Australia bellringing trip, 2007
Perth
| Stayed in Perth City YHA, right next to the suburban Metro route. Just to the right of this picture was a busy level crossing, and the units were sounding their horns from five o'clock in the morning! We became used to it ... |  |
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Here's the exotic Swan Bell tower. I think this is the only building I've rung bells in which is not (and never has been) a church. The slender green part houses the lift and staircase, while the more substantial `wings' hide the real tower in which the bells are hung. 16 bells; tenor 29cwt |
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The ringing chamber at the Swan belltower. Being a tourist attraction, demonstrations take place
nearly every day. Visitors are able to view the ringers from a gallery through one-way glass and
watch via video cameras. Here is a group of tourists under the guidance of our friendly Laura.
On the right is the view across the lovely Swan River as seen from the rest area of the bell tower. Not quite like the view from St Martin-in-the-Fields! |
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A visit to a small sandy island called Penguin Island (south of Perth near Rockingham) drummed up some rather inclement weather. As we sat inside the shelter watching the feeding the rain and wind was fairly lashing away and coming in through the openings near the roof. The penguins weren't too worried. |
| The weather improved enough for a stroll about the beach. A very scenic little island, which is kept as a nature reserve. There were also pelicans, sea lions and a lot of bold seagulls which were definitely best left alone. |  |
| After searching t'internet, I think that this is a Rainbow Lorikeet, a small type of parrot. They were in large groups flying rapidly in and out of the palms and other trees in Perth. Very striking when most of the birds we get at home are coloured in shades of brown and grey! |  |
| Glorious Autumn sunshine for the final morning in Perth. There were small but perfectly formed rollers breaking onto the sand at the City Beach, which has to be one of the best city beaches I have seen. Unfortunately no time to go swimming, only to admire. |  |
Adelaide
| St Peters Cathedral, situated just outside the city centre, has a glorious heavy ring of eight. One of the highlights of the tour. We rang a quarter peal of Stedman here (slowly!). 8 bells; tenor 41cwt |  |
| The town hall bells reminded me of Holy Trinity Guildford. Maybe it was the balcony from whence you enter the ringing chamber... no, actually I think it was the fact that half the bells seemed to drop randomly, accompanied by swaying of the tower. This fine organ could be seen from the balcony while waiting to ring. 8 bells; tenor 14cwt |  |
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Returning from a lovely day tasting fine wines, liquers and Ports in the Barossa Valley, no-one minded much when the coach driver took us to a scenic viewpoint in the Northern Hills around Adelaide. |
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Walkerville, close to Adelaide. Interesting colours here. Anyway, I think it looks nice
with the marbled cloudy sky. Its worth noting that we experienced something rare in Adelaide: a lot of rain. This made
the locals very happy although we found it hard to be quite as enthusiastic. 6 bells; tenor 13cwt |
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| Adelaide botanical gardens has a tree, Maclura pomifera. Also known as the 'Custard Apple Tree'. These large fruits were plummeting down with some frequency, hence the tape warning not to approach too closely. Apparently these are edible, wish I'd known that before I went, would have pinched one or two to help with the catering at the YHA! |  |
Sydney
| Lots of pictures from Sydney: see the next page :) |  |