Perth Travel Forum

am arriving in melbourne april 1 and will hang out there for a few days and then fly into perth. have been in melbourne before (love it) and up and down the east coast but never west. i'll be there for about five days only so i'd like to make the most of my time. what is absolutely essential to see or do? i'm not a diver or into any arcane sports but do want to explore beaches.

what's the weather likely to be like at that time?

any recommendations for a centrally located hotel or hostel or should i just head out to a beach place?

if any vters are going to be around, would love to meet and swap travel stories...looking forward to replies! thanx, annp

I didn't really get to make the most of Perth's gorgeous beaches during my stay there last year, but I did head out for a day at Rottnest Island and loved the beaches there. I took the ferry from Perth, (you get a commentary on the ferry as you glide along the river), changed at Fremantle and was there by late morning. If I were to repeat the experience I would definitely either ensure I was in Fremantle for the crossing earlier, or arrange to stay overnight on the island. I didn't feel I gave myself nearly enough time on the island and would have loved to have been over there for sunset.

It's a lovely wee place and you can hire a bike to cycle round - basically then it's one perfect beach after another - take your pick. You can cycle right round the island.

I also headed out to the Pinnacles Dessert and the Lancelin sand dunes - definitely worth the trip - and visited Yanchep National Park with some other Vters, which I enjoyed (rolling around on the grass photographing birds and kanagroos).

Perth's a great city in itself, and I loved just walking around and exploring it. Kings Park takes some exploring, although I guess that depends on the person and what they find interesting. Perth VTer Aussirose and her hubby took me there on the tram and showed me round - the park is huge, beautifully maintained and has a great many memorials for different wars and battles.

Well Alli, you just got my first 'thumbs up' vote mate! We did have a lovely time didn't we. :o) There's so much to see and do here Ann and us fellow vt'ers would love to meet up! Just give me a reminder a couple of weeks before you are due to arrive and I'll arrange a nice little vt get together here.

Here are my suggestions....and a lot has been mentioned before -

Kings Park
Rotto
Freo - take the Captain Cook ferry return journey starting at 9.15...and coming back 3.30pm including free wine tasting on the return journey
A half day with Captain Cook to the Swan Valley wineries is worth thinking about....if you like wine, then perhaps we can arrange a vt meeting around that :o)
The Pinnicles is worth it
Margaret River is also worth it....but better to stay overnight
Yanchep National park is great for kangaroos and birds in the wild as Alli just mentioned - perhaps we can arrange a day out there for you.
Hillarys Boat Harbour also nice day out

April is a great time here....the weather is lovely (not too hot and not too cold)

As far as accommodation is concerned I would suggest the YHA in Wellington Street for hostel type accommodation or for hotel type - the Ibis in Murray street is reasonably priced and right in town, close to everything.

Please do not hesitate to email me and please do check out all our pages.

Would love to meet up!! Cheers,Ann :o)

Ah yes, I forgot Hillary's - some nice little shops and stuff there.

Just a word about the Ibis - it is good value and the location seemed pretty good, but I found it pretty noisy, thin walls and stuff.

While you *hang out* in Melbourne Ann, get in touch and pick up some more local info from a resident expert.
No 'April fool'ing around. ;-)
Laurie.

Good one Laurie!!....Thumbs up mate :o) Hey Ann...Laurie is our residant Aussie Fred Astair....so hopefully you'll catch up with him in Melbourne and have a dance with him....I'm still looking forward to that!! haha :o)

"Was this reply helpful?" ???
I'll Foxtrot around that one.
An 'Ann double' thank you.
Slow-quick-quick-slow. Fred.

forgot to add that i'll be staying at the victoria hotel on little collins street while in melbourne...have stayed there before and liked it just fine. any sydney hotel suggestions??? stayed in a good place near chinatown last time i was there but have forgotten the name!

Yep I've got a good one in Sydney Ann, the Ibis in Darling Harbour.

Darling Harbour is pretty close to everything and the Ibis chain is well known here in Australia for comfortable budget accommodation. Plus a friend of mine from Perth stayed there and raved about the location, good service and good price. Here's the link -

http://www.hotelibisdarlingharbour.com.au/

Hope this helps.
Cheers, Ann :o)