Perth! (Australia, not Scotland)

For various reasons I'll find myself in Perth in early April for 3-4 days en route to Sydney. Does anyone know anything good to do there, or any cool hostels to stay in? I'm interested in scenery, diving, pubs and clubs and cultural stuff, not in surfing or sitting on beaches for hours.

lol cultural stuff.

A friend of mine who spent time there said to me "Perth is death". But she also said that an hour or two south is the Margaret River wine district which is apparently really nice.

Chap: check out 78s and Dadas record stores in the CBD area. Both very good. Have some pints at the Flying Scotsman pub in My Lawley (its only abt 10 mins out of the city on a bus). Kings Park is nice. There's not a massive amount to do, not in a 3 day flying visit - but if youre there over a weekend there are so many awesome local perth bands to see you migh get lucky and someone'll be playing.

I quite like perth. I'd live there if it wasnt 2894758454 miles from anywhere else.

yo chap it's pete. never been to perth but they have the little creatures brewery which i'm sure is a good time.

We used to have a real actual Perthian but she got bloked up and abandoned us

bf is from perth, I should get him to suggest some things. Lt Creatures brewery is indeed nice (has a great restaurant/cafe attached). Forget where that is. Fremantle? Fremantle is nice too, esp if you like a bit of a walk with historical buildings and lovely seaside views.

Xpress : local street press. Gig guide under 'Events'...

http://www.xpressmag.com.au/

Aye. Gigs are what its all about in Perth. Something in the water - everyone I know is in a (really awesome) band over there. Its like some kind of law. If thou art indie type, thou must be in at leaste twoe banddes.

Cool, thanks everyone. Sounds like it might be three days of getting pissed and listening to music. Can certainly think of worse things.

so, Perth is the Des Moines of Australia then?!?

The lovely beaches of Des Moines.

The Iowa surf scene, a noted mix of local characters...

i deserved that ...

No worries, I'm sure the citizens of Des Moines will thank you when they win the America's Cup next time around.

Perth is a v v wealthy city too due to resource industry

Spent the day in Frematle today, seemed lovely. Perth itself is pleasant enough, but as someone pointed out it doesn't have much to offer to the short-term tourist. All the people in my hostel who are working here seem to love it though.

Yeah it has more a laid back pace and weather that'd suit a week or 2 stay just chilling on beaches and in pubs. Most ppl I know who live there seem to get bored stupid, hence the bands thing I suppose haha.

Freo is nice.

I was going to ask this question, but it seems to have been answered. Unless anything has radically changed or we have anybody new from Perth since?

sadly not afaik

Fair enough. I guess I'm going to be pretty busy with work as it is but I might have had the odd afternoon free and maybe an evening.

worst airport ever

do you get to bounce out through a city on the civilised side of the continent?

Not even that much fun, no. In via Singapore, probably, with only about an hour or so even in that airport. Was hoping to get to Canberra, but that's not going to happen this year.

Booo! But an hour in Singapore airport is probably better than a weekend in Canberra, fair enough.

Leaving via Canberra would make your memories of Perth even more special.

I'm sure I'll agree with you if I make it there.

iirc we recently bought two pints of tiger beer @ changi airport for US$26!!

butterfly garden was pleasing tho

Seriously?? Is that the going rate for local beer in all Singapore or just at the airport?

When I was in Singapore standard price for beer in a proper bar was approx £7. Could get it cheaper off street hawkers though.

That happened to me last year. No change from a twenty-pound note!

Yo you cant leave the country via Canberra what with it being not an international airport and all, just sayin.

Rudd seemed to manage it okay.

Well, I thought that was damn fine. Although currently I have no idea what time it is or where I am.

Is Perth worth visiting for a few days for someone who can't drive?

I'm heading over to Australia later this year, and would like to see a part of Australia that I haven't been to before (have only been to places over in the east side of the country before). I would like to go to find some quokkas, but it seems apart from that there's not much going on, and it might not be worth all the money just to go and look at some tiny, cute marsupials.

Perth has several beaches and a big park that are worth visiting, if you're into that. Fremantle has a great bookshop, decent cafes and some historic stuff. Also quite nice to walk around, but I'd avoid it on the weekend. Everything is ridiculously expensive.

A car definitely helps, but if you're going for just a few days then it probably isn't essential.

They have an alright public transport system now iirc.

Perth is a very expensive part of the world to visit these days because it's populated by a large amount of miners who fly-in/fly-out of work to the mines in remote Western Australia. And they evan a lot of money. So everyone has put their prices up to capture that mining money.

Also, unless you book very early, accommodation will be horribly expensive. Major business destination (because of that mining industry) with not enough hotel rooms.

Which is so weird because when I first visited in 2003 it was the cheapest place ever, rents were magic (3 bedroom homes for $250 a week!) but now its on par with Melbourne.