DAY 105 PERTH BEACHES, ELIZABETH QUAY AND LONDON COURT

The weather continues to be good, so today we decided to check out some of Perth’s iconic beaches.  It was back towards Fremantle again this morning where the first beach we headed too was Leighton Beach, which is home to Fremantle Life Saving Club.

 

Down at Leighton Beach

Fremantle Surf Lifesaving Club

Leighton Beach

They had some beautiful park lands surround the Life Saving Club, and some with picnic tables with shade so thought this was as good a place as any to enjoy a cuppa and have a bite to eat for morning tea. 

The beach was busy with people everywhere.  Maybe this is due to the fact that Perth had experienced some rather bad weather in the weeks leading up to our visit, and everyone had cabin fever and wanted to be out in the fresh air and sunshine.  What better place to go than to the beach.

One of the main beaches I wanted to see was Cottesloe Beach, so we continued our drive along the coast, before getting to Cottesloe, we stopped at South Cottesloe to take in the views up and down the coast.  They really were quite stunning and we sat for quite a while on the headlands, watching some keen surfers below.  

 

Saw this hotrod parked in the carpark at Cottesloe Beach... someone is game...

Cottesloe Beach - Perth WA

With more than a kilometre of pure white sand, Cottesloe Beach is one of Perth’s most popular spots for swimming, snorkeling and surfing.  It seems to be where most  West Australians  spend summer days diving into the ocean from the distinctive floating bell just offshore. 

The Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Clubhouse is one of the icon buildings that you see when ever you see photos of Cottesloe Beach, so it was nice to get out and get a see and experience it yourself and of course take a photo.  We had planned on stopping here and buying some fish and chips for lunch, but it was difficult to get a park, and even once you did, there was no shade to sit under whilst you enjoyed your lunch.  In the end we decided to head further up coast to see if we could find another beach that at least had shaded picnic areas or at best a kiosk with some shade. 

 

Main Beach in Perth WA

   It was well and truly lunch time by the time we arrived at City Beach.  This was quite a large beach with a club house, restaurants, and kiosks so after having a good look around we decided to get some fish and chips and have lunch on one of the balconies here.

Having lunch at Main Beach

 It was after1.30pm by the time we left here to head back into Perth City to visit Elizabeth Quay. 

 What a lovely area of Perth City right on the banks of the Swan River.  There is a lot of work going on here at the moment, so I can only begin to imagine how good this area will be in a few years time, if what we see now is anything to go by.

We went for a walk down to the Elizabeth Quay walking bridge where we watched a lot of pleasure craft coming and going.  There were a lot of folk of the water today also, lots of young people having a good time.  It reminded me a little of our harbour cruise in Copenhagen last year, when we saw a lot of young Danish folk out on the harbour, enjoying the summer weather.  

There was even a gondola taking people out for joy rides.  It looked rather smick, with a red rose in a vase at the front of the gondola.  He even had the right strip shirt on also, but sadly it was not quite the same as the real deal in Venice.  

 

We had hoped to catch one of the Perth transit Ferries and go for a cruise to Fremantle on the Swan River, but unfortunately, the only place a ferry in Perth will take you is to the South Perth or the Perth Zoo, so that quickly put an end to that plan.

Instead we took the Free Blue Cat Bus for a drive around Perth.  We were keen to find London Court and visit it.   Whilst on the Blue Cat, we realized that if we wanted to see London Court we should have hopped on the Green Cat so back to Elizabeth Quay we went to try and catch a Green Cat only to find that they do not run on weekends. 

One of the Transport Inspectors took pity on us when we told him what we had wanted to do, so organised for another bus to drop us off just down the road from London Court.  

What a surprise this place was…..Built in 1937 as a combination of residential and commercial premises for wealthy gold miner and financier Claude de Bernales, Perth’s London Court is designed using the architectural features present in Elizabethan times.

 It is the only walk in the world outside Britain that has captured a setting and atmosphere so similar to that of Tudor England, London Court is a retail arcade running between Hay Street Mall and St Georges Terrace in the heart of the Perth Central Business District

At the decorative Hay Street Mall entrance, a blue-faced clock chimes every quarter of an hour. The clock face is a replica of the “Great Clock” at Rouen in France. Above the clock four knights, known as the “Tournament of Armoured Knights”, circle in the window when the clock chimes. 

A second clock is located at the St Georges Terrace entrance. This clock is a replica of the iconic “Big Ben” which stands tall above the Houses of Parliament in London. In a window above this clock is a miniature St George doing battle with the dragon.

Also in the arcade, statues of Sir Walter Raleigh and Dick Whittington stand above the first level facing each other at either end of the Court. Mr. Whittington’s facial expression shows he is overwhelmed at finding himself in Tudor times!

A single dovecote hangs hidden on the side of one of the buildings half way along the picturesque arcade and six weather vanes are located on top of the buildings. Several stairways within the arcade take visitors to the second and third floors to admire London Court through some of the arched iron openings. From these landings visitors get a special feeling for the narrow streets, facades, window boxes, ornaments, decoration and village-like atmosphere of life in a past era.

We loved finding this little treasure in Perth and spent a good hour or more wandering through the arcade, enjoying one of the world’s architectural treasures.  

By the time we had wandered through London Court we were ready for home.  Ian went and picked the car up and met us in George Street just outside of London Court and then it was home to put our feet up and relax.  We were tired,  we have had two pretty full on sight seeing days.  

Tomorrow I will be catching up with one of my Scrap of Faith friends Gayle whom I haven’t seen for almost 8 years.  Looking forward to attending church with them and meeting her family.