Perth, where Canada will take on Ireland at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, is a wonderful base for short trips that highlight the state’s rich and diverse tourism opportunities
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA — On July 26, Soccer Canada’s Women’s National Soccer team will take on Ireland in a FIFA World Cup match being played in Perth — the modern, large and beautiful capital city of Western Australia. The FIFA Women’s World Cup is the largest sporting event held in Australia since the Sydney 2000 Olympics, with five games being played in Perth.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don’t have an account? Create Account
Canada’s women’s team won gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but has never won a FIFA World Cup, while arch rivals the United States has netted four World Cups and four Olympics golds.
The Canadians are in Group B and play Nigeria in Melbourne on July 21, Ireland on July 26 and Australia on July 31 in Melbourne.
Here’s what to know and some things to do if you are visiting this coastal city of 2.6 million people (the third largest in Australia and the sunniest) this month.
Glorious winter days in a Mediterranean climate marked by hot and dry summers and wet and cooler winters. It’s winter Down Under, so anyone in town for the FIFA match will experience average highs of around 18 C and possibly some rain showers. There’s a very good chance you will see weather that would make a stunning summer day in Canada. Be mindful, it will be get dark at around 5:30 p.m. and it can turn chilly quickly.
Australians take winter clothing seriously and it becomes a time for wool beanies (toques), jumpers (sweaters), gloves and Ugg boots. Aussies call Ugg boots their “uglies,” as they were no fashion statement until Pamela Anderson made them popular in the late 1990s.
The Canadian dollar is strong at the moment — about 10 per cent more valuable than the Australian dollar — so it’s a good time to visit, as prices for food, accommodation and entertainment are overall around the same. Gas is cheaper but beer more expensive. Taxes are included in all prices and it is not customary to tip. Stock up on summer wear for Canada, as many of the local surf shops heavily discount their clothes and footwear in the Australian winter.
Almost all the food eaten in Western Australia is locally grown, meaning it is fresh, flavourful and abundant. A trip to a supermarket shows this off. The celery, lettuce, tomatoes and carrots are all huge and bright and inexpensive. Citrus fruit grows on trees in suburban yards and there is lots of lamb, beef, poultry and seafood all locally produced.
Take it easy when navigating the roads. Aussies drive on the left-hand side with the steering wheel on the right. It’s easy once you get used to it, but always say “keep left: to yourself as you drive and use GPS where possible so you get plenty of notice where to turn. Australians respect speed limits and are courteous.
Perth is very pedestrian and bike friendly, and while cars don’t have to give way to pedestrians crossing outside a marked area, the traffic light system favours walkers and makes it safer. But don’t ever cross unless you get the green light.
Perth has Uber and a very good public transit system with a mix of buses, light-rail and trains. TransWA is a combined train/bus service that operates around the southern half of this enormous state, while TransPerth is the metropolitan train and bus service.
Western Australia and Australia in general have made great strides over the past several years in reconciling the generational harm done to Indigenous people during colonization and beyond. Land acknowledgments are common. Perth is referred to as Boorloo and Aboriginal art and flag fly on St. Georges Terrace, the city’s main road through downtown that features the must-see London Court shopping mall.
First Nations from the southwest of Western Australia are Noongar people, with the Whadjuk language group living in the area now known as Perth.
Overlooking the city is Kings Park, the best place for a traveller to visit to get a sample of the unique flora and general nature of Western Australia.
The Kings Park Lightscape show is on in July. The park’s large and recently created botanical garden has been dressed up with light, colour and sound allowing ticket holders to walk alongside pink and purple-dressed eucalyptus trees and candlelit fields with a back drop of Perth and the Swan River that runs through it.
Kings Park is the same size as Stanley Park in Vancouver and is notable for its military memorials. Its roads are lined with different varieties of gum trees each with a brass plaque in front of them marking the name and details of every Western Australian who died in the First World War. They were planted as saplings in the 1920s and some now stand 100-feet tall.
The main military cenotaph is the perfect vantage point to look across the river, the city of towers to the left, South Perth to the right and the Darling Range straight ahead.
The old Swan Brewery at the base of the park’s Mount Eliza directly on the river has been turned into a first-class restaurant and bar, its interior walls lined with heritage photos.
In 1892, two gold prospectors searching an area now called Coolgardie, 500km east of Perth, had ended a day’s unrewarding work when a flash flood swept through the small river they were working on. The next morning, the area was literally awash with gold nuggets and, by the end of the day, the pair had gathered around 600 ounces. It changed their lives and began a gold rush. This mineral wealth has continued with the discovery of iron ore and natural gas that along with agriculture and tourism has made W.A. the most prosperous state in Australia.
A one-hour guided tour of the Perth Mint in East Perth is the best way to get an understanding of this story.
The heritage building’s vault holds $5 billion worth of precious metals and it is home to the largest minted coin on the planet — valued at over $100 million.
The tour also includes a chance to see molten gold turned into a gold bar in the original furnace room and to hold a bullion bar worth around $1.2 million.
The mint has a gift shop unlike any other, with items ranging from $10 for a block of chocolate dressed up as a bar of gold to a pink diamond pendant worth $595,000 (not negotiable).
Fremantle is Western Australia’s main port city, located at the mouth of the Swan River as it flows into the Indian Ocean, a 30-minute drive or train ride from Perth.
The two cities are very different from the other and have their own Australian Rules Football teams — the Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles.
Western Australia’s early convict history is on display across the city, reflected most dramatically in the Fremantle Prison that convicts built for their own incarceration, as well as in dozens of side-by-side bungalows that were built for wardens and prison guards.
