An isolated beauty.

Perth, is a beautiful capital city.......it's a pity it is in Western Australia, but I suspect that is part of its charm and the locals like it like that.

The city of Perth is on the banks of the Swan River with the Indian Ocean only a few kilometres away.  Its population is 1.6 million with that total state population of 2.3 million.

City of Perth taken from Kings Park

Perth's climate is described as "Mediterranean" with warm to hot summers (from mid 30's) and mild winters (17c).   Ha.....mild winter, you mean freezing more like it,  with very cold, windy fronts popping through from time to time....bringing the temp down to 4-6 c.  The wind that accompanies the cold fronts is akin to a cat 1 or 2 cyclone.  Of course, we are here in one of the coldest and wettest months, July...although I am told that August is the actually the coldest.... won't be here to make any comparisons though.

Perth looks new, it is clean, fresh, nothing is far away (including the Swan Valley),  there are lots of green open spaces, fabulous white sandy beaches, people dress well, they look happy as they go about their business and the transport system is truly amazing. For example, we got on a bus that took us to the train station which is situated in the middle of a four lane highway, and the train arrived within a couple of minutes to take us to Perth.  It is planned that way.  The buses and trains all look new.   The cost.... $1.80 one way (concession, of course). We went on the train into Perth twice, once to go shopping and the other to get on a Captain Cook cruise to Fremantle.

Perth Skyline from Barack Street Jetty.
The building on the right with the glass spire is the fabulous Bell Tower.

The Bell Tower is an impressive structure.  It is 82.5 metres (271 ft) high made of copper and glass. There are 18 bells and 12 of them are bells of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, which are very old.   The bells were donated to Western Australia as part of the 1988 Australian bicentenary celebrations.  They come from before the 14th century, were recast in the16th century by Queen Elizabeth I and again recast between 1725 and 1770 by three generations of the Rudhall family, bell founders from Gloucester in England.  They are one of the few sets of royal bells and are the only ones known to have left England.

The twelve St Martin-in-the-Fields bells actually come from a famous church in London's Trafalgar Square and have apparently been rung to celebrate historic events like England's victory over the Spanish Armanda, the WWII victory at El Alamein, and among other events, they have also rung in the New Year at Trafalgar Square for more than 275 years.

Love Locks outside of the Bell Tower

A quaint  and different thing to do is to purchase a 'Love Lock'.  Love Locks originated in China when couples chose to fix a padlock to chains on sections of the Great Wall. Legend says that it symbolised their love and that it would last forever.   It might have started in China but the practice is taking place in many parts of the world...Nevada USA, Russia, South Korea, Italy, Hungry, Japan, Latvia...and the love goes on....So for $30 you can buy your own love lock in Perth,  it will inscribed with your names and the date, you choose a link on the chain and 'lock your Love'