Perth, Australia is the most isolated major city on Earth. It is located at the far western end of the country and is the capital of the Australian State of Western Australia. Most people who visit Australia fail to go to Perth because it is so out of the way, in fact Most Aussies have never been to Perth either. It is that far, pratically the equivalent of flying from New York to Los Angeles is going from Sydney to Perth. However, Perth has a lot to offer and is one of my favorite cities in Oz.

Perth has many awesome places to see and lots of fun things to do. My favorite spot was Cottesloe Beach which is pictured above. Cottesloe Beach is the premier beach near Perth and one of the best in Western Australia. It is renowned for easy surf and perfect beaches. It is also home to Perth’s infamous Sunday Session, where seemingly the entire city goes to the Cottesloe Beach Hotel and basically just drinks the whole day at the beach and on the hotels massive grounds.

The ultra modern and attractive central business district of Perth is bounded by the Swan River to the south and east, with gorgeous Kings Park on the western end, while the railway lines form a northern border. St Georges Terrace is the prominent street of the area with more than two thirds of the 1.3 million m² of office space in the CBD. Hay Street and Murray Street have most of the retail and entertainment facilities. The tallest building in the city is Central Park, which is the sixth tallest building in Australia.

Perth is also home to a lot of great Aussie sports. The climate of Perth allows for extensive outdoor sport activity, and this is reflected in the wide variety of sports available to citizens of the city. Perth was host to the 1962 Commonwealth Games and also the 1987 America’s Cup defense (based at Fremantle). Perth is home to the powerhouse West Coast Eagles of the Australian Football League (AFL-better known as Aussie Rules) and the Freemantle Dockers. Perth also plays host to the Perth Glory FC soccer team which we saw a game at when we were there.

After strolling the lovely city for a while and getting acquainted with the city you can take a ferry to Rottnest Island. Rottnest Island is located 19 km off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. The island is 11 km long, and 4.5 km at its widest point. The land area measures 19 km².

Rottnest is a great place to spend a day or two. You can rent bikes as we did and bike around the island-it will take nearly the whole day to circle the island and you can stop off at various beaches and certainly great restaurants and beautiful scenery along the way. The island may be most famous for its cute little inhabitants, the Quokkas.

The Quokka was one of the first Australian mammals seen by Europeans. The Dutch mariner Samuel Volckertzoon wrote of sighting “a wild cat” on Rottnest Island in 1658. In 1696 Willem de Vlamingh mistook them for rats and named the island “Rottenest”, Dutch for “rat nest”. The quokkas are everywhere on the island and are very friendly. This is really the only place on Earth to see them out of a zoo and they are a lot of fun to watch play around.

All in all Perth has a lot to do and will always be one of my favorite cities, not just in Oz but in the world. The relaxed and fun attitude of the people and the laid back feel of the city make for staying there a long time easy to do and very comfortable. We stayed for a week and didn’t want to leave because the living in Perth is very easy. They also have the best mussels (seafood) I’ve ever had in my life.

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