Perth, WA

I've been away this week - a business trip to The Company's Perth office and a client meeting.

I travelled Monday evening, but, although it was a flight of 2700km, which took about 4 hours, it was still only 8:30pm local time when I arrived. That's because Western Australia (aka WA) is 3 hours behind Melbourne time.

Actually, they have just voted to have a 3-year trial of daylight saving time from the beginning of December, which will bring them forward to the 2 hours behind Melbourne time they are in winter. The debate was quite protracted, I understand, with objections that included (I kid you not) "The curtains will get more frayed by the extra sunlight" and "It will upset the cows". Hmm. Still, WA is vast (I saw a map showing Britain, Germany and Japan together all fitting comfortably within its area) and it can't make much sense for those in the far north to change their clocks as they are so close to the equator - further east, neither Northern Territories not Queensland do.

Anyway, I arrived in Perth, checked into my hotel, and went for a walk to stretch my legs and find a drink. I know it was only a Monday night, but the city centre seemed deserted in comparison with Melbourne. All the restaurants seem to shut by 10pm, but I did find one pub open. I was surprised to see that they were serving this...

Yes. Abbott ale, brewed about a mile from home in Bury St Edmunds. I told the barman I would tell him how well it had travelled. The answer was - "Badly". It bore hardly any resemblance to what I knew. It was served chilled under CO2 pressure and tasted like it had been pasteurised. Yuck.

On Tuesday I had an early meeting in the CBD and went for coffee with, Warwick, a WA colleague. Before heading to the office in Subiaco, he gave me a quick tour of the city centre. He rather cunningly invented a meeting with someone on the 47th floor of Central Park Tower, the tallest building in Perth. "That was quick", said the girl on reception when we handed our visitors badges back 10 minutes after she had given them to us. I think she might have guessed what the meeting was!

The view was quite spectacular. Way down below was the famous Swan Bells tower, housing the bells from St Martin in the Fields in London.

My host, and fellow ex-pat Brit, Martin took me out at lunchtime to the famous Kings Park for a quick walk about. Fabulous views, and the grass seemed a lot greener than in the Parks in Melbourne. And it was hot too. In fact, I don't think I saw a cloud to speak of in my 2 1/2 days in Perth.

The company's office in Subiaco is also quite close to the home of the West Coast Eagles, current Aussie Football champions. I remember seeing lots of their fans on Grand Final day. So I had to take a picture of their stadium.

On Tuesday night I visited the Northbridge area, just across the railway line from my hotel, where there are plenty of cafes and restaurants. Here I was tempted to buy some Chocolate Chilli icecream. Yes it was chocolatey, but not very spicy.

After a successful client meeting on Wednesday, my host Martin organised a meal for four of us at C Blu restaurant on Cottesloe Beach, just along the sea front from the famous Tea Room.

The water looked so inviting, and there were plenty of people in swimming, but I didn't have my trunks with me. The meal was excellent - I had chilli prawns (big fat ones) to start followed by Snapper and salad - delicious, and we had a great view of the sun setting over the Indian Ocean.

It was interesting to talk to Martin about how and why he had emigrated and how he has found it. He has been in Australia for a year and doesn't regret making the move. But Perth is currently in a big boom fuelled by growth in the Mining sector and house prices have rocketed by more than 30% in the last year, overtaking even Sydney prices.

Yes, Perth is quite nice, the beaches are spectacular, as is the Swan River, but the city (shopping) centre was a bit drab and unexciting. My Perth colleagues would like me to come and live there, but it sounds like housing is getting a bit expensive and I think I prefer Melbourne, anyway....

If I come back to Australia, that is - I'm due to get a job offer next Tuesday, but I don't know if I want to accept it.

You can see more of my photos of Perth here on Flickr.