We, Culture Vultures!

Manda writes:

A rainy day meant that any sightseeing to be done was going to take place indoors. We had two sheltered venues tucked away up our sleeves, ready for such an eventuality: the Western Australian Museum and The Perth Mint.

Western Australian Museum

We arrived at the museum dead on 11am which was just in time to join a guided tour. The guide gave us a short, informative introduction into the early settlers as well as some of its prehistoric ones, namely dinosaurs. After the tour we were able to walk around at our own leisure, taking in the exhibits in our own time. Even though this is not the biggest museum I have been to, it is still an interesting place to visit - some of the exhibits are very special indeed.

The museum has a wide range of displays including a section on Aboriginal culture, a large collection of meteorites, stuffed animals, crystals, fossils, dinosaur skeletons, a mummified Tasmanian Tiger, a preserved Megamouth Shark (there have only been 9 sightings of this benign creature recorded). Perth's original prison (dating back to 1856) adjoins the museum and is also free to take a look around.

How does this happen naturally? Perfect square shapes are embedded in this rock on show at the WA Museum.

As well as the permanent features, we were pleasantly surprised to stumble across the temporary Exhibition Gallery, which on this occasion housed the BBC's 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award' entries. There were some excellent photos on display. The photo that stuck in my mind was of a snake swallowing a Kingfisher. Not much of the Kingfisher was protruding in the shot as the snake was at the finishing stages of its meal. The only thing left of the bird was its wing, fanned out as if to wave a final goodbye before disappearing into the snake's mouth for good.

Aboriginal art in WA Museum.

The Perth Mint

We arrived at The Perth Mint late in the afternoon and had just made it in time to see the 'gold pour' - so over we went to the Melting House. We watched the demonstration of a pot of melted gold, being poured into a brick mould and subsequently cooled to form a bar of gold. I was impressed to see that what was heated to 1300 degrees Celsius five minutes earlier, was cool enough to pick up by the end of the demonstration. Obviously, we weren't allowed to handle this bar as it was worth $110,000. Security is tight and the place is littered with security cameras - the fact that the mint handles one tonne of gold every day must have something to do with it! This particular bar of gold is kept busy and is melted into liquid then solidified once again into a bar 36 times a week.

It's gold, it's gold, I tell you! Statue outside Perth Mint.

Just outside the Melting House is a set of scales. Not just ordinary scales, this set measures your weight in gold - naturally I had to try it out. According to the scales I am worth just over $1m Australian Dollars ... but I kinda knew that already! :-) [Ian adds: I'm worth $1.62m. Not sure if that's good or not?]

There is a room full with gold bars from about 30 countries, contained in secure display units. Our eyes reflected the gold as we stared intently into the cramped cabinets. You can even hold one of the bars contained in a standalone Perspex cabinet with a small hand hole cut into it. At 400 ounces, the bar really tests your muscles! I tried with all my might but couldn't pick it up and only just managed to push it a little. Ian tried and lifted the bar off the mat, but not without some difficulty. Then an Italian lady tried and, failing to shift it, remarked: "Oh mama!" which summed it up pretty well I thought!