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Published: January 28th 2011
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A quick change of flights on Thursday and by midnight on Friday I was being greeted at the domestic terminal of the Perth airport by my friends Karis and Nikki (famous from Brisbane, Melbourne and RoadTrippin South Blogs). The next morning I found myself in dry warmth in the hills outside of Perth, seated in the front garden of the Erceg's family home, the Western Australian sun on my skin, my guitar in hand and a few steps closer to peace of mind
The Erceg's were very welcoming from the start and it seemed everybody had their favourite places for me to visit. Over the course of only a few days I had been to Freemantle, got a surfing instruction from Marika (Karis's sister), been taken to see a huge jump from the rocks and into the water from Black Wall Reach and just had gotten invites to about everything anybody was doing.
One thing about the Perth area is that there are many blessing to enjoy nearby. I was taken to many different beaches, some better for swimming, some better for surfing or kite surfing. Marika was kind enough to take me out for my first surfing instruction.
I was told the waves weren't that great that day but consider I had nothing to compare it too, I was neutral. Marika waxed the board and directed me out into the water, in no time I was laying unbalanced on a board swinging my arms and legs trying to catch a wave. With a helpful push from Marika I was in my first wave. I have always been uncomfortable in the water and was surprised at the new sensation of being propelled forward on a board with a wave. I never advanced enough to stand but did make it to my knees. I also managed to get my frontal body hair completely coated in surfing wax, which provided a few smiles. By the end of my first and short surfing instruction I was closer to being comfortable in the water. But never got used to the waves slapping me in the testicles though.
Black Wall Reach was a good walk from where we parked and is high point to jump down into the waters below. Steve (Marika's boyfriend) seemed fearless and was jumping from the highest rocks and into the sparkling waters below, while the girls chose smaller
jumps and I chose to be the camera man. The boaters below would wait for the big jump or shout some words of encouragement. Hey it looked like so much fun to jump off the rocks, with the beautiful backdrop, the perfectly sunny day, the passing boats, the pretty girls to impress. All these factors would seem to carry some weight until I noticed how far down it really is (I’m guessing 30 feet or more).
Lloyd Spiegel is a favourite musician of mine and I have seen him live in Melbourne in July. I remember the concert vividly, it was amazing. So when I stumbled across a poster for his Western Australia tour dates and realized I could catch him in Perth, I was press ganging everyone I knew in Perth. Sure enough 6 of us enjoyed the sounds of the blues master at The Charles Hotel in North Perth. Following the gig I did get a chance to shake hands with Mr Spiegel and have a few minutes of a chat. Told him my favourite songs and asked when the new album was coming along. I was happy he took a few minutes of his time to
chat with drunk me.
The next morning brought my first Australia Day with a cloudless sky and plus thirty degree heat. If I remembered correctly from our drunken state the night before, Steve and I had made plans to take his 1980 Land Cruiser off roading. Once confronted, Steve remembered our plans and in no time we were driving around in the hills of the Maida Vale and Kalamunda areas. The fearless beast of a machine took us up some steep hill climbs, slewed around corners and over rocks. Creating clouds of dust and making it difficult to enjoy our stubbies of Victoria Bitter. After a a good while of off roading and the discovery of a steeper and rockier climb we began hearing noises from the front of the truck. A grinding noise of some sort. We made it back safely but with unanswered questions of what the problem may have been. It was Australia day and we had beer to drink so we decided to worry about it later.
Both the Erceg and Campbell families were eager to feed me, give me advice on their part of Australia and more importantly, share embarrassing pictures of their
children with me. I learned a trick from a girl I went to college with, who was at my family home once and once only, for no more then a couple hours. In this time she found a clever way to embarrass me and become a favourite guest with my mom. By asking to see funny and embarrassing photos of me from my childhood. I learned from this and realize most mothers are all the same and love sharing the photos of their children in Halloween costumes, bathtub photos, bad haircuts and the awkward teen year pictures. A big thank you to Maria and Tessa for showing me some jewels of photos of their offspring as it lead to great conversations or great jokes at their little ones expense.
I would like to thank the Erceg family for the hospitality and accepting me as one of the family. The meals, accommodation, the chats, the laughs and the love. Its a great feeling to have gotten close to each everyone in the family (including Steve). The wonderful chats with Maria and Jon, the fun with Karis and Marika, the beers, ukelele lesson and the off roading with Steve, Anita for
the invite to the fun Aussie party and for being the host with the most. The Campbells for the food, the open door, the laughs and the genuine hospitality they have shown me. Western Australia, a place I never planned to visit and here I am teary eyed in the Erceg's family garden realizing that in only a few hours my family for the last 2 weeks and I will be separated. I will be wandering the streets alone in a foreign country in only a few hours. It's travel. I guess I signed up for all of this.
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