London Heathrow to Perth

This was a big transition day, northern hemisphere to southern and half way round the world, 9009 miles, 16hrs 15mins non-stop. A cruisy start to the day, awake at usual time, casual breakfast, 5 min walk to Paddington Station, 30 min on the TFL train to Heathrow Terminal for a departure 10 minutes after noon. Qantas absolutely on time as usual. At Heathrow it takes twenty minutes of taxiing before you get to actually take off.

We had booked this flight in trepidation as it is advertised as 16 hrs 45 mins long and would be the longest flight we had ever done. However it turned out to be pretty comfortable. This was preferable to say two flights of seven or eight hours with a two or three hour stopover between. We didn’t sleep, just watched heaps of very good movies: premieres, classics, award winners, European, Australian, Hitchcock, Marvel, Harry Potter etc. Michael Cain, James Stewart, Paul Newman, and wasn’t Grace Kelly absolutely beautiful and talented.

We had pre-booked a shuttle from Perth Airport to Freemantle, about a 45 minute drive. The company, Perth City Shuttles subcontracted the service to an Uber driver so we had a very comfortable and chatty ride in a Kia Suv for just the two of us. Dave had booked our accommodation and was to be sent a code 12 hours before arrival as the apartment is often unattended. They were an hour behind us arriving in Perth and had booked their own transport. On our arrival the apartment was ready and there was a concierge who accepted our creds and gave us swipe card and key so we could check in.

Now in Freemantle in a very spacious and modern serviced apartment sharing with Clare, Dave and grandson Andrew. It has three double bedrooms, two huge ensuites, another wc, full laundry, masses of storage, large kitchen/dining/ living area, a pool, gym, spa and parking. Our ensuite alone is bigger than our room and bathroom at the Shakespeare Hotel in London. And it is amazingly cheap for the five of us. We are here two nights before getting the ferry over to Rottnest Island.