Sunday would be our last full day in Perth and we had considered getting on the Hop on Hop off Bus. However, in the end we decided that there were three main ‘stops’ that we wanted to spend our time at so we’d just hop about by Uber instead. We actually woke up to some cloud today and temperatures of a mere 28 degrees.
Our first stop was to return to the Bell Tower at Elizabeth Quay. It is a very modern structure made with copper and lots of glass. The lady on reception told us we were in luck as the bellringers would be doing there thing today between 12 noon and 1pm. The bell tower includes the 12 bells of St Martin’s in the Field, Trafalgar Square London and these form part of a 16 bell peel with two extra chromatic notes. They are the second largest set of change ringing bells in the world. The bells from London were rescued from being scrapped in 1988 and donated to Western Australia in exchange for the metals for new bells to be made for St Martins in the Field.
In addition,there is one absolutely enormous bell called the ANZAC Bell. It’s made of gold, copper and tin and is the largest swinging bell in Australia. We visited the 5th Floor of the Bell Tower in time to see this being rung at midday. Luckily our ears were protected by the glass encasing it!
Next we went down to level 4 where you could see all the 16 bells ringing as the Bellringers began to do there thing. The sound brought back memories of royal weddings and other events back in London.
There was lots of information on the wall about the bells including a note of the inscriptions in each. I was doing a bit of sketching whilst listening to the bells when this older gentleman, approached and made a comment about the bells. Somehow, I got chatting to him and he introduced himself. It turned out that he was the main man behind the whole initiative to bring the bells over to Perth. He was here visiting with his son and family and his name was Laith Reynolds. He asked where Jane and I came from and when we told him he said that he’d lived in Burford (Cotswolds) for many years and had just sold his house there! Next thing you know, Laith invited us to join him and his family for a behind the scenes view of the bellringers! Of course we were up for this! So down we went to the 2nd level and into the bellringing chamber where there were eight people holding onto the ropes. We had to be absolutely silent and if anyone asked, we were members of Laith’s family! Laith is massively keen on everything related to bellringing- hence his passion for saving these bells.
Afterwards we felt very privileged to have been allowed into the inner sanctum. But more than this- to have met Laith. I Googled him later and found that he’s an incredible chap. He was a fine example of the Australian Entrepreneurial ‘Have a Go’ spirit. He and his wife had lived all over the world (Canada, Bangladesh, China, Hawaii and of course Burford! ). He’d worked for Philips developing two way radio systems, then branched out on his own into mining, agriculture and now even healthcare- developing new blood tests to detect cancers. What a guy.
I admit we were a little star struck by our meeting and afterwards we needed to cool down with an ice cream from the Gelateria. It had been recommended by someone at Rosebridge House. I had pineapple and mint and Jane had the special which involved vanilla, raspberry ripple and Vovo biscuits. Both hailed a success.
By now it was 2pm and we caught the free Blue CAT bus to Kings Park. This is one of the world’s biggest inner city parks and is actually located just above our hotel. There is a Jacobs Ladder that climbs up to the entrance of the park but that’s no use to us! We decided to concentrate our efforts on just the Botanical Gardens part of the park and the first stop was the very classy gift shop. Here I bought several items for inspiring future art projects!
We started at the War Memorial which is in memory of the ANZAC troops who served in WW1. Being Sunday there were lots of families enjoying the green space and we liked the views across to the Perth Skyline once more.
Once we entered the Botanical Gardens proper we did a little circuit which allowed us to explore the different regional areas, magnificent Eucalyptus trees, beautiful Banksias and Baobab. I was particularly keen that we walk along the raised walkway and glass bridge that took us through the tree canopy. It did actually start to rain as we were doing this but it only added to the magic of this place as the sun made everything sparkle.
Jane was very tired as we made our way around but we did complete our circuit and then decided to have a quick beer before catching our Uber back. We sat out side in the cafe admiring the views over to the city and the setting sun. The Eucalyptus trees lining the street were absolutely stunning and burned an image in my memory. It was so lovely that we decided to stay and eat here which was a good decision as the food was delicious.
I’d been struggling to piece all of the different parts of Perth together in my head. Sydney made perfect sense but somehow Perth seemed to be these disparate areas that had no real connection. However, I think the visit to Kings Park brought things together for me and meeting the legend, Laith Reynolds, was the icing on the cake. What a good day it had turned out to be.
Where shall we go to next? 