A Day At The Zoo

We're still pretending we're tourists!

Yesterday we left home at 9.30 to take a leisurely walk to Perth Zoo, located in South Perth. It's a spectacular walk from our home as we need to walk through Kings Park where we noticed people claiming their piece of grass by leaving blankets and other items to come back later for picnics. Then down Jacobs Ladder which is well know as the steps for fitness, there were people of all shapes and sizes attempting to run/walk the stairs as many times as their bodies would allow. Then we crossed the Swan River over the Narrows Bridge and through the cafe strip of South Perth to the Zoo.

It's a very small zoo open every day (even Christmas Day) and hasn't missed a day since it opened in 1898. It's family friendly with beautiful gardens and while we were visiting the elephants, orangutan's and the cheetah were the only animals that seemed to be active, all the others were taking it very easy and resting.

We then visited the Windsor Hotel for a great pub lunch before heading home.

Swan River with the view of Perth City from South Perth

Picinic at the end of the day Kings Park

Playing Tourist

We've been living in Perth now 11 months and haven't visited the Perth tourist attractions that are on the agenda for most visitors, so we had a weekend of playing tourist.

Perth Mint is located in the centre of Perth CBD and was established in 1899 to refine the gold found in the eastern areas of Western Australia, it is the oldest operating mint in Australia.  Our experience of the mint was all the more richer having previously visited Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie where gold was first found in 1892.

It was then down to Fremantle to visit the Maritime Museum and the Fremantle Prison; the museum was interesting but the prison was very sobering and memorable in many ways.  The prison was built by convicts in the 1850's and was still operating as a prison until it was decommissioned in 1992. Prisoners spent 16 hours a day in their cells, which were very small, bare and primitive; prior to it being decommissioned there was no running water and only a bucket for a toilet in each cell, electricity was only installed in the 1980's.