Room To Swing A Godzilla-Sized Cat, Beach Hopping

7/2/2013

One of the world's most isolated cities - Perth, Western Australia.

Perth and its 1.8 million population (practically a village by Chinese standards) was hardly going to overwhelm us. The city is so spread out that as we drove around through some of its suburbs, we kept asking “Where are the people?”.

Classified as one of the most isolated cities on earth, Perth is closer to Indonesia’s capital Jakarta than Australia’s capital Canberra. Perth is the main city of Western Australia and as a state, the population density works out at 0.9 people per square kilometre (Perth’s is at 300 people per sq km). Compare that to where we live in Shanghai where there are more than 3,600 people per square kilometre.

Then add in the amount of open space, not to mention over 40km of pristine coastline – there was more than enough room to swing a Godzilla-sized cat. The very first thing we wanted to do was hit the beach. Not just one, not two but, in fact, we visited five different beaches on our first two days in Perth. Literally driving along the West Coast Highway and, heading north of the city, along Indian Ocean Drive there were stops after stops of places you could go to in order to feel the sand between your toes. And this sand was white, lapped by waves coming in from a warm aqua blue sea.

Day one and Lezil’s brother Jesse took us along the main beach drag in Perth. Call it beach hopping. First up there was City Beach. Granted it was a week day and most of the schools had started back from their summer break, but still, for a city centre hang out – the squawking sea gulls outnumbered the amount of sunbathers. Surprisingly, the waves were pretty big and the current strong. There were warning signs on the beach of ‘dumping waves’ which basically means, if you get caught in one just when its breaking – expect to be tossed about, a bit like being in a tumble dryer.

The lively movements of the ocean added to the fun as we swam in near-perfect water temperatures. Semi-dried off, we placed our towels on our car seats as we headed up coast. Leaning towards its English heritage, a number of places around Perth have names that you’d find on a UK map.

At City Beach with Lezil's brother, Jesse.

A sign you won't see at the UK's Brighton Beach!

There’s Maida Vale, High Wycombe, Bayswater, Bedford and, our next stop, Brighton Beach. Yes. England’s most famous south coast beach resort has its namesake thousands of miles away. But that’s where the similarities end.

The uncomfortable-to-walk-on UK shingle beach is now a smooth powder carpet of Australian sand grains. There was a little more action here with kite surfers taking advantage of the blustery conditions. Afterwards it was off to next door’s destination, Scarborough Beach which had a lovely long stretch which you could walk along. Going back towards the city centre, we wrapped things up at Cottesloe Beach. Here things were a lot more sheltered with its jetty shielding some of the bigger waves from coming into shore.

One thing that struck me about all of the city’s beaches thus far is how ‘underdeveloped’ things are. Each location had a tiny selection of cafés or shops but that was it. No mass tourism. It felt genuine, like it was meant more for people actually living in Perth, as opposed to just being made attractive for visitors. It was early evening and Lezil and Jesse decided to tuck into proper portion of Fish & Chips – something we don’t really get in Shanghai. I was still recovering from my bad stomach episode and so, I looked on as they wolfed down their chunky chips, Spanish Mackerel in batter, crab sticks and deep-fried calamari.

Lezil about to eat her first authentic portion of Fish & Chips.

Driving up coast, north of Perth.

The following day and Lezil’s mum was kind enough to lend us her car (UK driving licences are valid for up to three months here). Packing in our beach gear and punching in some coordinates into the GPS, we joined the main No 2 Highway through the city centre and out the other end heading north. The scenery became decidedly more ‘bush’ with long periods where we would be the only car on a, literally, open road.

An hour’s drive went by as we turned off the highway down a minor road due for the coast. We didn’t have an exact clue where we were going but exploration was the fun of it. And our inquisitive spirits paid off. The road reduced significantly in size and curved about a few times to then reveal the glistening ocean out front and just below us, was a beautiful segment of beach with aqua green waters. This was, as the sign pointed out, Yanchep Lagoon.

The southern end of the beach had a reef a few metres off shore which acted as a handy buffer for the waves.

Arriving at our surprise find - Yanchep Lagoon.

An excellent swim at Yanchep Lagoon.

This made the swimming conditions ideal, evident by the pockets of young families enjoying the waters. We had a good swim followed by a picnic by the beach. I was on the last day of my ‘diet’ so I had to endure another helping of cold chicken soup with dry crackers and water. (Actually, it was pretty tasty!)

Back in the car, and we went further up to the next main town – Guilderton (population 150). This was one sleepy town whose main attractions included a lighthouse, a beach and its main pull the Moore River.

This river led right up to the Indian Ocean with just a thin sand bar separating it from becoming one. At high seas, the sand bar would break but, thankfully today this was not the case. Apart from a few people relaxing at a nearby caravan park, once we got onto the beach itself, we were literally the only ones there for miles around.

Beach towels spread out, we had a good afternoon nap. By this time it had clouded over which took the edge off the 31C heat. We had a snoop about, eventually reaching the town’s famed lighthouse which was fenced off to visitors. Slowly but surely, Shanghai’s frantic pace is easing out of our systems. Only to be replaced by Perth’s obvious laid-back approach to living. I envision many, many, many more beach days to come (I have to get my quota in for the year!).