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The last few days have been pretty chaotic as we have booked flights home, sold Fergal, paid for flights home (yes, in that order) got our stuff sent home and left the campsite to spend our last night in Australia in a room with proper walls and a ceiling!
We had a call from a girl a few days ago who had seen one of our posters and was interested in our beloved Fergal and after a quick test drive, she too had fallen in love with the old beast. She phoned back again the next day to say she would take him - thus beginning the final countdown to our departure!
Our next task was to find some flights home, which has been proving pretty difficult of late. Because the rugby world cup is being held in France in a couple of weeks, flights to Europe have dramatically increased in price and we have struggled to find any available seats, yet alone seats that we can realistically afford. Eventually we gave up using travel agents as we seem to have spent the last few days just going fm one to another, and we started calling the airlines directly and just before midnight we finally managed to get two flights booked with Malaysian Air. The only problem now was that it left us with just three days to get Fergal to his new owner, get the flights paid for and pick up the tickets as well as getting ourselves organised in time to send home our excess luggage and find somewhere to stay for our final night. A tall order at the best of times, but combined with our significant depression at having to leave, it was all getting a bit much and we spent most of yesterday walking around in a daze. Somehow we managed to get everything we were selling packed into Fergal ready to take to his new owner the next day and had all of our own stuff in the back ready to take to Pack and Send.
This morning we arose with a sense of sadness as we were soon to depart with our beloved Fergal, who has seen us through so many good times over the last few months. We took a drive into town for the last time and stopped at Pack and Send to arrange for what we thought would be a couple of items, to be shipped back to the UK. However, we soon discovered that we had been travelling around with ninety kilograms of excess luggage and that didn't included all the camping gear and bikes that we were leaving with the car or our snowboards that we are taking onto the plane!! An hour and half later we had finally offloaded almost fifty kilograms of clothes, souvenirs and snorkelling gear and were ready to move on at last.
We dropped our bags off at the hostel and then headed off to meet Jo to complete the sale of our most prized possession. After a quick rundown of where everything was under the hood and where all the appropriate fluids go, we handed over the keys and it was with a lump in our throats and a tear in our eye that we watched Fergal disappear around a bend, and the beaming grin of his new owner didn't help matters either! The only plus point was the envelope stuffed full of cash that we now had, but we knew this was just another sign that we would soon be on our way home again.
We made our way to the Malaysian Air office to pay for our flights home and picked up our tickets and then trudged slowly back the hostel. Now not only did we have no car, but we had also just got rid of three quarters of our money as well! By the time we got back to the hostel we were both feeling thoroughly depressed and our mood was not improved when we saw the small box room that our money had paid for. So much for the luxuries of YHA!
When we had finally completed all of our chores, we headed out for a walk around the city to see what delights were on offer. The city itself seems to be much more cosmopolitan that Brisbane, more on a par with Melbourne, but it still has a friendly small town feel to it. It really does feel like you are on a genuine holiday with all the palm trees around and we spent a few hours trying to familiarise ourselves with the area. We took a wonder down to Barrack Square by the river to the Swan Bells Bell tower, which apparently is one of the world's largest musical instruments and houses the twelve bells of Saint Martin in the Field church (from the parish church of Buckingham Palace) or something. We didn't go in.
Instead we headed back into town and after a walk along the main pedestrian areas, while trying to avoid window shopping our last day away, we headed back to the hostel to get ready to enjoy our last evening in Australia. We will shortly be heading out to see what night life Perth has to offer and to sample many of the local delights.
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