Perth
In 1996 I took a trip to Perth, Western Australia, to attend the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia. I did not keep a daily diary on this trip (or if I did, I've lost it). This account was written in 2019 from memory and piecing together clues from my photos.
I was a Ph.D. student studying astrophysics at the University of Sydney. I travelled to Perth with some fellow students, and we stayed in a youth hostel in Perth, on the north side of the central railway station.
Perth |
Before the conference I took a day trip to Rottnest Island, off the coast. I travelled here by myself, catching a boat from the Perth waterfront. The ocean waves didn't agree with me and I get a bit seasick with nausea, but managed to avoid throwing up.
Back on land on Rottnest Island, I hired a bicycle to tour around the island, doing a circumnavigation of much of it.
 Cycling path on Rottnest Island |
I wasn't an experienced cyclist, so went slowly and had to stop several times, but this was a good excuse to enjoy the views.
 Beach and lagoon on Rottnest Island |
Rottnest is also home to quokkas, the small and photogenic marsupials who have no fear of humans, and will come up close to pose for photos. Unfortunately I didn't get a very good photo of one.
 Quokka on Rottnest Island |
The conference was organised by the Perth Observatory and held in the Alexander Library Building in central Perth.
Towards the end of the conference there was an organised tour to the observatory in the suburb of Bickley, where we got to see the 61 cm telescope dome mounted on top of a platform.
 Perth Observatory telescope |
Possibly the most memorable thing that happened to me on this trip was on the way home. I was booked with some other students on a flight departing Perth for Sydney in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the plane was late departing Sydney to get to Perth, and by the time it arrived in Perth (around 4 pm), it was too late to set off back to Sydney, because with the flying time and the two-hour time zone change, it would have arrived in Sydney after 10 pm, which is the curfew time for Sydney Airport.
So they rescheduled the flight to arrive in Sydney at 6 am, just after the curfew lifted. Which meant it had to depart Perth around midnight. So I had to stay at the airport from 4pm until midnight. After about 7pm, the whole airport shut down and all the shops and food outlets closed for the night, leaving us sitting there with nothing to do.
Eventually we boarded the flight and departed Perth, arriving home exhausted the next morning.
