“Why would you want to go to Perth?” We heard the comments over and over while in Australia. “It’s in the middle of nowhere.” “There’s nothing to do there.”

Conversely the New York Times named Perth one of its 52 Places to Go in 2014 – “For Australian panache, go west.”

We came to Perth for a couple reasons: 1. Frank had been invited to speak with officials at Curtin University; and 2. It broke up the long flight from Auckland to South Africa (7 hours to Perth, 11 more to SA).

Which Perth would we experience? Thankfully, we found the Times (viewpoint) to be spot on — Perth was a very pleasant surprise.

At almost 4 million people, it’s Australia’s fourth largest city. True, it is isolated and getting out of town is certainly a challenge. The nearest major city, Adelaide, is a 2,600 km drive and anyplace else requires a long flight. But, then again, why would you want to leave?!! The weather is great and the people are friendly. The city is relatively modern, very clean and well laid out. The area has beautiful beaches and parks (including the world’s largest urban park), a bustling CBD, good schools with several universities, and an efficient transportation system. There are a lot of young people and no shortage of restaurants and things to do. The people who live in Perth, love it and we did too!