Perth, Freo and the Indian Pacific railway

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I've been to various parts of Australia several times but this is my first visit to Western Australia. It seems that since my last visit in mid 2009 prices have rocketed. Gone are the days when Australia was considered cheap compared to Europe. I was aware that some things have changed here but as an example, it's ten Aussie dollars for a pint of beer in places and coupled with the poor rate of exchange to the British pound, that make it about six quid! Some say Perth is a bit more expensive because it's Australia's remotest city, some say alcohol is more expensive because there are no pokies (fruit machines) in Western Australia. Books are also expensive, nearly fifty one dollars for some Lonely Planets! There are many reasons, justifications, and excuses but I will find out myself later in my trip across Australia when I visit other states. So far, I reckon it's set to be a budget buster.

I arrived at Perth while the Perth Festival was drawing to an end. It was a Bank Holiday weekend and there were also two music festivals. The Future Music Festival with The Chemical Brothers and Pendulum and Soundwave Festival which included Queens of the Stone Age, Feeder and Iron Maiden, It was a good time to be there because a lot was going on... Anyway, as a result, accommodation was at a premium so ended up in Grand Central Backpackers, formally the Grand Hotel, which although wasn't the best place in the world, turned out to be a good move. With the boys of room 108, we ended up making budget busting ends meet and had a laugh in the process :-)

Perth, is a smart tidy modern city and the climate is amazing. They say it has been humid here recently but compared parts of Southeast Asia, its definitely dry with sunshine and a clear blue sky. Overall Perth is a pleasant city but there is something missing that I can't quite put my finger on... Character perhaps? A bit of identity? Maybe it is just that the city doesn't really have a permanent real centre piece, a focal point. Although there are things to see like the Bell tower or St Mary's cathedral?! The Central Business District (CBD) basically consists of two pedestrianised shopping malls running in parallel linked by side streets. It has a hi rise hi tech office area along with a promenade type set-up along the Swan river.

A short ferry ride to South Perth is a quiet area and a nice area for a stroll, a run or some food. Whist thirty minutes on the spotless train presents Fremantle, just 10kms to the south.

I've always had the impression that Fremantle (Freo) was essentially a port town. It is, however, it's also a great little colonial town and worth visiting for a day or two. It's a great place just to hang-out, especially at weekends when the markets are in full swing, the street side cafe's are full and there's a relaxed buzzy vibe in the air.

After a week in the area, I spent two days and two nights on the Indian Pacific train. This is one of the worlds great railway journeys and it links the Indian ocean (Perth) in the west to the Pacific ocean (Sydney) in the east, a total of 4352 kilometres, Just over 2700 miles. I got off at Adelaide, 2666kms from Perth. The train crosses time zones and on the first full day we all had to switch to 'train time'. It has it's own time zone... for meal service, stop times, buffet car opening times etc. An extra fifteen dollars got me unlimited access to the lounge car and free tea and coffee... A definate worth while option! At over forty one hours, it's the longest single journey I have ever done :-)

We made two stops en-route to Adelaide. The first was for a few hours at Kalgoolrie. This is the Australian home of gold mining. The 'super pit' here is so big that Ayres Rock could fit inside it. A main road to the town has the town on one side and what must be a good few hundred metres drop the other side, is the mine and it stretches for miles!

The second stop was at a tiny town called Cook. Cook supplies passing trains with fuel and water. Up until 1997 the town only had a population of about 40 people and it was there specifically for the train. The railway was privatised and was no longer needed and these days it has a population of just 5 people! The school, shops etc all closed and the people went there own ways. It's a ghost town now except for when the Indian Pacific needs a service stop. At the moment, only two trains go each way each week but from April 2011, there will only be one each way.

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Comments

[KatieBrooks]

Well Said
You describe Perth well. We are Brits currently living here and agree with pretty much all you have said!