This post is titled "East-West Perth" as I took the Red-CAT bus (free transportation within the Perth CBD) to West Perth - where the Parliament House was...and then took the same Red-CAT bus to East Perth - where the famous Miss Maud's Swedish Hotel and Cafe is. It was quite a good getaway....but at one point it got kind of epic. I didn't know that there was a magpie nearby, and I suddenly heard flapping of wings centimetres from my head! Glanced back a little and saw a magpie swooping me! So on first instinct I RAN. Sprinted a few metres down the street to attempt to shake it off...but guess what? The bloody magpie WAITED FOR ME. And started swooping again. So I sprinted down the hill as fast as I could, all the while making sure that it didn't follow me. Fortunately the bird-brain decided not to chase me.
But it prompted me to update my status with, "To the random magpie that swooped me: I'm not green, I'm not a pig and I'm not interested in stealing your 3 eggs. So WHY be an Angry Bird and swoop me for no reason?! Birdbrain." With reference to the game Angry Birds of course! I wasn't really traumatised...I was more surprised and amused, and of course I avoid magpies like crazy nowadays! I don't want to be swooped again by some Angry Bird!
Anyway enough of that magpie. Let's get down to business! First part...West Perth.
OK the main reason why I chose to go to West Perth was because of the Parliament House. I saw some pics of the Parliament House on the 'net the other day and decided to have a look myself. Along the way, I spotted some spring flowers...and a gorgeous bird feasting on them!
Reached the famous Parliament House and walked around it for a while...and yep, there was a spot where I got quite a decent view of the city.
Switched to black-and-white shortly after. I actually wanted to go in to have a look, but was not too sure about that. There was a main entrance - but that was at the back of the building. If I'm not wrong there's an art gallery or some gallery inside...
Some other buildings around the Parliament House included a centre for education (political education if I'm not wrong)...
And a clinic. The clinic's kind of small, and people were walking in and out of it. I spotted a girl smoking outside the clinic, plus some ladies driving in and out. I think it's a general clinic...though it seems to be rather quiet.
In fact, the area I was in was just so quiet. I could hear cars driving by, but that was sporadic. There were very few people around. Perth IS quiet!
Good weather = gorgeous flowers. Flowers were in full bloom right outside the clinic.
Straightaway after leaving the clinic - I got chased by the magpie...and ended up at the bottom of the slope, right in front of the Parliament House again.
Decided to head to the main city, but before that...a couple more shots of West Perth...
Reached the main city but decided to de-tour to East Perth - as I haven't walked around there for quite a while. Stopped along Murray Street, just before the old government printing office, which has since been converted to a building owned by Curtin University.
East Perth was equally quiet - but had more old buildings. For some reason, after my Fremantle trips, I've taken a liking to old buildings and stuff like that. Maybe I should travel to Europe one day - the buildings date back to the Middle Ages!
One of the buildings of Royal Perth Hospital. Royal Perth's kinda big.
And outside Royal Perth - the massive, old tree. I've passed by it multiple times.
Didn't go to St Mary's Cathedral (located on Victoria Square, right at the end of the street)...as it was getting a little late. So I walked down Murray Street....
And ended up at the Swedish Hotel. Cafe was closed...so no hot choc! But I had a good dinner shortly after.
I actually read the weather forecast before setting off, and fortunately it was a clear day when I explored East and West Perth. But as I was cruising down the Kwinana Freeway back to my suburb, I spotted the rain clouds coming in.
Doesn't matter - they ended up being a good addition to the sunset! In fact, they made the sunset look a tad more dramatic. I really enjoy cruising down the Kwinana Freeway in the train...the view is always so gorgeous, even on rainy days! And did I mention, I spotted a rainbow once! That was in June, and someone joked about Nyan Cat diving into the water!
Had about 20 minutes to kill while waiting for the bus (yep, public transport is kinda slow on weekends!). By then the sunset had gotten even more dramatic.
The other side of the Kwinana Freeway, heading down to Mandurah. So far I've been on the whole stretch of the Kwinana Freeway. Whenever I go the city, I travel due north, but when I went to Mandurah a while back, my friend and I drove due south.
Anyway the bus came straight after the sunset! Nice timing!
And I guess that's it for now! Oh, and the weather forecast was really accurate...for we were drenched with heavy rains and gusty winds the next day. And on the day after, the temperatures dropped to 15 degrees and we had HAIL! I missed out on the hail (again!) but I could definitely feel the chill in my bones...
It's gonna be a gorgeous week ahead...and I intend to make full use of the weekend to explore King's Park! Will put up pictures soon!