Fremantle serves as the harbor town for Perth and today we visited both. We started by taking a 35-minute Uber drive from the cruise terminal in Fremantle to Perth to visit the Perth Mint. Marshall had booked a 9:30a tour and we arrived with enough time to look at their beautiful jewelry, coin and souvenir shops.

The tour started with a story about gold prospectors who found the world’s largest gold nuggets on record, right there in Western Australia, in 1890. Due to the high volume of gold being discovered, the Perth Mint was established in 1899 as a subsidiary of the British Royal Mint. The mint initially served two purposes; first it minted coins for circulation and secondly, it bought most of the gold and silver which were being mined in western Australia. Today, the Perth Mint no longer prints coins for circulation, but they do create gold and silver coins and bullions for collecting and investment purposes. Mining businesses are still able to sell their raw materials directly to the Mint, fulfilling one of its original missions.

In October 2011, the Perth Mint created the world’s largest, heaviest and most valuable gold coin, breaking the record previously held by the Royal Canadian Mint. The coin is approximately 31 inches in diameter and 4.7 in. thick, and made of 2,231 lb. of 99.99% pure gold. It features the effigy of Elizabeth II on one side and a red kangaroo on the other side. It is legal tender in Australia with face value $1 million AUD, but at the time of minting it was valued at $53.5 million AUD. Today its value is $241,354,916 AUD or $173,034,579 USD.

The tour was very interesting, though today the actual pouring of gold bars was not demonstrated due to equipment failure, which was a disappointment. Regardless, we felt the tour price was a good value at $12USD each.

At the end of the tour, there were some novelty demonstrations. Marshall was able to determine his “weight in gold” value by stepping on a scale that does the calculation for you. We stamped souvenir coins and had the chance to lift a solid gold bar with one hand, which none of us could do. It was heavy!!

After the mint, we returned to Fremantle for yarn shopping and lunch. When we visited Fremantle in 2024, we found the sweetest shop, Yarns on Collier, and we wanted to return so the ladies could pick up some supplies.

Lunch was at Benny’s where we enjoyed the company of Jase Walsh, the ship’s Destination Expert. Jase has been to over 150 countries and has the most fascinating stories to share. We’ve so enjoyed his destination lectures and tips for making the most of our time in port. Lunch was lively and lovely; sitting at a sidewalk table in Fremantle, with gorgeous weather, talking about travel – wow!

The mood back on board was equally as lively. We’re all getting excited for this next segment of the trip which will be mostly new destinations for us. Marshall has been to Singapore before, and Sharon to Tokyo, both for work, but otherwise, everything will be new!! But before that, we have three days at sea to get to Bali, Indonesia.

Tomorrow: Sea Day