David Trauts sets his sights on a concert in Perth in Western Australia and heads off for the weekend.

Perth has been growing fast over the past decade. It was a sleepy and isolated outpost of European, and particularly English, culture for many years, before falling into an economic hole in the early nineties and then, with the aid of an economically booming China, came roaring back to life at the beginning of the naughties. That’s the short history anyway.

Just a few years ago, the price of living was comparable with living a Western lifestyle in Bali. The Aussie dollar was down, prices were low, and there wasn’t much difference in the cost of living between the two, but now that’s all changed. They talk about a two-tiered economy in Perth, created by the resources boom in the north of Western Australia, where large pay checks and plenty of work juxtaposes the local Perth economy, which struggles to find employees to fill jobs and has to pay inflated wages just to keep them in town. There appears to be a boom on one side of the road and a quiet struggle on the other. As one person said, “If you are working in Perth you better be working in the mines.”

There are plenty of benefits that come with the resources boom. Great services, beautiful roads, functional town planning, and all the trappings of an affluent and thriving Western economy, wrapped up in the easy-going package of Western Australia’s capital city. It is without doubt a great place to live, but how about going there for a holiday? Is there anything worth doing down there?

Let me assure, there surely is.

I’ve lost count of how many flights there are between Perth and Denpasar every day. Maybe it now stands at twelve, going with four or five different airlines, and the prices now connecting the two cities are at an all-time low (if you book in advance). You can basically go down there for an extended weekend without making a huge hole in the bank book. And that’s exactly what my partner-in-crime and I did in early January.

Left: Perth Town Hall on Hay Street. The only convict-built city hall in Australia was built in 1870. Middle: A feed of tasty mussels and calamari at Sorrento restaurant in Northbridge. Right: The not so overwhelming bustle of Perth centre near Forrest Place.

I noticed online that one of my favourite musicians from years ago was playing with her band at the Perth Concert Hall and without a moment’s hesitation booked two tickets for the show. Next question was where to stay. Something else I noticed online in the small print next to one Perth city hotel was the phrase “sited next to the Perth Concert Hall”, and so we booked ourselves in. The Duxton group only has two hotels in their portfolio, the other one being in Singapore, and this five-star hotel, which was originally the Perth taxation office building, was well and truly right next to the Concert Hall. Before my mind skipped off to the Buddha Bar styling of another converted Tax Office building in Jakarta, we installed ourselves into the recently refurbished, 14-storey Duxton after the three-and-a-half hour flight with Air Asia from Denpasar. The rooms were large, with high ceilings and everything you would expect in a five-star hotel including flat screen TVs, a beautiful king-sized bed and Botanical amenities in the bathroom. They have a special weekend rate that starts from AU$ 199 per night. Breakfast is not included in that offer, but that isn’t a big problem since there are plenty of cafes just outside the centrally-located hotel’s front door.

“one of my favourite musicians from years ago was playing at the Perth Concert Hall and without a moment’s hesitation booked two tickets for the show. ”

If you stay in the centre of Perth, you don’t really need to rent a car to get around. If you are out in the suburbs you definitely do. Inner city travel is made easy by the free-of-charge CAT bus transport throughout the city on three different routes that can drop you a short walking distance from just about anywhere in town. No parking, no hassles, and it’s free. Taxis are available but are rather expensive compared to Bali, but don’t cost so much around the inner city. There are other bus, train and boat options that can get you all over the greater Perth area, down to the port of Fremantle, over to Rottnest Island or through the expansive suburbs to the beaches, but that’s another story.

Speaking of boats, the hotel is only a short walk across the grassy esplanade to the Perth ferry jetty where passengers can buy a ticket for the ride across the wide stretch of the beautiful Swan River that flows directly in front of Perth city to South Perth. From there it’s a short walk to the Perth Zoo or an opportunity for having breakfast or lunch in one of the eateries facing the city.

