Perth, Western Australia

Indian Ocean at Cottesloe Beach, Perth Skyline, Swan Bells, Here I am in the parklands along the Swan, Highrise of St Georges Terrace, and Cottesloe Beach.

Over the weekend, I took a short sojourn to Perth, in the faraway land of Western Australia. Perth has the dubious honour of being one of the most isolated cities in the world, and having flown there from Sydney, almost 5 hours flight away, I would agree... There was very little to see on the flight. Flying over the lights of Canberra would have been the highlight!

However Saturday morning I woke in Perth and found it a thoroughly pleasant city. The main CBD of Perth is on the banks of the Swan River, however a little further afield is the gorgeous beach of Cottesloe on the Indian Ocean. I wandered around town, did some shopping, and took a cruise down the Swan, as well as wandering along the parklands lining the river. I also made the trek out to Cottesloe, at this time of year a rough, and predominantly surf beach.

Home of the Dockers

A 20 minute train ride (or an hour's ferry ride) down the Swan River from Perth takes you to Fremantle, the main docks of Perth. Fremantle is a really pleasant spot to pass the time away. I spent an afternoon in the glorious sunshine to explore the historic old buildings, the cappuccino strip and the Fremantle markets, followed by sunset at the docks. Fremantle comes alive at the weekends, full of people at cafes, in the shops, and wandering around the markets.

Clockwise - Sunset at Fremantle Docks, Marina on the Indian Ocean, Historic buildings on Mouat Street, having a Latte on the Cappuccino strip, Fremantle Docks and Hotel Fremantle.

Rottnest Island

As part of my WA trip, I spent a night on Rottnest Island. Rottnest is about 18km from the mainland, and after a rough trip over, I found the island to be very pretty. There is a restriction on motor vehicles on the island, and you can either ride a bike around, catch one of the shuttle buses, or walk. The island is also home to the Quokka, found nowhere else in the world. It looks a bit like a giant rat, but they are quite cute all the same... The island actually got it's name from the Quokka's likenss to a rat. The time I was there, the ocean was pretty rough, and the relative calm in these pictures was not the case. There were strong winds, and changeable weather, but the scenery was still fantastic.

(Left to right) Little Parakeet Bay, The Basin at dusk, Reflections at the Settlement, a friendly Quokka, Parker Point and Salmon Bay)

(Top picture) Sunset at the Basin

Brisbane by night

After a hard week's auditing, I thought I should spend my last night in Brizzy in style, and went for a stroll along the riverside, followed by dinner at one of the trendy restaurants along the river's edge.

Brisbane is a very pleasant city, and has quite an impressive skyline by night, with the Story Bridge and the city skyline.