Cottesloe Beach, the Indiana and some tall ships (not usually there)
For a single year I was lucky enough to wake up ever morning in a bed just 15 minutes up the road from Cottesloe Beach. And now I often dream of being back on this arc of pale yellow sand, lined with a sloping hill of green grass, first thing in the morning when hardly anyone's arrived yet.
Because Cott is busy at the weekends and in the afternoons – and why wouldn't it be, it's a great beach to swim off or lounge on. But in the mornings when it's quieter, it's perfect.
Like all the best Australian beaches there's a half decent pub across the road, a kiosk on the beach and a cafe up the road that does fantastic breakfasts served up with near perfect views. In this case the cafe is called
The Blue Duck, and they serve more than decent meals at other times of the day as well.
Over the beach, and I mean literally suspended above it, is the
Indiana, which used to be called the Indiana Tea Rooms. This last-days-of-the-East-India-Company style building has one of the best views in town, over the Indian Ocean to Rottnest Island, and its terrace is a brilliant place to sip a drink and watch the sun go down – though you hardly need to as you get the same view from the grass lining the beach.