Other eating options are the many pubs dotted around the streets serving up traditional Aussie pub food like meat and three vege, through to more modern Australian creations in the trendier ones. The pubs aren’t as cheap as they may have been a few years ago though. A popular option is the King Street Café which is perched on one of Perth’s more branded streets, namely King’s Street with Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada as neighbours. Yes, Perth has grown up in recent years with a plethora of worldwide branded names hitting the retail market. The food here was excellent, if not a little expensive for what was presented.

Another restaurant and one that FRV Travel visited many years ago, is the recently renovated Fraser’s in King’s Park, Perth’s enormous natural reserve and botanical gardens near to and overlooking the city. Besides building a new conference and function area upstairs in the original building -that I must add has the most breathtaking views of Perth city- they have also re-styled the outdoor and inside dining and bar areas with new carpets, floorings and furnishings. John Haddock, the restaurant manager, was telling us that the group has recently taken over the old Swan Brewery restaurant and changed that into a stylish grill too. The food from chef Chris Taylor and team is still as fine, creatively presented and delicious as always, maybe even more so. The service too was excellent.

Another area for dining in Perth is Northbridge, just to the north of the city. Almost all styles of food are available in this precinct from the classic Italian, Greek and Chinese to Lebanese, Turkish, Vietnamese and Korean, even Indonesian and just about any world cuisine you can think of. Prices are more relaxed and the style of dining is also more casual, but some of the food on offer we tried was totally delicious. One in particular was Sorrento Italian restaurant on James Street, which we tried after the show on the Friday night and had the best serve of chili mussels and grilled calamari you could imagine. The old lady who runs the place stopped us outside and ushered us in to dine. She was a fun lady and took excellent care of us. One thing you do have to watch out for in Northbridge is the Wild West element of the bar and nightlife that mixes side by side with the restaurants. I think that’s why the lady wanted to us to go inside and not dine out on the pavement – to keep us out of harm’s way perhaps. It can get a little ugly later in the night as general intoxication takes hold, but there is also the chance to catch a live band or do a bit of clubbing too if you are in the mood.

Good food with ever better views at Fraser’s restaurant.

“It’s a beautiful setting on the river, blue skies stretch for miles, and the ease and friendliness of the people is contagious. ”

Another new bar worth visiting in the city centre is on Murray Street and above the new Perth underground train station. It’s called the Aviary and includes The Birdcage restaurant and circular lounge bar on Level One, and a vibrant outdoor rooftop bar called The Nest upstairs. The Nest is a happening outdoor rooftop bar with DJ music, casual seating and is the perfect spot to enjoy a few drinks surrounded by vistas of the city buildings on a balmy Perth evening.

The shopping can be good around Perth too and since retail is rather slow because not everybody is working in a mine, there were loads of sales all over town. The city centre of Hay and Murray Streets, Forrest Place, and the Myers and David Jones department stalls is the focus of top quality shopping in town. Another option worth having a look at is the Harbour Town factory outlet precinct on Wellington St with many local and international brand names quitting stock at a fraction of the normal retail price. Needless to say Harbour Town is one of the busiest shopping malls around with throngs of people sniffing out the bargains every day of the week.

We saw PJ Harvey perform at the Perth Concert Hall. I must say it wasn’t the most exciting show I’ve ever seen, but it was definitely an experience. The Perth Concert Hall is looking a bit tired nowadays but is still a fine place to see an international standard performance.

Staying for an extended long-weekend in Perth city was also a great experience. It’s a beautiful setting on the river, blue skies stretch for miles (in summer anyway), and the ease and friendliness of the people is contagious. The Perth Festival is coming this month and runs from February 10 to March 3 and offers a plethora of music and theatre. A quick look at Xpress magazine, Perth’s favorite gig-guide sees The Big Day Out Festival, Bon Iver, Il Divo, Erykah Badu, Soundwave Festival, Duran Duran, Lenny Kravitz and a host more on the way in the next couple of months. It’s a happening place all right and not that far, nor that expensive for a weekend away.

TRAVEL FACTS:
AirAsia flies from two to four times a day to Perth from Denpasar depending on the time of year. There are also direct flights from Kuala Lumpur.
www.airasia.com
www.perth.duxtonhotels.com
www.perthfestival.com.au
www.xpressmag.com.au

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