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I arrived in Perth on 24th Feb hoping to find a room to rent in a house and a job to get some more money together. When I first arrived I stayed with Chris for a few days, someone I'd met in Sydney and who is currently living in a house. After staying for around a week I moved into a hostel in the city to look for somewhere to live. Full of cold and feeling miserable I wasn't fit to be out looking for jobs. Word of mouth and searching online however suggested it wasn't going to be an easy task. I was ill for around 2 weeks and a trip to the Dr said I was suffering from hay fever. After about a week in a city hostel Chris told me I was welcome to move into the spare room in his house. So at the beginning of March I moved into the house to share with Chris and Trev and Jay who currently rented the house. Jay and Trev are a gay couple, mid 30's and both pleasant and easy to get along with. The house is in Yokine, a Northern suburb of Perth about 7km from the city centre. The house if pretty big, 3 double bedrooms, huge kitchen/diner and a balcony with a great view of the city skyline. I spent most of my first week job hunting without any luck. Unemployment was beginning to rise as Australia finally begins to feel the credit crunch off the back of China. Perth in particular has seen a huge rise in unemployment and companies are reluctant to hire visa workers. The majority of backpackers here in Perth are here to work after hearing there were jobs going left, right and centre. 6 months ago there were, now there are just too many backpackers and not enough casual jobs. Having no luck with a job I gave up looking as with being ill it was now around the middle of March and I wanted to travel again from mid April so I'd only be available for a few weeks max.
I've spent a lot of time exploring the City. Perth isn't huge but it's a lovely city with a really laid back feel to it. The town itself has two main shopping high streets joined together by lots of arcades with lovely little boutique shops inside. One of the most interesting streets is London Court. It reminds me of York so much. Old drawbridge archway gates act as the entrance to the street which is decked out in old tutor style buildings with small shops situated underneath. No cobbled streets but a few specialist English shops about with Yorkshire Tea and Marmite available. Perth is currently undergoing a lot of development with new buildings under construction and scaffolding everywhere. Until recently it wasn't common for professionals to live in the city centre itself so a lot of the development is actually building new flats to accommodate those now wishing to live in the city. There's a large backpacker area, Northbridge, just north of the city centre with plenty of accommodation and bars about. The south side of the city is separated by the river. The riverside has another wheel and a huge bell tower as well as the marina, restaurants, city ferry and boats across to Rottnest Island. My favourite part of the city has to be Kings Park which overlooks the city. It's huge but so well maintained and just beautiful to walk around. Within the park sits the city's botanic gardens, beautiful of course; however Melbourne's gardens are still my favourite.
South of the city is Freemantal, a popular place for people working in the city to live. It takes about 30 minutes on the train or 45 mins on the ferry. Freemantal itself reminds me of Spain. The streets are full of old, flat roofed square buildings, detailed and each different in colour. Freemantal is on the riverbank with hundreds of boats at the marina, owned by those with huge houses right on the edge of the river. Around Freemantal we visited the Prison, not in use anymore but for over 150 years its inmates included British convicts, local prisoners, military prisoners and prisoners of war.
Another attraction in Freemantal are the markets that run over the weekend. Lots of cultural stores, glassworks, photoshops hidden amongst the tacky souvenirs, bags and clothes. Next to the marina sits an old, huge submarine and the e-shed markets, similar to those central in Freemantal. In the centre itself are lots of shops, beautiful town hall and leafy green areas amongst the bars and cafes. It's very vibrant and relaxing and the old feel of the town is charming. I can easily see the attraction of living there.
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