Travel: Australia - Perth

[ftwmum]

bobonana:

Lived in Perth for 4 years previously, i drive so cant really give any advise on public transport. But one thing to note is that the buses are not like singapore every 5-10 mins but rather every 1-2 hours. Recommended to rent a car as compared to taking taxi as the cab fare is crazy.


Also do note that shops closed at 5pm daily. City shopping closes at 9pm on fridays while surburb shopping closes on 9pm on thursday. The large suburb shopping malls are Garden City and Carousel.

Some places you want to consider going:

* Cottesloe beach and Fremantle. If i am not wrong you can take the train to Fremantle there should be a stop at cottesloe beach as i remember driving past it before. Do visit fremantle on the weekends for the flea market also do not miss out on fish and chips at Cicerellos or Kailis Bros.
http://www.cicerellos.com.au
http://www.kailisbros.com.au

*Habourtown - Not too far from city center, considered to be at the edge of city center. Lots of factory outlet for shopping
http://www.harbourtownperth.com.au/

* Magaret River - Visit wineries , fruit farms, chocolate factory etc, however it is about 3 hours drive down south from perth. Can consider staying a night in Magaret River if possible

* Albany - Small town 400kms south of Perth, will pass by Magaret River along the way. Usually you will need to stay overnight as it is too far to drive back within the same day. Visit Busselton, whaleworld and stirling ranges. Also not to be missed is walpool, Valley of the giants where you will see the largest tree in the world.

* Sharkbay/Kalbarri/Coral Bay - Nice ocean views, where you can see dolphins swimming to shore. if you are luck you can get to pat the dolphins. Nice coral reefs whereby you can do some snorkeling.

*Subiaco - Suburb near to Perth city center, weekend markets and nike warehouse factory.

*Swan valley - smaller scale Magaret river, which is closer to Perth City. There is also the chocolate factory etc.

* Kings park - Hilltop park between Perth City center and University of Western Australia. Good to go at night to see the city lights:

*Northbridge - Perth's Chinatown, loads of good food such as:

Good Fortune Roast duck - Best roast duck i ever had
http://www.goodfortuneduckhouse.com.au/

Dragon Palace dimsum - Favourite place for my weekend dimsum, everything is served on pushcarts
http://www.dragonpalace.com.au/

Viet Hoa Vietnamese - With so many vietnames immigrants, the viet food is as authentic as it gets, do try the beef noodle and vietnamese broken rice set
http://www.dragonpalace.com.au/

Other food places:

Shun Fung Seafood Restaurant - Nice upmarket chinese restaurant by the swan river, its at the bell tower in south city center. Absolutely best lobsters;
http://www.shunfung.com.au/

Midori Teppanyaki - Best japanese teppanyaki in town, upmarket and pricey but definately worth the money
http://www.midori.net.au/

Ciao Italia - Nice family italian restaurant situated in South Perth if you are going to the Perth Zoo, this restaurant is very near to the zoo.
http://www.ciaoitalia.com.au/

Seoul BBQ Cafe - Situated in Perth city itself, it is situated above the Coles supermarket beside Myers, directly opposite crazy clarks. Best value for money korean bbq.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/338/1370708/restaurant/Perth-CBD/Seoul-BBQ-Cafe-Perth

All the above are my favourite restaurants in Perth, remicising the good ole days........

Hi All

Many thx for the response
So many things to check out. Trying to narrow down and see which is suitable for my family. Just the 3 of us - DS is 4yo gog 5yo next year.

Bobonana: u mentioned snorkeling. I would loooovvve to do that being a beach lover. But the weather is sooo cold even in summer (fr what i heard). If i plan to do snorkelling either at Rottnest Island or Sharkbay/Kalbarri/Coral Bay tt u recommended, when is the best time to go so that we wont freeze to death?
DS and I are terrified of cold weather :oops:
Are there shops there to rent lifevests and snorkeling gear?
Sharkbay/Kalbarri/Coral Bay : they are south of Perth City? I will prob head south fr city.

How far is Northbridge from the city?

Thx again :please:

[bobonana]

I think the best time to go snorkeling would be in mid Jan when its at the hottest. Usually around 40 degrees.


Sharkbay however is very far up north so you have to drive, around 800kms. But it is well worth the trip. The place to pat dolphin is at Monkey mia which is near sharkbay.

http://www.sharkbay.org/getting_to.aspx

Northbridge is actually connected via a overhead bridge to the City centre's metro station. So if you stay at a hotel near the City centre for example Hotel ibis i reckon its abt a 10-mins walk. You will probably have quite a few meals in Northbridge.

