Sorry for the long wait to the last part of my short trip to Perth at the end of last year. I have been busy with uni stuffs lately.
In my previous post, I take you to Hay Street Mall now I’ll take you to Murray Street Mall which is just on top of Hay St (if you see it from a map).
It was about two more weeks to Christmas and hence there’s lot of Christmas decoration in the city. Murray St Mall was no exception with this Christmas tree not far from Perth’s general post office (that’s on the left of the picture below).
Merry Christmas Perth. I know it’s too late or too early but because you’ve been a very nice city so… yeah. Christmas in summer.
Pre-Christmas trading hour is different from pre-Christmas trading hour in Brisbane. Most shops trade until 9pm days before Christmas in Perth. In Brisbane, we have shops trade till midnight usually on December 23. Chermside shopping centre in Brisbane’s north is different, they trade from 9am non-stop till 5.30pm on December 24.
The building in sandstone is Perth’s general post office. They even have a mini-museum inside about postal thingy! Compared that to Brisbane’s GPO… the building is as classic, and I guess that’s about all. Next to it is the entrance to Perth’s underground railway station. Was there Commonwealth Bank as well?
Hmm, anyway suburban train in Perth is definitely better than in Brisbane with one train in one suburban line arriving every 15 minutes off-peak and on weekend and every 7 minutes during peak hour (I heard Brisbane’s suburban train will be upgraded to one service every 12 minutes off-peak and weekend). The train model is the same as the train model used by QR, except Perth’s is in green whereas Brisbane’s is in yellow and red.
This is known as Forrest Place. On the left is Forrest Chase shopping centre (home to Myer department store) whereas on the right hand side is Western Australia tourism office. I got myself a brochure about Perth and surrounding regions must-visits and must-dos there. That’s why I want to come back to Perth. Ah, the Cappucino Strip in Freo’s calling me. (That was an exaggeration)
I had my late lunch at Subway in Forrest Chase (late because my lunch is delayed by two hours due to time difference between Brisbane and Perth). I also bought Perth fridge magnets at the souvenir shop in the same shopping centre, that costs me AU$7. Later on the month, I went to Macau and the same fridge magnets (the AU$7 has Perth’s landmarks whereas this one has Macau’s landmarks) costs only HK$20 (do your own calcuation!).
Anyway, back to lunch I ordered meatball foot-long on white bread with tomato, cucumber, olive, cheddar cheese and hot chilli sauce. I carried one backpack with laptop inside and one recycling bag with the University of Queensland’s logo on it. Inside the recycling bag was my thongs (oops, I think I used Australian slang too much already), my scholarship certificate (yep, I got 50% scholarship on my tuition fees for six semesters), Walker’s biscuit etc. etc. I was so tired and I couldn’t leave my bag on the floor because of the valuables inside so I put it on the cashier table when I made payment.
Then this girl who served me asked whether I was having holiday in Perth (I guess because of the association of my recycling bag). I said no, I was just having a transit there on my way back to my hometown from Brisbane.
“Brisbane…must be hot, more fun!” She exclaimed. Can I assume that she’s trying to say Perth is a boring city?
We chatted a while and I asked her where did she come from. And she said she came from Singapore. After I paid my sandwich she said “Happy holiday” to me. I said happy holiday back to her. She was doing her last hour of work at Subway on that day before she returned to Singapore.
If she ever reads this article, I just want to thank you for making my day in Perth. You’re a legend, mate! I’ve been wanting to say that to her ever since December 10.
Back to the city of Perth, I took another snapshot of Perth’s GPO with Perth’s second tallest structure next to it, the Bankwest tower.
Back at Hay St Mall, I took photos of the London Court. London Court is some sort of a classical upmarket shopping arcade, similar to Brisbane or Tattersall’s Arades in Brisbane I guess.
This is the entrance to London Court. Somehow I felt like I was in a Swiss shopping arcade instead of London (although I have never been to Europe nor UK before). I guess I keep referring to Oxford St as the ultimate shopping experience in London.
Also at Hay St Mall there is this statue whereby the man stands upside down balancing his body with his hand. I used this photo as my current profile photo on Facebook. Just in case if anyone ever ask what photo is that.
I believe that was the Perth Law Court. I like the combination of traditional European element at its entrance and the modern architecture of the main building.
I took this photo at the intersection of Victoria Ave and St Georges Tce. In the far you could see Bankwest tower. If only Perth is located next to Brisbane.
Sydney has Opera House, Melbourne has Flinders St Station, Brisbane has … err Story Bridge? City Hall? Perth has Swan Bells Tower. The history of the bells goes back to 18th century London. More information about it, find it on Google or Wikipedia. I’m not a living encyclopedia!
A compilation of Perth’s skyscrapers taken from the Esplanade. Sorry for the blurry picture. Once the construction ongoing on the left-hand side of the photo finishes, it will be Perth’s second tallest structure. Apology again for not being able to capture Perth Convention Centre.
A last look of Central Park, I’m going to miss you Perth! (I am already missing this city, even more than I miss Singapore)
After that last photo of the city, I took bus 37 from St Georges Tce bound for the airport. The bus was late by three minutes (because the print on my bus ticket shows the time was 4.23pm and it was supposed to come at 4.20pm). Perth is different from east coast, no mX newspaper. Doesn’t matter, mX offers rubbish anyway.
I didn’t manage to go to Northbridge nor Cultural Centre (where there was Peggy Guggenheim’s exhibition at Art Gallery of Western Australia!).
One day I’ll be back to Perth! And my mother already gives me the green light if I want to backpack to Perth when I turn 18 later this year.
That concludes my affair with Perth. 😛