Perth Mint, WA Museum Boola Bardip, Kings Park and Botanic Garden
After visiting a few places in West Australia, I finally got to Perth. The first place I visited in the city was the Perth Mint, where I was hoping to learn a bit about the gold rush in West Australia. After buying a ticket I got a coin to keep as a souvenir and was invited to have a little look around before the tour starts.
After waiting around for a few minutes outside the building the tour guide arrived and we could get started. The guide talked a little bit about the history of the Perth Mint building itself, as well as a general history of the gold rush.
With the introduction out of the way the little group made its way inside the building and into the gallery. The first item we gathered around was a giant gold coin with a kangaroo imprinted on it. According to our tour guide, it is the heaviest and most expensive coin ever made.
Along the walls there were some signs which provided more context and information about different aspects of gold and the gold rush, although I didn’t have much time to look at them during the tour itself. Our guide kept explaining more things as we moved on from the giant gold coin, and then he invited us to have a look around the rest of the gallery on our own, and I was wondering why the tour ended so soon. A few moments later I realized the tour wasn’t over yet, but rather our guide needed some time to prepare for a demonstration to show us how a gold bar is made. I might have missed him saying that.
When he was ready, the tour guide invited us to sit down in a viewing gallery which was designed to hold a bigger crowd, it might have been one of the weaker days for the tour. As we sat down, our guide talked a little bit about safety and then turned off some of the lights in the room. We were able to see him very clearly as he opened the furnace next to him, pulled out a bucket full of melted gold, poured it into a mold, flipped it out, and quickly dipped the hot gold bar into cold water. When he pulled it out of the water, we could see a shiny bar of gold. The whole process was very quick, and I was impressed with the result.
After that, the tour guide talked a little bit more about the refining process of gold and turning into bars, answered a few questions, and that was it.
After taking another, better look at the gallery, which was full of coins, tools, and other items, I made my way out of the building.
The next place I visited in Perth was the WA Museum Boola Bardip. As I didn’t plan on spending the whole day there, I followed the staff’s advice and made my way all the way up to the third floor of the museum.
I started my self-guided tour in the wildlife gallery, where the animals of Western Australia were on display. The different animals and their habitats were on display, and the signs provided a fair amount of details about them. While I received an audio guide before I started my tour, I found it confusing and quickly gave up on it. Other than the land and sea animals, part of the gallery was dedicated to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.
Going down to the second floor I found myself, once more, getting confused. The first gallery I walked into seemed to be about the history of the land itself, and the changes that it has been through over the course of history.
The second gallery, which was titled “Origin”, is where I felt things going completely over my head. I just couldn’t make sense of it, or understand what it is about, and I didn’t see many signs that could shed light on this matter.
As I got to the first floor, I headed into a gallery titled “Reflections”. That part seemed to be all about the people who made their way to Australia and chose to call it home, each for their own reasons, their own story to tell. There were also other stories, a reminder about the British colonization and some of the effects it had on Australia, both the land and the aboriginal people.
While there were more floors and galleries in the museum, I made my way back down to the entrance, returned the audio guide which I barely used, and left the museum.
Riding Perth’s free CAT bus, I quickly found myself in my last destination in Perth and West Australia- Kings Park and Botanic Garden. I sat down to rest and eat lunch, with a nice view of the Swan River.
Then it was time to have a look around. Not really sure where to go, I found a map and made my way to the beginning of the trail around the botanic garden, which appeared to be only a small section of the park. The sign near the entrance told me to prepare for some spectacular views of the Swan River and a multi-color garden full of plants from different regions. Hopeful yet cautious, I started to walk along the trail.
On my right, there were plants, bushes, and trees. On the left, there was a clear view of the river along with the more urban scenery. The view was nice, and on that Sunny day I would even say really nice, but it was not spectacular by any means. The plants, too, didn’t deliver on the promise of the sign. It was mainly shades of green, with a mix of brown and yellow. At a few points there was also a little bit of red, but it was faded, almost lifeless.
As I walked along the path enjoying the sun, the view of the river started to be obstructed by more and more trees. It was still fairly easy to see, so it wasn’t much of a big deal for me, but rather an inconvenience.
Every now and then there was a split in the road, and I was glad to see some signs there. I tried to follow the loop of the botanic garden, wondering if at any point I’ll see some nice, colorful flowers. At some point I got to a resting stop, and I sat there for a moment to look at the river.
I resumed my walk around the park, and I’m not sure exactly when or where it happened, but at some point I took the wrong turn and wandered off to another section of the park. As it was all pretty much the same shades of green, it took me a while to realize that. Instead of trying to make my way back to the garden, I just walked around this section of the park without knowing where it would lead me to.
At some point there was a bend in the road and I started making my way to the starting point of the trail. Along the way I saw a few birds, a little pond, and a structure called the “DNA Tower”. It might have been an observation tower at some point, but as I climbed up the helix shaped staircase and got all the way to the top, there wasn’t much I could see from there, as the view from all sides was obstructed by trees.
I went back down and continued on my way back to the bus stop. I was sure that at some point I’d come across a familiar path, one that I walked on earlier in the day, but it was all new to me. I’m not sure if I just misremembered things, but with a park that size it is certainly possible I walked on different paths the entire time.
With that, it was time to call it a day and say goodbye to Perth. Although not spectacular, the park was certainly a nice way to end this part of my adventure, and the bright weather just made the experience better.