Perth is often described as the world’s most isolated metropolis. On the western edge of Australia, it is thousands of kilometres from the country’s other state capitals, with long stretches of open land in between. From South Africa, it can feel even more remote: a dot on the far side of the Indian Ocean and an unlikely candidate for a holiday.
But it’s not as far as you might think. A new direct flight from Johannesburg gets you there in just over nine hours, opening up a side of Australia with a distinct identity from the east: Indian Ocean beaches, fewer crowds, a slower pace.
When the new route launched in December, I hopped aboard the inaugural Qantas flight with one mission: to discover what this western capital might offer South African travellers.
My first impressions are of the city centre: strikingly modern and highly walkable, with glass high-rises shimmering alongside cafés, small parks and shaded squares. At every corner, sculptures of kangaroos, astronauts or wind-swept pedestrians mingle with actual people, swinging shopping bags from high-street stores as they cross the immaculate streets.
Perthites, I hear, are famously outdoor-loving – no surprise in a city with around 3,200 hours of sunshine a year and where water is never far away. The Swan River curves through the heart of the city and, just 20 minutes out, a string of long, lovely beaches – 19 in total – puts even a lunchtime dip within reach.
ISLAND IN THE SUN
Yet it’s a day trip — an hour’s ferry ride from the central Elizabeth Quay — that reveals its showstopper beaches. Rottnest Island — a state reserve and backdrop to generations of Australians’ childhood holidays — has the hallmarks of a postcard Indian Ocean island: quiet coves, smooth sands, shifting shades of blue over reefs dancing with tropical fish.
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At 19km², it has more than 60 beaches and 20 bays: some sheltered and perfect for snorkelling, others rocky or windswept. With only maintenance vehicles allowed, visitors criss‑cross the island on rented bicycles to pick their spot. Simple accommodations — weathered holiday cottages and eco tents – add to its nostalgic charm.
The island’s name, interestingly, came from a mistake. When Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh landed here in 1696, he thought the animals scurrying through the undergrowth were giant rats – hence “rat’s nest”. Really, they were quokkas: small marsupials, whose upturned mouths look like they’re smiling. Today, those smiles and an Instagram trend — #quokkaselfie — have seen them dubbed “the world’s friendliest animal” and Rottnest’s unofficial mascot.
Of course, Rottnest was not always known by that name. Long before the Dutchman arrived, it was sacred to the Whadjuk Noongar people, who called it Wadjemup — “the place across the water where the spirits are”. That makes what came later all the more sobering: in 1838, the island became a prison for Aboriginal men and boys. Hundreds died, many buried in unmarked graves.
Arrivals confront this history the minute they step off the ferry, in a 9m sculpture of a Noongar warrior and a whale, with pipes suggesting prison bars. This acknowledgement of Aboriginal peoples’ ties to the land — and the painful colonial history — is common around Perth, part of a broader effort to recognise First Nations heritage in memorials and artworks that bring Aboriginal culture to the fore.
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PORTS AND PRISONS
Back on the mainland, a short train ride from Perth opens a different chapter of history. Fremantle is where the first British settlers of the Swan River Colony came ashore in 1829. Its 19th-century streets remain remarkably intact, lined with honey-coloured limestone warehouses, lace-trimmed verandas and Victorian façades. Near the shore, visitors can climb the steps of the Round House, the oldest public building in the state (1831), and walk through the Whalers Tunnel, carved through the cliff in 1837 so whalers could haul their catch into town.
A few streets away stands another emblem of the early years: Fremantle Prison. After 20 years of struggling to expand the colony, Britain began transporting convicts here to supply the workforce it lacked. These men not only shaped much of Western Australia’s early infrastructure, they also built their prison – between 1851 and 1859 using limestone quarried on site. It remained in use until 1991.
