Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So....as October came to a close, we arrived back in Australia, almost 4 months after we left it. I took the boys to the YHA, Perth, where I had lived for two months earlier in the year and this is where we spent the majority of our time living in Oz. The first weekend we were there the Red Bull Air Show was on at the Swan River, but in truth, I wasn't too interested in watching stunt pilots because I was so tired, so I only saw a little bit of it one day, after eventually getting out of bed.
We had arrived in Perth pretty broke (except Baz who was 20 grand better off for his pools win) so we had to find jobs pronto. Having said that, we stepped off the plane on the Thursday and I was working out at Cannington, East Perth, on the Friday. Chris was also working by the next week, so we got off to a good start. It wasn't long though before I arranged to get myself back into Charlies...the hospital where I had worked the first time. So sure enough, by the next week I was working in the Renal unit, which is right next door to the Liver unit where I'd worked previously. It was great, not only getting to see my old colleagues again, but being able to see them everyday! I also got to meet Merci...have a look on the photos...she is one of the best looking chicks I have ever met, also one of the nicest personalities!
It was also great to get back in touch with Dean again and I arranged to meet him in the Paddo, where we spent some good Friday afternoons drinking, the first time I was in Oz. Unfortunately Hannah had moved back to the East coast, so I didn't get a chance to meet her again....but I will one day...somewhere. Anyways...it was great to see Dean again, and he invited us to his house party where I met Matt and Margeaux again (the couple I had lived with for 2 months in Osborne Park). So it was a great reunion and I was glad to be able to introduce Chris and Baz to my aussie friends so they could see that I really 'had' been travelling with a pair of useless bums!
I also introduced the boys to Northbridge, the nightlife area of Perth, which I usually tried to stay away from because it's always full of tourists and local hoons trying their best to be the loudest and drunkest. But it was alright when the Northbridge Festival was on, where, amongst other acts, we got to see some weird people on top of poles leaning back and forth.....it was actually quite good in the dark....even if it was a little pointless. But anyways, it was a free festival and I was also introduced to 'Krumping' which is a new dance style that seems to be taking off. Now, while I am always open to new things, I don't think I will ever be dancing like this for real in a nightclub. It kinda looks like you are having a violent, vertical, epileptic fit. If you have seen the Chemical Brothers video 'Galvanize'....thats what Krumping is.
I suppose the thing I will remember most about Oz the second time around though is the WAPL......the West Australian Poker League. We all signed up to this free league which meant we could play, for free, up to 4 nights a week. In the end Baz stopped going (probably because he never came anywhere near winning) . But me and Chris ended up playing 3 times per week...at Subiaco, The Poker Den and the Elephant and Wheelbarrow. As it happens, I managed to prove that I was the best poker player of the 3 of us by actually winning one of the events in Subiaco. I will be sure to put my trophey in a prominent place in my house when I return...just to remind Chris
Poker was not only a lot of fun for us, but it gave us a chance to meet a whole load of cool people. We ended up having a group of friends that we would see every time we met up....it's a very sociable game, and if you got a few of them around the same table, it made for a great nights entertainment. I managed to get a few photographs of the people we spoke to the most....they are on my album. They certainly made the 2 months in Oz a lot more pleasurable than it would have been otherwise. I know Chris was really disappointed when he had to go home that he couldn't play any more poker with them, and I was a bit sad too when the season ended a couple of weeks later.
Speaking of new people....the 3 of us soon became '5' of us when we were in Perth. First we met a girl from Vancouver called Marlise, who ended up hanging around with us for the duration of our stay in Oz (must have been nuts). She happened to be pretty good at the poker too and was the level headed one of the group. Having said that...one could argue that hanging around with us for that length of time was actually quite a daft thing to do! Anyways...the 5th member of our group was Chris Browne....the bloke Baz travelled through Asia with and who is mentioned in my Thailand Blog. So that was our group, but at the end of November, after over 13 months of travelling, the Pope decided that it was time to leave...and meet up with his new English chick Jemma, who he had met in Japan. He also wanted to surprise his family for Christmas, which meant that we all had to keep quiet for weeks until he got back home to Dundee.
So then there were four of us, and we decided to move down to Freemantle, which is an area approximately 25 minutes South by train along the coast from Perth. It is a much smaller place than Perth, but seems to have a better vibe to it. It has a major docks area servicing the West Coast of Australia and all the buildings in the town are of Victorian and Edwardian architecture. There are also heaps of cafes, restaurants and galleries which make wandering about, or just sitting down with an ice cream enjoyable (I preferred the latter option). Bearing in mind that tempreatures were hitting 40 degrees almost every day in mid December it was quite tiring just getting through each day. I don't think I could live in these kinds of tempreatures for a significant period of time. I actually like being cold every now and then...so I can wear cool jackets and gloves.
Freemantle is also home to the Little Creatures brewery, where they make a great Pale Ale, which I loved! Now, Chris and Baz didn't seem to like this when I first introduced them to it, much to my disappointment. But some people just have no taste in the finer things of life.
On my second last day of being in Oz, I booked a trip up to the Pinnicles, about 270 kms North of Perth. These Pinnicles are really famous in Australia and are quite unique I believe. They are limestone formations that have formed over thousands of years. The rocks seen jutting out of the desert ground are compacted limestone features which have been left as all the other looser material has been washed and blown away over the past few thousand years. It really is a fascinating place, perhaps my pictures don't do it justice, but it's well worth a visit. This day trip was really cheap as well (considering Australia is the most expensive country I've visited). Our tour took us to a wildlife reserve where I got close to some koalas, and I also got to try my hand at sandboarding...which is like sledging, on sand. It's great going downhill, so long as you don't fall off your board and end up eating a mouthful of sand. But the climb back uphill wasn't good at all....not easy climbing a massive loose sand dune in 45 degree heat!
But on 28th December, 2007, I had to leave Australia...for good. I have no idea when I will return here again...it may be a good number of years (and it will cartainly be when I have heaps of money to afford it). Australia will be remembered by me as being way too expensive, way too hot and having way too many tourists. But it will also be remembered for good things too. I met some great people here, Matt and Margeaux, my colleagues from Charlies hospital, Oz, Jim, Aiz and the rest of the boys from the poker, but best of all Dean and Hannah...two of the best people I have ever met. So I guess all things come to an end, and I had to say my cheerios to Chris Browne, then Marlise and Baz at the station. I was actually sadder than I thought I would be when I left them. I've travelled on my own for lengthy periods of this trip already....but it seemed somewhat 'final' saying cheerio to Baz, after over 1 year being away together, and striking out on the last leg of my journey alone. Still, my sadness of leaving Australia was mixed with excitement about going back to San Francisco, one of my top 3 world cities....and of getting to see my friend Thu (2) again, who I'd met in South Korea.
- comments