Perth Day 1

Perth Day 1

When we woke up this morning we were ready to do anything we were going to do.  We had milo for breakfast and at 10:00am we set off on our days journey around Perth to discover what Perth is really about.  The landscape of Perth is mainly flat but where we are staying is the only place it is hilly.

The first thing we did was drive to the city centre and started walking towards the Perth Mint.  The Perth Mint is the place where workers transfer gold, iron, silver and copper into blocks that are then sent off to other places around the world or kept as souvenirs for tours or other purposes.  While we were there we watched a very interesting show which included a worker turning liquid gold into a block of gold in minutes.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photos due to security reasons.  

Facts about turning Liquid Gold into A Gold Block

1. The furnace is heated at 1,300C to keep the liquid gold in it's liquid form, even though gold only needs to be heated at 1,074C to be liquid it is kept that high so when it out of the furnace it doesn't turn to solid gold instantly.  

2. The workers back in the late 1800's when the mine first opened used to wear leather vests to cover the front of their bodies, they also wore leather gloves to protect themselves from the burning heat of the liquid gold.  Some workers chose not to wear the gear because they thought it was faster to work.

3. A very interesting fact about the olden day workers is that they rolled the end of their jeans up in case any gold fell into the rolled up parts of their pants which could give them more money by the end of the day.  

I can't wait until tomorrow when we go on some more adventures.