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PHIL: I know none of us have written for a long time - and you've probably all stopped looking at this now anyway, but there wasn't really much to say that would be of interest to you lot to read - we were in Cottesloe, Perth right up until last Wednesday night, when we flew to Melbourne....I tell you about Melbourne in a bit...
In Cottesloe I was working at Cottesloe Beach Hotel as a housekeeper, 7 days a week and I absolutley loved it!! It's on the same road as the hostel so it's on the beachfront, which means I got to look out everyday at my most favourite view! It also meant I didn't have to bother with any public transport to get to work which is always a bonus. I worked from 8 or 9am until usually about 1 or 2pm, depending how busy it was and if I was working on my own or with 'Ange', which was perfect because then I had the rest of the afternoon and my nights free. Ange was the only other housekeeper and my boss and I loved her - she's a 63 year old woman who just thrives on any gossip and always took the mick out of us 'POMs'!! She loved me too obviously so we made a good little team - in fact she liked me so much she wanted to marry me off to one of the aussie lads who works there so I could stay in Australia forever!! (Don't worry nath I'm still with you & no plans to marry anyone else!)
Hollie finally found a job she really liked and worked at for more than a couple of days! - she was cleaning houses but it was only for a couple of hours on a morning so it tided her over money-wise nicely. Cash in hand too so no tax to pay.
Paul was doing bits and bats of cash in hand work like gardening, scaffolding etc, and Mark worked at the Perth Royal Show which ran for 8 days and was a bit like the Yorkshire Show really so he worked on one of the stalls - where you throw balls at beer bottles and get a prize if you smash them. Then he also did cash in hand work when he could get it.
We went on a road trip one weekend down to a place further south of Perth, along the coast, called Margaret River. One of the lads drove 13 of us down in his van and then a few car-loads followed too, and me & Ceri (another english girl in the hostel who Mark is seeing) organised the accommodation - 2 caravans and a cabin on a caravan site! We went round the wineries, which is what Margaret River is famous for as there are tons of vineyards, for the day, including one that had cheese and pickles and chutnies to try.....mmmm....and the Margaret River Chocolate Factory! The weather wasn't very good that day so it would have been nice to be able to sit outside at some point and relax, but it dried up later by the evening so we had a big barbeque back at the caravan park and had a few (too many) drinks - we'd not bought any oil because it was a bbq, but we ended up doing the sausages in our caravan on a stove thing to speed things up, and therefore had to use wine as oil!! The next day we all went into the village and had a slap-up pub dinner before setting off back up to Cottesloe. The scenery on the journey was beautfiful and I saw my first wild kangaroo!!! - we stopped for a couple of the lads to have a toilet break and a MASSIVE kangaroo shot out from behind one of the trees into the road and across the roundabout! It must have been atleast 6 feet tall, atleast!
We became really close to alot of people in Cottesloe as many of the backpackers choose there to settle for a couple of months and work as work is aplenty in Perth and Cottesloe is such a beautiful setting and perfect location. So we got a great group of friends all doing the sameand we were always organising stuff - barbeques, beach nights, trips to the markets and breweries, hostel quizzes, and plenty of nights out!
Friday 24th October was Ceri's birthday so me, Ceri, Mark & Hollie went down to Swan Valley for the day - another wine region (of course!). We got a picnic together and a ticket on the hop-on hop-off shuttle bus and went round the wineries and breweries. We went to about 8 in total and at the first one we were given 12 tastings...so you can imagine how messy it got!! Agaian it was raining that day too - and Ceri had been looking forward to a sunny hot day for once on her birthday!! It was another really good day though and the bus driver was cool, organising places to stay open for us until we got there when it was coming up to 5pm, telling us the good picnic stops and the wineries where you didn't have to pay for tastings etc.
On our last Saturday in Perth, 1st November, we organised to all go down into the city to Swan River to watch the Swan River Red Bull Air Race. We were there for 9.30am to get a good spot on the grass, took a picnin and some beers and drinks and chilled for the day. It was absolutley scorching hot and the air race was well good - they did all the acrobatic displays first and then that really low flying proper loud and fast jet came out and did a display which was ace and then they did the race - it was the quarter and semis that day and then the finals on the Sunday. It went on until 5pm ish when we were all well and truly sunkissed, stuffed, some very drunk, and shattered. The english did great in the race!
