A Beach in Fremantle Western Australia.
A dog dealing with dive-bombing gulls.
A view of Perth from King's park.We arrived early in the morning in Perth (4am) and were really excited to have a good cup of coffee and a tasty baked item (one of the westernized conveniences Steve has missed the most) as we waited for our hostel room to be ready, and were shocked when the bill came out to $10 for a 12oz cup of coffee and a muffin. We had heard that the USD has weakened significantly since we've left, but we come to find out that the Australian dollar is worth more that the USD. A friendly local informed us that due to the high price of extractive commodities (mainstay of Western Australia's economy), the AUD has made huge gains against the USD. Compound that with the relative isolation of Perth which increases the cost of household goods, and we get the $5 coffee and $5 muffin. She also mentioned that Perth was rated the most expensive city to live in, even ahead of NYC. I double-checked her statement and found a list of many European and Japanese countries far ahead of Perth and NYC, but point is taken, it's expensive! We spent our 3 days in Perth catching up on sleep, touring Fremantle (a port city), and walking down the wide city streets, where we didn't have to dodge street vendors, avoid potholes the size of bicycles, nor solicitors trying to sell us something. We are definitely not in Southeast Asia anymore!
A Beach in Fremantle Western Australia.
A dog dealing with dive-bombing gulls.
A view of Perth from King's park.
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