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Yippeeeeeeeeeee were in Australia!!!!
Tuesday 8th September 2009 Singapore-Perth
We arrived into Perth at about 2:30pm after a 5 hour relaxing flight. We loved the fact that the plane was half empty so we could spread out and put our feet up whilst watching a few movies!!!
Our first glimpse of Australia was about an hour before we were due to land. I'd been asleep and Caroline woke me up very excitingly telling me I had to come and have a look out the window. The view was amazing, it was just outback but it was just miles and miles of orange land with no houses, shops or cars in sight. It was a great first view of Oz!
As I said we landed around half 2 and it was a very fast process from landing, to passport control to collecting our bags. Very fast and very easy!!
Once through customs we did our usual of having a cigarette or 2, getting some money and buying a coffee before we even thought of our transport into Perth! So relaxed, (Dad you could learn a thing or 2!!!). Anyway we knew there was a shuttle bus into the city, so after our relaxed start we booked onto the shuttle, waited for 20 minutes and then we were on our way into Perth!
A little shock to our systems as soon as we arrived was firstly the COLD. It is freezing at the moment here in Perth! I'm sure if we had come straight from England it might not be as bad but because we've come from 5 very hot months in Asia, it is bitter!! Temperatures at the moment are no higher than 19'c and that's on a good day. The second shock to the system is the price difference! Oh my god everything is so expensive!!
The shuttle bus dropped us off at the hostel but because we were the last stop it was getting on for 5pm before we arrived. Our hostel is called The Witches' Hat and it's in a suburb just on the outskirts of the city centre called Northbridge. By the time we had checked in and had a coffee it was nearing 6pm and this is when we discovered that everything in Perth closes at 5:30pm/6pm. We on arrival also got talking to Tanya and Rob, who are a set of siblings, who it turned out had been sitting behind us on the plane from Singapore. English as well and travelling for 4 months.
So as tonight we hadn't had time to go to the supermarket we ended up eating out. We left the hostel around 7pm and walked down to and around Northbridge trying to find something to eat. Finding restaurants was not the problem (there are loads), the problem was we didn't want to have to sell our left legs to be able to eat! We ended up going to Nandos* and having dinner there. Not as good as England though, firstly there meal deals only include 1 side unlike England which is 2 and also their drinks are not free refills like England. But anyway it was a good meal.
After we'd eaten we went back to the hostel calling by the off license on the way and then I stayed up and watched a film and Caroline went to bed.
*Nando's-For the benefit of you guys from Louth and for Gran, Nando's is a Portuguese chicken place. Fast food but grilled and cooked in a sauce of your choice ranging from Lemon and Herb through to super spicy. You can either have it just as chicken or in a pitta or as a burger. Really tasty and very popular.
Wednesday 9th September 2009, Perth
We had a super lay in today and a very late start! Main reason being the lack of sleep (only 3 hours), on our last night in Singapore. Once up and dressed (showers are hot) we had a coffee or 2 and then decided it was time to head out and find the supermarket. Things like tea, coffee, sugar, flour are free and they also have a free shelf in the fridge where people have left things behind so there are certain things available all the time but in order to be able to do meals we had to go to the supermarket and buy some food. We went to Coles in Northbridge, we took the super long route as we weren't that sure where we were going, but we got there eventually. We spent around $60 (Australian), but this was on several breakfasts, a few lunches and 2 evening meals along with some token razors and squash. It truly now started to sink in how much more money we were going to end up spending whilst in Oz-its frightening!!
Once we had our grocery's we went back to the hostel, getting back just in time for the rain to start, and had some lunch. Caroline had cheese sandwiches and I had a bowl of cereal and toast with peanut butter. So simple but so nice. One of the things that was beginning to annoy us in Asia was the constant eating out! Constantly having to pick and order off a menu, never being able to just get yourself a drink and always having to wait for ages for even the smallest of orders, so being able to now shop and cook for ourselves is great. How long this feeling last's is another question!!
After having some lunch we walked into Perth City to have a look and buy some walking boots. We have greatly regretted not bringing our walking boots from home. We could have done with them in Asia and we definitely need then here and South America, so this is why we ended up shopping for them here.We'd been advised about a few outdoor shops on Hay Street and had also been told that because they were all competing the prices were good with discount available everywhere. We were very glad to discover that this was very true and ended up both getting boots for about $99-around 50 quid. From here we went to Murray Street to have a look at a few shops but because by now it was around 4:30pm we didn't have long. No extra purchases made but plenty of ideas and a very optimistic Caroline. We decided that we would treat ourselves to a glass of wine and it was during this that Caroline decided that she thought we should definitely have a days shopping. I thought a day was a little too long, maybe half a day? Caroline's answer to this was that she should get as many shopping hours equal to museum hours, so she decided that about 9 or 10 hours of shopping would make up the amount of hours over the past 5 months that she has had to endure museums!! I personally don't see the fairness in this argument, what do you think?????????
Well our 1 glass of wine turned into 4, but they were very nice and the cheapest on the menu, so it was nearing on to 9pm before we went back to the hostel.
Once back we made dinner, tonight it was cold ham off the bone, with salad, coleslaw and a jacket potato. We ate in the kitchen and then spent the remainder of the evening chatting to Tanya, Rob and some Irish lads. Bed at about midnight.
Ok a couple of vital facts I forgot to mention in the past few days,
a) Weight Loss-Neither of us have been trying but somehow we have lost a load of weight whilst being in Asia. According to the 2 sets of scales in our hostel, Caroline has lost a great 10lbs and I have lost an amazing 1 stone 12 lbs. That's nearly 2 stone, I can't quite believe that and am still quite sceptical about how accurate they are?? But as Caroline keep's saying 2 sets of scales can't be that wrong! Can they?!
