Perth Weekend
Last week, Brian had a business trip to Perth and I decided to crash the end of it so we could spend the weekend exploring the area.
If you’ve never heard of Perth, there’s probably a good reason for that. Perth is considered the most isolated city in the world and it’s 1615 road miles to the next closest urban area (which is Adelaide...so urban seems like a strong word). If you go by flying miles, it’s actually closer to Indonesia than it is to another city in Australia.
Perth is the capital of Western Australia, the largest Australian state. It’s also the least dense (technically the Northern Territory is less dense part of Oz, but the NT isn’t actually a state) and there’s only an average of 1 person per square kilometer, with the vast majority of people living in Perth. Here’s a quick Australian geography lesson:
Here’s a map of Australia with states and major cities/towns. You can see Perth alone on the west coast and the vast size of Western Australian.
Now, here’a a population density map of Australia showing where people actually live:
There was a party on the east coast and Perth was definitely not invited. And wow, Australia is super empty.
To really drive the point home, here’s what Australia would look like if the states were sized based on their population:
TL:DR: Perth is really far from everything and no one lives in Western Australia.
I took a 5 hour flight from the east and arrived in time for dinner thanks to the time zone change. Since it was a work trip, Brian’s hotel was in the CBD, which had turned QUIET by 9pm. It reminded me of a big, sprawling Texas city like Houston or Dallas, where everyone drives their giant SUVs across endless suburbs and mostly stays out of downtown. Perth itself is a product of the mining industry, where people have made crazy fortunes taking 6 figure jobs on isolated mines in the middle of desert. The city has gone from boom to bust to boom to currently bust, but you still see plenty of flashy wealth around the city.
The next morning, I had a chance to go for a run through Kings Park, a gorgeous botanical garden minutes from the city center with stunning views of the city skyline and the Swan River.
After some brief exploration of the city, I met up with Brian and his clients in Northbridge, the so-called “cool part” of Perth. It reminded me a little bit of River North in Chicago, where people come to throw money around casually and listen to EDM. They took us to a rooftop bar called the Mechanics Institute and proved to be both gracious hosts and super fun girls. Both of their partners work in in the mining industry, so they taught us about fly-in-fly-out (aka FIFO) where people work for several weeks onsite, come back for a week of leave and party like it’s 1999, before going back to the grind.
The next morning, we headed north along the Indian Ocean Road to explore the natural side of WA. It didn’t take long before the city and suburban landscape turned into a languid emptiness. On our first stop, we visited Yanchep National Park for some kangaroo spotting. We had great luck in finding several momma kangaroos with joeys still small enough to fit in the pouch (and sometimes not quite small enough but still trying to fit). To add to the cuteness, we stopped inside the park’s small tea room before heading out and my heart melted at the sight of 10 older ladies having an afternoon cup together.
On our next stop, we got our first sight of the Indian Ocean in the tiny holiday town of Guilderton. Here, the mouth of the river meets the ocean and we had amazing views of an almost empty beach. Guilderton, like many typical Australian vacation destinations, doesn’t even have a full grocery store and is mostly dotted with tiny cottages and a popular caravan park.
We had a quick lunch in the beautiful (but smelly) fishing town of Lancelin before hitting up the Lancelin sand dunes for some sand boarding. I had never experienced dunes of this size and it’s almost impossible to describe the vastness of the landscape. Sand boarding started off terrifying but turned into a ridiculous amount of fun. After an hour on the dunes, we had sand EVERYWHERE. I swear I’m still finding it on my clothes and in my hair despite multiple washings.
For our last stop, we trekked out to Nambung State Park to see the Pinnacles, eerie limestone formations that even scientists haven’t been able to fully explain. It’s probably the closest feeling you can get to visiting another planet.
Upon returning to Perth, we hit up a Greek restaurant in Northbridge and then promptly succumbed to the time difference.
Sunday morning, we took the train to the port town of Fremantle, which is known for it’s bohemian vibe. Nowadays, it’s popular with cruise ships so it’s starting to lose a bit of its authenticity, but was still lovely. After smashed avo and coffee, we boarded a short ferry to Rottnest Island, affectionally known by locals as Rotto.
Rottnest Island has no real permanent residents or privately owned homes. The only accommodations are a few groupings of holiday cottages and (you guessed it) a caravan park/camping ground. There is a small town with restaurants and shops, but the rest of the island has almost no sign of human interference. They don’t allow cars on the island, so everyone commutes around by bike. Even on a peak weekend (the entire ferry was sold out) you had the feeling of having the entire place to yourself.
We biked almost the entire island perimeter, stopping at rocky overlooks, secluded beaches, and crystal salt lakes. We saw migrating humpback whales, playful seal colonies and of course, the world famous quokkas. Unfortunately, we visited on an unseasonably cold day so we didn’t have the benefit of trying out the world class snorkeling. Something to save for next time.