Saturday 14th April 2012 ...Perth

Today we went for a drive to Perth, I have never been to Perth  so it was all new to me. John has been here before.

Awesome place ...beautiful waterways and the Swan River winds around the city.

With the city's location right on the river banks it makes it one of the most beautiful cities in the world. ( Next to Sydney of course )

I was taken back by the beautiful manicured lawns on the foreshore..it all makes it a postcard perfect setting. Of course the weather added to it.. just a perfect autumn day with beautiful blue skies.

Free buses gets you around the city, and they also have a railway line that goes down the centre of the road..

As we walked around town we heard the sound of beautiful church bells and they were coming from "The Bell Tower" The towering glass spire of The Bell Tower is located where Perth meets the Swan River at Barrack Square.

We decided to go up and have a look, taking the lift of course as there were 132 steps to the top. The Bell Tower is one of the largest musical instruments on earth and was custom built to house the historically significant bells of Saint Martin in the Fields Church, which was the parish church of Buckingham Palace in Trafalgar Square, London. These bells date back to before the 14th century!

It is one of Western Australia's most unique attractions, It offers  fascinating displays on these famous bells and the ancient art of bell ringing, as well as stunning 360 degree views of Perth city skyline and the Swan River from the sixth floor open air observation deck, which John went out on ... I didn't of course

 It is the only place in the world where you can view bell ringing in action or where you can even have a go at bell ringing yourself in one of their interactive demonstrations. Which to our disappointment was not happening at the time we went up. Its also a very popular place to exchange your wedding vows.

The Upton Grey Bell is the oldest bell in Australia it was cast over 450 years ago in approximately 1550, was once one of four that rang out from the tower of the parish church at Upton Grey in Hampshire, England



You can see the old timber headstock bearing the carved date of 1763. 


The bell weighs 459 kg.


On the way back we followed the coast road where the beaches stretch all down the coastline..

We finished off the day by hopping on the scooter and going back into the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour again where we had a serve of the famous local fish and chips.


The harbour is a fully operational fishing port, which means there’s always fresh fish on offer – a fresh seafood market sells direct to the public. 


The harbour has an interesting history – starting life in the early 1900s as a single jetty and fish market. 

With the staging of the America’s Cup yacht race off Fremantle in 1987 the harbour underwent a massive facelift.

Today, it remains a working port and lively entertainment and dining hub. 

Later we checked out one of the very popular spots called "Little Creatures" it was packed with people... I did a little research on how it came about...here is the history..

The Brewery

Starting life sometime around the "turn of the century", Little Creatures Brewing was born out of the love of great beer shared by some friends that had all worked together in breweries at some time or other in the past.

Taking the shell of an old boat yard on the water in Fremantle (which had just been given up as a crocodile farm!) a modest brew house and packaging line was designed and built from scratch. Putting the collective ideas of the founders together, the brewery was designed with ales in mind and introduced a number of cutting edge and innovative technologies that would help make a beer unique to the taste buds of Australian drinkers.

A main feature of the brew house design was the introduction of a "hop back", basically something like a giant tea bag that would enable the infusion of all the goodness of whole hop flowers into the beer - a process rarely ever seen in Australian brewing.

After a heap of trials and experimentations and a little relief, Little Creatures Pale Ale was created and proudly presented to the Australian market just in time for the summer of 2000 / 2001.

It was fair to say that we were doing things a little differently in the early days (and we like to think that we still are) with a new beer style in a new brewery but what was also different, is that just like a winery, we wanted the public to come and visit and experience the brewery.

The old crocodile farm perfectly lent itself to open up all the workings of the brewery and put it on show to visitors - we even had enough room to throw in a pizza oven and kitchen!

Now a fair bit of time has past since those intrepid early days and thankfully, people from around the county have joined our love and passion for what we do which has enabled us to grow and develop over the years.

With our growth also came the realisation that our original brew house and packaging line weren't going to make it with us into the future and in 2008 a much bigger (and maybe a little less modest) brew house facility was commissioned. Keeping the same philosophies and belief as when we started the new brewery takes things to a whole new level.

 So interesting .. you get a beer straight from the Vats, it just looks like a brewery where they have put an eatery in the middle of it... your surrounded by the vats and it's all on the water front.