Tuesday...getting to know the City

So, first things first we planned to do a walking tour today to familiarise ourselves with the city of Perth.  Unfortunately, we had a slightly broken nights sleep last night due to our new room mates arriving late in from a delayed flight from South Korea at 1:30am in the morning.  Not to worry though as they were quiet, so back to sleep okay and the polite 'hello's' in the morning; they were a newly married couple (3 days to be precise...not exactly the most romantic honeymoon!).

After breakfast we headed out for a walking tour of the city and started at the Post Office.  The tour took us past the Salvation Army headquarters, and the old Fire Station, opened in 1901 and housing an impressive wagon from the 20s.  The Perth mint, Australia's oldest operating mint (1899) was also another impressive building - sadly the huge cover charge for tours didn't take us inside to view the gold being poured.

Onwards though as Ben wanted to visit the WACA (or to people unfamiliar with cricket the Western Australian Cricket Association); a ground that was on a grand scale huge...with towering floodlights and imposing terraces we tried our best to get a sneaky peak inside.  The tour will have to wait until we get to the MCG (apparently Australia's version of Lords!).

Perth sits nestled on the banks of the Black Swan River, so we decided to take a pleasant walk along its peaceful banks (no black swans spotted!).  As we headed back into the Central Business district we passed a succession of colonial buildings all dating from the turn of the century, including the supreme court, government house, the deanery, and London Court (right) a comic interpretation of a Tudor London courtyard with shops and apartments.

As we headed back to the hostel for a late lunch and a rest the day was heating up - with no humidity here and a pleasant breeze it was a huge difference from the hot and humid Singapore.  Ben found the 'new' icecream brand highly amusing (see below).

This evening we took a stroll around Northbridge, the area famed for it's nightlife, saldy on a Tuesday it seemed like a sleepy village rather than a bustling town, so we headed back to the hostel to cook dinner.