Perth was the first destination of my eight month tour of Australia and, bar a few paragraphs in Bill Bryson's Down Under and a fairly clinical description in the Lonely Planet guidebook, almost a complete unknown to me. My imagination conjured up images of a clean, attractive city bathed in perpetual sunshine with a laid back, fun-loving and friendly population. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find the roads damp from a recent downpour and the following morning when I peered out of my window to see an onslaught of torrential rain. My feelings of disappoint in the great Australian climate were not tempered by the news that London was in the midst of a heat wave and some 10 degrees hotter than Perth.

Perth is the capital of Western Australia, by far the largest state in Oz, and is renowned for its remoteness as well as its temperate climate (it's the sunniest state capital apparently). To gain some idea of its remoteness it's closer to Singapore than Sydney and is a massive 2750km from the nearest state capital, Adelaide. That is over twice the distance from Lands End to John O'Groats to give some idea of the distances I'm talking about.

Accommodation

A quick note on accommodation in Oz, almost all places offer concessions for YHA members so get hold of a card either before you go or when you turn up if you're eligible. In addition to a usual $1 discount per night on accommodation, the card will get you savings on travel and entrance to tourist attractions amongst other things. (Exchange rate is currently a favourable $2.8 to the pound.)

Whilst there are hostels located slightly closer to the centre of town, Northbridge is a livelier place to stay and is a mere five minutes walk to the centre. I should at this point also mention Scarborough which is close to Perth's beaches and hence should be considered if you're travelling in the Summer months.

As I spent the best part of two weeks in and around Perth I felt obliged to don my shades gather up my camera and guidebook and visit some of the sites. The most appealing of these is King's Park, which covers an enormous four square kilometers of the north east of the city. Basically it makes Hyde Park seem little more than a large back garden to give some idea of the scale. It is an amazing place that contains a vast amount of wildlife, allows for beautiful walks as well as affording picture postcard views of Perths dramatic skyline and the Swan River upon which the city is built. Rather than try to do it credit I'll borrow a quote from the travel writing guru himself, Bill Bryson who succinctly sums it up.

Nothing could be more true and in my education in all things Australian this was the first time I became aware of how they manage to do everything on a more impressive scale, with more consideration and thought and with far more appealing results than us Brits when it comes to any tourist related affair; a fact that was compounded with every different attraction I visited.

Going out in Perth

There are a wide range of restaurants and eateries in Northbridge and they cover a truly global scope of culinary flavours, everything from steaks and burgers to Oriental, Italian to Indian and kebabs and other fast food outlets. The quality in the few places I ate in was very good for the price but obviously my budget didn't allow me to sample all of the restuarants.

As to the club scene I only went to two different clubs during my stay in Perth, Rise which played a diverse range of music from cheesy chart music through to house and techno. Free entry on Wednesday nights was our main reason for going but it was a good night out. The Church is a more serious clubbers club and at $6 for entry on a Saturday night which includes a complimentary drink is well worth a visit. I must admit my memory of the place is a touch hazy but I do recall dancing like a maniac through to the early hours which is a commendation in my book.