Americano

= Espresso + water, which is a good summary of the weekend.

Not to be taken literally, I did not spend the whole weekend stoked on caffeine. What I was doing was a whirlwind tour of Perth amidst rain, accompanied by none other than my (ex-university) American friend Mike (more commonly known as Teal).

So, this blog is probably as touristy as I’m going to get living in Perth, as I attempted to show Mike as much of the city as one weekend would contain… but this is Perth and a weekend is pretty much all you need, so all good - Prepare yourselves this is a long blog

The city

Yes, so Mike arrived on Thursday from the States as the typical ‘Ozzie’ weather seemed to have departed on holiday itself, to be replaced by a climate from where mike hails from… rain, wind… and tornados, not even an exaggeration, there was a mini-typhoon happening in one part of Perth whilst we were in the airport. Bizarre.

Friday we began with the Perth Mint… not a local confectionary, but the gold variety; nuggets, melting and the largest coin in the world… amongst other things. Was interesting to find that the world’s 24 largest gold nuggets were found in Australia, the 2^nd largest of which was on display at the Mint (the 1^st is in a Las Vegas casino). We got to watch a melting/pouring/solidifying demo of gold and it was sure fascinating to observe (gold really is very shiny when ‘fresh’), lift a $250,000 bar (‘conveniently’ placed in a box with a hole just large enough for your hand) and look at an array of crafted gold items. Interesting fact no.2: if one were to solidify all the gold in the world together it would fit inside a 25m cube, Surprising hey!

mock miners campsite

After being dazzled by bullions, we visited the local Cathedrals (modern in architecture), Millennium bell tower, Swan River jetty, Council House (not the same meaning as the British understanding), Western Australia’s Premier’s (the person in charge of this region) house, the High Court, Barrack’s Arch (what remains of a barracks, the rest was knocked down to make way for the Perth highway, Parliament and King’s Park, which overlooks the city… all within walking distance of each other… yes Perth city centre really is shoe-box sized.

Futuristic bell tower

To cap of his first full day in Oz we got to see a couple of kangaroos, much to Mike’s delight. Local knowledge says that the best place to find this marsupial is a graveyard… strange I know, but Pinaroo Memorial Cemetery was a well-kept, spacious and (not surprisingly) quiet area with plenty of foliage, making it rather ideal for wildlife.

Saturday was spent in the seaside-town of Fremantle (locally known as Freo), 30 minutes south of the city (by train). As with all sea-side towns it has that generic laid back easy going - feel though it was a mush of historical French and English colonial architecture, as well as being the central shipping port for WA. As one does when one is in such an environment, we had fish and chips on the sea front but were somewhat startled when we heard gun fire, only to realise it was the 1 o’clock canon, an international occurrence (e.g. Royal Castle, Edinburgh) which used to inform people of the time when portable-time pieces were not as widely used.

Prior to this we did-time at the local prison… which was decommissioned 1991. I’d never been on a gaol tour so it was certainly interesting, though the lashing post and gallows were somewhat disturbing. It’s commonly known that the Brit’s sent their convicts to Australia back in the day (1850-68), though it was because Australia actually asked for them (the only colony ever to do so). This place was their initial accommodation whilst they were used by the local authorities as a labour force, to build up Perth. After they served their time, this building became an actual prison for local wrong-doers. In 1988 a cunning plot involving hot water and 2 unfortunate guards, resulted in the prisoners gaining control of a section of the prison which was set alight and consequently badly damaged. Strangely though the only demands from the prisoners who caused the riot (and were holding the guards hostage) was for food and cigarettes.

Prision block

The afternoon was spent watching a game of Ozzie Rules Football at East Fremantle Oval. A game of 4 quarters (25mins), sees each team trying to kick the ball (similar in size and shape to an American Football) through the opposing teams goal, which consists of 4 posts (between 2 central posts = 6 points, between outside-inner posts = 1 point). The rules are… basically no rules. Well there are a few: you can’t run with the ball more than ~15 metres without bouncing it on the ground. I’m sure there are a few more but that’s the basic idea, though the game has 5 referees on the pitch (and some linesmen on the edge of the pitch/behind the goal) because (I’m guessing) there is a lot of ground to cover and 1 ref would get very tired very quickly. As for tackling, it should be between the knees and shoulders but the manner of tackle... anything goes, it was pretty crazy to watch. All in all interesting, but English football is still my No.1 type of Football, though the Australian’s Football is No.1 in popularity in this country.

I doubt these kind of tackles would be allowed in any other sport

...exept maybe Ulitmate Cage Fighting

As if this wasn’t enough sport for one day we ended up watching the Australia v Wales rugby game with some Ozzie’s round a friend of a friend of Mike’s and they seemed rather keen and it was actually one of the more enthralling games I’ve watched, as normally rugby wouldn’t rivet me quite so much, but this was an exceptionally good game to watch.

I tried to get Mike to sample all the ‘Australian’ food possible, which included; Lamington (sponge dipped in chocolate and desiccated coconut), Anzac biscuit (oaty), Tim-tam (like a British penguin biscuit), Kangaroo (thought it was salami style sample from the Freo market) and Mike chose to have shark with his chips for Saturday’s lunch (he said it tastes like fish…not too surprisingly). We missed out on the Cherry-Ripe, which is like a cherry flavoured Cadbury’s Bounty (coconut encased chocolate bar) because Mike hadn’t even had a Bounty before(!!) so that took preference.

Sunday was not so much a touristy day, as church and football presided, which the bad weather still presided with crazy winds dictating the game (which was tearing apart trees around Perth, I’m not talking a little gust). As if we had drained Australia for all it has in the past couple of days, Sunday dinner was spent at the local Irish pub, whose menu made us rather excited by all the non-Ozzie food items, myself enjoying an English chicken, gammon and mushroom pie and Mike an Irish stacked beef burger… nom nom nom.

Monday saw Mike heading off to the WA countryside with another of his university friends, whilst I went back to work. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable weekend catching up with a friend who I last saw 2 years ago on English soil, and since we have spent our time in different parts of the world, so it was fun to convene on an entirely different continent than before… the joys of travel.

Essay over. Hope you guys are having better weather than us, football was cancelled yesterday (hence I had time to compose this)  because of the stormy weather.

So long partners!