Lonely Planet’s New Perth & West Coast Australia Guide: “Welcome to the engine room of the Australian economy”

Asia-Pacific

“An expanding number of multi-billion-dollar mines”, “a well-preserved lifestyle with all the bells and whistles”, and “a feeling of confidence borne of isolation” are some of the findings in the latest edition of Lonely Planet’s Perth & West Coast Australia Travel Guide, released today.

The new guidebook describes Perth as “the engine room of the Australian economy, a boom town where nature’s resources are driving ongoing growth and expansion.” (p.230)

“Perth is rapidly developing into an international city – further enhancing the population’s existing independent streak,” the new guide says. “And in the remote mining regions that drive the economy, there are glimmers of hope that the benefits of this latest fiscal gold rush may be slightly more equitably spread.” (p.230)

“Just a few decades ago, Perth was definitely in the shadow of east-coast Australia’s major cities,” the guide reflects, “but, fuelled by the energy and economics of the mining boom, it’s now a contemporary city on the rise.” (p.230)

“Evidence of the city’s impetuous growth includes newly sprawling suburbs, with oversized homes squeezed onto compact plots, and front gardens punctuated with shiny boats, flash utes, and other blokey indicators of ongoing injections of mining money,” (p.230).

This seventh edition of Lonely Planet Perth & West Coast Australia contains the trademark honesty and opinion for which Lonely Planet is renowned. Rockingham’s main attractions “are good beaches and the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park” (p.96), while Mandurah is “shrugging off its fusty retirement-haven image” (p.97). Bunbury has “plenty of eateries and a few interesting attractions worthy of a stop” (p.120), and Geraldton is “still a work in progress” (p.168).

Perth & West Coast Australia is the second of three new Australian guidebooks that Lonely Planet is publishing in 2013. Central Australia: Adelaide to Darwin (6th edition) was released last month, while Australia (17th edition) will follow in November.

Lonely Planet Perth & West Coast Australia (7th Edition)
Released July 2013
RRP: AUD$34.99