A PERTH-fect journey with PAL
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) recently took us on a PERTH-fect journey to Perth in Western Australia where the destination, the journey and the people we journeyed with were a perfect cocktail. We arrived in early autumn, and the weather was as pleasant as Baguio’s.
The pioneer seven-hour, nonstop flight from Manila to Perth, PR 223, was flown under the command of Philippine Airlines president and COO Capt. Stanley Ng, assisted by a crew of three pilots and six flight attendants. Capt. Ng is an experienced Airbus A321 pilot who served as the airline’s operations chief before his becoming president of the flag carrier.
“This milestone journey celebrates the continuing recovery of our airline from the challenges to the pandemic,” he said, adding he was “thrilled to welcome Western Australians aboard our flights for the shortest hop to the island wonders of the Philippines.”
For her part, Australian Ambassador Hae Kyong Yu, who hails from Perth, said, “You are not going to regret going to Perth. Surrounded by nature but fantastic wineries, fantastic city life and real cosmopolitan lifestyle where you can pretty much get whatever international cuisine you desire and have it with matching beer or wine of your choice. That is the kind of place that Perth is, with beautiful waterways, both rivers and beaches.”
On our first full day in Perth, we visited the 400-hectare Kings Park and Botanic Garden, which displays over 3,000 species of the state’s flora. One of the standouts in the park is a towering tree — the River Red Gum Tree — that Queen Elizabeth II herself planted on an official visit to Western Australia on March 27, 1954. We visited the park on March 28, 2023, almost 70 years later to the day.
We also kissed the sea breeze at Fremantle, a port city that is one of the oldest settlements in Western Australia and now home to many seaside restaurants. The harbor is dotted by bronze sculptures of people, from a fishermen holding his net, to a woman on a bench.
Visiting Caversham Wildlife Park the next day brought out the child in many of us. In fact, most of the other visitors at the time we visited were children. The park is home to several animals not found in the Philippines, including kangaroos, koalas, possums, wallabies, wombats and Tasmanian devils. I learned something new — the koala is not a bear and if you want to pat it, do so with the back of your hand. The rest of the day was indulgent of our sweet tooth — we visited a chocolate factory, and a honey factory
Everywhere we went, we were under a blue canopy.
“I love our big blue sky city,” says Beatriz “Bea” Calero Clark of her hometown, Perth, where she and her husband Dave have been living since 1997. Perth shares a time zone with the Philippines. “The city and outer suburbs stretch over 150 km of coastline of the Indian Ocean. The beautiful beaches with turquoise waters encourage a laidback and casual life style. It is a a very multicultural city with people from all over the world choosing Perth as their home.”
“Perth itself has a wine growing region in the Swan Valley and a world famous Margaret River region just three hours’ drive south of Perth,” shares Bea, who was my grade school and high school classmate at the Assumption Convent. “While we have warm summers, Perth has a temperate climate similar to many Mediterranean cities.”
Another attraction the city has to offer is the ease by which one can get around. “It is easy to drive around,” says Bea.
But it is also a laid-back city, where shops close at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays with the exception of Thursday or Friday night. Shopping hours are limited on Sundays.
According to Bea, restaurants close early with last orders in around 8:30 p.m.
Tourism Undersecretary lawyer Mae Elaine Bathan, who was part of the inaugural flight, said, “As of March this year, from Australia alone we have received over 60,000 arrivals; 59,000 of these arrived by air. This places Australia as our fourth biggest source market as of March this year. And this in most parts, have been made possible by government and private stakeholders, like PAL, sticking out together.”
To entice more tourists to visit the Philippines, the Department of Tourism has broken ground for 10 Tourist Rest Areas, in key tourist destinations in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. These will have a clean and functioning restroom, as well as a coffee shop and pasalubong center.
We are confident that the thrice-weekly non-stop flights between Manila and Perth and back will open new horizons for both countries.
(You may e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.)
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