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The flight was o.k, we got a free meal and a drink that we weren't expecting so that was a bonus! Got to Perth around 18:00 and got a taxi to 'Criterion Hotel' in the CBD (Central Business District). Proper hotel, definitely a world away from where we have been staying! Had a little wander about, once the sun goes down it get's really cold, we didn't stay out long, it was freezing! We got some food, I had a shower and we spent the night trying to find somewhere cheaper to stay, we can't afford £40 a night for very long!
13/1/10
Got up, checked out and went and booked another hotel (Aarons Hotel) just down the road (not much cheaper though!) We left our bags at the hotel and had a wander around town. From what I've seen already Perth is beautiful, really clean and vibrant, everyone seems friendly, the sun is shining, people are milling about, it seems like a really nice place to be. The buses around the city are free so I want to hop on one and go down to Swan River and take a look. There's also botanical gardens that are free so I fancy that too.
We've underestimated how expensive everything is in Australia and to survive and be able to do the things we want to do we've decided to cut our trip short, spend a little less time in Australia, fly straight to New Zealand and then home from there. It's not ideal but we've discussed it and it seems to make a lot more sense, we've done plenty already and there's still loads more to come so we're both happy with our decision.
14/01/10
Checked out of Aarons Hotel and checked straight back into Criterion Hotel (don't ask, it was the cheapest room we could find!) and headed to STA travel to see if they could help us, what a surprise, they couldn't! Typical, STA are proving to be a waste of time. They're very good at taking your money off you but once they've got it you're basically on your own and everything they tell you about being there to help you is utter BS. We went to the Quantas office and they were much more helpful, told us we could change our plans and fly from Brisbane to Aukland and from Aukland to LA to UK. Doing this will mean we're home earlier than planned but at least we can have a fun packed last few months! We decided not to do anything just yet and to think it over, it's a big desicion.
15/01/10
We slept on it and decided that this was gonna be the new plan. We both feel better and agreed it's the best thing to do. Woke up early this morning early due to the builders who are the NOISIEST I have ever heard! We spent the day in the CBD again sorting out our tickets. We also went to the tourist information ands booked a train ticket from Perth to Adelaide on the 20th and another one from Adelaide to Melbourne on the 25th. This gives us a few days to explore Adelaide and we get to see all of sourthern Australia by train! We've also started looking on the net for campervans from Melbourne to Brisbane, ROADTRIP!
Went for dinner at 'Korner Cafe' a couple of doors down from the hotel, they do the best Thai food outside of Thailand and the green curry is amazing!
16/01/10
Checked out this morning, we've found an apartment on the other side of town, near Swan River. It's £50 per night which is cheap (Australian prices it's cheap!) and it's self catering so we should save money on not eating out every night. We got a taxi to 'Mountview Apartments' and then went food shopping. The apartment is small, the bed is in the living room(!), a small bathroom and kitchen but it's clean and perfect for what we want. We're quite close to Kings Park and the Bottanical Gardens so this afternoon we took a walk up there, this is the BEST park I've ever been in! It's massive, over 400 hectares, and there's massive paths going everywhere and loads of trees, plants, ponds, statues, and massive open areas where you can chill out. I really love this park, the views over the city and the river are amazing, I'd be here everyday if I lived in Perth!
I've managed to activate my phone so Steve rang whilst we were in the park, it was so good to talk to him after all this time, I've missed speaking to him! Told him our new plan and he's cool with it so it's all systems go, can't wait to see him! We left the park, got lost on the way home, finally found it so we had a well deserved spaghetti bolognaise for dinner!
17/01/10
Waiting to see if we can hire the campervan we want. They're gonna contact us if there's one available so fingers crossed! It's 40 degrees celcius and it's only 10:30! Thinking of going to Scarborough Beach today but it's too hot at the moment, I'll have skin like crackling if I sit out in this ha ha!
We walked into town and caught the 400 bus to Scarborough, it took about half an hour to get there and it was well worth it, the beach is beautiful! There was loads of people there (a LOT of posers!), the sea was the same colour as the sky, the bluest blue I've ever seen and the sand was nearly white. We found a spot and proceeded to slowly bake. We decided to head into the sea for a dip, it's the Indian Ocean so we thought it would be nice and warm but it was literally like walking into ice water, good job I was so hot! The water was so powerful, pulling and pushing us and the waves were pretty big so I didn't go out too far, we'd already seen the lifesavers pull two people out and I didn't want to be the third! Once we'd cooled down it was back onto the beach to enjoy the last couple of hours of sunshine, it was a great afternoon. Headed back on the bus and had bacon sarnies for tea, nice! Spoke to Lou on skype which was brill, made me miss her hearing her voice, we just talked the usual crap so it was just like being at home! After that my mum and dad and nan rang so I got to see them too which was cool, haven't seen them in a while so it just topped my day off nicely!
