All the way to WA - Oh Hey, Perth!

July 30, 2023

Day 7 July 30, 2023

It is amazing how quickly your body can adapt to something – I almost missed the motion of the bed last night; I had become so accustomed to the movement of the train alternately rocking me to sleep and jolting me awake!

I was awake early, so dressed and quietly let myself out of the house for an early morning walk by the Swan River. I managed to navigate myself to the river and found a pleasant bushland path to follow in the light drizzle, before looping back along the highway, to the underpass and making it home in time for breakfast.

We found a bus to catch into town, where we were meeting up at the ‘Cactus’ for a private walking tour with a guide from a company called, Oh Hey! WA. The website promised us the ultimate Perth walking tour featuring history, architecture, art, local insights and more. The ‘more’ included quirky stories, fun facts and many recommendations for places to eat and bars to visit. Our tour guide Alex certainly delivered on all these things.

The tour, beginning at the sculpture in Forrest Place, known fondly to locals as the big cactus, led us through a number of ‘activated’ laneways, such as Howard Lane, which featured a series of artworks, and chandeliers at either end – a reference to the historic grand ballroom that once existed on the site. The definition of an activated laneway was one that had been reopened, or revamped to lead you into it using lighting, and artwork on the walls and the ground, enticing you to explore further and travel through the laneway.

We stopped to admire historic buildings and arcades, such as London Court with its medieval English architecture and jousting knights on each ¼ hour clock strike, a contrast to the modern Yagan Square. The latter joins Northbridge to the city and pays tribute to the indigenous Noongar culture of the area, with an impressive 9-metre-high sculpture of Wirin, representing the eternal sacred force of creative power that connects all life.

There were examples of art deco architecture; we saw the oldest building in Perth; we witnessed the disdain of the kangaroo and emu on the coat of arms on the old Post Office building, for those in the Treasury building; we sampled icecream at Gusto on Elizabeth Quay; we viewed an amazing array of laneway and street art, searching for hidden meanings and clues to the history of the time; and we ended up, foot weary, but enlightened at a cool gin bar called Fisk, across the rails in Northbridge.

Here, Wallsy and I left the rest of the crew and headed on foot, the two kilometres back to Elizabeth Quay where my half sister and her husband were waiting to meet us. We hadn’t seen each other since the beginning of 2002 when they had last visited us in the East. Contact had waned over the intervening 21 ½ years. There was much to catch up on and the time flew. All too soon we had to leave and return to Rivervale to meet up with everyone and ready ourselves for another reunion, this time with an old colleague of Wallsy’s, Tony and his wife, Leonie.

Our hosts picked us up and drove us to a nearby brewery for a tasty dinner, some cocktails and a great deal of talk. Back home, we planned and booked tomorrow’s activities before taking our weary bodies to bed to get some rest in readiness for another busy day ahead.