And b) the mayonnaise- we are so upset, its sweet!! Sweet, how can mayo be sweet? I am not impressed!! Emily if you're reading this, please bring some Hellmann's to Oz with you!! Love you forever if you do!!!
Thursday 10th September 2009, Perth
Today was another late start where we didn't wake up till 10:30am. Once dressed and with tummy's filled, we had intended on heading out but it was raining. Not just rain but chucking it down!! So we waited and waited and waited a bit longer but it just didn't get any better!!! And along with the rain was the cold!! (Were now on Sunday, and the best temp we have had has been no more than 18'c, the lowest has been about 5'c). So anyway we waited a bit but it got no better so we decided to just head out and give it a try. With waterproofs on and umbrellas up we gave it a try. Well within 2 minutes our umbrellas were the wrong way round and although we made it to the bottom of the road, we were soaked. So at that point, we thought, "sod going out were going back"!!
We spent the remainder of the afternoon reading magazines, watching a film and using the internet all in the living room along with about another 10 people who had also decided that due to the weather no one was going out!!
Dinner tonight was tuna pasta bake with good old broccoli (but no mayo!)!!
Friday 11th September 2009, Perth
Today we left the hostel around 10am with Tania and Rob in search of the aquarium. Perth Aquarium is at Hillary's Boat Harbour about 20 minutes north of the city. To get there we had to get a train to Warwick and then onto bus 423 for about 10 minutes until we reached the harbour. The route the bus took showed us some lovely posh houses, defiantly a place to live!! Also on the way there was our first glimpse of the Australian ocean. At the moment were on the banks of the Indian Ocean. The view from the bus and again once we were there showed the sea as again being very blue-gorgeous!! But we were very surprised to see people in it-are they mad, it's freezing!!
The aquarium was good and fun to walk around. It was set in 4 different areas of Western Australia so gave you a good insight. One section of the aquarium was the dangerous specious section. It is very scary to think about all the different things you could encounter whilst scuba diving!! Including fish that look like rocks but that are actually venomous!!
We were in the aquarium for a couple of hours and then we had a walk around the harbour. On a hot day it would be lovely but today was a little chilly. I would have liked to have had a look around the yachts docked but it was just so windy that we didn't want to venture out that far. There were some shops and restaurants, so Caroline and I bought a new bikini each in the sale and then we all had lunch as well.
Once back in Perth we split from Tanya and Rob and tried to do some shopping. We both needed some new cheap tops and some warmer clothes. We tried a few places and although I managed to get a few tops, Caroline wasn't so successful.
After shopping etc it was about 6pm when we headed back, tonight's tea was pizza for me, meat feast, and Caroline had Scrambled egg and beans on toast. After dinner we spent some time chatting and playing games with the Irish lads, Tanya and Rob and Dornvil (Irish) and her man Stevie. At about 11pm all the lads went out and us girls all sat in drinking wine and talking until about 3am in the morning. We were also joined by an American girl, Kathy. Must tell you 4 litre box of wine for $13-BARGAIN!!!
Saturday 12th September 2009, Day trip to Fremantle
The plan today was to laeve at 11am and head to Fremantle for the day but due to last night's lateness it was about 1:30pm before we headed out.
Originally we had intended on going to Fremantle for a couple of days but we were put off by Hopper (manager of Witches' Hat) with his stories of the hostels there. Also because the main attraction is the beach and the laid back atmosphere, it was decided that this time of year is not the best for the beach. And also its only 20 minutes away by train, so a daytrip would be good.
So anyway we walked down to the train station with Kathy as well and then we all got the train from Perth arriving in Fremantle about 2:30pm.
From the train station we walked up the road straight on to the train station and this lead us onto South terrace which is also known as Cappuccino Strip because of all the café's/coffee shops on the road. From here we went and had a look around the Fremantle market, which is only open on Friday's, Saturday's and Sunday's. It was a really good nice market with a mixture of arts, crafts, music and food! Towards the back of the market was also a fruit and veg market with local produce so we bought some strawberries (so much bigger than the ones in England) and some mandarins. On the way out the market we also bought some olives, I bought some garlic and herb ones and Caroline bought some of these as well and also some chilli ones. They were very good!!
Outside the market was a street performer so we watched him for a bit before taking a walk around the town and then down onto the beachfront and walking along the beach to south beach. The walk took us about half an hour and we did venture onto the beach but it was a wee bit windy and also the section of beach we went onto turned out to be the dog beach!! But we also got to watch some kite boarders further along and then after being wind swept we had a coffee at a beach café to warm up!
After the beach we caught the CAT bus (free tourist bus, Perth have one too) back to the station. From here we went over to Cole's supermarket hoping to grab some food, but typically it was 5:10pm and they had shut at 5pm! Thankfully there was a butcher next door so we got some lamb and garlic sausages. 4 sausages for less than $4-not bad. We had salad back at the hostel but I wanted home made chips as well so we went back too the market to get some potatoes and also ended up having a dark chocolate filled donut, it was delicious and cheap, it was the end of day sale!
We arrived back in Perth at about 6:30pm and went straight back to the hostel. Dinner tonight was the sausages with salad and home made chips.
There had been some talk of going out tonight but that didn't happen so we had some wine and a chat and then I did some of the blog and Caroline had an earlish night. I went to bed about 1am.
Sunday 13th September 2009, Perth
Ok I have today left to do but its now 1am and I have to be up in 5 hours so i'm going to bed. I will try and finish it in the next few days, internet permitting!! Check out our other Perth entry for our itinery for the next 3 weeks on our tour from Perth-Darwin. xxx
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