Wed 7 Sep 2011 Perth

0930 (15161 km) Had croissant for breakfast.
1045 (15161 km) Caught the bus into the city. Went to check out the visitor centre.

Ringing the Swan Bells

1145 (15161 km) Went to the Bell Tower which houses the Swan Bells. There's 18 bells, 12 of them over 300 years old from St Martins-of-the-Fields church in London. We went to the demonstration and got to see how bells are rung and we got to ring some of the bells too! Even MH got to ring a bell that was 241 kg, it was much, much heavier than him. There is quite a bit of skill involved in ringing bells. It was quite impressive to see how a bell was rung in a full circle. The volunteers who ring the bell have to spend at least 6 months in training before they are 'safe'. There were groups of people who had rung the bells continuously for 3 hours! From the top of the tower, we had a good view of the Swan River and the city. There were lots of interesting history of bells and clocks in the tower. There were also electronic carillon bells that were computer controlled to play popular tunes.

1300 (15161 km) Went to the food court to have lunch. Had sushi and rice and noodle dishes.



Outside the Perth Mint, no photos were allowed inside because of the high security



1500 (15161 km) Went on the free Red CAT Bus to the Perth Mint. There was a tour that explained about the gold rush that became the reason for the building of the Perth Mint. There was also a demonstration on pouring a gold bar. The furnace was set at 1300 degrees Celsius to maintain liquidity of the gold. Then it was poured into the mold and left to cool. When it was cooler, probably 800 degrees Celsius, it is removed from the mold (still glowing) and placed into water. At the end, there was a pretty heavy block of gold, costing around $300,000. That would explain why a security guard had to be present during the demonstration. We also got to hold a gold bar, it was heavy and expensive, probably around $600,000. There was also a special scale that provided the weight of the person in dollars of equivalent weight in gold.

1615 (15161 km) Caught the free bus back to the bus station in the city and found our bus bay to get back 'home'.
1830 (15161 km) Dinner - rice and pork with potatoes.