Perth Weekend Getaway

It seems slightly odd to go on a holiday from a holiday, but that's just what we've done. We have just got back from a fabulous weekend in Perth. A friend of ours, Annemarie, was in Perth for a conference and we had promised to head up to Perth to visit another friend Kurt, who had a room free for us to stay in this weekend. So it seemed the perfect time to visit sunny Perth.

It is only a three hour drive from Margaret River to Perth due to the new freeway. So we were able to head straight up there after Rob finished work, in time for dinner. As we drove into town, the number of cars on the road increased and the (few) skyscrapers of the city skyline came into view. As our stress levels rose, it dawned on us that we hadn't been in a large city since Adelaide, in September. The busy streets, city lights and general crazy goings on of the city were slightly overwhelming after sleepy Margaret River. But our city instincts soon kicked in and we relaxed into a fabulous weekend.

When we arrived (after a quick swim in Kurt's pool) Kurt took us to a lookout in Kings Park to eat our dinner. We ate Thai food on a grassy hill overlooking the moon rising behind the city lights. It couldn't have been better if he'd planned it. We kicked back for the evening on our picnic rug, had a few beers and as the night wore on Annemarie and a couple of her colleagues joined us. It was a lovely re-introduction to Perth.

Our main objectives for the weekend were to catch up with friends, eat Thai food (which we had been craving since Melbourne in July), explore Freemantle and its breweries and drink good coffee and eat "city food". With the Thai food ticked off, Kurt took us our for a real slap up Perth breakie. We went to The Naked Fig, a big open cafe on the beach at Swanbourne. We gorged ourselves on all of the delightful morsels that we had been unable to get in smaller country towns.

Kurt had to leave us at this point as he was headed to Laneway Festival. So we set off with Annemarie to explore Freemantle. We walked around the prison, the 100 year old markets and the foreshore parkland. We then headed to the famous but fabulous Little Creatures Brewery for a few pints and delicious pizza. It is probably the best place in Perth to sit and wile away the afternoon. The brewery is situated right on Freemantle harbour with a big outdoor area looking out at the boats passing by. And to top it all off, there is a huge sandpit right on the balcony full of toys, Jarvis never wanted to leave. We followed the brewery up with a small pub crawl to the Sail and Anchor and then onto the Monks Brewery for dinner.

This 25 metre numbat mural appeared overnight in Henderson Street Mall. The Belgian street artist (known only as ROA) was paid $15,000 by the City of Fremantle to leave his mark on the town.

We dashed from dinner back into the city for the opening spectacular for the Perth Festival. We had heard that there was going to be feathers falling from the sky as part of an aerial show of some sort. As we walked into town we started seeing a few single feathers fluttering to the ground. As we got closer to the cathedral, there were more and more of them and then we looked up to see trapeze artists dressed in white spinning from wires up above the city buildings. They were scattering feathers as they went. The feathers got thicker and thicker until the cathedral roof and the streets below were covered in a blanket of feathers that resembled a snow scene.

We didn't want to head back to Margaret River too late but before we left Perth we did manage to squeeze a visit to the Subi Markets and a walk through the botanic gardens. 

The weekend was really just a taster of what Perth has to offer but we had a fabulous time and it was so nice to catch up with some familiar faces. We'll be back for a better look around when we finally leave Margaret River and start our journey North. But for now it's back to Margaret River, which feels more like home every day.