Sunday 27th April

Thunderstorms were forecast for today and we planned to go to King’s Park and Botanic Garden, but as we’re now intrepid travellers not fazed by the vagaries of the weather, we went anyway! We did take our waterproofs though….. Rather than walk all the way – it’s rather a long way, like on the other side of Perth – we caught the free bus, the Blue Cat. We had a really cheerful driver, Spanish from Valencia! who greeted everyone with gusto and wished them all a good day when they got off. When Tom told him where we were going, he showed us where the steps were up to the Park and told us there were 120 steps to the top – HE LIED! There are 241 because someone who isn’t far away from me as I write this counted them! As we turned the corner to start up the steps, we saw a young man run down , then do push-ups BEFORE he started running back up. The base of the steps has the inevitable gum tree, with some of the biggest tree roots we’ve ever seen. It must be THE place to do your exercise as several people passed us going up and down as we wheezed our way up, stopping regularly to have a breather. One lady heard Tom saying how many steps there were as she was turning to go down for the second time – she had obviously never counted them. The steps are called Jacob’s Ladder and lead to the edge of the Park, which is huge – over 1000 acres all told, although much of it is bush – and 62m above sea level. It’s where the War Memorial is and where the 40,000 attended the dawn service on Anzac Day. The grounds are immaculate and everywhere is so green, a fact we’ve noticed since coming here. Compared to nearly all the other parts of Australia we’ve visited, Perth is definitely the greenest. All the parks and flowerbeds are kept watered by microbore systems – and there are loads of green areas.

The views over the city from the Park are wonderful, even though today was quite overcast with occasional showers, although the thunderstorms didn’t materialise I’m glad to say. There are different memorials scattered around – including one to the victims of the Bali bombing, and the Jewish War memorial. Two of the Avenues – May and Lovekin – are also named Honour Avenue. They have trees planted along both sides each with the name of a casualty from Western Australia of WWI. There is a large area devoted to women and the contribution they have made to the development of Australia. The whole area has particular meaning for the indigenous peoples and there are plaques with historical details scattered throughout. There is also an Aboriginal Art Gallery, and in Aspects, the retail outlet, many local artists of different crafts have their wares on show. There is some absolutely amazing glassware but the piece I liked the most was $7,500 – so I won’t be bringing it home!

Lotterywest has helped finance a Heritage Walkway through the Park. It has a raised section with a pierced metal floor and glass sides – and I walked over it with only one brief heartstopping moment when I looked over the edge and found that, not only did the bridge I was standing on go up in an arch, but the ground beneath fell away into a ravine - so I was very high!! and the bridge bounced!! Even from that view, I hadn’t realised quite how high it was, until we saw it from below! There’s so much to see in the Park and is an obviously popular place for families to gather as well as exercise fanatics running round and others like us just out to see Perth from on high and visit the memorials. It was quite cool and the rain kept threatening but we only had a few drops every now and again. It was a lovely relaxing afternoon. The café served good coffee and we had sandwiches, NOT stickies this time. We spent several hours there, then wandered downhill into the city. Sundays are very busy with most of the shops open and certainly the cafes and restaurants. Good old Woollies was doing a roaring trade so we collected our fodder for the next 2 evenings and joined the queue. Having filled our rucksacks with hot chicken and salad stuff, we decided to get the free bus part way home as our feet and legs had had enough for the day. It still left about 800m to walk up to the motel, getting slower and slower on the last little stretch, which is the most uphill part.

We got back at about 6 o’clock, time for tea, filled in the blog so far and Tom processed the pics. While he was doing that, I was watching a programme called “60 minutes”. It’s actually only on for 30 mins (Aussie logic?) but is a very good current affairs programme. With Anzac Day only just past, part of it was interviewing a group of 12th year students who had been doing a project. They went to their local War Memorial and each chose a name from the roll of honour. They then had to research the history of this person, finding out as much as possible, interviewing family members, etc. Then they flew to Europe and went on a tour of the battlefields where these young men had lost their lives, finding the cemeteries where they are buried and locating the grave of their individual digger. You could see how affected they all were by the experience and it goes some way to explaining why the Anzac spirit is kept alive through the generations here. I wonder if we do the same sort of thing in UK?

And after that, a nice chicken salad, fresh rolls and a glass or two of wine, CSI on TV and off to bed. Last entry from here tomorrow then it’s goodbye Perth and Australia. G’night for now.