Monday 12th December 2022
In the morning, we set off for Perth Mint. The entrance fee is $22 (about £12) and includes a guided tour of the Mint. It was an interesting tour, and you get to see a $1 million dollar coin (made from a ton of gold!) as well as several large gold nuggets.
At the end of the tour, the guide demonstrated how gold is poured into ingots (although in this case, being close to Christmas, the ingot was a giant star). It was a very impressive demonstration, and you could literally feel the heat from the furnace. The molten gold itself looked like red glowing cream. It was also surprising how quickly it cooled. After pouring the gold, the guide submerged the ingot in cold water and only about a minute later was able to handle the gold star with his bare hands.
We ate lunch at The Mint Asian –
Noodle & Rice, which is just around the corner from the Perth Mint. We ordered some prawn gyoza to share, then I had a Thai green fish curry and Pete went for the beef Rendang. The food was delicious, and good value. Our bill came to $42, or about £23.
Noodle & Rice
After lunch we made use of the free CAT buses to get to the Matagarup Bridge, which is on the edge of Gloucester Park racecourse. You can pay to climb up the bridge and zip line back down, but it’s about $150 per person so we didn’t bother. The bridge is quite impressive to just look at, and there are lovely views over the river.
On our way back towards town, we stopped off at a small supermarket for water. They had an ice cream fridge, where we discovered a new variety of banana ice cream! Pete was very happy, and I was quite pleased with the choc hazelnut ice cream tub.
We soon reached Langley Park, and sat on a bench for a while to relax and admire the view. The park is right on the riverfront and very peaceful.
We walked through Langley Park until we reached Elizabeth Quay. We decided to stop for a cocktail at The Lucky Shag. We sat at a table overlooking the harbour, so it was a very pleasant way to while away an hour or so.
Just set back from the water on Elizabeth Quay is The Bell Tower. Apparently twelve of the bells within the tower are historic bells that originate from the St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square in London. You can pay to visit the Bell Tower and climb to the Level 6 Observation Deck, however it wasn’t open when we went past.
We headed towards the central shopping district and walked through the London Court arcade. It’s a very quaint and olde worlde little shopping street, which is quite pretty and photogenic.
We stopped for another cocktail and snack at Foxtrot Unicorn, a cocktail bar with very high google ratings. It felt slightly wrong going into a basement when it was still so sunny outside, but the candle lit bar had a lovely, romantic ambiance. The cocktails were excellent, but the cheese jaffle (Aussie term for cheese toastie) was tasty but probably not worth the $13 price tag.
Once we’d finished our cocktails, we went to Woolworths supermarket to pick up a few groceries. Back at our studio flat, we cooked some steak wraps which we enjoyed on the balcony with a glass of red wine. A nice end to a lovely relaxing day in Perth!
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 