Perth and Kings Park

Got into Perth about midday after a fairly good flight. Our hotel was in the suburb of Northbridge - just north of the main CBD. It's a kind of asiatown - certainly lots of restaurants including Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean although didn't get to sample any due to poor Dave's stomach only accepting Subway at the moment.

We had a quiet afternoon - a little bit of an explore and a chat to my folks (at a payphone on a street corner where I kept getting asked for cigarettes...).

On Monday we headed into the city for a wander. It's quite a small centre and only a short walk down to the Swan river. We wandered through a small park called John Oldham Park which was nestled among the highways with a small lake, a few waterfalls and plenty of bird shit.

The way we had planned on entering Kings Park was closed due to a rockfall and it diverted us via something called Jacob's Ladder. This turned out to be a scary set of steps climbing up the hill. Didn't count them but there were a fair few. Made worse by the guy doing sets running up and down them. The view at the top was well worth it though with a wonderful view over the city and Swan River.

The entry to Kings Park was down a long tree-lined avenue with several memorials on either side including one to WA soldiers in the Boer War, a memorial for the Bali bombings and a statue of Queen Victoria. The main feature, however, is a cenotaph right on the edge of the park (and hence the cliffs overlooking the city).

The main part of the botanical gardens were further down the park and were very pretty encompassing a small bridge across a gorge, and a nice rock pool/waterfall thing.