Perth is the largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia, as well as the capital. With a growth rate consistently above the national average, and a population of 1,650,000, Perth ranks in as fourth among the nation's cities. Perth's metropolitan area is located in the south-west portion of the continent, between the Indian Ocean and a low coastal escarpment known as the Darling Range, with the Swan River being the central location of the city's central business district and suburbs. In 2009, The Economist ranked Perth fifth place on a list of the world's most livable cities.

Perth is home to a thriving and rapidly expanding music and performing arts scene. Perth Concert Hall is the city's main concert venue, hosting a multitude of theatre, ballet, opera, and orchestral performances annually. The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, His Majesty's Theatre, and Burswood Dome are more suited for music concerts, while outdoor concerts are held in Kings Park, Subiaco Oval, and Members Equity Stadium. Due to Perth's relative isolation from other Australian cities, musical acts that tour Australia tend to overlook, or exclude Perth from their itineraries. Due to this, Perth has established a strong local music scene, leading some individuals to dub Perth the "new Seattle". The more popular rock concerts held in Perth include the Big Day Out Festival, as well as the V Festival, and included such artists as Marilyn Manson, The Ramones, Metallica, and Coldplay. Perth is also the home of numerous famous actors and media personalities, including but not limited to Judy Davis, Melissa George, Heath Ledger, Gerard Kennedy, and Mike Willesee. Perth boasts the internationally regarded Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts of Edith Cowan University, from which many successful actors, as well as broadcasters, have launched their careers, including Hugh Jackman, Frances O'Connor, Marcus Graham, and William McInnes.

Many cuisines from nearly every country are readily available in Perth, including Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, Korean, Italian, Turkish, and Polish. For those thrill seekers searching for a method of exploring Perth from high above, helicopter tours are available. Tours are operated by a number of different companies within the Australian region, and fly the viewer over significant landmarks, such as the Swan River, Fremantle, Kings Park, the Sunset Coast, and Perth City Centre. The cost is also fair and substantially better then the airfare to Perth.

For those wildlife fanatics, there is the After Dark at Caversham Wildlife Park tour, a guided walk through of Perth’s Caversham Wildlife Park and Kings Park, which are located in the eastern suburbs of Perth. This guided tour provides a rare opportunity to not only observe, but feed the nocturnal animals and observe their nocturnal methods of living, and include such animals as koalas, kangaroos, emus, and wombats. Because of the nature of the park and the nocturnal animals individuals go to observe, the park has rather unusual hours of operation.

Travel to Perth and you can get there by cars, trains/railways, buses, and ferries, which are provided by Transperth, with links to rural areas provided by Transwa. In the Metropolitan area of Pert, there are 70 railway stations and 15 bus stations. Tickets to Perth are very reasonable especially if you include a stop-over.