Sun, surf, sand. That is the image I get when I think of Mandurah. I grew up further down the coast and we passed through Mandurah regularly en route to Perth. Lots of beach shacks for summer holidays and also retirees, often farmers from inland. Mandurah was particularly famous for it’s crabs. There was also a fishing industry and not much else.
That has all changed! Mandurah, about 80 km from Perth, is a huge, sprawling area of housing estates, apartments, beaches, cafes and restaurants and shops, the newest a redevelopment of the shopping centre. It is now very big and there’s so many shops. We also enjoyed eating lunch at the shopping centre.
The two photographs above show where the Dawesville Channel, also known as The Cut, meets the Indian Ocean. This man made channel connecting the Peel-Harvey Inlet to the Ocean was designed to regularly flush clean the Estuary which was marred by the build up algae and has been very successful.
This is the view from our hotel room. It was mesmerizing, day and night. To the left is a cinema, a theater, then some restaurants. It’s a lovely walk around the bay, when it’s not raining.
Our balcony with more of the great view. Just sat and watched the Canal and Dolphin Cruise boats, people walking around the inlet and the birds. Calm and restful.
Quite luscious smelling toiletries in a good sized bathroom.
Comfortable reading corner. Our room was large, comfortable and had a great view. When we checked in the lady told us that as we were only staying two nights they wouldn’t service the room. I asked what this meant and she offered to let housekeeping know we’d like the bed to be made and it was, but I expect that at a hotel!
These artificially created canals with their luxurious homes and apartments with their own moorings have also attracted many dolphins.
Canals joined by walkways. These bridges reminded me of Venice.
More canals. It is very easy to walk around this lovely area.
The traffic bridge was illuminated at night with blue lights morphing into violet and back to blue. Very pretty, especially with headlights moving across it.
Our new favourite, a shared tasting plate.
Enjoyed some street art along the foreshore.
Daybreak on our last morning in Mandurah. Lovely clear day, no rain and much warmer. We are experiencing a very wet winter, so good for the environment, but I don’t have appropriate clothes to be outdoors in rain, wind and hail so I’ve been very cold and wet, sometimes. It has been a welcome change from our usual mild winters.
Fruit from the buffet.
Yesterday this table was laden with the buffet breakfast, today a leaf in a vase. We enjoyed our breakfasts at The Sebel which were part buffet complimented by ordering from the cooked menu. First morning this worked well, overseen by the waitress, but the second morning was different as they are trialing a new system. It didn’t work well!
Today is Vanilla Custard Day. Vanilla Custard is thought to originate in Ancient Rome and is still popular, unlike the fish and meat custards popular in the Middle Ages.