The secluded Little Salmon Bay on Rottnest Island, a small island 18 kilometers off the Perth port of Fremantle, offers a glorious beach. Photos by Yu Yilei / China Daily

Left: Aussies live the admirable outdoor lifestyle. Here, local kids jump off the pier into the sea - just part of everyday life. Right: The koala is a symbolic creature in Australia. Below: The Perth skyline attracts the tourist crowds.

Go west in Australia and miss the usual tourist mob. Yu Yilei savors a natural retreat.

If my Australian colleague Tym did not send me an e-mail giving me tips on traveling in Perth, I would have written the city on the west coast of Australia off my itinerary. Like most Chinese tourists, my knowledge of Down Under was limited to the east coast, with its well-known attractions such as Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, the Great Barrier Reef ?

However, I fell in love with Perth, capital of West Australia, within a very short time. In fact, I never left, abandoning plans to get across to the east coast as I had previously planned. I was happy to spend my entire holiday in and around Perth enjoying the relaxed outdoor lifestyle, the gourmet indulgence and a return to nature.

Here are some of my best memories in Perth and its surrounds:

Go beaches

The best thing about Perth, in my opinion, is her beaches. What makes them different is their proximity to the city center.

The nearest, the appropriately named City Beach, is just a 15-minute drive from the heart of town and it is a regular winner of "the best beach" award in Perth, and a must-see for visitors.

The City Beach is just a small section of the stunning stretch of coastline called the Sunset Coast. There are 19 white sand beaches along the coast, including Cottesloe Beach, one of the best places to watch the sun set into the Indian Ocean, the legendary Scarborough Beach, a mecca for surfers, people-watchers, backpackers, locals and holiday makers and Rockingham Beach, winner of West Australia's Best Beach Award this year.

All are within a 45-minute drive from the city.

Rottnest Island

Australia is famed for the koalas and kangaroos, but if you are looking for an unusual animal encounter, you need to tour Rottnest Island, a small island 18km off Fremantle, the port for Perth.

It is the home of the quokka, a local marsupial related to the forest wallabies. The island was named Rottnest, meaning "rat's nest", because the Dutch explorer William de Vlamingh, who discovered the island in 1696, mistook the quokkas for giant rats.

We arrived on the island after a short ferry ride and were stunned by its picturesque scenery and casual atmosphere, which made it hard for us to imagine that it had a grim history of being a prison for aboriginal men from 1830 until 1903, and then a detention center for those of German and Austrian descent during World War I.

There are virtually no cars on the tiny island and bikes are the transportation of choice. With a map in your hands and snorkel equipment in your backpack, you can explore its beauty in an intimate way, and more importantly, spoil yourself with a choice of over 60 beaches and bays.

My pick was Little Salmon Bay, a secluded spot at the southern point of the island. I can never forget the joyfulness of throwing myself into the warm and turquoise water after a sweaty bike ride and then playing with the fishes in a snorkel trail.

Did I see the quokkas? Yes. I spotted them under a small bush on my way back to the port, but I did not stop to take a photo because we were rushing for the ferry returning Perth.

Burned, drenched and exhausted after a three-hour cycle, I collapsed into the ferry seat and couldn't wait to order an icy Coke. But even as I sailed away from the island, I already started to miss it. I will be back.

Yanchep National Park

My day trip to Yanchep National Park, 42 kilometers north of Perth, was truly memorable because of a scare at sea.

Yanchep is a national park noted for its caves, native bush and koala colonies but our main target is the beautiful Yanchep Beach, which has a unique big flat reef just ankle-deep below. And quite close to the shore.

I was tempted by the "cool" thought of walking on the reef-it might look like walking on the water. The reef did not seem far, probably less than 50 meters away, and since I was a practiced swimmer, getting there seemed a piece of cake. I persuaded a travel mate (whom I later found out is not a good swimmer at all) to go with me.

But there was one thing I neglected - the big waves.

Only after a few meters, I started to feel tired and avoiding the jellyfishes was sapping my strength. In such a strong current, landing on the reef became even more difficult as I was pushed repeatedly by raging waves.

After several unsuccessful attempts, I grabbed an extruding piece of reef and managed to stand up, shivering. But before I could get excited by little accomplishment, I was startled to find my travel mate in big trouble.

"I can't swim anymore. I am too exhausted," he yelled to me.

As I was thinking how to help my friend, a lifeguard on a surfboard appeared. He broke the waves and approached my friend quickly.

"Hop on," he shouted while reaching out his hand to my friend.

It looked exactly like a scene out of Baywatch, but the rescue did not go smoothly like on television. My friend could not speak much English or understand the lifeguard's heavy accented instructions. After several attempts to climb on board, the lifeguard starting getting annoyed and asked me to translate - in the middle of the sea.

Watching the lifeguard pant from his exertions, I felt a bit guilty. It's not an easy job, I thought. Apart from courage, strength and swimming skills, they may have to learn foreign languages as well.

Swan Valley

With one more day to go before my departure, my body was exhausted from the "life-threatening" adventure at the Yanchep Beach the previous day. Any outdoor activity did not interest me and I ran out of ideas of how to kill time. A local friend called and suggested that he take me to a place that did not involve exposure or swimming.

This was Swan Valley, the birthplace of viticulture in West Australia and labeled Perth's Valley of Taste. After a short drive of no more than half an hour, we were on the award-winning Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail, a rich tapestry of restaurants, cafes, wineries and art galleries.

Meandering along a boulevard running through neatly-planted grapevines was pure fun. You can stop at any place that appeals, and be surprised by the taste sensations you may encounter.

The best we discovered on the trial was at Sandalford Wines, established in 1840 and famed for its portfolio of wines along with its restaurants, wine tourism and open concerts (Michael Buble, Santana and Barry Manilow will soon perform here).

After paying 25 Australian dollars ($25.06), I got to sample a list of premium wines in a cellar door packed with weekend visitors. But after going through only half of the list, I was pretty merry and had to stop the bartender from pouring more wines on the list.

With the wine lingering in my mouth, it did not take me long to pick up a bottle of 2008 Chardonnay that was pleasantly and smooth and smoky, and a bottle of 2007 Shiraz, widely regarded as one of the best red vintages of the winery. They cost me $70, which was a very good deal, I think.

More culinary surprises followed on the trail, as we then visited a chocolate factory and a honey farm where I indulged like a little boy.