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I'm here!! And the first thing to say is: it is sweet as.
I landed in Perth on Tuesday night and arrived at the hostel - Nomads Billabong Backpackers Resort (in the photo) - at about 12:30am, but to think that I've only been here for less than 2 days is just crazy! I already feel completely at home, have met so many people and had so many interesting conversations that I've learnt SO much - much more than the Lonely Planet guide book weighing my rucksack down could ever do!! I've also had enough experiences already to compile a whole collection of short stories, so I will try my best to stick to my guns and keep this blog as short and sweet as possible.
It is also amazing how much my perspective has changed in such a short time. When I arrived I was quite honestly pretty terrified (this all came out in an explosion of tears on take-off from Heathrow, which, coupled with my instant recovery into a beaming smile of excitement once we were in the air, probably did nothing to encourage the seriously smelly man sitting next to me to talk to me - the stereotypical emotionally turbulent woman image that I was giving off was obviously not desirable in a plane-seat-neighbour...and neither was it particularly what I was going for as the start to my big adventure. But nevertheless...). My arrival and first night/morning at the hostel did nothing to help this: I walked into my dorm and switched on the light to discover a seriously messy room with a sole bunk bed (I booked into a 6 bed mixed dorm) occupied by a sleeping person. Terrified of waking up the sleeping person and thereby pissing people off from the start (yes, I've been told I need to get over the politeness thing), I quickly scanned the room and noticed two other doors. So I flicked the light off and, using my iPhone for light, ventured through to another room with another two sets of bunks. Still in the dark, I found the only available bed - a top bunk in the far corner. (This next part, in hindsight, was hilarious. At the time - bearing in mind I was ridiculously tired, in desperate need of a shower, and basically still terrified of everything - it was not.) I clambered up and attempted to fit the sheets, still using my iPhone for light and trying desperately not to make any noise(!). It's enough to say that by the time it came to put the duvet in it's cover I simply gave up and, forgoing a shower for the sake of noise and tiredness, collapsed into sleep. Or so I hoped. Next thing I know the guy in the top bunk next to me starts making the weirdest amalgamation of noises: talking in his sleep, the most frantic scratching I've ever heard, and rounded off with an unending bout of snoring. In my dazed and tired state all I could think was 'There is no way I can do this for a whole year'.
The next morning did nothing to help my state of mind. I awoke to an empty room and got myself super excited at the prospect of finally being able to have a shower (Mum - only you will understand the level of this). I locked myself in the bathroom, turned on the shower, and to my absolute HORROR (yes, I have a lot to learn about backpacking) IT WAS COLD! I had to have a cold shower! The mantra that I fell asleep to returned as I left the bathroom freezing cold and wondering why I'd signed myself up to this when I could be at home with all the comforts that entails...
Enter Connor. I walked out of the bathroom (quite possibly ranting to myself) in my towel and was met with an Irish voice introducing himself from the bottom bunk. Connor is now, as he likes to say, my first and best friend in Perth (I haven't reminded him that I'm leaving for a different hostel tomorrow, but it's encouraging to know that you can make a best friend in a matter of minutes living this life...:/). Anyway, Connor's been in Oz for 15 months now and, along with another couple of Irish people in our room, has become my Working Holiday Guru. Aside from initially scaring the hell out of me with intent questioning (what job are you going to get? have you got a mobile yet? what bank are you with? etc etc - ARGH CONNOR I'VE LITERALLY JUST ARRIVED) and telling me that I absolutely must get a job as soon as I can because when he first arrived he had the equivalent of £5000 but it's so expensive here that he'd blown that in his first 3 weeks (what the hell was he doing?!), well aside from that he's been an absolute sweetheart and has told me loads about what to do, how to find a job, etc. And meeting people since has really been as easy as that. I spent Wednesday night sitting outside in the hostel courtyard and got talking to a New Zealand guy who's been over here for 2 weeks, and we were then joined by a load of other people so I was able to hear about a whole variety of different experiences, with everyone chipping in with their advice on what to do/where to go with my year.
After having that initial chat with Connor I felt much better. I spent the rest of yesterday (still my first day!) wandering around the city and sorting out all the admin-y type stuff you have to do once here. In every place I went to the staff would chat to me and throw in their experience and advice. The main thing that everyone has said does echo Connor (and my own experience from these past two days): that Perth is a seriously expensive city to live in. But the flip-side to that is that wages in Australia are massively better than in the UK: the minimum wage here is equivalent to around £12! So the answer is obvious: get a job asap. And from what I can gather from the stories I've heard, it's pretty easy to do that too. So today I wrote my CV and applied for my tax number. Tomorrow I'm off to Cottesloe for a week of lying by the beach, reading my books, chilling out, and gazing at surfers galore!! But I'm back at Billabong the week after and plan to get my CV out to as many places as possible. Then it will just be a case of waiting for the call...
In other news, I spent today exploring the city. I found the State Library of Western Australia, which has comfy sofas and free Wifi - perfect! There's also free Wifi in the city centre, so it's really nice to get a coffee and sit in the sun on the net. (The only thing is that there's no free Wifi at the hostel - hence the need to find it in other places. That does make the question of Skype difficult...but I'll figure something out as the days go on). I also visited King's Park and Botanical Gardens today, which was really beautiful. The sun's been out non-stop during the day - about 23 degrees - but one noticable difference from the UK is that it goes down (and therefore cold and dark) so early here! Even from about 5pm we seem to lose the sun and by 7pm it's pitch black. The only implication that has is that I have to be back at the hostel by about 6pm (because we're not in a particularly great area and I was told absolutely not to be out by myself in the dark!). But that's fine because there's always loads of people here making dinner, chilling out, watching TV, smoking and drinking outside...etc. Oh yeah, and I've decided (much to many people's horror here) to be tee-total for a while. Mostly this is because of money: a pint here costs at least 10 dollars, which is like nearly £7!!!! As I said above, once you have a job and are making money that would be fine....but on a finite English budget it may well explain where Connor's £5000 went...
So I'll leave it there for now. I'm about to go and pack up my stuff and get ready to hit the beach tomorrow, knowing that I've sorted out all the fiddly things and that I can now relax for a week. Then it will be onto the job hunt and who knows what will happen from there!! But looking back at the emotional rollercoaster that I've been on for the past few days, I'm so happy that I've got to the point where I can echo Drew, my New Zealand buddy, in saying that out here it really is sweet as :)
Bonza babys!
p.s. After that first horrendous experience, I'm delighted to say that every shower since has been lovely and hot = happy Amy.
- comments
Purds Sounds awesome bird, like definitely-not-gonna-make-it-back-by-June sort of awesome. For the Skype issue, download viber (a free app that lets you make calls over the Internet for free). Only works if the other person has viber, but avoids the awkward video call thing. I thought the First Night story was gonna end with you clambering into someone else's bed, so at least you're doing better than my imagination expects from you! And as for the in-flight years - at least you didn't get The Letter. Much love x
Amy Purds I have viber!! It doesn't work great for calls coz the wifi is a bit dodgy here, but for messaging it's brill. Please message me at some point with a 69 update - I miss you guys x