Perth is a remote city blessed with gorgeous beaches, a stunning river, fabulous scenery and friendly people.

My daughter Casey, a circus performer, joined me for two days of filming to capture the essence of the city.

We only chose locations that didn’t require an entry fee, so this is a good list of free things to do in Perth.

Things to do in Perth

Perth City Centre

Opposite Perth train station you’ll see Forrest Place. That’s where you’ll find ‘The Cactus’, the big green sculpture at the start of our video. Not far away is a water fountain which is especially fun when it’s hot.

You’ll find London Court along Hay St Mall. It’s a gorgeous little arcade filled with interesting shops.

Down on the water at Elizabeth Quay you’ll see all sorts of interesting sculptures and good places to sit. It’s also where you’ll find the beautiful carousel that features in the opening of our video.

Northbridge

We only filmed one location in Northbridge. It’s where all the arty things are located – the gallery, the museum and the library. There are also a LOT of eating options in Northbridge.

Kakulas Brothers is always on our list of shops to visit when we’re in Northbridge. It’s a bulk food store which stocks everything you can imagine, as well as a lot more. The smell that hits you when you walk in is intoxicating.

Kings Park

Kings Park is one of the best things about the city of Perth. At 400 hectares, it’s one of the world’s biggest inner city parks. It includes beautiful manicured lawns and gardens as well as a large chunk of native bush.

Kings Park is positioned high above the city and river, so you get sensational views from every angle.

I recommend that everyone visiting Perth visits Kings Park. In fact, if you only have time to do one thing, this is the thing I’d recommend you do.

Queens Gardens

Queens Gardens is (are?) located right next door to the WACA, in East Perth.

It’s a lovely park for a relaxing stroll and it’s home to a very special Peter Pan statue.

A fellow named Sir George Frampton made the original statue, which is in Kensington Gardens in London. I took photos of it a couple of years ago and didn’t realise there were others around the world, so I was really surprised to stumble upon the one in Perth during our filming.

It turns out Sir George made 6 full size casts from the original moulds and they were put up all over the world between 1924 and 1929. The Perth Peter Pan statue went up in 1929.

Sir George Frampton died in 1928 and a memorial in his honour was made by another sculptor. It’s in the crypt at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. It’s a naked toddler holding a little Peter Pan on an outstretched hand.

Cottesloe Beach

We Australians don’t realise how lucky we are with our beautiful white sand beaches stretching for thousands of kilometres along the coast.

It’s not until you travel to other parts of the world that you realise we could have drawn the short straw with pebbles or sand.

Cottesloe Beach is stunningly beautiful, with snow white sand and sapphire blue water. It’s popular with the locals so it’s very busy on weekends in the summer.

Every year Cottesloe Beach is host to ‘Sculptures by the Sea’. At any time of the year you can enjoy the many sculptures along Marine Parade. We featured 5 of them in our video.

Fremantle

Australia is an ancient country, but the modern world as we know it only appeared quite recently. Many homes in Europe were built before the first Europeans arrived in Australia.

Fremantle is one of our historical areas. It was part of the original settlement of the ‘Swan River Colony’ before we became known as the Colony of Western Australia.

You’ll find some fabulous old buildings in Fremantle, as well as interesting museums and historical points. I should probably mention all the restaurants on the ‘cappucino strip’ of South Terrace too.

We did a lot of filming in Fremantle because everywhere we turned there was something fabulous. We found the cute little striped huts, the ferris wheel, the amazing Rainbow Sea Container, an optical illusion artwork that covered an entire street, sculptures and more.

We had a heap of fun dressing up at the WA Maritime Museum and fighting a duel to the death. I let Casey win because I’m the Mum.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this video came from Abd Faiz, an Indonesian YouTuber. He published a video called ‘One Day in Bali’ where he walked through various scenes in Bali. I loved the simplicity of his video. Casey and I decided to do our own version for Perth, Western Australia.

Filming Locations

00:00
Carousel – Elizabeth Quay, Perth
Rainbow Sea Container – 1 Canning Hwy, Fremantle
South Perth Foreshore, near Mends St jetty, South Perth
‘The Cactus’ (green sculpture) – Forrest Pl, Perth City centre
‘Spanda’ sculpture – Elizabeth Quay, Perth
Cicerello’s – Fremantle
Water feature – Forrest Pl, Perth City centre
London Court – Perth City centre
Queens Gardens – East Perth
David Jones – Hay St Mall, Perth City centre
Stairs near State Library – James St Mall, Northbridge
Peter Pan statue – Queens Gardens, East Perth
High St, near The Roundhouse, with ‘Arcs d’Ellipses’, an optical illusion artwork – Fremantle

00:18
Curved stone wall (handstand sequence) – Kings Park, Perth
Circular steel sculpture (Casey is running) – The Roundhouse, Fremantle
Steel bridge with glass sides, aka ‘Lotterywest Federation Walkway’ – Kings Park, Perth
Lifesaver’s Flags – Cottesloe Beach
Curved steel wall sculpture – Kings Park, Perth
Criss-Cross Sculpture – Marine Parade, Cottesloe
Ribbon Sculpture – Marine Parade, Cottesloe
Arrow Sculpture – Marine Parade, Cottesloe

00:31
Hay St Mall – Perth City centre
Lawn looking over river – Kings Park, Perth
Lookout with glass front – Kings Park, Perth
Cute little stripey huts – Bathers Bay, Fremantle
Whalers Tunnel – near The Roundhouse, Fremantle

00:35
Ferris Wheel – Esplanade Park, Fremantle
Indiana Tearooms – Cottesloe Beach
Wooden walkway, umbrellas, ocean – Bathers Beach, Fremantle
Elizabeth Quay bridge – Elizabeth Quay, Perth

00:39
Acrobatic sculpture – Marina Parade, Cottesloe Beach
(ferris wheel again)
Moreton Bay fig trees – Mounts Bay Rd, near the old brewery, Perth
(Cicerello’s again)
Bell Tower – Elizabeth Quay, Perth
(Kings Park grass again – 3 jumps)

00:44
The Roundhouse – Fremantle
Sculpture at The Roundhouse – Fremantle
(Rainbow Sea Container again)
Torpedoes – WA Maritime Museum, Fremantle

00:47
Lake Monger (handstand sequence) – Wembley
Brick wall – Fremantle
Bon Scott statue – near Cicerello’s, Fremantle
Bridge – Queens Gardens, East Perth
Cottesloe Beach (handstand sequence)
Big palm with lights of WACA in the background – Queens Gardens, East Perth
Dress-ups – WA Maritime Museum, Fremantle
‘To the Fishermen’ sculpture –  near Cicerello’s, Fremantle
Round sculpture (handstand sequence) – Marine Parade,Cottesloe

00:59
Duel to the death – WA Maritime Museum, Fremantle
South Perth foreshore, near Mends St jetty – South Perth
3 jumps, big trees – Fraser Ave, Kings Park, Perth
(south Perth foreshore again)
(more of the battle)
Narrows Bridge in background – Mounts Bay Rd, Perth
Big anchor – WA Shipwrecks Museum
Queens Gardens – East Perth
(final part of the battle)