Perth – silverfox175
Perth mint, which until 1970 was part or the Royal Mint of Britain. In 1970 ownership passed to western Australia.
On our recent visit to Perth we took a tour of the old mint. The ‘Mint’ in the city of Perth is now mainly a museum with the ability to sell and market coins etc. The ‘real’ mint is near the airport and under very tight security.
During the tour I had the opportunity of being weighed to find out how much I was worth in today’s dollars. If only . . . .
As part of the tour we watched the pouring of gold to create an ingot. The lights were switched off so as to see the pouring in a more dramatic way.
The furnace was opened to extract the container that contained the gold.
Wearing protective clothing the worker withdrew the gold container. This is how it used to be for many years.
The light on the left is the start of the gold leaving the container and being poured in to a mold.
The flow of gold has started.
The pour is complete in to the ingot mold, which is then thrust in to a bath of water to cool the block quickly.
Within minutes the ingot is cool enough to be handled, but only by the operator. We were not allowed anywhere near the gold :-o)
More of the real stuff. . . .
We also saw the above coin, which has a legal currency value of $1,000,000 – but it weighs 1,000 kilos and the gold value (as against the currency value) is in excess of $60,000,000.
In addition to the above we saw a million dollar coin with a gem stone embedded in the paws of a kangaroo. There is only one of these & I believe it has been sold to someone in Dubai.
It weighs one kilogram and has a 0.54 carat gemstone
While in Perth we arranged to meet our friends for lunch, and they were kind enough to book a table for four at C Restaurant on the 33rd floor of one of the city’s taller buildings. It was a revolving restaurant and it must be nearly thirty years since Maureen and I had eaten in a revolving restaurant – the last time being in Sydney – Sydney Tower.
We arrived just on noon, after a fast ride in the lift.
Our reception was very pleasant and the staff friendly and helpful – and one particular waiter was very entertaining.
We are off and running – the Swan River below.
Part of the city framed.
The Swan again – the circus below is the same one that we could see from our bedroom window.
Government House below.
Government House from street level.
I never got tired of the view of the river.
Later in the afternoon Maureen I walked across the bridge that can be seen with the two ‘loops’.
I had to take this picture, which shows the Bankwest building reflecting the image of a mining company building on my left, but out of camera view.
Besides meeting our friends, the point of lunch time was for a meal. Lovely food, well presented and not too expensive considering locations etc.
A few days away from Sydney in an effort keep warm – Perth is the transit stop to Broome, which is a two hour flight north of Perth. I can’t blame Perth for its coolness of weather nor could I complain about our hotel – Novotel. Using Accor points we secured a large corner room on the third floor.
As we moved along the corridor to our room I had concerns that it would not be what I’d hoped. We passed two blank service doors before we reached our room and entered – what a pleasant surprise!
A large bedroom containing two armchairs around a coffee table, a work desk, large TV and the normal fridge. In the corner was a walk in wardrobe area. The bathroom contained a Jacuzzi!
Two sets of windows gave us some great views across the Swan river 
Couldn’t have asked for better,
and they had an Irish Bar
For those readers in the UK, when the lady behind the bar (not shown) spoke to us, I asked if she was from Merseyside, because she had a definite ‘twang’. It turned out that she was from Chester and was on a working holiday. Talk about a small world.
The other odd thing was that one of the assistant managers spoke to us with a strong Irish accent. Only later did I find out that he was French, the hotel being in the Accor group, which is a French company. First time I heard the blarney from a Frenchman. :-o)