Day 55 – Perth

It was a hot day today in Perth – 33 deg, so we set off early to make our way into the city for a last look around. The caravan park we are staying in is about ½ hour north of Perth (via the freeway), but the traffic is dreadful during peak hour, so its easier to wait until 9.30am when it has lightened off a bit.

Parking is exorbitant in the city, so we parked in Kings Park, and then caught the free Cat bus into the city (10 mins) and made our way up to the Hay Street Mall. The Mall is lovely, beautiful old buildings, lots of great shops and entertainment. We had a look at the touristy London Court Shops, admiring the amber and opal jewellery in the window fronts. Somehow Sam convinced me to take him into the newsagent to buy more AFL footy cards! Both Perth teams are in the finals this year, so the city is decked out in AFL footy colors and signs everywhere.

 

We enjoyed our stroll along the mall, and I especially loved looking in the newly opened American upmarket homewares chainstore – Pottery Barn. Lots of gorgeous items in there – bedding, furniture, curtains, and lots of decorating items. Nice!

 

Next up was a visit to one of Perth’s favourite newish attractions  - the Bell Tower. Only opened in the year 2000, as a millennium project, it is quite a popular thing to visit now. We took the lift up six floors for terrific panoramic views over Perth city and the Swan River and gardens, and then gradually took the stairs spiralling downwards, stopping at each floor to admire different things.

 

On one floor we joined in an interactive demonstration of bell ringing, that was really fascinating, and we all had a go at pulling on the huge ropes and setting our bells chiming. It was surprisingly difficult, and quite exhausting.

On a different floor, we could see the bells actually turning right over, ringing and chiming, as another demonstration got underway below us. There were lots of plaques around explaining how the bells were brought out from London (St Martin in the Fields church in Trafalgar Square), and that they are in fact 600 years old. The 12 bells were cast between 1725 and 1770. St Martins was casting new bells, so instead of melting these ones down, Australia sent them the tin & copper needed for new ones, and Perth got the old bells. A great deal!

After the bells, we jumped back on the Cat bus, back through the city to the stunning Kings Park, and after a picnic lunch taking in the wonderful views over Perth and the Swan River, we made our way across the river, to South Perth.  Brendan and I lived in Hopetoun Street, South Perth back in 1998 (Brendan was working on the Alcoa account in Kwinana & Wagerup), so we were keen to have a drive by our old apartment (a stunning place overlooking the river). It was still there, and brought back some good memories of our time here. We both love this city.

Next we were off to Curtin University to visit a special temporary exhibition entitled “Together, 100 years apart”. A huge image of the 11^th Battalion AIF on the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt was mounted on the wall. Included in this picture is Brendan’s great, great uncle Cyril Bolle. We have a copy of the photo at home, so it was amazing to see it larger than life up on the wall. The 11^th battalion formed part of the first contingent of men sent over to Gallipoli leaving from Fremantle on 31 Oct 1914. The image shows 704 men, assembled in Egypt on 10 Jan 1915. 3 months after this photo, Cyril, along with hundreds of his mates, were slaughtered on the beaches of Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

 

The curator of the exhibition was pleased to chat to us, especially when she discovered our personal interest in the photo, and the history behind it. She invited us to make a felt poppy, and write a message of tribute, and leave it at the bottom of the picture. Sam, Lily and I each made a poppy, and Brendan laid a special one with a message on behalf of his uncle Cyril, giving our grateful thanks for the service he gave to his country.

After that quite moving event, we ventured  back out into the heat of the day, and back to our caravan park, for a quick swim in the lovely pool, before getting ourselves ready for our evenings special visit.

Many years, before we ventured to Korea to pick up our son Sam, I was in regular contact with a lovely lady who was quite active on the Korean Adoptive Families email forums. Sonya Mahoney, and her husband Warren, who live in Inglewood, Perth, already had two Korean adopted children Ben and Ella, while I was waiting for Sam. Sonya was a wealth of advice, and together we waited for our boys (James was born just a month before Sam in Feb 2004). A fews later we both adopted our girls (Ruby was also born in 2007), so we had lots in common.  In Victoria, two adopted children is the maximum our department will left us apply for, but there is no such limitation in WA.

Anyway, after corresponding all these years, when Sonya heard we were travelling through Perth, she kindly offered for us to visit them at their house, and share in a Korean meal with them. After two months on the road, we were really pleased to visit a home again, and meet the Mahoney family in person.

Our children hit it off straight away, and before long James and Sam were swapping footy cards, and Ruby and Lily watched a movie together (Paddington). It was great chatting to Warren and Sonya, and ‘comparing notes’ about the current (very slow) sad state of the adoption program in Korea. After a lovely meal (so good to eat bulgogi, ttokboggi, kimchi and the various Korean sidedishes), and a long chat, we eventually headed for home, and to bed!