According to a guide from Two Feet & a Heartbeat Walking Tours, some of these bungalows are now in private hands and can sell for close to $1 million.
Fremantle was also the home and is now the resting place of legendary AC/DC frontman Bon Scott, who is celebrated across the city, including in a statue and a mural at the Federation Hotel.
The city’s greatest feature is its buildings, which remain completely intact and mostly restored — especially notable on High Street.
This is thanks to a well-organized group of community activists who resisted development pressures in the 1960s and 1970s, and eventually gained political power and kept the city untouched.
Australia hosted the America’s Cup yacht race in Fremantle in 1987 that brought international attention and praise to the city and it has never looked back.
A must-see is the W.A. Shipwrecks Museum that is built around a recovered section of hull, cannons and other artifacts from the Batavia. This was a Dutch ship that foundered in 1629 off the coast of what is now Geraldton north of Perth, leading to a violent mutiny, a remarkable rescue and overall a tale that should one day make a great movie.
Located within the Whiteman Park bushland area 30 minutes drive northeast of Perth is a remarkable display of West Australian wildlife that’s large, beautifully kept and a must-see for anyone with an interest in Australian animals.
The Caversham Wildlife Park has a kangaroo grazing and petting area that is alone enough to satisfy any craving for the nation’s most-known marsupial.
There are wallabies, eastern grey kangaroos, red kangaroos (the largest type in Australia) and several albino grey kangaroos. They are gentle and can be hand-fed from a food supply provided by the park. Many are carrying joeys in pouches and have lots of room to roam so they are not stressed. Particularly impressive is the albino male who is kept apart from the mob and takes food from behind a large fence and will stand up tall flexing at over seven-feet.
Caversham holds the largest private collection of native fauna in Western Australia and is staffed by motivated and friendly animal keepers. For an extra $35, you get to hold and have a photo taken with a koala. I hadn’t seen koalas kept in better state or conditions than here, with around 30 on display, some also carrying joeys that cling to their mother’s bodies as they move slowly about the eucalyptuses.
The reptile collection is also impressive with W.A.’s three deadliest snakes on display. The dugite, the tiger snake and the king brown. It’s worth having a look at these just in case you spot one in the wild.
Nigeria vs. Canada
Canada vs. Republic of Ireland
Canada vs. Australia
This state-of-the-art custom built sports and large concert stadium is situated on a salient surrounded by the Swan River east of downtown Perth and is accessible by free public transit.
The stadium’s capacity and esthetic was highlighted during the height of the pandemic when Western Australia — with its extraordinarily tight restrictions — was able to host the AFL Grand Final with 60,000 people attending because there was virtually no COVID-19 in Western Australia.
Eventually the state had to open up to the rest of the world and also to the pandemic, but on a dreamy day in September 2021, people were free to enjoy themselves in a large crowd in and around this stunning stadium.
Both Perth and Fremantle AFL teams play their home games at Optus Stadium, as do the local rugby and cricket teams. The world’s largest acts — like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Coldplay and U2 — have all performed there.
Perth’s 2023 FIFA Women’s Soccer World Cup games will be played at the rectangular HBF Park in East Perth, that is also a great and easy to access facility.
Perth is a go-to destination for international acts and has a vibrant live music, cultural arts scene with several venues of different sizes.
If you want to know who is doing what in Perth on any given week, a trip to the Kinky Lizard espresso Bar on Adelaide Terrace in East Perth is all that’s needed.
On five walls in the café are posters showing all the large and small acts on show for that month, and it’s updated every Friday.
For example, in July Baz Lurhmann’s Strictly Ballroom is on at the Royal Theatre, the Perth Symphony is performing a tribute to artist Kathleen O’Connor at the Art Gallery of W.A., while a life-size display of prehistoric ocean predators called Sea Monsters is on at the W.A. Maritime Museum.
Locals often laugh that some of the most-known and highly regarded tourist destinations in B.C. are basically rocks.
The ones closest to Perth and well worth the visit are The Pinnacles — an out of this world display of 30,000 year-old seashell and limestone rock spiers — and the Lake Clifton thrombolites, that are living rocks and considered to be one of the earliest life forms on the planet.
Like many things in Western Australia, it’s hard to believe but true. According to website roamingdownunder.com, thrombolites are formed when single-celled bacteria deposit layers of silt and calcium that grow into rounded rocks. Scientists believe they are hundreds of millions of years old and are the origin of oxygen in the atmosphere.
These are extinct everywhere except West Australia, where they can be seen at water’s edge in Lake Clifton in Yalgorup National Park — a one-hour drive south of Perth near the city of Mandurah — and also further north at Shark Bay.
The Pinnacles are a two-hour drive north of Perth, in the Nambung National Park, close to the oceanside town of Cervantes where lobster fishers sell their catch to local restaurants.
On the drive from Perth to Cervantes stop in at the Gravity Discovery Centre and Observatory. Primarily a planet observatory, it also features a tower from which you conduct gravity experiments — thinks water balloons and water melons — and a section of the one million year old Mundrabilla meteor.
Other rocks of note in Western Australia are Wave Rock and Dog Rock, and the series of majestic and varied caves on the state’s southwest tip along Caves Road.
This story was sponsored by Tourism W.A. The organization did not see the story prior to publication.
Support our journalism: Our in-depth journalism is possible thanks to the support of our subscribers. For just $3.50 per week, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
To contribute to the conversation, you need to be logged in. If you are not yet registered, create your account now – it’s FREE.
365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4
© 2023 The Province, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.
This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.