City of Perth

Damian dropped me off at the train station around 9:30. My plan was to see downtown Perth and all of its attractions. I was told that Perth proper has very little to offer tourists; it is mostly office buildings and shops. This proved to be mostly true, even though I missed the most visited places in the area. That is ok though, all of my trains will be routed through here, so if I really need to see them, it won't be hard.

Despite the lack of "attractions", I still found it to be a beautiful city and I had no problem walking around there for six hours. I started walking along the Swan River with the sparse skyline to my right. I saw the Western Australia government buildings, which weren't as architecturally interesting as such things often are. My walk took me passed the bell tower, a sailboat shaped building (or maybe swan shaped) that houses twelve bells from 1450 given as a gift a few years ago to some guy. It was a neat building that is apparently quite awesome at night. It wasn't very high, so I didn't feel the need to pay $10 to go to the top. Instead I went a few kilometers in search of my big excursion for the day, King's Park.

Just getting to King's Park was an adventure. It is located above the city, on top of Mt. Eliza. There are numerous trails going to the summit, but recent rain had made them all too hazardous due to falling rocks; honestly I worry more about snakes. It also didn't help that I had no clue how to get there, just a vague idea of its general direction. I followed the signs along the paths, but everyone let me to a dead end. After about 3km of randomly walking at the base of an embankment, I finally worked up the courage to ask for directions. "Just take a left at the bottle shop, mate!" I had to climb Jacob's ladder which was an endless steep staircase up the side of a cliff. Erin said later, "People don't climb those stairs to get anywhere, it is just a masochist's workout." It really wasn't that bad.

King's Park was worth the trouble. It is the largest city park in the world. Bigger that 1000 acres, it dwarfs Central Park. Do not come to Perth and miss it!. It has many spectacular views of the city and the swan river. It houses the Perth Botanical Gardens with its sampling of plants from all over Australia. It has a tree-height elevated walkway over a chunk of the park. At the highest point stands a double spiral staircase aptly named the DNA Tower. The majority of the park is an Aussie bush restoration project, which is the true star of the park. Only a few meters into the trails, you completely forget you are in the middle of a large city. I probably walked 20km the whole day. Perth really does have a lot to see!