Perth

The major must do for the day was to get the car in for a service. Leaving us at the mercy of public transport, a day in Perth city seemed a good option. A bus took us to the train station which then had us in central Perth in just a few minutes. Very smooth indeed.

The train station lands you right in the shopping centre of town, with a network of very nicely laid out malls. We made our way to travel and tourist information, before a quick stop in the GPO for a 1S handwriting assignment.

One CBD shopping experience soon becomes pretty much like any other, so after a brief interlude of some Macca’s wifi for some email, we headed towards the river.

Along the way we ran into a very charming shopping arcade. Designed in Tudor style, they had very much captured the look and feel of a Tudor city, such as you might find in York. They had, however, chosen to make the verticals remain vertical, which did more damage to the authenticity than the charm.

The shops in this arcade were also not your usual. Each with a tiny area, the emphasis was very much on presentation. There was a crystal shop, a chocolate shop, a boiled sweets store, souvenirs (but not tacky), an Ugg sheepskin shop, aboriginal art and various other boutique vendors. A very peaceful interlude indeed, except for the rude woman in the chocolate shop who really didn’t deserve the money we gave her.

From there it was down to the belltower on the waterfront to hear the midday chime, before hopping on one of the three free CBD buses to head in the direction of Kings Park and the Gardens. Unfortunately those buses are more about CBD workers than tourists, so we didn’t realise that the hospital stop next to Kings Park was in fact about 250 steps below the park, and not in a very handy location. Never mind, the exercise did us good, even though the weather was not welcome.

Kings Park is huge. In the rain and with poor maps, and poor signage in the direction we arrived, we walked for nearly an hour before finding some lunch. On our second attempt a charming gardens worker pointed us in the right direction.

The Botanic Gardens, while huge, occupy only a small portion of King’s Park, but in a stunning location overlooking the junction of the Canning and Swan Rivers and the huge expanse of water made famous by bored cameramen at the WACA. Australian natives dominate the collection, and it was good to revisit the huge numbers of plants we have seen around the state already. The best collection of kangaroo paw and everlasting daisies of the trip so far though. It is also good to be into some tall tree country, with many specimens planted as memorials to soldiers from the Great War.

With the weather closing in and energy levels sapped, it was time for the bus-train-bus trip back to home south of Fremantle. All will sleep well tonight.