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Hey hey hey everyone!
I can't believe I've been here for two weeks now - in one way it doesn't feel like two minutes since I landed, and in another way it feels like I've been here forever. I'm still beaming, feeling very chilled, and loving every minute.
So this week saw me move back to Perth city for five nights (I'm back in Cottesloe tomorrow = YAY!!). I thoroughly enjoyed my week by the beach in Cottesloe; following on from where I got up to in the last blog, I spent most of the remaining days there just on the beach. I must have spent hours and hours just sitting there listening to music, walking up and down the shore, and lying in the sand. Loads of people in the city look at me like I'm mad when I say that - they think that sounds so boring and can't understand why that's all I want to do until Christmas. But honestly, in contrast to how busy life has been in the UK for the past however-many years, having a few months to do nothing but spend time with people I like and just chill on the beach is like heaven for me. My friends at Ocean Beach Backpackers (OBB) keep telling me how in a few weeks it's going to be even better too; apparently when summer arrives (and it's like 21 degrees at 7am!) everyone just goes out and stays on the beach all night, sleeping under the stars, which to me just sounds like something out of a dream! I cannot wait.
One of the highlights of the week was last Wednesday when I got to experience my first Sausage Sizzle. If I didn't already love OBB enough, it turns out that every Wednesday night they put on a free sausage BBQ for all of the guests - amazing! It was also the first meat I'd eaten since the plane over (can you even call that meat?!) so I was absolutely buzzing! I then ended up "splashing out" on a 6-pack of Strongbow (SO much nicer tasting than in the UK - don't ask me why!) and staying up all night chatting with one of my best friends at the hostel and watching Aladdin at 5am...I haven't experienced this much freedom and lack of responsibility in so long. The best way I can explain it is like I'm having a super-extended Freshers' Week, just meeting people and having fun without a real care in the world. I know it's not reality, but for now it's just awesome.
Then came Thursday night. Now at this point I am envisaging a whole number of responses: Ails laughing, not surprised in the slightest; Felicity hanging head and tutting in disgust (!); Milo just being continually embarrassed; Jow and Purds feeling something very much like pride. So for those of you who saw my FB, Thursday night was the night that saw me end up with that warning letter on Friday morning (sorry Mum...though I know you love it really!). It was Jeremy's birthday (a super popular French guy loved by all at the hostel) and the guys brought down a load of alcohol for everyone to share. We played drinking games and partied til the early hours. It was (apparently) 4:15am and I was still dancing around like a maniac with Jeremy...and it was all caught on camera. The next morning, with a thumping sore head, Jamba (one of the staff) knocked on my door and proceeded to hand me my 'final warning'...I was like 'But Jamba, I haven't even had a first warning yet!!'! With a side smile he came and sat on my bed and was asking me all about what happened last night. For all intents and purposes, those warnings really are just a bit of bureaucracy - I don't think Jamba would actually throw me out :). But to be fair they do have to say something - we kept the whole hostel awake that night, which when lots of the people are working really isn't all that fair. Anyway, that morning was when I was supposed to be moving out and back to the city. I went down to skype Mum and as I was sitting there, Alex (one of the other staff) came over and handed me a bit of paper, which said that they had a room for me if I wanted to stay! I hadn't even asked to stay! There was a smiley face on the bottom of it, which just confirmed to me how much OBB was already like home (warnings or no warnings :)).
