Perth, Australia
Date: February 28, 2019 – March 1, 2019
Location: Perth, Australia
After being at sea for February 25 – 27th the ship docked in Fremantle, Australia on February 28, 2019. We disembarked in Fremantle and the train station was close by, so it was easy to get to Perth. The trip was about 30 minutes by train. Once in Perth, we were able to take a free CAT (Central Area Transit) bus. Perth has 4 CAT bus routes. Perth also has buses that you pay a fare to ride but we were able to get around just using the CAT buses.
After leaving our luggage at the hotel we went to The Perth Mint.
The Perth Mint opened on June 20, 1899 as a place to refine gold discovered in Western Australia. Out front is a statue representing Arthur Bayley and William Ford who discovered the gold fields in Coolgardie, Australia on September 17, 1892.
We took a tour as that is the only way to see The Perth Mint exhibition. After the tour group gathered, we went outside to get a brief history of the mint. When we went into the exhibit back inside, the first thing we saw was the Australian Kangaroo One Tonne Gold Coin made of 99.99% pure gold. One side is a portrait of Elizabeth II.
The other side has a red kangaroo.
The coin was made in October 2011 and is the world’s largest, heaviest and most valuable gold coin. It is around 31 inches in diameter, 4.7 inches thick and made of 1,012 kilograms (2,231 pounds) of 99.99% pure gold.
The coin has three values: a face value of $1 million Australian dollars, the gold price at $41,360 per kilogram is $41,856,320 (around $58,559,084 Australian dollars), and the unique collector’s price, which is priceless as it is the only one of its kind in the world.
We saw the Normandy Nugget, which is the second largest surviving gold nugget from Australia. It was found in 1995 in Kalgoorlie, Australia and weighs 25.5 kilograms.
The largest surviving gold nugget from Australia was found in 1980 weighing 27.66 kilograms. The nugget was named Hand of Faith and is on display at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brian and I saw it in December 2015.
There are two larger surviving gold nuggets in the world. The largest at 60.82 kilograms was discovered in Pepita Canaã, Brazil and is on display at the Brazilian central bank headquarters. The world’s second largest surviving gold nugget is the Great Triangle, which was found in Russia and weighs 36.3 kilograms. The Great Triangle is on display at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.
The Perth Mint has a scale where you can discover the value of your weight in gold.
This is the original 1899 melting house.
In the melting house we watched molten gold being poured to make a gold bar.
The gold quickly cooled and was put in water to finish the cooling.
Within a couple minutes of pouring the gold it was cool enough to hold.
The Perth Mint made sovereign coins in the past, and from 1940-1984 produced Australian circulating coins. Now the mint makes commemorative coins. The Perth Mint is where the medals for the Sydney 2000 Olympics were made.
We enjoyed The Perth Mint and recommend doing the tour.
This was the view from our hotel room looking over Langley Park and Swan River.
On March 1, 2019 we did a Swan Valley wine tour in the afternoon. The first stop was Windy Creek Estate. They had many wines and we were able to taste the majority of them.
The second winery was Sittella.
After tasting a few wines we had lunch that was included with the wine tour. We each got a grommet platter and a glass of wine for lunch.
After lunch we were able to walk around Sittella.
It looked like they were setting up for a wedding.
The third and final winery stop was at Heafod Glen Winery.
After the wineries, the tour stopped at Elmar’s brewery for a beer.
The last stop of the wine tour was The Margaret River Chocolate Company, where we got a free truffle. In the same area is the Margaret River Providore where we tasted olive oils, jams and cheese.
The wine tour was reasonably priced and enjoyable. The group was around 15 people and felt just a little too big. After getting dropped off back at the hotel we had a few hours before going to the airport to get our red-eye flight to Christchurch, New Zealand.
