Day in Perth - Kings Park

Yesterday Mike & I spent the day in Perth. Kyle decided to stay back. He had other priorities - namely to acquire a copy of World of Warcraft (online computer game) so that he is able to play with the local kids from school. Since our priorities were different, we dropped him at the centro (mall) to make his purchase and the 1-1/2 hour walk home, and off we went to Perth.

We planned on spending most of the day in Kings Park, which we did. Started with a leisurely walk to the park through the neighbourhood and a stop at a local cafe for our morning fix. Learned that this area is big with the fitness training crowd due to the park, the hills and Jacob's Ladder (photo to left).

Kings Park is about 1,000 acres of botanical gardens and natural bushland. My feet are quite sure that we saw most of it! Entering the park where we did, we were greeted by an enormous fig tree (they all seem to be enormous - none are ever just average) and yes, that's the roots I'm sitting on.

After picking up a guide map at the shop, we wound our way through the gardens - you even get to see Michael on the journey as I was able to control the camera for a minute :-)

There are some breath taking views over Perth and the Swan River and the Darling Range.

There are several war monuments through the park, and trees have been dedicated to many of those who have fought in the wars. Interspersed there are aboriginal meeting places and other places of significance to the natives. Mount Eliza is a major component of the park which provides the views and bluffs with many unique species. We also witnessed several wedding parties along with an actual marriage ceremony. The entire area has much history and is of importance to all groups of Australians.

The botanical gardens has many specimens of native Australian flowers and trees. The flower here on the left is a Scarlet Feather Flower. As with most of the local flowers, they have either no or very small petals in an effort to preserve moisture. Most of the flower consists of the pistil and stamen which can be very ornate.

As through our trip so far, the trees were also very interesting (at least for us tree type folks). This tree stood out with its pale foilage against the blue sky and darker trees surrounding.

The park also had many birds - this kookabora sat patiently as Michael took his photo. There were all the 'typical' birds - pink & grey gallahs, crows (VERY vocal), magpies, cockatoos and varieties of ducks.

Following the gardens, we headed to the DNA tower - a double helix staircase which provides a nice view of the surrounds. From the top Mike got this nice panorama, and a view down to a young boy.

We headed down to the childrens park (about a mile or so), by which point I was famished - we each had a nice foccacia sandwich with salad and smoothie and felt much better!

We journeyed back through the bush trail despite casual warnings of possible reptiles (we carried a big stick). However, we saw little life - in the heat of the day all other living beings were much smarter than we and stayed less active!

It was a very hot walk - there isn't much forest shade when the sun is at its apex. The most shade we saw was the start of the walk where we had pavement (photo) - when we reached the real bush, it was more barren. All the bush managed to do was to block the breeze - the only saving grace during the heat. It's ironic that we have been complaining of the constant winds here on the west coast - but yesterday we would have really appreciated it! This is probably the most heat we have felt (guessing about 35)- even though not as hot as the day in Fremantle (over 40), it felt much hotter given the conditions.

As always however, more interesting trees and burnt out remnants of them.

Upon returning to our entrance spot of the park, we collapsed under a tree for a bit of a rest before heading off to explore a bit of downtown Perth. Skyscapers to the left reflect the old along side the new.

Despite constantly replenishing our bodily fluids with water (a gallon or so), we headed to find the Brass Monkey (photo) for a pint - and we weren't disappointed. We had their 'own brewed' stout - and it sure tasted good!

Since we were nearby, we checked out the location of a recommended Indian restaurant for next time. We had thought of staying for dinner, but we were both spent for the day. As the stores were closing for the day, we decided to rest our weary bodies and headed back to the car and surprised Kyle with pizza for dinner.

Besides - Kyle & Mike had to save their energy for the Aussie rules football match they are going to see tonight!!