We arrived in Perth, Western Australia on Tuesday 16th August, after Etihad Airways had kindly transported our bike and baggage on time and free of additional charges 🙂 Susan is kind of talking to me though I still suspect she holds a grudge for not flying business class. As I keep saying to her this is no trip for softies. As we picked up the bike from the outsized luggage I said thanks to the baggage handler. ‘No worries mate’ he replied. Yes indeed, we were in Australia!

We really didn’t do much for the next few days. It takes time to acclimatise to the local beer and I didn’t want to rush it. They even sell low carb beer on draught which is ideal for my everlasting diet though I haven’t managed to gauge whether real men drink it. I’m not saying I’m a real man but I aspire to be one and Australia is surely the country to pick up a few tips.  So my research goes on and Susan even allowed us to visit ‘The Lucky Shag’ bar down by Elizabeth Quay in Perth. It wasn’t that lucky – beer costs £8 a pint!  Yes the cost of living in Perth is appreciably higher than the UK. In general I would say food and drink is easily 25% more expensive.

By Friday we were ready to cycle and we made our way to Fremantle on the coast. It’s still the Australian winter and the weather is pretty mixed. So naturally on our first cycle it rained part of the day.  Nevertheless, we made it to Bathers Beach and took the requisite starting photo.

We then cycled the first 25km of our journey back to our hotel in the city centre.  25 done, about 4,975 to go.

We did, however, stop for a fish and chip lunch at Cicerello’s on fisherman’s wharf. No haddock or cod here. It was either hoki and chips or snapper and chips. We are not in Scotland anymore.

As we left Cicerello’s Susan pointed to the big yellow statue outside. ‘Is it just me or is that statue rude?’

‘I think it’s just you, Susan’

Welcome to Australia.

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