Making it Home

Our last trip in the Hop on Hop Off Uber was the next day (Sunday). We’d done our packing and had to check out of the hotel at 11am. Our flight wasn’t until later in the afternoon so we had time for one more stop. One of the most visited attractions in Perth is the historic Perth Mint and it looked an interesting place to spend our last morning.

It was another very hot and sunny day and we waited for the start of our tour in the shady courtyard. I managed to blag a copy of the kids quiz which featured multiple guess scratch off answers! We decided to listen to the tour first and then see what we had learned.

The tour was very good and we learned about the history of the place as well as getting to gaze upon and even handle plenty of gold! The Mint was established in the 1890s as a subsidiary of the Royal Mint in the UK. The population of Western Australia was growing very rapidly due to the discovery of gold at Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie and Murchison. The Mint produced coins for the growing colony as well as being the place that miners brought their raw gold to be turned into coins and bullion. We handled huge replicas of some of the most famous gold nuggets including ‘Welcome Stranger’. This is the biggest gold nugget ever discovered and was found by two Cornish Miners in Victoria, Australia in 1869. It weighed 72 kg or 192 pounds. The miners were paid £9381 for it back in the day but at 2019 gold prices it would be worth £2.3million. The plastic version I handled weighed slightly less and was worth about £2.34

Once in the Mint itself we wandered freely around the exhibition which had real gold and silver nuggets on display. It also held the 1 tonne record breaking coin. This didn’t look real but is made of 99.9% pure gold with a lovely bouncing kangaroo on it. Its face value is Aus $1 million. We enjoyed standing on the scales and having our ‘Weight in Gold’ recorded and then also trying to lift the real gold ingot. This weighs 400 ounces and is totally enclosed so that, even if you can lift it, you can’t scarper with it. Bad luck thieving Brummies!

The final stage and indeed highlight of the visit was watching the ‘gold pour’! This is where we got to sit where the furnaces are and watch our guide as she got dressed up in all sorts of PPE and poured the molten gold out of the ‘Crucible’ pot and into the Ingot mould. This was all very dramatic and done in the dark.

We bought some souvenir gifts in the shop and then made our way back to the hotel where we had a bit of time by the lovely pool and then got changed ready for our flight. We got another Uber to the airport where the Qantas lady was able to resolve the issue we’d had with our seats so that we could sit together on the way home. Phew. Now we just needed to relax so it was a bit unnerving when the very loud alarms went off when we were part way through security. The tannoys said that there was a ‘security breach which was currently bring investigated’. It kept saying this over and over again v loudly. The staff went into lockdown mode and we were asked to stay where we were. It felt as if there might be a terrorist on the loose but the security lady said it was more likely to be someone vaping in the toilets.

Eventually, we were allowed to go and made our way through to the Gate with Jane in her wheelchair. Unfortunately, the retail experience through here was very poor so my plans for last minute purchases were made impossible.

Once on the plane we settled in for the 17+ hour flight home. Very little sleep was had by either of us but all in all , it wasn’t too bad. We arrived back at Heathrow at 5am and I was very glad when our lovely taxi driver, Luke, came to pick us up and drive us home.

I think it will take me some time to process my feelings about the whole trip, the ups and downs but my overall sense is of a new respect for the vastness of this country and a love of its people, animals and strangely -trees. As we were driving to the airport in Perth I saw a sign with a helicopter (rescue) on it and the words ‘Help. It’s what Australians do’. How true that is.

Well that’s all very nice but I must say I feel very relieved to be home with Jane, safely in one piece. I always knew that Australia is basically out to get you ever since reading Bill Bryson’s book ‘Down Under’. So let’s leave things with the words of Bill Bryson-

Australia: It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures – the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish – are the most lethal of their type in the world. This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. … If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. It’s a tough place.” 😳🫣😀

Now we’re really thankful that we made it back!