Perth Walking Tour

Details: Category: Perth City & Surrounds; Published: Sunday, 27 December 2009 12:10; Written by Nita Teoh

Have you got Two Feet and a Heartbeat?

Review of Two Feet and a Heartbeat Perth Walking Tour

Every big city that you visit these days offers its own City Walking Tour, from the famous Jack the Ripper walking tours in London to the foodie tours of Melbourne. Now Perth can brag about its own walking tour - the Two Feet and a Heartbeat Perth Exploration tour. My partner and I decided to take to the paths of Perth CBD to join Two Feet and a Heartbeat on their adventures through the city.

On this sunny summer afternoon in Perth as we head into Christmas, with caps in hand (or on head!) and some comfy sneakers on our feet, we made our way through the busy throng of city shoppers as the shops started to close for the night, before the Saturday evening nightlife began.

We were slightly shy of the agreed meeting time of 5.30pm at the appointed meeting place of the Perth Town Hall, located on the corner of Barrack Street and Hay Street. The Perth Town Hall has been lovingly restored and stands as a proud monument of days gone by. I peeped inside the Perth Town Hall whose interior looks pretty posh these days!

As we got to our rendezvous, we were met by two friendly walking guides, who introduced themselves as Ryan and Craig. As there were no stragglers on our walking tour, we took off quite promptly on our way around the sights of the city.

Our walking tour started off with a leisurely stroll through Perth as we wandered down Barrack Street towards the Bell Tower. Our Two and a Heartbeat Guides provided some fascinating history of Perth as they relived its early days of discovery. It took a couple of goes before our city found its feet as it wasn't until we managed to obtain convict labour that things really took off. We took in the old and new in Perth, as we admired the grandure of heritage buildings of yesteryear nestled between the modern skyscrapers.

As a local, you are in for a surprise if you think you know all about the history of our fair City of Lights. Our Guides managed to unearth some little known underground secrets about the history of Perth and its surrounding buildings in the CBD - from action on the Swan River to the toing and froing of famous adventurers between our mother land and our past city, you will be full bottles on everything Perth once you finish the tour. These are just some hints of the exciting stories that you will hear along your seemingly normal tour - I won’t give them away because I have been sworn to secrecy! ;-)

We meandered our way from the historic Perth Town Hall, passing the Central Government Building which has big plans ahead for its future, towards the Bell Tower. Barrack Street was buzzing with people enjoying various activities on our beautiful Swan River foreshore.

Some of the things that you will discover on the tour will be to locate the oldest building still standing in Perth, which is stil open to the public to take a look - and don't forget to ask to see the finger! If you are stuck without your watch and desperately need to know the time, you had best head on down to a special spot on the river, where given Perth's sunny weather, you should always be able to work out if its time for a drink!

Before we knew it, our walking tour had come to a whirlwind halt, and we had finished at our end point of Rosie O’Grady's in Northbridge. We joined our guides and fellow walkers for a thirst quenching drink at the pub - it was certainly well deserved. The weather had cooled off and it had been surprisingly drizzling - more like Melbourne weather!

I really enjoyed the fascinating stories that our well experienced guides shared with us. I loved walking through Perth to enjoy its fascinating history and enjoyed the banterings with my fellow walkers as we were shown some of the best kept secrets in Perth, both old and new!

Whether as a visitor or local, if you feel like taking a walking tour through the city with an interesting twist, join Two Feet and a Heartbeat on their guided walk around the Perth CBD.

The Two Feet and a Heartbeat Perth Exploration tour runs 365 days a year, rain or shine, starting at 5.30pm from the Perth Town Hall and finishing up around 7.30pm at Rosie O'Gradys in Northbridge.

Thanks Ryan and Craig for an excellent tour. I'm looking forward to catching your Fremantle walking tour one of these days soon!