Perth Shenanigans

 

 

I just came back late last Sunday night from my 5 day Perth getaway, and I can't wait to share my experiences with all of my readers. 

 

The weather was cold, windy and rainy the first 2 days I was there, and continued to be windy and cold, until the last day. It's mid-Spring here in Australia, but it felt like Winter in Melbourne. Those who have been to Melbourne will know how frosty cold it gets in Winter. Luckily, the two tours I booked were at the end of the week.

 

The Accommodation:

 

I stayed in a serviced apartment at The Sebel Residence, in East Perth, which is a relatively new part of town. According to some locals, this used to be largely an industrial area, but recent years have seen it being built into a trendy residential area with expensive housing units. Situated next to the water, I could see the man-made (but still very pretty) Claisebrook Cove from my studio room window, which is connected to the Swan River (as you can see far right, past the bridge). The river was originally named the Black Swan River by the explorer who first discovered this part of Australia's west coast. As you can probably guess, this was because of the black swans he sighted along the river, which he hadn't seen before in his own homeland. Over time, the name was contracted to just 'Swan River', and sadly, the black swan population has also dwindled significantly since the days of first settlement. Apparently, a few years ago, the government took measures to create an optimised part of the river to support the black swan population, in a bid to help increase their numbers. This has somewhat been successful; however, they are still infrequent visitors to other parts of the river. I wasn't lucky enough to see any of these birds during my visit, despite staying at a riveride location. 

 



View from my apartment window: the beautiful Claisebrook Cove 

I don't want to write too much about the accommodation itself - I'll probably submit a more detailed review on it to a more suitable website, like Trip Advisor - but I will say that I quite enjoyed staying at the Sebel, mainly because of its location. It's close to the city, although I would not dream of getting there by foot (I'm told it's a 10-15 minute walk, but I'd say that's probably only true for a fit person with a wide stride), and the free Yellow CAT bus route includes a stop at the end of the street, which comes every 15 minutes. Take note, though, that on weekends, this bus service starts later in the morning and finishes earlier in the evening (I learned the hard way). For an inner city suburb, the area is relatively quiet, but has restaurants and cafes around the apartment block, as well as an IGA across the road. Below the apartment, in front of the cove, is a cool little cafe, called Toast, which serves all-day breakfast, from 7am-7pm. This is perfect for sleepy-heads like me, who still want to eat breakfast-style food, no matter what time of the day it is. I will post a full review on it later on.

I will briefly touch on the negatives of my experience at this hotel apartment:

a) I don't usually care for the TV set at a hotel, as I don't spend my holidays watching television, but I noticed that despite being a flat-screen TV, the image quality was not very good (a bit fuzzy with dots);

b) The studio room seemed like it had been recently renovated, but the airconditioning system was one of those old, long ones that are noisy and have an air chamber that sweeps the air current from side to side. I couldn't use it because it was directly facing the beds; was noisy; and it was too cold to use, no matter what temperature it was set at. The guests in the adjacent rooms used theirs though - I knew, because I could hear it. All night long. Thank goodness the temperature only started to climb into the thirties the day after I left, or I don't know how I would have survived the heat without air-conditioning in the apartment. It is beyond me why the hotel management would go to the bother of modernising the apartments but ruin the look and comfort of them, by leaving in these out-dated installations.

c) On one occasion, the doors to the elevator opened, and there was a trolley of used towels, the height of the elevator entrance and its width almost as wide, propped right in front of the doors, but the cleaner just stood there, expecting me to squeeze through between the 15cm gaps at the sides. I might be slim, but I am not going to rub myself against wall and trolley to get out, dragging out one shopping bag at a time. When I didn't make a move, she exclaimed, "Oh, do you need me to move this?", and then finally proceeded to slightly pull the trolley to the side. Definitely not my idea of customer service, especially at a 4.5 star accommodation.

