It has been 2 weeks since the Queen left after the
CHOGM event.
I went "stalking the Queen" by checking out the place she stayed in Perth.
Today happens to be the open-house for the Perth Government House. Its functions similar to the
Istana back in Singapore where official government meetings are held, foreign delegates are hosted, and most importantly, its the place where the royal family stays when they visit Perth.
Its an old-looking building situated in the city.
Not as big and grand as the
Istana
The Govt House is traditionally decorated, with various portraits of past Kings and Queens hung everywhere.
This is a pic of Queen Elizabeth II when she was younger.
Pic of another queen, prob a few generations back...
The grand ballroom:
The Drawing room(aka living room):
Grand Dining Room with all the china laid out for a royal dinner.
Look closely, each cutlery/utensil has the royal crown emblem. Specially made in England.
A recent pic of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband during their visit 2 weeks ago.
Governor's Study room:
with a cute ladder in front of the bookshelf
Official Secretary's Office:
The bedrooms upstairs are not open for visiting... pity...
There are 2 rooms: the Executive Suite, and a normal room, on opposite ends of the corridor. During the recent visit, the Queen requested IN ADVANCE to downgrade to the normal smaller room, cos the Executive Suite faced a busy road. She said that the noise from the traffic would disturb her sleep. So smart. This is her 4
th or 5
th time she stayed here,
btw.
Outside a governor's house, we would expect to see royal guards securing the place.
For instance, we can see YOUNG (
abt 18 year old)
NSFs outside the
Istana:
Over here, this is what I saw:
Nope, this is not some sort of elderly scheme where they re-hire retirees to do security jobs. Its actually an exhibition to showcase the military uniforms in Australia. All these uniforms you see above are from the 1960s, as early as WW1
They even have the medic nurses' uniform
A mini Change-of-Guard ceremony @ Government House:
vs
A real Change-of-Guard ceremony outside the
Istana (held on the first
sunday of the month)
Some sort of traditional/aboriginal dance performance
This KANGAROO PAW flower is native to WA:
Huge scoreboard listing the details of every race - abt 20 races per night, 15-20 min interval.
They then head towards the starting point and keep their greyhounds in their respective cages
Bang goes off, gates open, and the greyhounds start racing
Let me magnify:
Quite ugly and fake-looking, IMO
Without much knowledge of the race, I randomly place my bet on 3 dogs. There goes my $$$ down the drain. haha