In the end I didn't stay - I'd already paid to be in the city and couldn't get a refund. So I packed up all my stuff and prepared to leave. But outside it was chaos - literal torrential rain and wind - some may call that pathetic fallacy. I hung around the hostel until it calmed a bit in the afternoon and then, rucksacks loaded, I jumped on the bus back to Billabong. When I got to the hostel and to my dorm I was so happy to find a virtually empty dorm; for the first time I got a bottom bunk and basically a room to myself - maybe there was a silver lining to leaving OBB!! I went downstairs and started chatting to people with a cup of tea (blasphemy that I should do that on a Friday night!). It was nice...but then outcame the beer pong. The entire place seemed to turn into a drunken lads playground - "YEEAAHHH BEEERRR POOONNNGGG RRAAARRRGGGHHHH". Take me back to OBB!!!! I felt like such an old-woman (bear in mind I'm still recovering from the night before at this point) and got completely slated when I said I was going to bed at 10pm. (Different hostels have different feels - I mean, people drink and enjoy themselves on a Friday night in OBB but it's not quite the testosterone driven piss-up that Billabong as a party hostel has). As if that wasn't bad enough (in my old-woman mood), when I got back to my dorm (envisaging my first bit of privacy since I'd arrived) I entered to discover a group of Manchester uni girls all dressed up and shrieking like something out of Nuts. One girl was going on about her heels saying that she had to get them for 'work'. When I enquired what work was, she replied 'Oh, I do promo for a motor company - it's great, I just wear these and hotpants...'. Newnham seemed a long, long way away.
They eventually left, I went to sleep feeling about 40, and when I woke up in the morning they were packing up and moving out. Since then I've been sharing the room with another Welsh girl - she's really cool and also enjoys just chilling with a book (no heels in sight!) - and a couple of German girls moved in last night. So these few days in the city have been a chance to catch up on sleep, drink tea and just relax.
But that's not to say I've spent the past few days entirely as a moody hermit! That's the thing about hostel life - there's always people to meet and sit with and chat to. Every day I've met new people by just going and sitting outside to smoke or going down for breakfast, etc. On Saturday I met up with a friend from OBB who works as a fundraiser in the city and we spent a few hours wandering around, and on Sunday a group of the guys from Billabong invited me to trip with them to...of all places...COTTESLOE! The hostel here runs a free shuttle service to there if you can get a big enough group of people. So after lunch we all packed into the shuttle bus (see FB pics) and headed to the beach. The sun was out, we lay in the sand, and I even went into the sea again. The wind was strong though and the waves were huge - so scary! (But the surfers were loving it). Two of the guys had to hold me and show me how to jump through the waves which otherwise were completely totalling me...I don't think I've ever drunk so much saltwater, and later I found sand in places one should never find sand.
Later I wandered down the beach to meet a group of OBB people. As I walked along I kept recognizing faces and saying 'Hi' to people; it was that same amazing feeling as I had after my first couple of weeks at Cambridge (Ails - do you remember us talking about this?!) when you walk down the street and bump into people you know - it just fills you with such a feeling of belonging, even after such a short time. I love that feeling. I headed back up to OBB with the group and when I walked in everyone was like 'what're you doing here?!' and 'where've you been?!' etc...even Jamba had a joke with me about trespassing, but with a smile :). I ended up chilling with the guys for hours, we all went to play football (I actually scored!), came back for dinner, and then sat around to watch the Man Utd vs. Liverpool match. I can't explain how at home I felt walking back into that place and seeing all the familiar faces. I got ripped for 'Creepin' around, but loads of them said I could just stay in their room and not bother going back to the city. Tempting as that was, I needed to go back, so one of the guys gave me a lift back and this is where I've been ever since. It's so odd to think that you can miss a place after only being there for one week. And it's even odder that that one place can have such a pull on you; I mean this hostel (Billabong) is a great hostel and there are lovely people here, but there's just something about OBB that makes me know that's where I want to be for a while.
So that's it, I'm heading back there tomorrow...right in time for the Sausage Sizzle. This really is the first time in so long that I'm not having to worry about things I have to do - the freedom is unreal and means I really can just enjoy. But that said, I do need to find a job!! So from tomorrow it will be CV distribution time and hopefully my next update will bring the good news.
Until laterz babys. Bonza xxx
- comments
Emily St Clair I love reading of your adventures! It sounds like a blast! Miss you lots!
Felicity Macdonald-Smith Make sure you go to Fremantle too - one of my favourite places in WA. Great market, lots of cafes (Cappuccino Strip) and lovely colonial buildings in wedding-cake colours.
Amy Awww thanks Emily!!! And Felicity, yes definitely...though I'm holding off doing too many touristy things until I actually have a job and some money...then Feemantle and Rottnest Island are first ports of call :)
Pauline aukland Glad you are having a great time and we enjoy reading your blogs. Love paul and pauline xx