Welcome to Perth, Western Australia!
Where is Perth?
Situated in the lower south west of the largest state in Australia, Western Australia Perth has beautiful weather nearly all year round (excluding 2016 which we got the coldest and longest winter in years). We lived only 10 minutes from the city for 3 years and found it an easy city to navigate.
It has an estimated population of just over 2 million as at June 2015.
Swan River is the main river in Perth and provides a perfect running, cycling and picnic spot, which we took advantage of regularly being so close.
Check out our Kids Travel Worksheet on all things Western Australia a great way to have the kids (and you) learning on the road.
Facebook Pages to check out what's happening in Perth
The Urban List Perth The leading go-to guide for everything worth tasting, trying, booking and buying in our sun-loving city Perth
Websites
Weekend Notes Things to do in Perth, Whats on, Events, Festivals
Urban List The leading go-to guide for everything worth tasting, trying, booking and buying in our sun-loving city Perth
Discount or Savings Tips
We bought an Entertainment Book for Western Australia Perth was heavily represented at the time was $65.00 we saved so much as a result of the membership on everything from Activities, Restaurants, Entry prices, food shopping (take advantage of discounted woolworths, BCF, Uncle Dan's - Dan Murphy's vouchers too)
Things to do and links to blog posts if we did them (updated regularly)
Free
Canning River Regional Park & Eco Education Centre
Swan River
Fremantle Markets
Cottesloe Beach - Sunset overlooking Rottnest Island
Cost Involved
Bell Tower / Elizabeth Quay
Perth Zoo
Scitech
The Perth Mint
Perth Museum – closed re-opening in 2020 (The old one was great so the new one hopefully will be fantastic!)
Peel Zoo
Rottnest Island
Caravan Parks
Karrinyup Waters Caravan Park
467 N Beach Rd, Gwelup WA 6018
Phone: (08) 9447 6665
Just North of Perth City, great location, have visited this park when friends stayed there and very clean and great location. Easy to access Mitchell Freeway into city.
Discovery Big 4 Park Forrestfield
186 Hale Road, Forrestfield WA 6058
Phone: (08) 9453 6677
It says 25 mins from city but I would say having driven it allow minimum 30 mins. Stay out of peak times to as Orrong Road is very busy.
Midland Tourist Park
6 Toodyay Rd, Middle Swan, Perth, WA
Phone: (08) 9274 3002
This area is good for people wanting to visit the Swan Valley Wineries and there are some nice ones. Houghtons has a beautiful large open paddock area perfect for letting the kids burn off some steam, kick a football while you have a lovely glass of wine.
I will add more as I come across them, it is easy to google for more options.
Public Transport
Transperth runs the buses and trains in and around Perth.
In the city (CBD) there are free CAT Buses (they have, you guessed it, a big cat on the side and are easily identified) You can get on and off as required no ticket required.
If you are going to be staying here for a while for work or extended holiday period it may be worth looking into a transperth account (smartrider) which gives you discounted travel.
There are ways to make it cheaper especially for families and I recommend you either check it out online before you arrive.
There is a ferry that runs from Barrack Street Jetty (Elizabeth Quay) Ferries depart every 30 minutes daily and every 15 minutes at peak times and take about 10 minutes to get across the river. Perth Zoo is a 500m walk from the Mends Street Jetty (South Perth) via shops and restaurants. Affordable, a nice way to check out the Swan River get some photos looking back at city and up to Kings Park too. It is a lot easier to get trains into the city too then catch the ferry over.