Hi
I stayed at the Esplanade (only 2 nights) and it was lovely. A drink on the balcony people watching is a treat
Can I also recommend you go to Monkey Mia where you can see and mingle with wild bottlenose dolphins
Rottnest is stunning and (I believe) the only place to see Quokkas - little marsupials
have a great time
Lally

how could i have forgotten to mention the quokkas??? ive obviously been away from perth for tooooooo long!
monkey mia is brilliant but again is a long drive or you can get organised trips.

I will never forget the Quokkas - cheeky blighters!
I went on a bus to Monkey Mia staying overnight at shark Bay on the way up. Well worth it
Lally

MillyM

Your posts bring back lots of memories from my stays in Perth in 1989 and 1996.

riazorblue.....i got quite sentimental just thinking about everything, we must go back for a holiday been in london 5yrs & i still have boxes & stuff at friends houses over there, really need to sort it out!!!!

im v lucky i have dual nationality & i think id like to retire in perth ( sadly thats not in the near future!!!), i dont want to be old & cold in london! even though im enjoying life here.

Ahhh, the quokkas, I was on Rottnest 7 years ago when there was a big fire, which resulted in alot of quokkas dying in the blaze. I will be returning to Rotto for the first time since then, in March next year. I hope they are in as much of an abundance as they were before. very cheeky little critters they are.

.We have been looking at so many properties in and around fremantle and its really difficult knowing if they are the right choice or are they in the right area?Its like being blind and not real sure where i'm going.We looked at Harbour House by South Beach Park, freo,and Bellion House, Does anyone know of these properties?It is on ozstays.com.

Just started planning our trip to Australia for next year. We plan to start off in Perth but I have been told that the shops close on a Sunday. Whilst this wouldn't be a problem, can anyone confirm this? Can't believe shops in a major city still close at the weekends. Also, because of the dreaded restrictions of not having as much money or time as we would like to do everything possible can we fit in exploring both south and north of Perth? Don't really want to do daytrips as I find them too exhausting, i.e. its 10 am and this is ....., it's now 11 am and this is .....
We are looking at about 3-4 weeks in Oz and will definitely be visiting Melbourne (our friends who we travel with, have family there) and we have also been offered accommodation in Adelaide so might try and fit that in, as well as Sydney.
Finally (for now) we are looking to travel in February/March - will Darwin and area be too wet?

Babs135

Hi
Yes shops do close on Sunday over here you will find some open but not many
If you hire a car you could see north and south of Perth I feel the best parts are south in the Fremantle and Rockingham areas and even more south
Yes it will be in the wet season in Feb and March in Darwin

Will Broome be too wet in February/March as well? Have been told Cable Beach is nice, but not if its raining!

Hi again
Yes I am afraid to say all the top part of Australia is wet at that time of year there is lots of rain up there now and lots of road closed

I am going on a cruise with Celebrity to New Zealand and Australia finishing in Sydney and then flying over to Perth to stay from the 7th December until the 5th January. Christmas and New Year down under.

I have been to Perth 4 times and I just love it the city the climate and it is all so well laid out and clean. Did the Swan River cruise did the Rottness Island Margaret River Monkey Mia etc wonderful.
Favourite was going down to the park at dusk and seeing all the Kanga's around too dark and it is too late. Have lots of fantastic pictures.

Hillary's is a great place to spend an afternoon eating and a bit of shopping etc. Have lived in Queensland in the 60's and have visited Brisbane Gold Coast Sunshine Coast etc. Also been to Melbourne but for me Sydney is what stands out most of all. I have travelled all over the world and there is nothing to compare with Sydney Harbour!!
Just love it. I have never been to NZ and looking forward to the cruise which takes us to all the main cities so need to do the homework to see what excursions I need to take or rather want to take. We will visit Melbourne where the ship will stay overnight and also stay overnight in Sydney. It is about 14 years since I was last in Sydney before my husband died. Spent 4 weeks travelling all over and did as much as we could in that time.
Loved all of it1

This is a Godsend this web site and this Australia and NZ boards are the best on all of HT I think!!!! I think getting info from people who live there or have lived there is invaluable.

