Kings Park:
Check out the superb views from Kings Park,
the lungs of the city centre. The park includes a 17
hectare (42 acre) Botanic Garden and a section of natural
bushland, which represents
Perth
as it was before the white fella got here. In spring,
there's a cultivated display of Western
Australia's famed wild flowers.
The park also has some pleasant bike tracks - you can
hire bikes just outside the park - and a coffee shop. Museum of Western
Australia:
The museum, in Northbridge, has an excellent
gallery of Aboriginal culture, a marine gallery with
the skeleton of a 25m (82ft) blue whale, vintage cars,
a gallery of dinosaurs and a good collection of meteorites,
including the 11 tonne Mundrabilla specimen. In the
courtyard, set in its own preservative bath, is Megamouth,
one of the largest species of shark. Only about five
of these benign creatures have ever been captured.The
museum complex also includes Perth's original
prison, built in 1856 and used until 1888 - a favourite
spot for hangings in the past.
Berndt Museum of
Anthropology:
This is one of Australia's
finest collections of traditional and contemporary Australian
Aboriginal art and artefacts. It combines material from Arnhem
Land in the Northern Territory and
the south-west, desert and Kimberley regions of WA.
You'll find the museum in the University of WA,
in Nedlands.
Underwater World:
This is not your run-of-the-mill aquarium. Underwater World, north of the city,
has a 98m (321ft) underwater tunnel aquarium displaying 2500 examples of
200 marine species, including sharks and stingrays. If you turn up at the
right time you can watch the sharks being fed or, if you're a qualified diver,
join in the feeding yourself (hopefully in a not-too-participatory manner).
There are also interactive displays inside such as a touchpool and Microworld.
City Beaches:
Perth has some
of the the best city beaches in Australia,
though they can get a bit unpleasant and windy in the
afternoon. There are calm bay beaches on the SwanRiver at Crawley and
Peppermint Grove. Or you can try a whole string of
patrolled surf beaches on the Indian Ocean coast,
including Perth's very popular
nude beach at Swanbourne. Scarborough is
known for its beachside caf? society, and is great
for experienced surfers and sailboarders. Perhaps the
best beach of all is on secluded CarnacIsland,
frequented by the odd marooned human and some sea lions. RottnestIsland:This
sandy island, 19km (12mi) off the coast of Fremantle,
is home to small indigenous marsupials known as quokkas.
These were mistakenly identified as rats in 1696 by
the Dutch explorer de Vlamingh, who named the island
'Rats Nest'. The Rottnest settlement was established
as a prison for Aborigines in the 19th century, but
by 1920 the prison had fallen into disuse and the island
had become an escape for Perth
society. There is virtually no motorised traffic on
the island - bicycle is the main means of transport.
The beaches are superb with some of the southernmost
coral reefs in the world and crystal-clear waters.There
are a couple of places to stay, including a campground,
on Rottnest, and a few restaurants. You can get to
Rottnest by plane from Perth,
or by ferry from Perth or Fremantle.
Fremantle:
Known as 'Freo' to the locals, the portof Fremantle(though
a town in its own right with a strong local identity) has been absorbed into Perth's
urban sprawl. In 1987, the port was the site of the unsuccessful defence of
what was, for a brief period, one of Australia's
most prized possessions - the America's Cup yachting trophy. Fremantle has
been substantially revamped and is now filled with outdoor caf?s, old buildings
and lively markets, and is imbued with a laid-back arty ambience. It continues
to attract hordes of daytrippers on weekends. There are plenty of places
to stay and eat in Freo, and the city buzzes like a fridge at night. A shuttle
runs to Freo from Perth airport; there's a train every
15 minutes between Perth and Freo, or you can catch a
ferry.
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