18/01/10
We've got the campervan we wanted! Had an e-mail this morning confirming it so now I can't wait, roadtrip baby yeah! Got an exciting couple of weeks ahead and then I get to chill with my bro, what could be better?! We caught the train to Freemantle (only just!), the journey took about 25 mins, once we got there we didn't know what to do so we headed to the information office. We decided to head to Freemantle Prison for a tour and I'm so glad we did, it was really good! Our guide, Jane, told us all about the convicts that got shipped over from the UK and the prisoners that were Australians who they transferred into the prison later on to fill it up. Freemantle prison was maximum security and we got to see all of it, the reception, the showers, the cells, segregation, the gallows, the punishment area (the cat o' nine tails was popular!), there was artwork in some of the cells on the walls that the inmates were allowed to do as part of their rehab. This was only in the last few years of the prison being open and some of it was amazing. We walked around, it was very interesting to hear the stories. The tour lasted about and hour and a half and afterwards we walked back into town and to the harbour where we had the best fish and chips ever! We caought the train back to Perth and by the time we got back I was knackered! Managed to make a green curry for tea, I definitely need to practice cooking rice ha ha!
19/01/10
Last day in Perth! Really excited about getting the train tomorrow. Went up to the park and walked across the high bridge above the trees, it wasn't a very long bridge so it didn't take long, we had to walk a long way uphill as well to get to it so it wasn't one of my better ideas! The park was still beautiful though so I didn't care. We got on the free bus into town and spent the rest of the afternoon mooching about the shops (bookshops mostly!) and posting my postcards.
20/01/10
Up early, train leaves at 11:55 and we gotta be at the station one hour prior. Cleaned up the apartment, checked out and got a taxi to the East Perth Trin Station. The Indian-Pacific train is huge! It seems to go on for miles. We got on, got settled and we were off! The landscape is changing slowly from city to suburb to village to forest to outback so it's really good, it's changing all the time so far, I'm loving how red the earth is getting, real Aussie outback! We've booked on to one of the whistlestop tours which is a bit later on tonight so I'm just gonna sit back, relax and read my book.
Been on the train a while now, the scenery is myuch the same, we've just gone through a dust storm which was pretty coo, glad I wasn't out there in it! It just starts all of a sudden, you can't see anything for red dust and then it just stops, very weird!
The sun is setting behind us and it's turning the world around an amazing colour! The trees look golden and with the contrasting red earth that is turning deeper in colour it looks like the outback you see on postcards, it's stunningly surreal! Sunset is definitely on of my favourite times of day in Australia, more so now I've seen this!
Got off the train at Kalgoorlie around 22:00, we decided to go on the tour so we got on the coach and headed out into 'Gold Country'. We drove around town and our driver/guide told us a few facts about Kalgoorlie on the way up to the 'Superpit' which is a massive gold mine that is so big you could easily fit Ayers Rock into it! It's one of the worlds largest open cut gold mines, being 3km long, 1.4km wide and 330m deep. Haul trucks carry up to 225 tonnes of ore, burn 360 litres of diesel per hour and travel up to 15mph. Face shovels load 60 tonnes per scoop, we had our pic taken in one of the scoops and it's bloody massive! The annual production is 85 tonnes of ore, 800,000ozs of gold valued at $440 million. It was hard to comprehend the sheer size of it, especially in the dark! The driver took us back into town, showed us where gold was first discovered, the hotels, the bars and the brothels (that were open, like a smal version of Amsterdam!). It was a really good tour, our guide was lovely and it was much better than sitting on the train for two hours!
Got back on the train, most people are asleep but I don't know how, we couldn't afford the ridiculously high price for a cabin so we're slleping in a chair for the next two nights! The only bonus is that the carriage isn't quite full so Simon's got 2 seats and I'm on the 2 seats in front. Not looking forward to it, I'm sure my back will punish me enough! Having a brilliant journey so far, definitely one of the best experiences on the whole trip, not many people can say they've sailed down the Ganges, trekked through the Thai jungle and crossed the whole of South Australia by train, and we've stil got New Zealand!
21/01/10
Got woken up at 07:00 with an announcement that it was breakfast time, slept suprisingly well seen as though I was scrunched up most of the night using my towel as a blanket! Came to a bit and went to the buffet car. We are in the middle of nowhere, about to begin the longest straight line of track in the world, 478km. As we had breakfast we could look out of the window and watch the wild kangaroos hopping along around us, it was pretty cool! All around us ow is this vast expanse of nothingness, really and truly in the outback now mate!
After a while we arrived in Cook, we're stopping for half an hour so we're gonna take a look at a real life ghost town!
Oh my god I don't think i've EVER been that hot in my life! I don't know how anything survives out there, it's bloody boiling! Cook used to be a small village of 40 people but privitisation has seen business in the town dwindle to nothing and now only one family of four live here. God knows why they stayed, it's completely desolate and the Indian-Pacific is the only way the family get provisions, twice a week. There is a tiny shop and a few derelict small houses and that is literally about it, surrounded by desert, did I mention it's bloody hot too?! We were off the train about 20 mins and that was plenty, I really think the last family in Cook are mad!
22/01/10
Another knee-aching night! We figured out that the chairs turn around to face one another so it was a little better but still had a crap nights sleep and now it's around 06:30 everyone's up and bleary eyed. The sun is coming up and it looks stunning so that makes me feel better!
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