Perth… Cottesloe
So I flew into Perth…. And never actually saw any of Perth. I spent my entire 8 days in a one block radius between beach, hostel, bottle shop, and bar…. I think you’d be proud mom ;). I got in really late Saturday night and was still sick and tired so went to bed after meeting some of the guys in my room. Two ex-military Americans and a Brit. The next day was a pretty chill day – I called up Tahnee, a girl I met in Melbourne who lives in Perth and she joined me on the beach for a day of sun, sand, and surf. Cottesloe is on the West Coast of Australia so I was dipping my toes in the Indian Ocean which was pretty amazing. The waves weren’t too big, but still fun enough to play in and the weather was a sweltering 35 degrees. I guarantee you that I am now a nice toasty brown. I hope you all are enjoying your snow ;) That evening I watched the sun set over the water and then met up with Kellen who had just arrived into Cottesloe.
The next day I may or may not have hopped on the Goon train… and pretty much derailed it, it was such a crazy night. For those of you who don’t know, Goon is cheap, box wine. You can get 4L for 20$ so it’s the favorite drink of choice for backpackers as liquor here is ridiculously expensive. The one night I spent 40$ on a 700ml bottle of Mount Gay Rum… super pricey. But anyway, this night a huge group of us backpackers played a few rounds of Sociables, which everyone else seems to call the Ring of Fire. After that was a short swim in the ocean which resulted in a lost camera and a bloody toe. Thankfully my toe did not have to be severed, and I went out to the beach the next morning and found my camera in the sand! I was pretty fortunate and lucked out even further with no hangover :)
The next day, I tended to my toe which was in pretty rough shape with all the sand in it and spent a bit of time on the beach. It was a little windy so I took the opportunity and went for the most gorgeous run along the ocean. Felt so good to go out and exercise and what a view! That evening Kellen and I grabbed a bottle of wine from the bottle shop (which just happens to be a drive-through bottle shop. Where are these in Saskatchewan??) and headed down to the Cot with a group of guys from the hostel. It was a pretty fun night there, and for some reason there was a group of guys all wearing muscle shirts that were standing outside the bar after it closed. I couldn’t help myself and asked them which way to the beach. I just about died laughing when every single one of them flexed their biceps pointing to the beach. After we got back from the bar (which oddly closes at midnight) I watched a quick movie before bed.
The next day Kellen and I grabbed a box of Goon after an early afternoon nap and hung out with the crew in the hostel. We drank away the afternoon and were super excited for the free sausage barbeque that evening. Not only was someone cooking for me (which I absolutely hate doing) but it was FREE! I don’t think there has ever been a better combination. After supper I went for another late night swim – the water was incredibly warm - and then Kellen, Chris, Stan & I sat around and played Cluedo… the Australian version of Clue which is the exact same except for its name.
I was supposed to check out the next day so I got up really early and headed out for a walk and swim in the ocean (rough life hey?) and when I got back I decided that I was going to book another two nights in the hostel. That afternoon a couple of us grabbed a beer at the next door bar and then headed back to the Cot for some tasty cocktails. I was super tired from the last few nights so I headed back to the hostel and had a brief nap then watched Back to the Future (which I have never seen).
The next day is pretty much the same story: beach, booze, and bumming around. I met two other Saskatonians that were in the hostel and that was pretty neat. What are the chances of running into someone from your small city at the same hostel all the way across the world? Apparently pretty good! They gave me tonnes of tips and advice on NZ as well so I was pretty happy as I had made zero plans so far and was flying out the next day.
I had another pretty mellow day the next day, watched a movie and bummed around. I was leaving that night from Perth and flying all night into Melbourne where I would leave from there to get to Auckland, NZ. My flight out of Perth was fine – and I slept the three hours which was nice since I was flying really late. At this point, however, I realized that I had forgotten my trusty metal water bottle in Cottesloe and earlier someone had ripped off my favorite pair of shorts in the hostel. Metal water bottles are super hard to find in either Oz or NZ, and if you can find them, they’re ridiculously expensive. Dammit. And then I got into Melbourne and tried to check in for my international flight and was told I can’t get into the country without having a return flight out of it. I was not impressed. It was 6am in Melbourne, 3am my time and I had to pay a ridiculous amount of money for internet to figure out a flight in which I didn’t know what city I wanted to leave from in NZ and what city I wanted to fly into in Australia. And then I couldn’t book the flight online so I had to Skype my parents and get them to do it! After this I got dinged at security for some peanut butter, and then again for an aerosol bottle and then got drug wanded or whatever it is they do. It was a great morning. Finally I made it through everything and was waiting for the flight when I looked up and saw on the screen that boarding for my flight had closed. I just about had a heart attack. Fortunately it was an error and the plane was actually going to be 40 minutes late. By this time I was so exhausted that when I boarded the plane I don’t even remember take off and when I woke up, we were already 35,000 feet in the air. The plane ride was pretty spectacular. Every seat had their own plug-in, usb port, TV with a huge selection of movies and TV shows, as well as access to email and texting. We also had menus to choose our breakfast meal which came with fresh fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, and grapes) along with a piping hot croissant. I am definitely going to try flying with the Emirates more often! But that’s about as up to date as I can get so I’ll fill you all in on my shenanigans in New Zealand as soon as I can :)
P.S. If you feel like mailing me a metal water bottle from Canada – I would love you forever
P.P.S. It would make a great Christmas present.... ;)
