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Tags: Guidebook Says / Australia Travel / Beach Travel / Dog Travel / → All Tags

Guidebook Says: Visit Perth For Their Dog Beaches?

It's hard to know whether the experts are giving you useful information or just the same old song and dance. That's why we're introducing Guidebook Says to commend or correct other travel media. Feel free to commend or correct us in the comments below! This week, we zero in on Perth, the quiet but cool capital of Western Australia.

Guidebook Says: "This sunshine capital is also home to a thousand mining and exploration companies, which bring a touch of the Outback to the city. It's a friendly city, partly because of the outdoor openness and partly from the Outback influence." -- Frommers

Jaunted Says: Fact: Mining and exploration companies abound in Perth. Fiction: we've never found the touch of the Outback they bring. They seem to be about flashy skyscrapers and rich fly-in, fly-out workers and we seriously doubt any tourist would take much notice of them. The Outback's about as far from Perth as Uluru is from the ocean (that's pretty far), so we really don't know what this guidebook writer was on about.

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Tags: Music Travel / Australia Travel / Tours / Themed Tours / → All Tags

A Rocking Tour Of West Oz, In Honor Of Bon Scott

When in Paris, visit Jim Morrison's grave; when in Perth, visit Australia's most visited grave: the final resting place of Bon Scott, the AC/DC front-man who would've turned 63 this month.

But there's much more to an AC/DC pilgrimage than just visiting a grave—they've just launched a Highway to Hell Tour to show you all the AC/DC sites of Fremantle, the port town to Perth where Bon Scott grew up.

The tour takes in Scott's childhood home and schools, the Fremantle Prison where Scott apparently had a brush with the law, a commemorative statue the town's put up and finally, his grave. At the moment, the A$25 ($20), 90-minute tour only runs on Sundays (but it does so three times) and the operators hope to increase the frequency as it gets more popular.

One thing we especially like about this tour is that the tourists get to choose the playlist for the bus-ride. We're pretty sure we'd be belting out "It's A Long Way to the Top" the whole tour long.

Related Stories:
· AC/DC Fans Follow Bon Scott's Adventures [The West]
· Western Australia Travel Guide [Jaunted]

Tags: Mistakes / Travel Brochures / Beaches / Spain Travel / → All Tags

Costa Brava Brags About Its Great Beach With a Snapshot from Perth

With our giant soft spot for Australia we probably would already have voted Down Under beaches ahead of Spain's Costa Brava, but now the Spaniards have done it themselves. In a recent resort brochure for the supposedly beautiful Spanish coastline, they used a picture of a Perth beach by mistake. Ooops.

If you, like that resort, suspect Western Australia's beaches might be prettier than the Costa Brava, then you could check out City Beach, which was used for the Spanish ad. Along the same city coastline, Cottesloe Beach is also famous for atmosphere and easy train route access; a little north of the city, Scarborough Beach is one for the teenagers and surfers.

Of course, the beaches across Oz might all be better than the Costa Brava--just check our top five Sydney beaches to start your comparison. And when daydreaming over Spanish vacation brochures next, don't forget to wonder if what you're seeing is really Down Under.

Related Stories:
· Costa Pertha in Spanish Resort Promotion [The Age]
· The Five Best Beaches in Sydney [Jaunted]
· Perth Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo of Cottesloe Beach, Perth, not the Costa Brava: Ole Reidar Johansen]

Tags: It's Summer Somewhere / Windsurfing / Kayaking / South Pacific / → All Tags

Where To Windsurf in Perth

Wash that winter right out of your hair with a trip to western Australia's sandy beaches. This is the last good month of the season for windsurfing, so whether you're a novice or a pro, Perth wants you.

The harbor in Perth shields it from the most violent currents of the Indian Ocean. Safety Bay, despite its name, more for people who have windsurfed before, but try Pelican Point at Matilda Bay for an easy approach. Windforce Windsurfing School will give you three days of beginner weekday lessons for $150 (about $100).

We pulled up a round-trip fare of $1215 from Los Angeles to Perth on Qantas, but you could probably go for much cheaper by flying to Sydney or Melbourne and snagging a discount fare.

