Perth

Perth is located on the traditional land of the Whadjuk people. It sits where the Swan River meets the southwest coast. Sandy beaches line its suburbs, and the huge, riverside Kings Park and Botanic Garden on Mount Eliza offer views of the city. It is said to be the most isolated city in the world, the sunniest, and allegedly one of the windiest. To me it’s home and I hope you enjoy a little taste of Perth life.

Time at home when you live so far away is very precious. I spend it doing very simple things: driving around and catching up with friends and family, swimming at the beach as much as possible, collecting seashells, and going out to old favourites and new spots alike.

The dingo flour is an iconic sign in Perth and it’s one of the first things I like to drive by when I get home. The Dingo logo was designed painted by artist Les Nash in 1940. 

Everyone in Perth has their favourite or go-to swimming spot and this is mine – North Cottesloe beach at the Grant Street steps. The Noth Street Store is a great spot to pop into on the way home from the beach. It is a neighbourhood-corner-store with good coffee, bread, pastries and a simple comforting menu.

One of my favourite new discoveries was Coogee Common.

Built in 1894, the Coogee Hotel, or ‘Four-Mile Well’, was a meeting place for local market gardeners, quarry and shipping workers, four miles from Fremantle.

Now it includes gardens, a restaurant & bar and farm shop. The menus are built around their extensive gardens, pollinated by resident bees, harvested daily and served with wood-fired breads. Anything not grown on site is sourced from local, sustainable producers, who share their commitment to clean, ethical food production and the best seasonal ingredients.

I love to visit the city of Perth library, a stunning building designed by Kerry Hill architects. 

My dear and talented friend and artist, Andrew Nicholls was commissioned to create the mural in the ceiling which depicts the final act of Shakespeare’s The Tempest illustrated with Western Australian flora and fauna.

My friend surprised me with a night at the Alex Hotel. Designed by Arent & Pyke it has become a much-visited and much-loved identity of Perth’s cityscape. 

“We wanted to reflect the richness of Alex’s personality, forming our interior vision around four essential pillars: the personal, the escape, the craft and the legacy. The Alex hotel wants to nurture, and we created that through championing its sense of intimacy and domesticity.”

Arent & Pyke

Really really Delicious vietnamese. 

Viet Hoa is a family owned and operated restaurant that has been serving Vietnamese food to customers in Perth and Northbridge for over 40 years. One of the busiest restaurants in the area, it is the epitome of inexpensive and tasty Vietnamese and it’s BYO (bring your own). 

Had some lovely wine at Wines of While, a local natural wine store and bar in Northbridge

Perth is a sprawling city filled with wonderful people, places and natural environments. 

This journal doesn’t touch the surface as I’ve been mostly been sitting in the back yard, drinking coffee, chatting to my parents and spending time with friends in their homes. Most overseas visitors head directly to Sydney and Melbourne, but if you should ever find yourself out West, please be sure to let me know!

“Will you look at us by the river! The whole restless mob of us on spread blankets in the dreamy briny sunshine skylarking and chiacking about for one day, one clear, clean, sweet day in a good world in the midst of our living. Yachts run before an unfelt gust with bag necked pelicans riding above them, the city their twitching backdrop, all blocks and points of mirror light down to the water’s edge.”

Tim Winton