A Perth’ect Semester
By Emma Pitcher, University of Western Australia Perth, Australia
A summary of all the activities I got to do either with friends, my residential college (Trinity), or UWA in Perth (semester 1).
- Night City Tour (+ free churros)
To kick off freshers week, Trinity provided a city tour so we could familiarise ourselves with the new city. This was a fun little introduction to how to navigate the city and what the key features were. Walking around city together meant we could chat and get to know new people especially during our stop for yummy churros!
- Caversham Wildlife Park
This was a must-visit! Trinity organised the entire trip including transport and provided packed lunches. We spent the whole day seeing all the wildlife – there were opportunities to stroke a koala, take a photo with a wombat, and feed kangaroos!
- Fremantle Markets
Led by Trinity. We took a bus ride to Fremantle (‘Freo’), and explored the weekly markets. Wide variety of goods with both local and cultural significance, good for souvenir shopping.
- Rottnest Island
At no extra cost, we got to go to the infamous Rottnest Island! With all the smiling quokkas!! Trinity organised the transport (bus and ferry) and hired bikes for us all (organising this yourself is expensive, so deffo take this opportunity). We spent the day cycling around the island – note that the island is hilly but the beaches are beautiful. At one of the beaches we got to see some dolphins in the distance. All the quokkas hang around the main town area so it’s easy to find one for a classic quokka selfie!
- Sunrise Hike
In semester 2, Trinity put together an Outdoors club for activities such as hiking, bouldering, beach swims, etc, and one of the highlights was the Mount Vincent and Mount Cuthbert track. We had to meet up at 4:45am to be driven to the track start in time to reach a peak for sunrise. It was a beautiful hike and well worth the early start!
- City to Surf
If you’re into running, all the big cities around Australia organise “City to Surf” runs from the city centre towards the beach. Super fun and rewarding experience (although Perth’s 12k has some mean hills). You have to pay to enter (t-shirt included), but Trinity did provide a discount and pay half of our entry price! This isn’t something I’d normally do, however, there’s just something about travelling abroad and wanting to try new things…
- Swan Valley Wine Tasting
Another Trin activity, offered at no extra cost, with free wine tasting at a couple cute venues. Our final destination was a nougat store to grab some snacks and souvenirs.
- Lancelin Sand Boarding
Once in a lifetime experience! Who knew sand boarding was even a thing… Or that such large sand dunes could be found near the coast in Australia? Trinity organised transport as well as sand board hiring! The toughest part was walking back up the sand dune and by the end of it, sand was absolutely everywhere… 100% worth it though.
- Battle of the Bands
Trinity put together a band of some musically gifted residents, who then performed a setlist in competition against the other UWA colleges. While we didn’t win, the performance was amazing (deserving of a win) and it was fun to cheer along my fellow residents! Prior to the event, there were opportunities to be involved in the music and arts and crafts, e.g., costume and poster design.
- Perth Royal Show
Perth throws an annual show in Claremont with loads of food (chocolate covered strawberries 🤩), rides and free shows!
- Kings Park Lightshow
Completely free, you just walk through Kings Park where they project art onto the trees, telling a story with a focus on aboriginal culture.
- Gala Night
Organised by Trinity, with food, desserts, drinks, and music. We all got to dress up and take photos with friends (or they provided a photo booth!). At no extra cost to Trinity residents.
- Perth Zoo
This visit was not organised by Trinity, but we managed to secure some free tickets to Perth Zoo. Easy to get to via public transport and makes for a super nice day out 🐨. Lots of talks and shows on throughout the day, if you pay extra you get the opportunity to meet some animals close-up.
- Line Dancing (HonkyTonk)
Throughout Perth city and the surrounding suburbs, there are so many free intro classes you can take e.g., line dancing, salsa, etc. I recommend grabbing some friends and trying anything and everything 💃!
- Night markets
Especially as it becomes summer, there are usually markets on every weekend! For example, Subiaco night markets run on every Saturday throughout the summer with food, clothes and jewellery stands.
- Strawberry Picking
Grab a car (or a friend with a car 😉) and head out strawberry picking when it’s in season! We filled up a punnet together with some of the yummiest strawberries I’ve ever had, and then came back to eat them with chocolate 🍫. I recommend Sue & Tim’s Farm 🙂
- Sunset at the beach
Take advantage of being on the west coast of Australia! After uni, get to the beach and watch the sunset as many times as you can 🌄. Closest beach to UWA/Trin is Cottlesloe, good for a sunset swim, easy to get ice cream or a smoothie bowl nearby.
It’s your first semester of your year abroad, take advantage of every opportunity ✨
