Friday we were up early for our last TransWa bus ride. We caught the bus around 8am, and tried to rest as well as we could during the 6-7 hour ride. Once back in Perth, we checked in to the hostel, and much to our surprise we were in the same room again. And even more, we still had the same roommates from two weeks earlier! It’s unusual for people to stay so long in one place, but one had been working and the other was looking for work, and wanted to stay in the city. The next morning, we bought a 24 hour block of internet from the hostel. We’d already seen quite a bit of Perth, and I didn’t mind staying in for a day to try and catch up on some things we’d ... read more

Sunday evening we arrived in Pemberton. It’s a little town nestled among some fantastic rolling green hills. When we arrived, we showed up at the hostel to a bit of a surprise. Turns out there’s a pretty big backpacker population who works in Pemberton, and the main hostel is for workers. The receptionist then drove us a few hundred meters down the road to the cottage used for traveling backpackers. Very cute. Best part was that it was right across from the local supermarket. Score. That night we met our roommate from Germany, Wencke (pronounced Venx). She had been living/working in Margaret River, and was enjoying a weekend trip to Pemberton. With just the three of us in the whole cottage (holds 10), we didn’t have any trouble becoming friends. The next morning we started by ... read more

Oct. 7th: This day didn’t exactly start off on the right foot. As we were getting ready to leave Fremantle, Hill dropped her small bottle of foundation. Not a big deal… until it hit the ground spraying foundation everywhere! And guess what? She was wearing her brand new light pink hoodie (not to mention it somehow even made it up to her face and on her contacts, which she was wearing at the time). Unfortunately it became stained. We tried washing it right away, but it was all in vain. As her only sweatshirt, she was really bummed (and since it was bought at an outlet shop, they had no more in her size). But we had a schedule to follow, so off to Bunbury! Bunbury’s a cute little town located right on the coast, about ... read more

By October 2nd, we finally reached Perth. 8 months down, and only 2 more to go! Hard to believe that 8 months had gone by so fast. Perth, like many big cities, had quite a few hostels to choose from. There were even a couple of YHAs in the area, so we just went with the most central since we were only in the city for a few days. It was renovated from an old St John’s Ambulance building, and had some cool designs. Very modern too. Saturday, we took a walk through the city to Kings Garden. A beautiful garden area with war memorials, botanic gardens and amazing views of the city’s core. It’s located on the top of a ridge, so you’re able to look over the city, and the river (Swan River) which ... read more

September 25th: After a very long overnight bus ride (actually, three bus rides because of transfers), we finally arrived in Monkey Mia around 7:45am. Monkey Mia is located on Shark Bay, and isn’t even a town, just a resort. It’s famous for the wild dolphins who visit the shore every morning to be fed, and they have been doing this for the past few decades. The only dolphins who are fed are four or five of the mature female dolphins, and they are only fed a certain amount of fish. This reduces the chances of dependency and keeps the dolphins healthy. The dolphins are free to come and go as they please. Because we got there so early in the morning, we were able to see the feeding on our very first day! After the feeding ... read more