An Insiders Guide to Perth Australia

Nature and Urban Life Exist In Harmony In Perth on Australia's West Coast. There are so many great things to do and all closer than you think, from charming historical townships, adventure playgrounds, culinary adventures, trails and turquoise bays and eclectic, unique offerings, there is something for everyone to enjoy in Perth.

ITS LIGHT SHOULD be famous, bouncing off all that honey-blond sand on Western Australia's coastline, the longest in the country. It's just one of the reasons to visit the state and its capital, crowned the sunniest city in Australia. Perth is no longer a mere gateway to other-worldly landscapes up north or Margaret River wine country south along the banksia-lined coastal highway. It's a brilliant destination in its own right. About 2.1 million of WNs 2.6 million inhabitants live in the long, narrow city and locals cherish their wild west: the Indian Ocean views, unspoilt dune-fringed beaches, island escapes and surf culture.

Visionary civic development has banished the central city's old reputation as a sleepy, mining capital. Heritage buildings have been revamped and reinvigorated with edgy cafes and bars; stunning new public spaces, sculpture and world-class street art have popped up all over the CBD. The fruits of the government-driven Percent for Art Scheme — which ensures one percent of the construction budget for all major development is spent on art — are everywhere. It's given the city a sassy edge. And yet, in almost an instant, you can be out in the fresh air watching big-bellied pelicans, dolphins, ospreys and famously cute quokkas frolicking just as they have for thousands of years. Prepare to be impressed.

ISLAND TIME

For thousands of years, Aboriginal hunting groups would paddle out in the morning to the spiritual place they knew as Wadjemup - Rottnest Island. They always returned in the afternoon when the easterly turned around, the Fremantle Doctor (sea breeze) kicked up and the sou'wester helped push them back to the mainland about 19km away. Today it's a quick ferry blat across on the Rottnest Express, but that local knowledge still pays dividends if you get on your bike or Segway to circumnavigate this fascinating island.

The flatter south coast channels the Mediterranean, all sandy azure bays and great snorkelling, while the north coast is a chain of outcrops dotted with rare Australian sea lions and osprey nests - it's here you take advantage of the faithful arvo winds to push you back to your starting point at the little settlement of Thomson Bay. In high summer Rottnest's bays are jam-packed with local holidaymakers, yachts, and gin palaces, but the rest of the year you'll feel like you have nature to yourself.

AWW ITS A QUOKKA

The famously cute and friendly quokkas - little marsupials that look like a cross between a wallaby and a teddy bear -mostly sleep hidden in the scrub during the day so it's well worth pre-booking a hotel room cabin to overnight on "Rotto" so you can see them by the hundreds at dusk and dawn. Thomsons Restaurant provides a stunning wine list, cuisine and bay views to tide you over. There are excellent cafes, guided tours and museums that tell the story of the island's sobering maritime, Aboriginal and penal history, plus an island explorer bus option to help discover all the other treasures available.

SHOALWATER ISLANDS MARINE PARK

Forty minutes south of Perth is the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park, an eco-touring hotspot just off the coastal hub of Rockingham. Among Rockingham's lucky residents are about 200 bottlenose dolphins that know a good sheltered bay full of fish when they see one. From September to early June Rockingham Wild Encounters offers an award-winning, ethical, dolphin-swimming experience, having built up the trust of the mesmerising wild cetaceans since 1989. Framed by Garden Island - Rottnest's long, skinny sister that forms a 10km offshore shelter belt - Cockburn Sound is the dolphins' favourite hangout, while around its southern headland a cluster of little islands provide boutique homes for a number of creatures that would struggle to survive on Australia's mainland. No prizes for guessing which have adopted Penguin Island, Bird Island and Seal Island -although, technically, the showy local sea lions sunning themselves on the latter's beach aren't seals. Among the excellent range of hotel pick-up day tours offered by Explore Tours Perth (exploretoursperth.com.au) is a chance to visit Penguin Island.

Guided visitor access is strictly controlled in winter when it becomes a nesting hotspot for 400 threatened blue penguins (tucked away in their burrows and nesting boxes by day) and hundreds more gulls. Seagulls nest so thickly on the island that you can see their speckled eggs just inches from the boardwalk. Another highlight: a fat King's skink - the size of a boomerang -nonchalantly grazing on scrubby saltbush that cloaks the gentle slopes. Although Penguin Island is accessible, Seal Island and Bird Wand (headquarters for impressive flocks of cormorants, pelicans and ospreys - fish-hunting raptors that build dramatic nest towers on rocky points) are viewed up close by boat. While we were idling in the water to view the osprey nests, two sea lions swam up and began playfully chasing each other in circles for our cameras.

WHAT A PEARLER

At Elizabeth Quay, Perth's central ferry hub on the Swan River, is Willie Creek Pearls' (williecreekpearls.com. au) newest showroom. Here you gain a hands-on appreciation for the bucketloads of luck, hope, heartbreak and patience that go into creating the perfect strand of South Sea pearls. Willie Creek Pearl Farm in tropical Broome, 2240km north of Perth, is the source of the cultured baubles. It's an area where Aboriginal children once picked up wild pearls off the beaches and used them like marbles. Many Aboriginals were exploited in the treacherous early days of the pearl-fishing industry once westerners discovered the bounty.

Willie Creek's hour-long Pearl Master Class gives you an insight into the chequered history of the pearl trade, a rare chance to sample pearl meat (no spoilers here, just try it) and the experience of harvesting your own pearl from a Broome Pinctada maxima oyster. You never know what you'll get: my whopper was imperfect, its little bumps probably the result of sand being stirred up by a cyclone, but I understood instantly the bug of chasing the perfect pearl.

FEET FIRST

Flat almost as far as the eye can see, Perth is a city made for walking — equally brilliant for Segwaying and cycling, of course. Starting in Barrack Square right by Elizabeth Quay, a guided Segway tour is the smartest way to take in beautiful Kings Park and Botanic Garden. It's one of the largest urban green spaces in the world, bigger even than New York's Central Park. Two Feet & a Heartbeat and Oh Hey WA offer excellent tours. Two Feet co-founder Ryan Mossny schooled me up on the history of the Fremantle Markets, the convict-built Fremantle Prison that's now a world heritage site and more. Adie Chapman was a mechanical engineer before her love of Perth art and culture led her to launch Oh Hey WA. Her walking tour of the CBD includes stories behind everything from new Yagan Square's haunting Aboriginal art (again, no spoilers, but you won't ever forget) to Banksy-style graffiti art tucked down laneways. You'll come away knowing the location of every speakeasy in town.

Ready to Start Planning Your Trip to Perth?

The options for exploring Perth and its surroundings on a trip to Western Australia are endless. Check out our Western Australia Itineraries for self-drive ideas or get in touch with our travel specialists who will be happy to arrange a private guided tour with everything tailored exactly as you wish.