Then last Tuesday, our last proper day really, 4th November, it was the Melbourne Cup. Obviously we weren't in Melbourne then but other areas in Australia have their own version and so we went to Ascot in Perth - the most amazing day!!! I've never been to the races before and haven't a clue on bets and odds etc, so it was pretty exciting (and confusing) - but I won on my first race - I only put $1 on each way on 'Mexican Mist' (because I love mexican food!) but it came first so I got my money back and another $3.50!! Ha ha I was so chuffed!! I bet on another 2 and then they showed the Melbourne Cup on the big screens so I bet on that too so in the end I only came out 50c down so that's pretty good isn't it?!! - the big gambler that I am ha!! It was a great day just looking at all the amazing outfits people had - and trying to squeeze past enormous hats and hair decorations!I couldn't afford to go and buy anything new but luckily I had quite a nice dress that I'd bought really cheap in Kuala Lumpur but I hadn't worn it yet as was a bit too nice for a usual backpacker's night out, so I wore that. That night we all went out for our usual Tueday night at 'The Cott' (where I worked), where they have a live band and cheap drinks etc so it was the perfect end to the perfect day and a good seeing off to us. Also, we'd made really good friends with 4 japanese that stayed in our dorm room on and off (they did a bit of travelling and then came back) and as a goodbye present they had made us a photo album full of pictures of Cottesloe, the beach and sunsets and our dorm room and pcitures of us...it was so lovely and they'd put alot of effort into it which was really touching that we'd had that much of an effect on them for them to do that.
Leaving Cottesloe last Wednesday was, sorry everyone, but probably worse than leaving home in February. - In February I felt like I was going on ana adventure and was too excited really to be nervous or sad, but last week none of us really wanted to move on at all, we'd made such good friends, I loved my job, the place was beautiful and I didn't want to levae that beach and view (I want to live there eventually!)...and we were leaving moreso because we knew we had to - we had come away to travel and yet had stayed in Perth 3 months now so we knew we needed to move on and get back on the road, but didn't really want to! The longer wqe'd stayed though the harder it would eventually be to leave so it was a good move to leave then - and also, alot of our friends had decided the same so many of them left within that week too (in fact alot of them are now with us in Melbourne!). I really miss my job though - as silly as that sounds because it's work and I'm on holiday and it was cleaning, but I'd got my own little circle of friends outside the hostel and just loved the banter with everyone there. It was hard leaving but Ceri took my job (I had to train her) so I didn't leave them in the lurch. Leaving the hostel Wednesday night for the airport was horrible - people were crying and it was surreal really - we've lived in these people's pockets for 3 months and know more about their lives at the moment than most of my best friends and family at home, jsut because you're with them all the time and it's so intense - we knew what time people got up and what they'd eaten that day and what outfit they wore a particular day!! It's crazy. So it was pretty emotional, I managed to fight back mi tears as usual though but I did feel down.
Arriving in Melbourne was soooooo strange - it almost felt like we were going on holiday for a bit and then going back to Perth after a few days...it has taken a while to realise we're not - I keep telling Ceri not to get too comfy in that job and not to "nick my friends" because I'll be back!! We arrived last Thursday at 5.30am and went into the city to find a hostel. We managed to check into one into our own 4 bed dorm, dumped our bags and went straight back to bed. The flight had only been 3 and a half hours but Melbourne are 2 hours ahead of Perth (so 11 hours ahead of you guys) so we were shattered. We slept all day, all depressed that we'd left and wondering why we'd made ourselves leave (or rather why I had made us all leave), until I got us out of bed at 5pm and out into the city to explore......it is hectic. It's not as I expected as everyone had told us Sydney is really busy and hectic whereas Melbourne is much more chilled and relaxed and most people prefer Melbourne to Sydney...but it semed really busy to us and I suppose a bit daunting when we were down and were so used to the chilled perfect environment of Cottesloe and knowing our surroundings completely. Anyway it seemed like a funky place, some cool buildings and cute little cobbled backstreets lined with cafes which I just love. Very European feel and then at the other scale it was a very Asian feel as there are so many thai, indonesian, malaysian, vietnamese people and restuarants and stalls and stalls of sushi and indian food....great! We had a couple of slices of pizza and went back to the hostel to mingle...very hard in a massive 13 storey busy hostel...so we eventually went back to bed at 12.30ish.
