Australia Day 3 – Art, Culture, and history in the museums of Perth

Sunday 11th December 2022

Our original plan for today was to visit the Swan Settlers market (a weekend only food market), then visit a couple of nearby wineries. However when we checked the transport today, we realised the buses to that part of town are practically non existent on Sundays (there was one at 9am which we wouldn’t get to in time, or one at 4pm and that was it!)

So we needed to quickly come up with a new plan. Like yesterday, we decided to cook breakfast (this time fried eggs on toast), which we ate on the balcony while deciding what to do.

Breakfast of fried eggs on toast, which we enjoyed on our balcony

We decided to walk to the Perth Cultural Centre, where there are quite a few museums. The first museum we entered was the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA). It’s quite a small museum with just two exhibitions, but is free to enter. I wasn’t totally impressed by the two artists exhibiting, but it was still pleasant to walk around the galleries.

Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) is a very small museum, with just two short exhibitions when we visited

We then crossed the square to the WA Museum Boola Bardip. This museum has a paid entry fee of $15 (about £8), but when we visited buying a ticket gives you free membership so you can return as many times as you like within a year. I doubt we’ll take advantage of this as we’re only here another week, but it’s nice to have the option.

The WA Museum Boola Bardip is vast, and spread over several floors. It covers the entire history of Western Australia, from geological, social, and cultural aspects. The various exhibits are fascinating and very engaging, it’s easy to spend several hours at this museum and I’d highly recommend visiting.

The WA Museum Boola Bardip in Perth, Western Australia, is a huge museum, and the exhibits are very informative and engaging — The WA Museum Boola Bardip is a huge museum, and the exhibits are very informative and engaging

Just along from the WA Museum Boola Bardip is the The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA). This is much larger than PICA but also free to enter. The galleries are spread over three floors, and have an interesting mix of art, mainly contemporary. There’s also a rooftop bar, but we weren’t able to enter as it was closed for a private function when we visited.

The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) in Perth, WA, is free to enter and has a good range of exhibitions spread across three floors — The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is free to enter and has a good range of exhibitions spread across three floors

The museum closed at 5pm, and we just about had time to see everything. We then walked to Peasants Paradice for an early dinner. It’s a fusion style restaurant that does a range of small dishes and larger plates. We ordered three small dishes (polenta fries, oxtail curry puffs, and prawn toast), and one large plate (flank steak with chimi churi). The food was excellent, with a lot of flavour. Our favourite dish was definitely the prawn toast, it had a lot of prawn, a lot of sesame, and was the best prawn toast either of us had ever tasted. I also really enjoyed the oxtail curry puffs, the pastry was beautifully buttery, light, and flaky.

The very delicious and flavourful food at Peasants Paradice in Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia — The very delicious and flavourful food at Peasants Paradice

After dinner we walked in the direction of our hotel, stopping off at Tiara Dessert Cafe, where we shared a slice of Biscoff cake for dessert. It was a nice enough cake, though not exceptional.

Biscoff cake at Tiara Dessert Cafe, Perth, Western Australia — Biscoff cake at Tiara Dessert Cafe

Our hotel is very near Kings Park and Botanic Garden. There was still a little daylight remaining, so we decided to have a quick detour there. Right on the edge of a park is an absolutely gigantic tree, which I thought was pretty cool.

The huge tree on the edge of Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia — The huge tree on the edge of Kings Park

We walked to Jacob’s ladder, where there’s a fantastic view over the bay and city. The sun was just about to set, so the sky had a beautiful orange hue to it.