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 Like all state capitals, Perth refers to itself as a capital city, and it really does feel like one. The Perth administrative area extends as far as Rockingham, where I went to the beach a few days ago, and has a population of 1.9 million, which is three quarters of all the people in Western Australia. There isn't another settlement of more than 70000 people within 2000 km of here in any direction. I have heard from a few sources while I've been here that Perth is known as the "City of Lights" because of the night in 1962 when as many lights as possible were turned on so that John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, could see the city standing out from the surrounding ocean and desert as he passed over. UTC Time: 04:29, Wednesday 05 February 2014 Local Time: 12:29, Wednesday 05 February 2014 Estimate of longitude: 115° 51' 18.61" E = 115.855170° Estimate of latitude: 31° 57' 15.08" S = -31.954190° Possible error on position estimate: 50 metres | |