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Parliament House

An 81m flag mast that has become the city’s major landmark crowns Parliament House. Visitors can join a guided tour, stroll through its public galleries, walk around its striking exterior – or roll down the grassy slopes that are part of its design. You can watch a session of parliament, if it is sitting. This enormous building took half a century to conceive and a decade to build.

Parliament House

This imposing building served as the home of Australia’s parliament from 1901 till 1927 after which time it has been home to the Victorian state parliament. There are guided tours when parliament is not sitting, and you may sit in on parliament when it is in session.

Penguin Parade

Every night at sunset, little penguins emerge from the sea and make their way across the beach to their home amongst the sand dunes. It’s best to come here during the summer when there are more penguins; during winter it can be bitterly cold with winds coming up from Antarctica and very few penguins making the trip to their nesting ground. The Phillip Island Penguin Parade is one of Australia’s most popular tourist attractions; a huge grandstand has been built to accommodate the hundreds of spectators, and the beach is floodlit detracting from what would otherwise be an amazing natural attraction. There is also an information centre on the site with displays and a short film about penguins.

Perth Airport (PER)

Because of the distance between Perth and the other big cities, flying is the most popular way to get to Perth. Jetstar, Qantas, Skywest, Tigerair and Virgin Australia fly into Perth from most major cities throughout Australia plus many smaller towns in Western Australia. Perth’s location also means that it is a hub for budget international airlines with cheap flights to Asia, including AirAsia X, Jetstar Asia and Scoot.

Perth Airport (PER) is 12km northeast of the city centre. The international and domestic terminals are located several kilometres apart and locals often talk about them as if they’re separate airports as there is no convenient way to get from one terminal to the other. The domestic terminal is served by local bus routes 37 and 40 as well as the more expensive Connect airport shuttle bus, which also serve the international terminal.

The Connect airport shuttle bus is the quickest option into the city centre and charges $15 for a one-way trip.

Perth Mint

The Perth Mint was established as a branch of Britain’s Royal Mint in 1899 and continues to produce coins and gold bars. The impressive building on Hay Street features a museum with displays about the production of coins and gold bullion with exhibits that provide a unique insight into how money is made.

One of the Perth Mint’s highlights is the world’s largest and most valuable gold coin, which is valued at over $50 million and measures 80cm across (and 12cm deep) and is made of one tonne of pure gold.