Swan Valley - now an ugly duckling...
The Swan Valley area just on the outskirts of the city of Perth sounds like a lovely place to spend a couple of days relaxing. According to tourist brochures and maps there are wineries and galleries to explore. I found the definition of gallery to be very loose. Included in 'gallery' were regular plant nurseries whose only 'art' was in the plain old terracotta pots they were selling. Of the galleries marked on the map I would say that only about one quarter could actually be called galleries. The countryside around the area is not even pleasant. In fact Perth seems to have crept up and is slowly engulfing the region. The main section of the swan valley is just one or two streets away from housing estates. We went to the swan valley as an end to our wonderful holiday in Perth and the South west. I was extremely disappointed. It may be just that I had spent time in Margaret River and...