Related Stories:
· Windsurfing and Julia Roberts in Mexico [Jaunted]
· Five Reasons to Visit Perth [Jaunted]
· Perth Hotels [HC]

[Photo: asterbat]

Tags: Ferris Wheels / To Do / Attractions / → All Tags

Perth Gives Us Another Aussie Ferris Wheel Story

There’s an odd epidemic sweeping Australia at the moment: giant ferris wheels are springing up in nearly all its capital cities. Melbourne seemed to start the trend, with Adelaide and Sydney getting in on the ferris wheel act in recent months too.

Now Perth has planted its own (not quite so big) ferris wheel on the Swan River foreshore in front of the city center. The Wheel of Perth is in a scenic spot, for sure, but whether you actually get an interesting ride out of it is open to debate.

Plenty of locals have suggested the A$15 ($10) price tag for a maximum ride time of 15 minutes is a bit steep. And you get similar views over Perth city for free from nearby Kings Park. If you ask us, this wheel seems like nothing more than keeping up with the Joneses.

Related Stories:
· Wheel Set to Spin Later This Week [The West]
· Melbourne’s Wheel Finally Starts Turning [Jaunted]
· Ferris Wheel Travel: Now Sydney Wants One Too [Jaunted]

[Photo: thatgrumguy]

Tags: Australia Travel / Tourist Attractions / → All Tags

Five Reasons To Visit Perth

Western Australia's capital city of Perth might win prizes as the most isolated city in the world, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a visit. And thanks to Virgin Blue and Jetstar, it no longer costs the earth to get there. Visitors from the US will find their flight stopping in Sydney or Melbourne first, but you'll get there eventually.

Once in Perth, here are the five must-sees:

Kings Park, which overlooks the city center, is bigger than New York's Central Park. Grab supplies from the supermarket and use one of the free barbecues to have one of the best outdoor meals in the world.

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Tags: Airport Photo Shoots / Celeb Travel / Sheryl Crow / → All Tags

Let's Push Things Forward, Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow doesn't need your fancy Bugaboos. The singer strolled through Perth Airport with her son Wyatt in a Lilly Gold Sit'n'Stroll, a car seat that turns into a stroller. Looks pretty comfortable, right? Does it come in adult sizes?

Crow's latest show was a Rock the Vote concert with the Beastie Boys in Richmond, Virginia. The vote now having been rocked, she's onto her next crusade: Helping the Cloud Foundation protect bands of wild horses. The Cloud Foundation intends to step into the gap where the Bureau of Land Management, facing major cutbacks, is unable to help horses out in the wild.

Related Stories:
· Lilly Gold Sit'n'Stroll 5-in-1 Combination Car Seat/Stroller [Amazon.com]
· Sheryl Crow Joins in Wild Horse Fight [Las Vegas Now]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tressed Out Celebs]

Tags: Qantas / Airline Hell / → All Tags

Qantas Shakes Up Passengers

Not only do we have to worry about our investments nosediving, but now we need to worry about our flights on even the most reputable airlines doing the same.

Qantas, Australia's largest carrier and renowned for its safety record, was involved in some mid-air trauma yesterday. A flight from Singapore to Perth made an emergency landing after an Airbus A330-300 suddenly dropped altitude. As many as 74 passengers and crew were injured, some with broken bones and lacerations, officials said.

A fleet of emergency vehicles met the plane when it made an emergency landing at the Learmonth air force base, about 680 miles northwest of Perth.

We can only hope that the once heralded airline gets its act together and that all those hurt in the drama get well soon so they can enjoy the incredible, isolated, modern city that is Perth.

Related Stories:
· Computer Glitch Caused Qantas Dive [The Australian]
· These Particular Qantas Passengers More Than Allowed to Clap on Touchdown [Jaunted]

[Photo: tripletrouble]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Heath Ledger / Memorial Travel / → All Tags

Celeb Memorial Travel: Remember Heath and His Craft

Before Heath Ledger played a gay cowboy or Bob Dylan, he guested on Australia's most famous soap opera that isn't "Neighbours," "Home and Away." So it's only fitting that after his death his home city of Perth would try to focus on his more highbrow works by naming a local performing arts center after him.

