Western Australia Travel Blog, Part 7
First and last days in Perth
I’m not sure if I was unlucky, or booked accomodation in the wrong place, or both. But my impression of central Perth is a poor one, when I arrived on April 6, 2023 for this trip.
For the day job I’ve been in Fremantle several times. I love Fremantle. However, because I already know Freo quite well, I decided to check out the more central part of Perth for this particular trip. While the rest of the trip was very good—despite our quick change of plans due to cyclone Ilsa—central Perth (or at least the east part of it) didn’t impress me much. Here’s why.
For one, I had the ‘good luck’ to arrive at midnight before Good Friday. To set up the atmosphere—in retrospect, it must have been a sign, a warning—Singapore airlines lost my luggage. When I arrived at my apartment—which has a 24-hour reception—the doorbell of the apartment didn’t work. I only could get in because after a while somebody who already stayed there opened the door. Once I was in at the reception, I could check in, informing them that their front door bell didn’t work. Another sign of things to come.
After checking in—not much to unpack as my luggage was lost—I was jetlagged, couldn’t sleep and figured I could check out if there was a nearby bar open for a few beers. It was still around midnight, so I figured a city of more than a million people would have a bar open after midnight on a Thursday night. Well, I couldn’t find one, as the nearest ones were more than 4 blocks away—about a half hour walk. I gave up, found that I could get some beers from the night porter, then had those beers in my room. But hey, even my home town of Den Bosch (only 150,000 people) has plenty of bars open after midnight on a Thursday night. This part of Perth felt like the middle of nowhere.
The next day, my luggage arrived, thankfully. There was a nice park nearby where I did some writing, then at night I went to a (relatively) nearby Italian restaurant, where I had made a reservation as I didn’t know how busy it would be on Good Friday. Well, it was only half full, and the food was alright, but I was set back a little when there was a 15% surcharge on my bill called ‘Holiday surcharge’, which lifted the bill above AU$90.
I was a bit jetlagged and ill during the weekend, but also couldn’t help but find out that all the local coffeeshops were closed during the weekend. Yeah, east central Perth coffeeshops are only open on weekdays, and then from 9 AM to 5 PM. Except on National Holidays (like Good Friday, Easter Monday and Anzac day, which I all had the ‘pleasure’ of experiencing) when they’re only open until 2 PM, if they’re open at all. Suffice it to say that in my little home town most coffeeshops are open during weekends and national holidays (and don’t charge extra during national holdiays). Oh well.
I thought things had changed for the better when I returned from the outback on a sunny Sunday April 23 afternoon, and I found a nice brewery—Long Neck at Fraser point—for good beers and a nice pizza, and a really nice sunset (if anything, while Japan may call itself the land of the rising sun, I’d rate Western Australia as the land of the setting sun). On Monday I returned the rental car and got an extra charge for a dent in the windshield thanks to an opposing vehicle in Carnarvon throwing up gravel and producing that dent—no way I could either have foreseen nor avoided it—but because I had taken no windshield coverage I not only had to write a damage report, but also got charged for the repair. Good luck was in extremely short supply during this trip. Oftentimes it was grin and bear it (while suffering financially).
From the airport car rental return I wanted to take the train back—I could see the station from the car rental park—but for some reason (repairs?) it wouldn’t open until Wednesday, so I had to take the train replacement bus, which cost AU$5, which is more than ten times cheaper than the taxi fare. So not all was bad.
I got off in central Perth proper (about 4-5 blocks away from where I was staying). In there, plenty of bars, restaurants, shops and coffeeshops, where I had a late breakfast. Probably a nicer place to stay were it not that accomodation prices over there were mostly 50 to 100% more expensive than the apartment I booked in east central Perth. And I don’t want to sleep in a hostel room with seven other people, thank you very much.
Tuesday April 25 was the penultimate day of my stay in Western Australia—the next day was my flight home—and it was also Anzac day, another National Holiday in Australia. So welcome to the obligatory 15% surcharge in coffeeshops—at least, in the ones that were open. I had to go to the local Hyatt to find an open coffeeshop. However, their cakes and coffee were nice, even if overpriced. Then I walked around in the nearby park, tried to do some writing but increasing rain and dropping temperatures put a stop to that (after experiencing close to 40° C in the outback, 15° C feels rather cold).
