Saturday 8th May - Perth

Another warm sunny day; we could start getting used to this weather.  We drove to Kings Park, which is apparently the largest city park in the world, consisting of 4 km2 of natural bushland, and is the perfect vantage point to appreciate the city and its location next to the Swan River.

We parked up near the war memorial and visitors’ centre, deciding to leave the botanic gardens and their 2000 native plant species until Monday, and walked down into the centre of Perth for a look about.

We followed a walking tour found in one of the free tourist pamphlets which pointed out the various parks, historic buildings, main land marks and sights.  

We ate our sandwiches down by the river near the Barrack Street jetty where boats depart for the Swan Valley, Fremantle, Rottnest Island  and over to Perth Zoo on the southern side of the river. SPOT We soon grew tired of the continuous ringing of the bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields church that are now housed in the modern Swan Bell Tower (we’re not sure why London gifted the bells to Perth, but they’re definitely making the most of them), and continued on our walk.  

Being a Saturday most of the centre of Perth was eerily quiet, with none of the city workers around, but we soon found people when we hit the shopping area around the Murray and Hay Street Malls.  The only shop to catch Anne’s eye was Tiffany’s on King’s Street,

and neither of us could quite believe our eyes when we stumbled upon the faux Ye London Court shopping arcade (actually built in the 1930s).

We climbed back up to Kings Park, which by this time (about 4pm) was busy with picnickers, families and couples enjoying the afternoon sun and taking in the view across Perth and the Swan River. SPOT We joined them until the sun disappeared behind the hill, then drove back to Fremantle in order to prepare dinner - a small token of thanks to Annie for putting us up for a few days.