d) 3rd daily housekeeping service: I have no problem with this - if they actually provide enough towels and bath products to last the 3 days. I was staying for 4 nights with my dad, but we were only provided with 2 bathtowels and 1 tube each of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel. Also, unlike at other hotels, the tubes of bath products didn't contain much product; I could use a whole tube of bath gel in a day by myself, and that's if used sparingly. At first, I thought that perhaps they had forgotten that two people were staying in the room, so the next day of my stay, I very politely explained the situation at the reception desk, and asked for more bath towels and bath gel to be supplied. The receptionist looked at me as though I had made an odd request and replied, "So, you actually want fresh towels everyday?". Isn't this a given? I was a bit confused, as this was never an issue at any other hotel or serviced apartment I've stayed at. Does this woman really expect us to be using the same damp towel for 3 days straight? There were no heated towel racks in the bathroom, like they do in some hotels in some countries, and even if they did, I cannot see this as being very hygienic practice. She complied with my request, but only brought up two towels, thus, we had the same problem the following day. It was the same receptionist that evening, and this time, when I asked for more towels, she had an obvious look of annoyance flicker across her face. "If you want new towels every day, you have to let reception know in the morning, so that this can be organised by the cleaners", she said. I knew she was annoyed, because she was the one who had to bring the towels up, since there only appears to be one staff member on duty in the evenings. Regardless, how can she make it out like I was being bothersome, when the hotel should be ensuring that these basic amenities are being provided to all guests? I shouldn't even have to ask for such things! At about $1200 for 4 nights (which is a special price, as part of the 'Picasso to Warhol' Exhibition Package), I didn't expect to have to deal with any of this nonsense.

e) This is possibly the thing that ticked me off the most: Check out time was 11am, so I had planned to wake up early and do a few things before returning to the hotel to check out. I returned shortly before 8am and found that the keycard to my studio room did not work. I had mainly been using dad's card, so I thought that maybe my own card had been deactivated by something in my handbag. This proved not to be the case, however, as my dad's card also did not work. I reported this to the girl at reception, who did not appear to be surprised by this. Apparently, "the cards just somehow cut out early". If she can supply a new set of keycards to work until check out time, I don't believe that the initial cards could not be set properly. Even if this was a system error that they can't get around, why not let the guests know beforehand? What if there was a baby in the room? What if I had a really bad bout of diarrhoea and really had to go there and then? I suspect that they do it purposely to remind guests to check out, and if this is true, it is really unacceptable. I decided to just check out immediately, in case I came back again later to find cleaners in the room disposing of my belongings.

Perth CBD:

My first impression of Perth is that it is very similar to Brisbane, except that it seems to be more culturally segregated, despite being quite multicultural, like the other Australian capital cities. I heard two racial slurs on the first day, one being directed at myself, and a few general comments on another day, which led me to this conclusion. Perhaps it's because Perth is one of the few metropolitan cities in Western Australia, which are quite far apart from each other; or maybe I just happened to have the misfortune of coming across unpleasant people...who knows?

I read on Trip Advisor that there is a street in the CBD called 'London Court', which is supposed to have architecture reminiscent of old London. Naturally, I had to go check it out.

Spotted: One end of London Court

It is so wonderful to see a bit of the old world in our modern society. I love the quote under the clockface. Too true, too true.

"No minute gone comes ever back again. Take heed and see ye nothing do in vain."

 

According to the plaques at the entrance, this 'Old Elizabethan Street was conceived by Mr Claude Albo de Bernales, designed by Mr Bernard Evans, and erected by the General Construction Guild during the years 1936-1937. The building was officially opened on the 26th June 1937 AD by the Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia, Sir James Mitchell KCMG (? writing carved in Old English calligraphy)'. What an incredible bit of living history. 

 

 

 

The cool carving on the ceiling 

The shops along London Court

Apart from London Court, there's nothing much else particularly different in the CBD, compared with those in other cities. Ah, I couldn't resist taking the following photo though:



Alannah Hill Boutique, Review, and Lorna Jane.

That's what I like to see - three of my favourite stores right next to each other!

Keep your eyes peeled for more posts about food and the tours I went on in Perth! :)