major deep water port for restocking the ship with provisions and fuel. I would have preferred stopping in Senegal rather than Cape Verde, but from there -on, I am fine with the itinerary.

I have family in Cape Town, but have snubbed them on this occasion; they wouldn’t be happy to read this, but the cousin with whom I would be staying, is currently in Melbourne attending to her sister. I had funded and orchestrated this arrangement, so in Cape Town, I jumped at the chance to go to a Safari Game Lodge (Aquila Lodge) for an overnight stay with some game drives to hopefully see the ‘Big 5’.

Anyway, after the three sea days, we arrived in Fremantle, the port for Perth, in Western Australia. Armed with my latest shopping list from Ross, I made my way ashore to the Train Station. I was warned that the crew and other passengers would be stripping the shelves of Woolies, Coles and Chemist Warehouse (being the last home port) to stock up on snacks and Panadol! I bought a day ticket, and tried to find a train station next to a shopping centre with supermarket and Chemist Warehouse. Google maps ‘tried’ to help me, but I ended up going round in circles at Rockingham Shopping Centre, inside, through different car parkland pickup areas, before eventually stumbling across it.

Having armed myself with supplies, I returned by train to Elizabeth Quay, where Montgomery had a chance to pose for some photos in the City Centre. The waterfront in Perth on the Swan River has been extensively redeveloped in recent years with new bridges, walkways and cafes. On previous visits to Perth, we witnessed the Red Bull Air Race in the Swan River basin, with the city as a backdrop.

A little bit about Perth: 

Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling in 1829 as the administrative centre of the Swan River Colony. The city is situated on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 48,000 years. Perth was named after the city of Perth in Scotland; despite initially being established as a free settlement, the colony accepted transported convicts from 1850 to supply labour for public works and construction. Perth was proclaimed as a city by Queen Victoria in 1856.

There is a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth, and it has been documented as the world's most isolated major city, being closer to Indonesia than to Sydney. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which its central business district and port of Fremantle are situated.

A notable addition to the waterfront redevelopment are the Swan Bells, a set of 18 bells hanging in a specially built 82.5-metre copper and glass campanile. They take their name from the Swan River; twelve of the set are historic bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square in London (Donated to the state as part of the 1988 Bicentenial) and the remaining six were cast in recent times by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. 

Much of the Central area of Perth constitutes offices and shopping malls and arcades. The most famous of which is London Court, a four-level mock Tudor open shopping arcade built in 1937 by wealthy gold financier Claude de Bernales for residential and commercial purposes. It received a National Trust of Australia classification in 1978. Architectural features include ornate entrances with large wrought-iron gates at each end. At the Hay Street end at the first storey level, a large clock influenced by the Liberty Clock In London, that chimes every quarter-hour, half-hour and on the hour. Four mechanised knights appear from a castle door and move in a semicircle each time the clock chimes as they apparently joust with each other. At the St Georges Terrace end, a window above another clock face depicts a mechanised miniature Saint George doing battle with the dragon.

The two interior ends include statues of Dick Whittington and his cat (north end) and Sir Walter Raleigh (south end), each in bastion towers and gazing down on the shoppers below. Other distinctive features include gargoyles, masks, shields, crests and wrought iron signs and brackets. Gabled roofs, weather cocks and lead lighting adds to the Tudor style. The arcade floor is laid with terracotta tiles.

Once back on board, I was keen to find out whether the “Port Runner” returned to the ship, after his extended stay on land. I haven’t heard yet, but you will be the ‘next’ to hear! We. Now have 7 days at sea before reaching Port Louis in Mauritius.