Well I've been in Perth for three weeks now and loving it. The flight from Bangkok was pretty tiring, we had a stop over in Singapore for a couple of hours which was annoying. We got to Perth at like 2 in the morning and headed straight for the billabong hostel. We were at the hostel for a week and it was basic but a good laugh. Surprise surprise we have made plenty Irish, English, Welsh and Scottish mates but so far no Australians.

Our friend Sarah Jane moved from Brechin a year and a half ago to live with her partner in Perth so she has been amazing. When we left the billabong Kev and Sarah let us move in with them for as long as we need.

We arranged a job out in Kojonup 4 hours away from Perth so we had a big leaving nite out and headed for the country. I wasnt all that chuffed about leaving the city but i thought i could manage it for a month or two. Our jaws dropped when we got there. The job was ment to be 30 hours each, bar work in a family hotel with some light cleaning. Then woman who met us from the bus was a right moody cow, she spoke two words to us. The Royal hotel was a glorified shed. The young girl who showed us around was really nice but we were her replacement so she was leaving at the end of the week. Suddenly our hours grew to 60 a week with only 1 day off. We also had to do the cooking and gardening.

Our room was horrible. As soon as we were left alone we couldnt contain the laughter it was so horrendous. After about 10 minutes of hysterical slagging of the royal hotel the young girl gently told us that the walls were very thin. We went for a wander around the town trying to decide what to do and considered not even going back for our bags an just legging it. We had to make a decision because we had an hour before we were ment to start but the next bus wasnt until the next morning.

We were very lucky and met two really nice women working at the tourist information. They agreed with us and said that the royal was rough as hell so they got us on a bus for the next morning. Robyn (one of the ladies) owned a bed and breakfast and she allowed us to stay for the cheapest rate in town. All that was left to do was to go get our stuff from the royal. My heart was going crazy but we got our stuff and said that this wasnt right for us. They got a bit huffy with us so we bolted.

Although no word of a lie the bed and breakfast was worth our terrifying experience. It was gorgeous. We had our own lounge, massive jacuzzi bath and big comfy beds. The next morning we had a couple of hours to kill until the bus so went and played in the park. No matter how old you get playing on the swings is the most fun ever.

We got back to Perth and Sarah took us back in. She also has a friend that she worked for in the outback so we headed out there for a week. Mouroubra Station is the size of Holland and after our experience in Kojonup i was a little scared.

Our job was to help trap the goats, rams etc so they can be taken to market. I make it sound really simple but it was hard work. You have to remember that in the outback the daily temp is around 40-45oC and we had to trap and herd around 200 goats at a time and half of them were the size of Nicola. We were getting up at around half 4 in the morning to go get there blood goats. After a day or two i saw my first kangaroo, it was hanging upside down dead from a fence. The second was stuck in one of the traps and had smashed itself of the fence trying to get out, There was blood everywhere. The third time was early one morning we went to a trap to organise the goats and there was around 7 kangaroos stuck in the trap. You have to understand that roos are incredibly stupid. They follow the goats into the traps but then try to jump back out which they cant do. Most of the time the only humane thing we can do is shoot them. Nicola couldnt look so i helped get them out. Once they are dead you cant leave them in the trap so you have to drag them out. If someone had said in a years time you will be dragging dead roos around the bush i wouldnt believed them but there you go.

One night we had a barbeque out in the bush. It was amazing we watched the sun setting and you were surrounded by the outback. Im definately going to go back before we leave Perth.

Big love Kirs xx