Ledger had no formal acting training because there simply wasn't a venue in the western town, although he did play Peter Pan in an elementary school production.

And speaking of good acting, a Rolling Stone critic says Ledger's posthumous performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" (out July 18) is good enough for an Oscar nom.

Related Stories:
· Heath Ledger Honored by Performing Arts Center Name [Perth Now]
· Dark Knight Review [Rolling Stone]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo from "10 Things I Hate About You": the Guardian]

Tags: Airport Security / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Fake Flowers Frighten Flyers

In these days of super-sensitive airport security, you can't really be too surprised that four boxes of plastic flowers could shut down an airport for half a day. That's what happened over the weekend at the international airport in Perth, Western Australia, when four suspicious boxes were unloaded from a flight arriving from Kuala Lumpur.

We're pleased that the authorities didn't want us to get blown up or anything, but these incidents do tend to get drawn out into major catastrophes. The alarm was raised about these boxes because an employee thought he felt something vibrating; they didn't get x-rayed for another 9 hours, by which time eight international flights had been canceled and thousands of passengers and staff had been evacuated.

We hope plastic flowers don't get added to the long list of can't-take-on-airplane objects. Or should we just make it a whole lot simpler and ban everything from planes? Then we'd all be safe from fake vibrating flowers.

Related Stories:
· Thousands Evacuated from Perth Airport [Herald Sun]
· Perth Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Airport Security coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Andreas Solberg]

Tags: Tourist Attractions / Aquarium / Sharks / Travel Video / → All Tags

Travel Video: Feeding Sharks at AQWA

You know we have a love/fear relationship with sharks here at Jaunted, and AQWA just intensifies that bond.

It might look kinda like a misspelt word but AQWA is the abbreviation for the Aquarium of Western Australia on the northern coast of the city of Perth. First opened in 1988, it was pretty cutting edge at the time and still has the biggest aquarium and underwater tunnel in Australia--no mean feat for a country obsessed with water and whatever comes with it. AQWA also proudly advertises that it has "the world's largest collection of Western Australian marine life" but that's kind of like saying the White House has had the largest number of American presidents sitting in it.

But back at AQWA, the fish and other sea creature displays--living coral reefs, sharks, rays, turtles and seals--are split into 5 zones to reflect the different kinds of ecosystems along the Western Australian coast. There are also touchpools and rockpools where you can get hands-on with some fishy fellas, and there's also the opportunity to dive with the sharks if you need a bit of extra excitement. Or it could be a chance to feed your annoying travel companion to the sharks ...

[Video: skinnymachink]

Related Stories:
· AQWA [Official Site]
· Singapore From Underwater [Jaunted]
· The Sunfish Diet: Osaka Aquarium [Jaunted]
· Singapore From Underwater [Jaunted]
· Killer Beaches of 2007 [Jaunted]

Tags: Public Transportation / Public Transportation Love-Hate / Surfing / → All Tags

Public Transportation Love-Hate: No Love For Surfers in Perth

Jaunted is in the midst of a public transportation festival. Join us in celebrating the ultimate travel tool: a cheap way to get around. Share your stories in the comments or by emailing us at tips [at] jaunted [dot] com.

Down in Western Australia, the people of Perth love their cars. Added to that, Perth's a coastal city that stretches nearly 80 miles just to house one and a half million people who've all gotta live near the beach--all that makes it hard to make the ultimate public transport system. Transperth gives it a go, but just ask any tourist or foreign student in Perth and they'll tell you about the time they had to wait an extra half hour for their bus, or the bus drivers who wouldn't let them take their surfboard on a bus bound for the beach. (The bus drivers, however, do wear shirts, unlike their brothers in Bratislava.)

Just this year Transperth gave Perthites a big buzz with their new payment system: now you can be a SmartRider by getting a special card to use as a ticket. You can use it over any distance, it can be automatically topped up from your bank account when its balance gets too low, and when you do some complicated multiple bus moves during a day, it'll calculate the lowest possible fare for you. All you have to learn is what "tag on" and "tag off" means: Perth people are beginning to learn it's something to do with waving your SmartRider card over a magic box.

[Photo: Scotticus_]

Related Stories:
· Getting From A to Bratislava [Jaunted]