Insight Guides - Insight Guides Explore Perth & West Coast Australia (Travel Guide eBook)

How To Use This E-Book

This Explore Guide has been produced by the editors of Insight Guides, whose books have set the standard for visual travel guides since 1970. With top-quality photography and authoritative recommendations, these guidebooks bring you the very best routes and itineraries in the worlds most exciting destinations.

Best Routes

The routes in this book provide something to suit all budgets, tastes and trip lengths. As well as covering the destinations many classic attractions, the itineraries track lesser-known sights, and there are also excursions for those who want to extend their visit outside the city. The routes embrace a range of interests, so whether you are an art fan, a gourmet, a history buff or have kids to entertain, you will find an option to suit.

We recommend reading the whole of a route before setting out. This should help you to familiarise yourself with it and enable you to plan where to stop for refreshments options are shown in the Food and Drink box at the end of each tour.

Introduction

The routes are set in context by this introductory section, giving an overview of the destination to set the scene, plus background information on food and drink, shopping and more, while a succinct history timeline highlights the key events over the centuries.

Directory

Also supporting the routes is a Directory chapter, with a clearly organised AZ of practical information, our pick of where to stay while you are there and select restaurant listings; these eateries complement the more low-key cafs and restaurants that feature within the routes and are intended to offer a wider choice for evening dining. Also included here are some nightlife listings, and our recommendations for books and films about the destination.

Getting around the e-book

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights mentioned in the text are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of the destination. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

2019 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Recommended Routes For...

Art lovers

Perths newest public plazas, Elizabeth Quay () offer even more creativity.

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Ball watchers

With the construction of Perth Stadium, WAs biggest AFL (Australian Rules Footballs top league) and cricket teams have relocated their home games to East Perth (), where you can also check out the WACA and State Tennis Centre.

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Cape crusaders

Visit WAs southwest corner ().

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Escape artists

Leave the city in the rear-view mirror, hit the highways that cross the immensity of Western Australia, and traverse true deserts to discover the genuine outback in places like Bungle Bungle, Wolfe Creek ().

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Fashionistas

Hit the arcades in Perths City Centre () offers vintage fashion and artisan jewellery.

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Gold chasers

A gold trail extends around the city from the Perth Mint ().

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Wannabe David Attenboroughs

Swim with whale sharks off Exmouth ().

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Winers and Caffiends

Devotees of the bean flock to Freos Cappuccino Strip ().

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Explore Perth and West Coast Australia

WA is separated from the rest of the continent by deserts and the barren Nullarbor Plain. Travelling to the capital involves a long-haul flight, even for residents of other Australian cities. Is it worth the effort? Read on

To those who have been and seen what lies hidden here, such a question is unfathomable. The tyranny of distance divided by the splendor of isolation, multiplied by stunning natural features, wonderful wildlife and a population defined by their diversity and free-range frontier mentality all adds up to produce a dramatic destination full of sensational surprises and extraordinary adventures.

From the urbane eateries and classy coffee shops in Perth and Fremantle, to the epic empty enormity of the Kimberley and Kalgoorlie, and the reef-ringed Exmouth coast, this paradisiacal place offers myriad unique experiences.

Here you can explore fine wine, kaleidoscopic coral, extraordinary art and beautiful beaches that fringe a coastline stretching 10,194km (6,334 miles) not including the islands, of which there are over 1,000.

Captain Cook claims Botany Bay

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Population and people

Western Australia covers 2,529,875 sq km (976,790 sq miles) and has 2.6 million inhabitants; the population density is one person per square kilometre (compared to 375 in the UK, and over 8,000 in Singapore). However, over 2 million of those people live in Perth.

An attractive, open-minded and youthful city (the median age is 36), Perth has long attracted skilled inhabitants. Over a third of the population was born outside Australia, with one in 10 originally from Britain (a legacy of the 194572 Ten-Pound-Pom programme that offered assisted passage for British citizens).