Perth

I took an overnight Air Asia flight from KL, arriving in Perth at 5:00 am, except that the captain said that it was 6:00 am local time, which was confusing to say the least (and slightly worrying?).

Picked up my pre-booked hire car and used the trusty GPS to get me to my apartment in the Subiaco suburb of Perth. I am staying in a house swap for the next 10 days or so. The owners will be coming to Brentford in May next year.

It turns out that the University of Western Australia (UWA) where my conference is being held is only 2km from the house, so I though I would stroll over there to have a look round. I went on a detour though Kings Park, which is a large park on the banks of the Swan river, virtually at the end of my road. The bit I walked through was quite wild, with what I assumed are Eucalyptus and Gum trees (and lots of flies!). The university itself is on a campus and is a very attractive place, in spite of having been build mostly in the 1960's I would guess. Its architecture is a sort of neo-classical style, but with some effective landscaping. One side of the campus abuts the Swan River, so students can just wander out to sit on the beach in their lunch break. It seems idyllic to me. The weather today was hot with a totally clear blue sky (makes a change from KL), so the place was probably looking at its best.

In the afternoon I drove to downtown Perth, which is compact and quite attractive. Its center really only consists of two pedestrianized streets, so easy to get around.