now share with abundant ships and boats.
The city is also the sunniest capital city in
the world, making those al fresco walks
down the city’s streets and through their
landmark Kings Park consistently pleasant.
The “laid-back” Australian vibe forges its
way through the suit and tie white-collar
vibe that this city is now thriving on,
without jarringly countering the former
signature Australian atmosphere.
There is no forgetting the gastronomic
delights that the city opens doors to. Home
to some of the finest wineries in the world,
Perth is certainly not a city to be flying into
on a diet. Supported strongly by the vines
in Swan Valley and Margaret River – to
name a few – in the surrounding state, the
city is less a full stop and more an ellipsis
for its commitment to quality food and
craft ales, as well as a unique penchant for
sustainability. True to its natural variety,
the wines originating from Western
Australia are flavoured with the raw
ingredients indigenous to the land, which
is what makes them distinctly famous
worldwide. Every stunning view can be
countered with yet another, with ample to
do and perhaps a little too much to taste.theatre. The complex is home to some of
the leading theatre and performing arts
companies in Perth that promotes artistic
innovation in this booming city. But this is
just one of the myriad other reasons why
Perth is Australia’s best kept secret.
This little city at the opposite end of the
country from the better known cities of
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, is the
capital city of Western Australia, and is the
largest city in this Australian state. Its
accessibility to the rest of the resplendent
state of Western Australia, the largest state
in the country, has now made it the
convenient start to any journey that can
help you traverse this side of the
Australian continent. From access to white
sand beaches, fantastic wine and local
produce, enjoy the purple sunsets and
classic experience of the closer-to-home
part of Australia by booking a flight to the
city of Perth, starting just at US$489 from
Kuala Lumpur and Singapore via
Singapore Airlines (singaporeair.com).
The city is set on the Swan River, named
so by Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh
back in 1697 for the eponymous black
swans that gracefully float the waters theyPHOTOGRAPHS: MILE END GLAMPING; SWAN VALLEYHE IDYLLIC CITY IS A
smorgasbord of
opportunity, availability,
and unceasing variety.
More often than not, a city
on the verge of global
recognition has a checklist of metropolitan
goals to achieve, including a booming
economy, a globalised set-up, hard
infrastructure with the right combination
of modern and historic, maybe even a tall
towering structure, and a cityscape that
every photographer desires to capture. A
true feather to a city’s cap though is the
ability to strike balance, one between city
and country, which years ago Raymond
Williams polarised. Presently, Perth
successfully strikes that fine balance,
consciously moving forward from its
recent economic and infrastructural boom
towards an inclusive and multicultural
society that is able to effectively come to
terms with the developmental surge, and
that is one of the prime reasons the city
ought to draw the attention of travellers
from all over.
Head over to Perth, the world’s most
isolated city that generates nearly half of
the country’s export earnings, with a firm
economy based on its tremendous reserves
of oil, gas and minerals, and the ‘City of
Light’ we bet you didn’t know about. In
1962, the first American to orbit the earth,
John Glenn, named it so after the delightful
gesture from the locals of Perth who even
lit their car and porch lights to enable the
visual spectacle of a city lit up so bright it
was noticeably visible from space.
Of all the things that can be said about
Perth, however, perhaps an opening
mention is deservedly owed to it being the
late famed actor Heath Ledger’s town of
origin. Opened in January 2011, and a true
testament to Perth’s flourishing arts and
theatre culture, the State Theatre Complex
located in Northbridge in fact features the
eponymous 575-seater Heath Ledger“You are totally at the mercy of nature in
this country, mate. It’s just a fact of life.”
- Bill Bryson, best-selling travel writer, in ‘In a Sunburned Country’
Enjoy wine and nature around
Margaret River at the glamorous
camps at Mile End GlampingT
Specialty wine-
tasting at Swan
Valley, one of
Perth’s top wine
regionsPERTH AT A GLANCE