Australia here we come!

2/8/12

Perth was the venue again today. We caught the train to Perth and a free bus to the ferry terminal. Our train ticket allowed us to use the ferry for free as such. We sailed across the Swan River to South Perth and waited for the ferry to leave and sailed back to the City Centre. Close to the ferry jetty is the Bell Tower so we went in for a look.

The Bell Tower was built as a tourist attraction and houses original bells, which are hundreds of years old, from St Martins-in-the-field church in England. The bells were given to the people of WA to commemorate the bi-centennial in 1988. Mary-Anne and I caught the lift to the top viewing floor and Karen walked up the steps. The viewing platform provides a 360 degree view of Perth and is very scary if you don't like heights. We went to the fourth floor and viewed the old bells in the belfry. Every day at 12 midday volunteer bell ringers come and pull on the ropes that sound the bells, and they do it for 45 minutes. They apparently play tunes but all I could hear was loud noise. Mary-Anne told me I had no class as she could pick the change in notes but not the tunes. Goody for her!!!!!!!!!

Then we caught the free bus to the Perth Mint and took part in a guided tour which explained the origins of the mint and the role it played since it was established in 1899. We walked through the vaults and saw gold bars and gold ornaments. We even got to pick up a gold bar that was worth $200,000. Then we were given a display of gold pouring and saw another gold bar come to life worth $300,000. I wish I had brought my metal detector as we have travelled through many areas where gold has been found.

With gold fever overcoming us we caught the train back to Fremantle and began digging in the ground near the caravans in the hope of finding some gold before tea.