Wandering Around Perth

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Perth is a great city just to wander and that is what I did today. I had already done the things I most wanted to do here, so today was a free day and I spent it looking around places I had not yet been - and returning to a few places I liked the first time. I walked down to the waterfront through the gardens around the Western Australia Supreme Court building. There is a fair amount of bronze sculpture around downtown Perth and most of it is of famous white men. When I saw these kangaroos at the entrance to the gardens, they immediately became my favorite bit of sculpture. (See photos) There was a Fun Run & Walk going on down by the water and it reminded me of the bike race in Santiago except this one was much less serious and lasted only couple of hours. (See photo) I walked beside the river for a ways, then turned inland and caught the free bus service to the Perth Cultural Centre. I wanted to look through the art museum again and besides it is air conditioned in there! I photographed one or two pieces that I particularly like and then picked up the free bus again. I traveled a bit farther out to a little park that looked appealing on the map. Indeed it was. It takes up about half of a city block and is lined with Moreton Bay Fig trees. I settled into a seat in a cafe nearby with a view of one of the fig trees. (See photo) Then I walked through the park and through the trendy Northbridge area of town. I ended up back at the art museum cafe where I had a veggie burger for lunch. After that I wandered around the pedestrian malls, especially the pedestrianized portion of Hay Street which is my favorite because even the outdoor portions are smoke-free. There is a sort of "fountain plaza" off the Murray Street Mall and on a hot day like today, the little kids loved it. (See photo) So that is about it from Perth and, indeed, from Australia. Tomorrow is a travel day, but I expect to have at least a little something to write about by the end of the day.

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