westward bound, part 1

Malc I headed off to Perth for the Easter break. The National Kendo Championship was in Perth this year and it was my last chance to compete with the ACT team. Also, our very good friend from our Canberra days, Margaret, has moved to Perth. It was a great opportunity to catch up with her and Scott.

We arrived in Perth Tuesday night and were picked up at the airport by Margaret and Scott and then we headed off to their new house. After some quick catching up, we called it a night as Margaret and Scott had to work the next day.

We spent our first day checking out the CBD, mainly walking along the shopping areas. We then headed off to the Barrack Street jetty to catch a river cruise along the Swan River. The cruise ended in Fremantle where we headed off to do the no. 1 item on Malc's to-do-in-Perth list . . . to have coffee in one of the cafes along Fremantle's cappucino strip.

The cafe we chose was Gino's Cafe (1 South Terrace, Fremantle WA phone 08 9336 1464). Since it was lunch time, we decided to order food first. I had fettucine carbonara and Malc had blue cheese gnocci. The pasta was not bad at all, and the surprisingly, the fettucine sauce was not made with cream but raw eggs mixed in with steaming pasta . . . just like the traditional carbonara recipe an Italian classmate gave me some years ago.

And then, the awaited moment, Malc's coffee experience. Malc had his usual flat white and I had my hot chocolate. After enjoying our drinks we walked around Fremantle and went to the tourist kiosk to check up other places to visit. We decided to head off to the former Fremantle Goal and joined the tour. It was quite informative, and our guide was very knowledgeable.

Next stop was the Fremantle Chocolate Factory (312 South Terrace, South Fremantle WA phone 08 9335 5529). The shop was in a converted petrol station and was fully stocked with Easter-related chocolates. After careful scrutiny, Malc & I selected our goodies.

We then headed back to the city to pick up our rental car for our adventures the next day.