I'm off to Perth on Tuesday for work, staying the night and then back on Wednesday.
I've never been to Perth before, so i'm looking forward to it.
I don't think i'll have much time for sight-seeing, but I'll take my wife's Canon Ixus (the one I won from the David Malin awards) and take a few shots if I can. The kids want to see the outside and inside of the plane . The DSLR would take up too much room.
Anything a must-see in the city of Perth?
I'll only have Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. Fly out 11am or so on Wednesday.
Only been there once myself on a whirlwind visit, Mike, but there's a great park on the NW side of the city with a view across the river to the CBD. The people I was with at the time knew I was into photography and took me there during the little free time I had. Not a bad spot as scenery goes!
Ahh, venturing over here to the wild wild west, very game of you Good lucky getting in and out of the airport, it's chaos with the "boom" at the moment, bit of an overcrowded place.
There's not much you can do in one night. I'd guess you'd go up to Kings Park and take a look down from there, where you can see the city, hills in the distance and the expanse of the swan coastal plane.
To be honest, I'm not sure of anything particularly riviting within the metro area which is a must do with such a short time ... everything I like about the state is from the edge of the metro area to about 6 hours drive radius
Mike,
agree with the other suggestions but would add the ferry over to south perth (next to the Bell Tower*). View back to the city, especially at night, is nice and there are some nice pubs in south perth.
Other thought is that it is the first Tuesday of the month so there will be an AGWA meeting. PM me if you would like arrange a lift.
Dave
*best description I have heard of the Bell Tower is a 'cockroach doing something to a praying mantiss'. More seriously, the display at the bottom has a very interesting transit scope.
Really nice city Perth, used to go up there for work when I was in WA. Never seen the Bell Tower at night but should be a good sight. BTW, it was built at the behest of Richard Court, the former premier so is locally known as "Dickies Donger"
I'm back from Perth, was a nice place to visit. Quite different to Sydney.. much smaller. Also found it strange at the lack of shops/activities down on the waterfront of the Swan River.. a nice long stretch of grass but no cafe's, kids playgrounds, etc.
Unfortunately didn't really get to see anything of interest or tourist attractions around the area, just didn't have the time. But it was a nice place to visit and hopefully one day I'll be back.
I was interested in seeing the funny looking salt ponds (?) from the plane as it headed from Perth to the Great Australian Bight. What are they? They were scattered all over the place.
I'm back from Perth, was a nice place to visit. Quite different to Sydney.. much smaller. Also found it strange at the lack of shops/activities down on the waterfront of the Swan River.. a nice long stretch of grass but no cafe's, kids playgrounds, etc.
Hmm, yes, much smaller and that's a good thing Interesting comment about the waterfront, I had never thought of that before We have that kind of thing along the coast a bit, but not along the river. Interesting
Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
I was interested in seeing the funny looking salt ponds (?) from the plane as it headed from Perth to the Great Australian Bight. What are they? They were scattered all over the place.
[/quote]
They're just salt lake systems. Spread all over southern australia I think? definitely the southern half of WA. Where we travel east to do astronomy we pass many. They can be interesting photographic targets, and they can also be extremely inhospitable. The ones near where we go are actually part of the same Avon river system & catchment area as the Avon River which flows in to the Swan River. Huge catchment area (this is about 170km east of Perth).
Attached is a close-up of one that has water in it, about 300km from Perth.
I read your post at home and on the way to work was thinking "I'm sure I recognise that string of salt lakes" so at work I looked on google earth. Sure enough, it's not too far from where we often do astronomy (50km) and is part of the Avon catchment as far as I know.
I was going to attach the Google Earth shortcut for it, but I see that filetype isn't allowed, so:
32°13'56.19"S
117°14'25.74"E
Not that you really wanted to know all that, but seeing as these forums are for yabbering on about nothing much...
I was interested in seeing the funny looking salt ponds (?) from the plane as it headed from Perth to the Great Australian Bight. What are they? They were scattered all over the place.
These salt pans, either with water in them as you photographed them, or
dried up, are across the length and breadth of Australia in enormous abundance.
Some of them are very ancient and are particularly spectacular throughout most
of South Australia and around the Channel Country of SW Queensland.
The relatively narrow fertile strip you and I happen to live in on the East Coast
tends to be the exception rather than the rule to how Australia "looks".
In the first of your salt pan images, you can see they appear to follow an
ancient water course.
However, both images are good examples of the problem of rising ground water
in these regions, often the result of tree clearing and agricultural practices.
Note how you can see the farm houses nearby. As the water table rises, it dissolves
the salt held in the soils, which becomes more and more concentrated. Sometimes it
reaches the surface and then evaporates, leaving the salt pan behind.
. The DSLR would take up too much room.
Good lucky getting in and out of the airport, it's chaos with the "boom" at the moment, bit of an overcrowded place. 