[just888]

concern_mum:

Looks like it is not too difficult to travel without driving. I intend to stay in Goodearth Hotel and via budget airline. How is Goodearth Hotel? is it very run down?

It is not run down at all when we visited it last year Jun. We got the 2 bedrooms apartment though. Walking distance to the city centre and else you can take cross 2 roads and take one of the free city shuttle.

For young children I would recommend to go to the zoo and aquarium. There one can come in close contact with the animals esp the kangaroos unlike in S'pore all the animals are kept in a BIG enclosed area and u can view only at a distance. To go to the zoo just go to the jetty and take a ferry ride to south perth just across the jetty only, then take a stroll to the zoo.

At the Aquarium - my son get to touch the live fishes, tortoise, star fish and sea cucumbers in the touch pond.

[Cuppamocha]

concern_mum:

Anybody tried farmstay in Perth? which farmstay is good?

We stayed at Margaret River Hideaway. The children loved it ! interacting with the farm animals and the care taker Julien is very helpful.

[jeparent]

Cuppamocha:

concern_mum:

Anybody tried farmstay in Perth? which farmstay is good?

We stayed at Margaret River Hideaway. The children loved it ! interacting with the farm animals and the care taker Julien is very helpful.

We stayed at this one, also at Margaret River

http://www.sunflowersfarm.com/

[jeparent]

concern_mum:

Looks like it is not too difficult to travel without driving. I intend to stay in Goodearth Hotel and via budget airline. How is Goodearth Hotel? is it very run down?

We stayed in 2008 . No complains and it met our budget. It is self-contained, so you can do some simple cooking.

As described by Just888, free shuttle city bus is around the corner. We also chose it because it is near to the car rental company.

[nissin]

Hi

We are going to visit Perth this May with 2 kids in tow and we do not wish to do a car rental as I had heard horror stories abt renters being charged or ripped off upon returning the car.

As ours is a free and easy trip, is it worthwhile to buy day tours from the hotel?
Is it easy to travel with 2 young kids via their public transport? Need some advice here… Tks.

[Rachelynn]

Just sharing my personal thots


Actually most of my friends self-drive in perth and they have no problem with car rental.

With a car it’s easier to travel to more areas and more relaxed. In Perth city itself and Fremantle, their buses are free but can be quite crowded. Day trips are expensive in aussie. Just a nearby day trip to Swan Valley will set you and yr family about $250 - $300 AUD.

We did a combo of self drive and without car (our last 3 days) in perth last year. We could really feel the difference in terms of convenience. And their airport shuttle buses are quite hit and miss type. They almost missed our time to the airport despite me emailing them reminders before my departure and also calling them one day before departure.

I will most probably be travelling to perth again during the May/June school holidays but this time I will opt for self drive all the way.

[nissin]

Rachelynn:

Just sharing my personal thots


Actually most of my friends self-drive in perth and they have no problem with car rental.

With a car it's easier to travel to more areas and more relaxed. In Perth city itself and Fremantle, their buses are free but can be quite crowded. Day trips are expensive in aussie. Just a nearby day trip to Swan Valley will set you and yr family about $250 - $300 AUD.

We did a combo of self drive and without car (our last 3 days) in perth last year. We could really feel the difference in terms of convenience. And their airport shuttle buses are quite hit and miss type. They almost missed our time to the airport despite me emailing them reminders before my departure and also calling them one day before departure.

I will most probably be travelling to perth again during the May/June school holidays but this time I will opt for self drive all the way.

Hi thanks for replying.

As we are only planning to visit Perth for 5 days, we will only visit the wildlife park, swan valley, Fremantle and some Perth city shopping, not forgetting the harbourtown..ha

Which car rental co. did u use previously? I had initially wanted to rent a car but besides the ripped off cases..the rental fee cum insurance etc is quite high also - ranging from AUD $500(collect from Perth city) to 800(from airport).
Day tour to the places I want to visit for a family is about AUD $580.
So we more or less decided to go with day tours as this is our first time there and save my hubby some hassles..

Guess it should be more worthwhile to rent a car if we are exploring more areas.

Btw, have you tried their hop on hop off buses and trams? We are including this in our plan but not too sure if it's too ley Cheh with kids.

[concern_mum]

Hi all


I intend to visit Perth this Nov and hv no intention to rent a car. We will visit area which are within walk or short distance via train or bus from Goothearth Hotel.

1.\tHarbour, swan lake,
2.\tfermentle
3.\tkings park
4.\tzoo ( take a ferry from the jetty)
5.\tspend a night at farm with Orchard Glory Resort. (AUS1500 for a family)

By the way, we need to apply visa to Australia, anybody how to do it?