August 24-27, 2017
You know when you visit a new place and it weirdly feels like home? That’s how I felt when I first visited Perth, Australia, in Feb 2017. I’d spent an afternoon there after a grueling week long road-trip to Exmouth and instantly fell in love, so my boyfriend and I decided to return in August to take advantage of a work trip.
You know when you visit a new place and it weirdly feels like home? That’s how I felt when I first visited Perth, Australia, in Feb 2017. I’d spent an afternoon there after a grueling week long road-trip to Exmouth and instantly fell in love, so my boyfriend and I decided to return in August to take advantage of a work trip.
We booked an amazing Airbnb on Wellington Street near the Northbridge
district, just outside the bar scene so that it wouldn’t be too loud, but close
to the action ($105/night which for Perth is pretty cheap). Our number one objective was seeing the
quokkas on Rottnest Island, but we’d read somewhere the boat is 3 hours one-way
and $80 each. We did some digging ang
found out you can take a private three-person Cessna plane with Rottnest Air Taxi for $380 total split
between three. The best part? You get to see Rottnest from the air, which
as you’ll see from pictures later on in this post, was well worth the money!
Since the plane leaves from the airport at 10am each day and
we’d slept in, we had to book for the next day, so we decided to take the river
ferry to Fremantle or “Freo” locally. But not before a delicious
pulled pork egg benny and coffee from Uncle Joe's, a very cool brunch café
near the Airbnb.
To get to Fremantle from Northbridge, you have to walk to
Elizabeth Quay and take the Barrack St ferry ($30 one way). There was one at 11:15am so we could make a day
of it. The river ferry was lovely! We sat out on the back deck looking at some
of the biggest houses in Australia.
As everyone on holidays does, we decided to eat again upon
arrival in Fremantle. Fremantle is the “hipster”
area of Perth, similar to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY, or Los Feliz in LA. In true hipster fashion, we decided to have
lunch at the Fremantle Markets which have been around since 1897, a long time
for a country as young as Australia. The
market is massive and caterers to the hungry and thirsty as well as those looking
for clothes, shoes and other non-edible items. I love trying random food at
markets because if you don’t like it, it’s a $5 mistake, so I went for the
Gozeme, Turkish bread with spinach, chicken and chili. It was delicious!!
I’d come to Fremantle during that afternoon in February so I
sort of knew my way around a bit and suggested that we walk down to Little Creatures Brewery for a beer tasting flight on the water.
Along the way, my poor boyfriend was forced into a couple shops, where I
found an awesome bejeweled jean jacket (it’s cuter than it sounds okay!)
Another amazing thing about Perth, is that it’s on the WEST
side of Australia and that means one thing where Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and
every east coast city can’t compete…sunsets.
We were already on the ocean so we continued down the boardwalk to Bathers Beach Hotel where I had an incredible caramel espresso
martini while watching an incredible sunset.
Since we hadn’t had “official” dinner (hadn’t we be eating
all day??) we strolled down to Bread In Common, recommended by a close friend
from Perth. We shared some small plates
which were good although not as exciting as I'd have hoped. A $30 Uber and we were tucked into bed.
The next morning we quickly searched for a nearby breakfast
spot before heading to the airport. We
settled on Eros Café, which had great coffee although the food wasn’t
particularly memorable.
For the Cessna flight, the plane maxs out at 300kg,
including people and their packs so we could only bring essentials – snacks,
sunscreen, hats, snorkel gear and a selfie stick for the famous quokka
pic! I’d also recommend wearing athletic
clothes and sneakers over a bathing suit because you’ll want to bike around the
island comfortably. It’s not fancy.
The
flight was only 15 minutes but it was magical.
You fly out over Perth for some awesome city shots, then a short stint
over open ocean and then you arrive at the island. The water around the island is just deep enough
for sailboats to moor, causing an array of brilliant shades of blue emanating out
from the island’s bright white shores.
Highly
recommend walking into town and doing the “bike n’ bus” option for $45 each from Pedal & Flipper. It
allows you to bike wherever you want on the island until you are tired and then
you can leave the bike at a bus stop and take the bus back to the town. The island is much larger than you think, so
the bus is a nice backup, just don’t forget to ask for a bike lock because you
are still responsible for the bike. Of
equal importance is remembering to RETURN the bike key before you leave the
island.
We decided to bike the island clockwise from the main town,
heading out in the general direction of Salmon Cove. One of the most enjoyable and beautiful bike
rides of my life, not too strenuous but a good workout for someone that doesn’t
ride often. Unfortunately, my boyfriend
suddenly started feeling really sick after about 2 hours so we dropped the
bikes at Stop #8 and took the bus back in.
We were both feeling not great considering we hadn’t really eaten since
breakfast (reminder to bring some snacks!!)
In another unfortunate turn of events, I’d had the selfie
stick stuck halfway into my backpack and somehow in transit the clicker for the
stick fell off and was lost. So when we returned
to town for the famous quokka pic, we realized the stick wouldn’t work. My boyfriend was shattered… both physically
and mentally, but I wouldn’t give up.
So, instead I set the iPhone to 10 sec timer mode and chased down
quokkas hoping they’d just happen to smile when the timer went off. I think we got some good ones, saving the
day!
Starving, we grabbed lunch at Hotel Rottnest, which had great
outdoor seating on the water and pretty incredible burgers. You have to keep an eye on your food because
the seagulls are QUITE bold. I lost a
couple fries mid-conversation.
Finally, our 4pm departure arrived so we headed back to the island
airport for our flight back. Poor guy
was feeling so sick that we went straight back to the Airbnb for a quiet Saturday
movie night before he flew out the next day.
I
combated my lonely Sunday blues with shopping on Williams Street (as you do)
and then checked into my hotel for work, The Alex Hotel. Wow.
It, to this day, so my favorite place I have ever stayed, other than
maybe that safari villa in South Africa.
I felt like I was staying in someone’s beautiful home. There was an honor bar in the common area
filled with amazing local beers, free breakfast that included some of the most interesting
and tasty muffins, and a gorgeous rooftop looking out of Northbridge. To top it all off, the way the room was
structured, the entire wall of the shower was glass allowing the sun to stream
in through the window, without anyone being able to see you.
I spent the rest of the afternoon sunning
myself on the roof before meeting up with some mutual friends for dinner at
Cottesloe Beach Hotel. Cottesloe
is a beach town north of Fremantle similar to a Bondi Beach in Sydney or
Manhattan Beach in LA. Yet another
incredible sunset from the hotel restaurant while enjoying a delicious duck
curry.
The next few days, I linked up with some work mates and we hit
up some eclectic cocktail bars, hole-in-the-wall restaurants and even a drag
show in Northbirdge! The most memorable are listed
below:
- The Standard - pretty good dinner
- Ezra Pound – they make a great Sazerac cocktail (with cool ice!!)
- Mechanics Institute – very tasty burger with a cool outdoor picnic area
- The Bird - live music with a great backyard and beer specials. They even make a decent espresso martini for a dive bar. The backyard has Anya Brock paintings, one of my favorite Australian artists
- Connections (affectionately called “Connie's”) - gay bar with a drag host and ladies mud wrestling on Weds
Overall,
a very satisfying trip and a town that I’d arguably live in once I’ve slowed
down a little more. Such unique
restaurants, bars and cafes, lovely, friendly people and some of the best
sunsets I’ve seen worldwide. I’d highly
recommend visiting, although due to the sheer size of Australia, it’s a trip on
its own. I will most definitely be back.
Posts