Today it is the state’s only Unesco World Heritage Site and the most intact convict-built prison in Australia, an imposing complex of high walls, stark cells and sun-bleached exercise yards. Themed tours explore different layers of its past. I joined “True Crime” to hear about notorious inmates, such as Martha Rendell, who was executed here in 1909 for the murder of her stepchildren. Her ghost is supposedly often spotted peering from a window into the yard where she became the last woman hanged in Western Australia.
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Beyond these walls, modern Fremantle has a very different energy, its Victorian buildings now home to cafés, boutiques and galleries. On weekends, the Fremantle Markets hum with fresh produce, crafts and food stalls. Artworks appear throughout the town here too, including in pillars engraved with lines from local authors, and a bronze of Bon Scott, the AC/DC frontman who grew up here. Near the fishing harbour, the breweries, seafood restaurants and Bathers Beach are a natural gathering place at day’s end, with friends settling in with drinks to watch the sun sink into the sea.
A CITY BY THE BUSH
Back in the city, Kings Park offers another perspective. Just a 15‑minute walk or free bus ride from the CBD, it spreads across 400ha on the slopes of Mount Eliza — one of the largest inner‑city parks in the world, with views over the Swan River and the city skyline across the way.
Southwest Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot, home to thousands of plant species found nowhere else on Earth, and many of them can be seen here — along trails through preserved bushland and botanic gardens, or from a glass walkway high above the trees.
Hiking through the bush here, with that blue backdrop of river and city always in view, gives it a surreal feel, echoed down on the water by a popular detour. The Blue Boat Shed, Perth’s number‑one Instagram spot, floats on the water at the end of its long jetty — a pretty illusion created by high tides, hidden pylons and the mirror‑calm surface of the river.
Tourism Western Australia calls the region the “Dream State” and the experience of visiting “Walking on a Dream.” My walk was brief, and didn’t take me as far as some of the west’s other signature wonders, such as the Pinnacles, a strange desert of upright limestone spires, or the ancient stromatolites in shallow coastal lakes, that echo some of Earth’s earliest life forms. Those are dreams for another day, but they feel a little closer now.
GETTING THERE
The recent launch of Qantas’s direct service between Johannesburg and Perth coincides with its new Perth–Auckland route, strengthening the airline’s growing hub in Western Australia.
For South African travellers, the Johannesburg–Perth flight cuts out the usual multi‑stop route via the Middle East or east‑coast Australia. The Perth–Auckland service also provides a more direct path to New Zealand, avoiding the standard east‑coast connection.
The Johannesburg–Perth service operates three times a week — on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays — using a Qantas Airbus A330 with 27 lie‑flat Business Class seats and 224 Economy seats. The route complements Qantas’s existing daily Sydney–Johannesburg service, bringing total capacity between Australia and South Africa to nearly 300,000 seats a year.
Through Qantas’s partnership with Airlink, travellers can also connect onward from Johannesburg to Cape Town and other destinations across southern Africa. See qantas.com
SLEEPING THERE
Set within the State Buildings precinct — three interconnected 19th‑century government buildings in Cathedral Square — COMO The Treasury is a five‑star boutique hotel that blends restored heritage architecture with the modern city around it.
The complex once housed the state treasury, post office and land titles office. Today it contains some of Perth’s most popular restaurants and bars, with the hotel occupying one of the wings. High ceilings, long corridors and original wooden floorboards have been carefully restored, preserving the scale and character of the historic interiors.
The hotel sits directly opposite St George’s Cathedral, whose red‑brick Gothic Revival façade forms a quietly beautiful view from many of the rooms. With just 48 rooms, plus an indoor swimming pool and wellness spa, COMO The Treasury offers an atmosphere of calm in the middle of the city, while the precinct’s lively dining scene is just steps away.
Its location places guests within easy walking distance of Elizabeth Quay, the Swan River and many of Perth’s main cultural sites. See comohotels.com/australia/como-the-treasury
• Sleith was a guest of Qantas, Tourism Western Australia and COMO The Treasury.
