Just returned from an enjoyable but exhausting day around Perth. I have to say it's a very cosmopolitan city, extremely clean, with a totally free bus service ( 4 routes and an air conditioned bus every 5 minutes on each route) and free Wi Fi throughout the city....
We began with a visit to the Perth Mint which was formed in 1899 as a result of the gold rush in WA at the time....apparently gold at that time was to be found just lying in dried up river beds. The only downside was that it was 600 km inland with no water but somehow the prospectors survived and grew rich. Even today huge nuggets can be found...One of 40kg was discovered in 2000 by someone with a metal detector and sold for over a million dollars.
We saw the largest gold coin in the world there too....weighing one ton and worth 50 million dollars! They still mint gold there to this day.
Then we took a bus to King's Park which is on a hill overlooking the city. It is the largest in-city park in the world over 400 hectares ( whatever that is but it's vast and bigger than Central Park) We spent a few hours walking round (slowly) with lots of stops for water and ice cream. The views were stunning.
Early start tomorrow as we heading down the coast for two days at a resort in Margaret River....A wine growing region....fantastic! Also great surf beaches so will have a dip in the sea though Nik keeps reminding me that there have been more than a few shark attacks recently. ........
We began with a visit to the Perth Mint which was formed in 1899 as a result of the gold rush in WA at the time....apparently gold at that time was to be found just lying in dried up river beds. The only downside was that it was 600 km inland with no water but somehow the prospectors survived and grew rich. Even today huge nuggets can be found...One of 40kg was discovered in 2000 by someone with a metal detector and sold for over a million dollars.
We saw the largest gold coin in the world there too....weighing one ton and worth 50 million dollars! They still mint gold there to this day.
Then we took a bus to King's Park which is on a hill overlooking the city. It is the largest in-city park in the world over 400 hectares ( whatever that is but it's vast and bigger than Central Park) We spent a few hours walking round (slowly) with lots of stops for water and ice cream. The views were stunning.
Early start tomorrow as we heading down the coast for two days at a resort in Margaret River....A wine growing region....fantastic! Also great surf beaches so will have a dip in the sea though Nik keeps reminding me that there have been more than a few shark attacks recently. ........
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