My Christmas dinner is going to be in the Country Club I am told by my Sister in Law when I told her I was coming. Perth benifits from what is known as the Freemantle Doctor. This is a wind which comes in from the Indian Ocean at around 4pm in the afternoon and cools the city. Western Australia beaches have white white sand as opposed to the East coast Pacific which has yellow sand. I love that white sand.
Keep the info coming.

Sue

hi babs 135,
sorry for not replying earlier i havent been on the forum much lately.
ive lived in perth off & on for years (except the last 6 ive been in london) so can answer probably quite a few q's for you.
shop trading hours in perth are confusing to say the least but shops are generally open on sundays in what are called the 'tourist precincts' ie: central perth shopping area & in fremantle. the large indoor shopping malls ( sort of like meadowhall sheffield & bluewater kent) that you will find around the various suburbs are not usually open sundays ( different at christmas). smaller shops such as small supermarkets, newsagents,chemists,hardware shops etc in the suburbs are open on sundays. there has been loads of calls to extend shopping hours but as far as i know it still hasnt changed.

if you look at another earlier post on perth in this australia,nz forum i & a few others have answered quite a few queries about travelling outside perth which i think is what you mean rather than just around the suburbs of perth. but the main thing to remember is that the state is HUGE and it can take hours to get to many places ( if not days when heading north) Broome is beautiful but as said its the 'wet', it is also not a place you would want to drive to unless you have a good few days to do it in as its a long long way from perth.( it takes nearly 3 hours to fly to broome) it would take at least a month or more to have a good look around the state never mind australia but im sure you will manage to see & do loads even in 3-4 weeks ( i presume you are flying from city to city) there are loads of beautiful places in & around perth to see though that are accesible, and loads of tour companys with various iteneries and trips from ones that cover several days to shorter ( & longer - have a look in google & also the other post in the forum headed perth has quite a few links).a lot of places you might want to see & go to outside perth definatly would be exhausting doing them as daytrips, most places you're better doing over a day or 2. there is things you CAN do in a day though that arent hideous on the bus off the bus affairs eg: get the ferry over to rottnest island, its gorgeous takes about an hour on the ferry from fremantle bit longer from perth but once there you can just spend the whole day relaxing on the island.

im not sure exactly what else you would like to know but just post any q's & i will try my best to answer them.
perth is also very hot around feb/march temps often 35C-45C, so if you hire a car make sure its airconditioned!

Merged with existing topic.

luci

Have finally organised an itinerary for Oz, including Perth but have now realised that we will only have 3 nights and one full day in Perth! No chance of changing things so with so little time left (but with a car) what do people think are the sights that we must try and fit in. 3 nights are split into 1 night as a stopover between a drive south to Margaret River and then driving north up to Monkey Mia. For this night we are staying at Sullivans Hotel. The other 2 nights are at the Comfort Inn and are on our return from Monkey Mia.

Hi
For your free day in Perth you could go into the city area and shop or go to Kings park the veiw from there back to the city is a must see
Aday trip to Rottnest Island is aso very good it is the home of a little animal called the Quokka it only found there no where else
A cruise up the swan river is also very good we did it in the evening it was a wine cruise we stopped of at different places to have our meal leaves from Barrack jetty in the city ideal for the evenings as the sun does not set to late at that time of year

Hi all,just got back from Perth last night.Will let you what we did when I've re-adjusted back to UK time

that might take some time then I hope you had a great time

Had a great time thanks,however the jetlag is pretty bad.Woke up at 4 this morning,fell asleep this afternoon and have just got up after 2 hours in bed :-)
We are very tired and need to stay awake until late tonight,so hopefully will get through the night without waking up.
Our flight back was around midnight from Perth to Hong Kong (7 hours),had a 2 hour wait at Hong Kong
then almost 13 hours to Heathrow.(Day flight)Did'nt sleep much on the flight.
I'm typing this post whilst almost falling asleep.
I will be back with an update of our trip.
Not had it this bad before....