So I went back to my apartment, only to find out—to my horror—that both my magnetic apartment keys didn’t work. So I was locked out of my apartment where all my stuff was. And because it was a national holiday, there was no staff manning the reception. So the only thing I could do was call the emergency number, which didn’t answer. I tried several times, but the phone rang twenty times then disconnected. What was my alternative? Book a nearby hotel room, get back to the apartment early in the morning—hoping the reception would be manned—and pack my stuff in time to get the 12.05 flight back home? Let’s say I was getting more than a little stressed.
So I tried to call other numbers, which only caused the telepohone behind the closed reception to ring pointlessly. I called the emergency number again, and after a few tries finally got someone on the line. Then I had to wait until somebody showed up at the reception to make my roomkeys work until tomorrow morning again. So, while the apartment itself was nice with plenty of room, the service left quite a bit to be desired. So in good conscience, I can’t recommend Starwest Apartments Alderney on Hay, East Perth. Unless you have a lot of patience and nerves of steel.
You know, when I book apartments in countries like Spain and Portugal, I usually get physical keys, and a double set at that. Physical keys, you know, the ones that don’t expire after a certain date. Even if they weigh more than magnetic room cards, I love them. You can rely on them. They work. Always.
Because of all the holiday surcharges, I had bought food at the Woolworths while I was in central Perth, so I didn’t need to go out that final night and be afraid that the keys wouldn’t work again. Hint: book at a place that has a 24-hour reception. I’ve learned another lesson. And you know which place is going to get a one star review. Improve your service, please
On top of that, the WiFi in both apartments was well below par. Slow and often not working at all, to the point where the content of my email for my flight check-in isn’t loading. On the last night, the internet in the apartment building stopped working altogether, and becuase it was a national holdiay there was no chance of anybody coming to fix it. I had to use mobile data to be able to properly check in. Are you fucking kidding me? Now I can understand that WiFi in a small outback town that is stuffed to the gills with visitors is working slowly. But in a million people metropole like Perth one might reasonably expect proper internet service. Well, not in both apartment complexes where I rented accomodation. It’s doubly frustrating because I did have a few more travel blog post available, but couldn’t properly connect to substack to prepare and post them.
Anyway, after all this it’s hard for me to really like central Perth. In retrospect, I regret not having booked accomodation in Fremantle. I never had such problems in Fremantle, and as far as I can recall, most of Freo’s coffeeshops are open in the weekend. They will also add the 15% surcharge on National Holidays (which is a Western Australia wide law), but at least they’re open.
Also, when I told my sister—who lives in Melbourne—about these experiences, she laughed at first, and then called Perth several things I won’t repeat here, only that ‘provincial’ was the most complimentary one. Obviously, when I go back to Australia, I plan to go to Melbourne, not just because my sister lives there, but also because it’s multitudes more cosmopolitan than Perth. YMMV and all that, and if you have to go to Perth I strongly recommend to book accomodation in Fremantle.
Finally, on the flight to Singapore I was able to take a few nice pictures of Western Australia from the air, and I have to say Quantas’s service was fine. On the night flight from Singapore to Paris I mostly slept (which was fine). After the final connection to Amsterdam I was back home on Thursday April 27, King’s Day in The Netherlands (indeed, a National Holiday). Thankfully, no 15% surcharge.
Concluding: despite a few setbacks I had a great time in Western Australia. A tropical cyclone crossing your planned route is something you can’t plan for—nor do much about except change your plans—but otherwise the sights (Murujuga, Ningaloo Reef and the total solar eclipse at Exmouth in particular) made the whole trip more than worthwhile. And the wildlife. And the sunsets!
Obviously, it makes more sense to do such a trip out of season and when there is no special event, as accommodation will be much cheaper (like I did with freinds back in 1999). Nevertheless, Australia is not cheap, so if you’re on a budget, consider getting a tent and sleep on campsites (I’ve decided I’m too old for that…;-). I love Australia.
Author’s Note: there will be one final Travel Blog post, which will be a list of general tips for those thinking (or even going) to (Western) Australia. In June I will return to essays, apart from the ongoing FOREVER CURIOUS and THE REPLICANT IN THE REFUGEE CAMP serialisations, while bonus material should be coming, as well. Thanks for reading!
PS: all pictures taken by my iPhone.