Black Swans

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Perth is a long way from anywhere and has a slightly isolated appeal. However the air is crystal clear, there are blue skies, sunshine and a wonderful coastline plus many places to visit in South West Australia. The CBD is situated on one side of the Swan River and there are very pleasant riverside walks on the other side with good views of the city skyline. We spent many hours walking along the river enjoying the parkland and river scenes.

We visited Elizabeth Quay and pottered around the newly developed area near the Perth Bell Tower. We went to a superb exhibition (courtesy of the British Museum) at the Art Gallery. This described the history of the world by looking at 100 historic objects.

Perth Mint was also worth a visit. This opened I 1899 to refine gold from Australian gold fields. The highlight was watching a gold pour in the melting house.

Perth Zoo filled another day in our itinerary and there was plenty of shade to see the many animals and birdlife.

Freemantle is just a short rail journey from central Perth and has some excellent old colonial buildings . The Shipwreck museum hasd good displays of goods from the Dutch East Indies company whose ships made many voyages to the area en route to Jakarta. The story of the Batavia a ship wrecked on its first voyage is fascinating and there is a large part of the reconstructed ships hull on display.

Freemantle prison is a world heritage site. It was built in 1855 by convicts. The prison tours are great. We went on the Doing Time and Great Escape tours. The gallows room has a very distinctive atmosphere and is not for the faint hearted!

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