Popular Chinese travel blogger Fan Yibo’s thoughts on Perth, record number of solo entrants for Rottnest Channel Swim, Blue Room Theatre crowdfunding

Fan’s a Perth fan When Inside Cover heard Fan Yibo, one of China’s most popular travel bloggers, was in Perth last weekend, we had to find out what he thought of our fair city. “Perth exudes a charming sense of leisure and relax, thanks to its comfortable weather and superb environment,” Fan told IC. “In addition, you can feel the hospitality and enthusiasm of the residents in Perth from time to time, and the cultural diversity here is also very attractive.” Fan said it was actually his third visit to WA, and this time it was as a guest of Pan Pacific Perth, as part of an initiative that also included a gaggle of influential Chinese media identities, including writers from Robb Report and Conde Nast Traveler. Usually this type of media family would be managed by an official outfit such as Tourism WA, but the hotel took it upon itself to host the Chinese delegation as a way to engage with Australia’s most important tourism market. “We want to make sure international travellers are choosing Perth as their go-to destination,” Pan Pacific Perth general manager Rob Weeden told IC. The Chinese delegation was wined and dined at Pan Pacific’s highly regarded Peruvian restaurant, Uma, before being whizzed out to Sandalford Estate in the Swan Valley and taken to Carnac Island on a super yacht. And, of course, no trip to Perth would be complete without a quokka selfie. “I was in close encounter with a lot of cute animals in Western Australia, and the quokka selfie should be the most memorable experience,” Fan said. “My quokka selfies immediately caused a small social buzz once I posted them on my social media platforms. Everyone loves a quokka’s smiling face.” With nearly two million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo, Fan’s tick of approval for WA puts a smile on our face, too. Hundreds in the swim It took 48 years (1956-2004) for 498 individual swimmers to successfully complete a solo crossing from Perth to Rottnest but it will take just a few hours for that many to achieve the feat at next year’s South32 Rottnest Channel Swim, if all goes to plan. We hear the event has taken a record number of solo crossing registrations (498), with the previous high being the 396 swimmers who attempted it last year. Of that 498, 62 per cent are first-time soloists, which brought the number up to more than attempted a solo crossing in the first 10 years of the Rotto swim. The 19.7km open water swim sets off from Cottesloe beach on February 22. Find more info by visiting rottnestchannelswim.com.au. Coffee for the troops Your trusty IC correspondent made his Telethon debut on Sunday morning at 7am and the fact we sounded even remotely intelligent at that hour was entirely because of the hard work of Gesha Coffee Co’s Alex Carciotto. In everyday life, Carciotto is Gesha’s coffee development manager but he put that on hold to volunteer as barista of the Telethon green room over the weekend. Carciotto, who has two autistic sons and a daughter who found herself in Prince Margaret Hospital 10 years ago after a car accident, said the charity drive that helps sick kids was a cause close to his heart. “As you get a bit older in life you realise you have to give back,” he said. With Gesha’s roasting business and cafe in Freo going well, Carciotto told IC he was working on plans to launch a high-end coffee next year, of which part proceeds would be donated to Telethon. “Every little bit helps,” he said. Blue room call-out The Blue Room Theatre in Northbridge has launched the careers of many WA artists in its 30-year lifespan, including that of Tim Minchin. “Without the Blue Room there would be no Matilda,” Minchin reckons. Today the Blue Room launches a crowdfunding campaign to transform the venue, and seeks $50,000 to add a third performance space and give the theatre’s bar a long-overdue renovation. That last bit will better help the Blue Room take advantage of a new and improved Cultural Centre that will be boosted by the opening of the new WA Museum and the exciting Rechabites development. Visit blueroom.org.au to help make this possible.