The most remote city on Earth?

There is some debate as to which city is considered to be the most remote on Earth.  Remoteness is measured by both distance from another major city and population. Some say Honolulu (a solid 2,400 miles from San Francisco and a pop. of 900k) or Auckland, NZ (a respectable 1,300 miles from Sydney, AUS and a pop of 1.3M) are the most remote. The author Bill Bryson claimed it to be Perth, the capital of Western Australia, which is 2,000 miles from Sydney and has a pop of 500k. Regardless of which city actually takes the prize,  I can attest that I felt VERY remote from anything while in Perth this past week!


I traveled to Perth with my British colleague Sam Musgrave (Muzza, for short) for a series of business meetings on Friday. Australia is almost as big as America, so flying from Sydney to Perth is like flying from DC to Los Angeles. It took almost 6 hours because of strong head winds. Perth is an up-and coming city that takes advantage of its natural resources and proximity to Asia to export tons of coal and components of steel to China. As a result, it's growing rapidly and many large businesses are establishing headquarters there. Originally, Perth was intended to be a port city and then quickly became known for its Swan River Colony (a penal community of convicts that began arriving from the UK in the 1850's). 


After a long enjoyable Qantas flight, it was all business as Muzza and I traversed greater Perth to visit with Sales and Marketing executives. After a long day of meetings and a few hours of catch-up work, we took the recommendation of another colleague and went to dinner at an adorable restaurant called Must Wine Bar in an area of the city called Highgate. Dinner was great (I had a yummy poached chicken with black truffles) as was the wine (a very dry SSB from Margaret River). But I was exhausted and promptly headed back to the hotel for much-needed shut eye. 


The next day we had a few hours to kill before flying back to Sydney and decided to head to the historical town of Fremantle (Freo, for short). 

Because it was pouring rain when we arrived (which, despite only lasting an hour, was much needed as it only rains a few days a year there and they are in the midst of a 10-year drought!), we went straight to the Little Creatures Brewery, home of the best beer in Australia. 

Little Creatures Brewery

Muzza and I grabbed brekky at the brewery which included probably the best flat white I have had since being here. YUM! 

My yummy brekky - great fuel for beer drinking. 
BTW, that's Aussie bacon.

My delicious flat white

They brew 5 types of beer, one of which - the Bright Ale - has won "Top Beer in Australia" the last 2 years running. After brekky, we decided to try to taste all 5, which we did! They were really yummy, but I liked the Little Creatures Bright Ale the best. Some fun snaps from the brewery:

Our fun waiter Ian, the red nose, the Bright Ale and me

The Little Creatures logo - very famous in Oz

Muzza and me taking the Amber Ale very seriously

I just loved the look and feel of the brewery. A simple way to number the tables!

Then we were off to the airport for a 5-hour flight back to Sydney, and it did not take me long to hop into bed for a much-needed night of sleep back home in my pad.  Perth is a remote, charming, and fairly quiet city; I am very glad I can add it to my list of Oz adventures.


Until next time...xoxo


p.s. The red nose is related to a campaign across Oz to fund cancer research for children. It only costs $2, and really added a nice touch to our photos, I think. :)