Nov 2010 – Perth Short Stay – Western Australia

My first trip to Perth was simply a holiday for a couple of days to a place I had never previously visited. It’s a truly delightful city set on the Swan River, with a Mediterranean climate, fabulous beaches and perfect weather while I was there. It was about a four hour flight from Sydney, with the return trip being an overnight journey that left around 11 pm Perth time and arrived back in Sydney around 6 am ESDT.

Fremantle with Perth in the distance (Photo: ‘chewy m’ at en.wikipedia)

Perth probably has the best public transport system of any Australian city. There’s new train lines running up the centre of motorways and feeder buses that connect beautifully with trains at major stations. I used that system to visit a few spots, but also hired a bike for a day and pedaled my way out to Fremantle and back around the Swan River to the city.

On the photo above that means starting at the CBD in the top centre, going anti-clockwise around through the suburbs on the left to Fremantle in the foreground, then back around the right hand (southern) shore and across a bridge just this side of the far CBD. Perth has some excellent bikeways, but there was still a bit of on-road riding to do. Not a great number of hills, which helps when you’re pushing 60.

First a short bit on city streets, then on to the bikeway

Don’t know what made me look back at the city at this point.

I don’t like the heat much (about 34C on the day), but can’t knock the views.

Making progress on the bike-ways around the river.

View from the bridge near Fremantle

Into the adjacent port city of Fremantle (or ‘Freo’ for short)

Fremantle views

Heading around the south side of the river on a series of bikeways

Past some falls with the opposite bike track on the edge of the road

The bike tracks run through the bush and overlooks the river in places

People at play in parks along the way

Now well to the south of the city

A bit of a zoom shot across to the CBD on a perfect summer’s day

While shortcutting through some suburbs I found this street fair

With a few unusual attractions on display!

Pedal, pedal, pedal…..the city is getting closer again now

View from the road/bike/pedestrian/rail bridge as we head back into the CBD

A Perth train approaching the CBD on tracks on the motorway median strip

Excellent bikeways!

And back into the CBD

The weather got even hotter on the following days, so I spent most of them doing indoor things (some good little museums and shopping in Perth) and more public transport trips, such as to Scarborough Beach, and out to Mandurah and back. Recommend Perth to anyone. Must come back when I have a bit more time and explore the south-west area.

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Off by train and bus to Scarborough Beach. It’s a gorgeous location, although the ‘Beware of Snakes’ signs around the grass and scrub just behind the beach are a bit disconcerting.