Perth started out rather disappointing: I paid far too much for the rental car, stayed in a hostel so bad that it could be located in London and it rained all through saturday morning, which I had planned to spend on the beaches.
It got a lot better when I met up with Chet, who I had contacted through couchsurfing.com, since we both had plans to go to the V Festival at the Esplanades the following day. Like me, Chet is a bit of a geek (though not of the Linux kind) and we had a good time together. In the afternoon, the sun came out, and I got my chance to explore the beautiful city.

Skyline of Perth
Sunday morning, I headed down to the beach, to have my first swim in the Indian Ocean, something I never got around to do during my trip to India. The Festival started at 13:00, with a very nice mix of bands. I particularly enjoyed Hot Hot Heat, the Rakes, Queens of the Stoneage and the Smashing Pumpkins, but was also positively surprised by Duran Duran and Modest Mouse, which were much better than I had expected.

The Rakes at V Festival
On my last day in Perth, I met Morgan, whose brother Evan is a friend of mine from Tübingen. Morgan went to a great effort to make sure I enjoyed my day. He took a day off work and told me many inside stories about Perth and in particular Kings Park, which his company had helped creating.

Treetop walk in Kings Park