Since then we checked into Home Travellers Motel in St Kilda, 15 minutes on the tram outside of the city. St Kilda had been recommended to us as it's a seasdie town and has lots of cool bars and streetside cafes again and there's alot of hostels around so plenty of backpackers. Our hostel however is probably the worst! We're in a 10 bed dorm which wouldn't be too bad except the bathroom in your dorm is theonly bathroom - there's no toilets anywhere else in the hostel so we can literally be waiting 2 and a half hours to get ina and just get changed or clean your teeth...and if you need the loo when people are lining up for the shower...bad times! Also, it is 80% Germans and 19% Irish which means 1% 'other'. The irish are all cool with us and chat away and are very friendly and inviting, but the Germans here give themselves such a bad name - they are so ignorant and rude. I have made such an effort to talk to people but you just get nothing back, at all.When we first arrived and we were all a bit down and feeling sorry for oursleves and missing people, I suggested getting a bottle of whatever and going and sitting outside with everyone and just put oursleves out there and get to know people...but it was the worst night ever - we got one -word answers and it was blatantly obvious that they just were not interested! We've all relaised whilst travelling that you can't judge people byt the 1st, 2nd or even 3rd appearnaces as the worst, most stuck-up or rude person can actually turn out to become one of your closest mates and you were so wrong, or the nicest, what seemed to be funniest or sweetest person can actually be a sly stirring little.....!! So we've given them plenty of chances and didn't go by just that night, and to be honest a couple of them, because we've kept on being nice and trying to chat and as some of them are in our dorm, they are ok and talk to us, but the majority are still the same, and it's been a week now.
So, we were going to switch to another hostel down the road on Sunday, which our friends from Perth are staying at and it's really cool but was full when we tried to book it on our arrival, but we have now got a job fruit picking 6 hours north of here as of Monday, so we are leaving Melbourne on Sunday and going up there for 2 weeks!! It'll be really hard work but I'm really excited about it - this is what I came travelling for, this experience!
So we're trying to cram in as much as possible of St Kilda and Melbourne before we leave on Sunday - we did Neighbours night on Monday night which was the best night!!! It was ultimate cheese but sooooo good! I don't watch Neighbours anymore,haven't for years (I'm a mad Home & Away fan) so I didn't think I'd be that bothered as don't know the characters anymore...but alot of people in Perth had been and told us to go saying that alot of them didn't watch it but it was a great atmosphere etc.....and they were right. 'Dr Karl Kennedy' was the star of the show and he played in his band so that was great because eveyrone knows him as he's been in it for ages now, and his band was actually fantastic - they did Killers, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Coldplay, Oasis, Beatles....brilliant. And then 'Michelle Scully' was there too which was great for us because I used to watch it when she was in it - she played the younger sister of Holly Valance's character. She's apparently coming bakc into the show so that's why she was there but apparently they do bring back past actors alot if they can. And then as I'd been made to watch the show a couple of times in the last couple of weeks in the hostel in Perth, I recognised the other guy as 'Dan' who goes out with Libby in the programme. So it was cool! We did a quiz and danced the night away, got to meet all 3 of the stars and had ace photos taken with them! The girl who played Michelle seemed really nervous to be there and when everyone could ask them questions she seemed quite shy, but Mark started chatting her up and she thought it was funny! Karl was clearly loving it, he's a right performer,a dn Dan was really down to earth and a nice guy! All in all it was a fantastic night - oh and Mark & Paul both won prizes for dancing (in the 3rd round of the quiz you had to get up and dance as hard as you could between every question - us lot were concentrating too much on answering the quiz questions but mark and paul were just going mad on the dancefloor!!!) - Mark won an ace 3 day adventure tour in New Zealand (!!) and Paul won a ticket into Melbourne Aquarium!
Since then we've met up with our friends from Cottesloe hostel and been to the beach, to a bbq, enjoyed the cool cafes and been out most nights if just to get out of our hostel! Today we're going to hopefully orgnaise a trip for tomorrow and head into the city for the afternoon, and then we're meeting up again with a Scottish girl that lives here - she stayed at Ocean Beach Backpackers in Cott a couple of weeks back for a couple of nights and came out with us on Ceri's birthday. Then we leave Sunday to do some hard graft!! That shoudl be interesting!
Hope everyone and everything is well back in England and everywhere and again sorry for leaving it so long to update you all - I bet after reading this you can now see why!! Take care all xxxx
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