Notes From Visit To Perth, Australia

 Notes From Visit To Perth, Australia

Sujata Dabolkar

As a PhD scholar working on biomining of Gold, I was invited by the organizer AuSIMM (Australasian Institute of mining and Metallurgy) as a student delegate to Perth, located in the western part of Australia to attend the World Gold Conference, 2019 (WGC-2019) on the theme-‘ Unlocking sustainable value from Gold deposits” organised by AuSIMM), the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) and the Canadian Institute of mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM). The conference witnessed 150 delegates from 30 Gold producer countries, nine key note addresses, 56 technical presentations, 10 E posters and 50 top mining companies exhibiting their services and products. I spent more than a week from 10th September in Perth. It was a wonderful experience to visit Perth a city of two millions, described as one of the world’s most isolated cities and world’s eighth best city. Perth has been risen to number fourteenth as one of the World’s best places to live in the latest Global liveability Ranking release. The city referred as “dullsville” received a 95.9 per cent overall positive rating. The conference was from 11 th September to 13 th September 2019, I stayed for more four days with Correia family, related to my guide Dr. Nandkumar Kamat and explored city. This was my second visit to foreign country, after Trondheim, Norway which lies close to Arctic circle in north whereas Perth is closer to south pole. I could see the stark contrast. My journey started on September 9 th from Dabolim airport to Mumbai. My next destination was Singapore, a journey covering a distance of 3920km. From Changi airport Singapore the flight covered a distance of 3920 km in little above five hours.. I was welcomed at the Perth airport by Mrs. Melissa Correia who dropped me to the hotel Crown Towers Perth a five star hotel at the bank of swan river. On 11 th September the conference began with the welcome address by Dr. Richard Walley, followed by Dr. Leon Lorenzen. The conference witnessed the technical talks, exhibition stalls, scientific posters and live demonstration on gold refining during all three days. At the end of all technical session all the delegates were taken for a small visit to Perth Mint, where I could see the actual gold refining procedure, collection of coins as well as collection of gold nuggets of different size and weight. I was astonished to see real huge gold nuggets. On the way back to hotel, I could see the Optus stadium which is home to big sporting and showbiz events and is state of the art stadium. At end of conference, on 14 th I moved with the Correias , at Canning Vales, the suburban area of Perth. We had planned a visit to king’s park on the same day. Getting to and around Kings Park and Botanic Garden is easy. Kings Park is one of the world’s largest and most beautiful inner city parks. Kings park spread over half the size of our Panaji city has a rich aboriginal and European history and offers innovative design, displays and services. WA Botanic Garden is part of the worldwide network of botanic gardens committed to plant conservation. One can experience a Sugar gums ie Eucalyptus cladocalyx, on Lovekin drive with plaques in front which is followed by a Lemon scented gums (Corymbia citriodora) along FraserAvenue. Bushland walk trails, immaculate gardens and parklands and a variety of children’s discovery play areas can all be found in Kings Park. It was established to showcase the flora of Western Australia to those visiting Perth for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and now is a home for half of Australia's 25000 plant species. I saw the famous Gija Jumulu a giant baobab tree. The 36 tonnes tree is estimated to be 750 years old and is named from the local indigenous people near Warmun, the Gija. The kings park also has the Pioneer Women Memorial which compromises a lake, sculpture and fountain and was built to honour the contributions of pioneering women to the development of the city and state. The memorial artwork, known as the Bookleaf Memorial, is of an open book with pages that have apparently been blown away by the wind. The Kings Park Festival has grown to a month-long celebration of floral displays, live music, exhibitions, workshops, interpretive artworks, guided walks and family activities throughout September. I was very lucky to experience this festival held to promote the beauty of Western Australia's native wildflowers. It now attracts over 500000 people including gardening enthusiasts, families, school students, artists, seniors and fashion lovers. Next day we visited Swan Valley, located close to Perth Airport. This area is known as a food lovers haven, a wine connoisseur delight and a naturalists dream. I visited the Whiteman park and Caversham wildlife park which boasts the largest privately-owned collection of native wildlife inWestern Australia. At the park I got to see the western grey kangaroos which is mostly found in south Australia. I also got to see the happiest animal in the world the Quokka, a small wallaby whose small population is native to south western Australia. I saw black swan which is Western Australia’s bird emblem. Next day we took a railway at the Murdoch railway station. Australian railways are not crowded, very clean and safe. Perth city is very clean, having very few sky scrapers and also featuring old sculptures and churches. I visited the Fremantle, a port city on the day of my departure from Perth. We visited the Fremantle fishing boat harbour which is destination for locals surrounded by world class restaurants featuring some Western Australia’s freshest seafood as well as bars, entertainment and accommodation. I visited Fremantle art centre, markets as well as Fremantle prison which built in 1857 and included in UNESCO World Heritage list. We visited a fully operational little creatures Brewery at Fremantle fishing Boat harbour where I saw giant tanks and brewers working as well as could smell aroma of beers mashing in. I also visited a canning river regional park abd along the various walking paths I could get stunning views of the canning river, its lagoons and woodlands. Perth city offers you diversity in the food, and I tried Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Portuguese, Burmese as well as other foods. At night streets of Perth city is alive with lot of people, diverse food and drinks and clubs and pubs. One could see people playing musical instruments on the roadsides. Roads are amazing in Perth, very clean with the indications at every point. There are special roads for bicycles. This visit taught me a lot about life in Australia and their high living standards. On way back to Goa I was thinking why my own state couldn’t develop like Perth.