I am starting to think that this may be our last trip to Western Australia – our third in 16 months. We do love it over here, attracted by the wonderful wines and wineries, the beautiful scenery and the chance to see our youngest son before he heads back to live in the UK early next month.

When we found out that our new apartment was delayed a few months, I was looking for ‘adventures’ to keep myself and Mick busy.

I have booked us a trip to New Caledonia in May, and I have a reunion with my four sisters booked for late April, but that left the month of March free.

Our dear friends and previous next door neighbours, Derek and Helen, have decided to head back to the UK to live later this year, and when they mentioned that they wanted to visit Western Australia before they said goodbye to Australia, I volunteered Mick’s and my services to show them (what we consider to be) the best parts of that state. And of course, it will involve wine.

The (almost) two weeks will include visits to places we have been to before, but there are also a few new locations we are going to explore together.

First stop after collecting our hire car in Perth was Fremantle – one of my favourite port cities in Australia. We only spent the one night here, staying on the waterfront in a very attractive serviced apartment.

I have borrowed these images from the accommodation’s website. We were upgraded from a 2 bedroom to a 3 bedroom apartment with a balcony over the water in front of the jetty.

First stop for Mick and Derek once we were settled into our accommodation was to Little Creatures Brewery, where they tried a couple of pints of the different beers.

Helen and I found them in the Great Hall – pretty much the only ones there, where we joined them for a local wine, before heading across the railway line and park to find a bar our son had told us about, in Henry Street.

If we hadn’t been looking for it, we definitely would have missed it.

We chose to ignore the sign at the door an entered this very small and dark bar, where we each tried one of the house speciality cocktails made for us a by an Irish character called Dommy. It was a great find.

After only one drink here, we headed to the restaurant Helen and I had selected – Bathers Beach House – located right on the beachfront, complete with yellow and white striped umbrellas and lounging chairs.

We hadn’t realised how hungry we were until we saw the menu. Mick and Derek decided tot share a seafood platter while Helen had fish and chips and I had mussels in a coconut chilli sauce, which did become quite messy, but I will save you the details.

We chose to dine inside and each of us was happy with our selection – it was amazing.

Our young French waitress, Carla, looked after us very well, even happy to chat to us with our poor and mostly-forgotten French.

She did make Mick’s day though, as she told him his pronunciation was very good, and I am afraid he took it a little too far when he got home and drew this cartoon for us.

Our walk back to our accommodation took us past some of the many sculptures decorating the city, and here Mick was really looking for somewhere to rest, while pretending to make us laugh. Both his ideas were successful.

It was not a late night for us; after factoring in the 2 hour time difference between Queensland and Western Australia, and the very early start, particularly for Derek and Helen who were up at 4.30am to make it to the airport in time (Mick and I had stayed in a hotel only 10 minutes from the airport), we still felt slightly ‘jet lagged’.

We did however enjoy a nightcap on our deck while the sun set.

We need to be up bright-eyed tomorrow as we have quite an agenda planned for the next few days.