Day 18: Last Aussie Stop Perth

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It was time for my last stop within Australia, Perth. I packed quickly and called for a taxi. At this point I realized I should have looked more carefully on the bulletin board. It showed a signup sheet for people to share taxis. There was someone leaving at the same time as me but by the time I got down there and saw the sheet, whoever it was had left in a taxi a minute before. I could have split the cost of the taxi with them if I had been more curious about the hostel. Another mistake I made that morning was forgetting my microfiber towel on my bed. This towel was special because it was the size of a hand towel but incredibly absorbent so it could be used as a regular towel. I would have to rent towels for the rest of the trip.

Flight was on Virgin Airlines and once again I slept through the courtesy snack service. I took the fast bus into the city centre which dropped me off near the Western Australian museum. I walked from there to my hostel, The Witchs Hat Backpacker. It was a bit out of the city center but had good reviews on hostelbooker. I was once again early but the hostel was good enough to let me have my bed immediately. I rather liked the lady who was at reception, a greek woman I believe. This hostel was used mostly by people who worked in Australia legally or otherwise. I had conversations with people who lived there and they were Europeans who had come to Australia because jobs were hard to come by where they were.

Once I was all set I got some travel advise from the lady at reception and headed out. I had no real plans but I figured I could start at the CBD. Perth has an efficient bus system and there are several loop lines through the CBD that are free of charge for everyone. They are color coded Blue, Green, Gray, Red. I had to walk a bit to get to the closest stop but once I got on the bus directions were quite clear.

Perth is the largest city and capital of Western Australia with a population of 2 million. It is also one of the most isolated state capitols in the world and one of the reasons why flights are bit tricky to get. It is a booming city right now and the downtown has a number of skyscrapers. Once I got to the downtown I went in search of the Visitor Center. Perth was well setup for tourist and the CBD was full of souvenir shops but I was able to find the center quickly enough. Once there I took a look around and I could see there were a lot of tours you could take but most of them were day tours or several day tours which I just did not have time for. I got directions to Kings Park and the nearest store that sold AFL stuff. After taking some maps I headed out to the nearest AFL store. FYI AFL stands for Australian Football League which is the biggest sports league in Australia. One of my friends Megan is a huge Hawthorne Hawks fan and to thank her for letting me crash at her place I wanted to send her a jersey. When I got to the store they did have the proper jerseys but they did not have any in women's sizes. Rather than send her the approximate men's size I opted instead for a nice Hawk's Hat and would mail it out later on in Hong Kong.

With that done I went to a nearby restaurant, an Italian place and had a nice meal of Risotto. I had remembered that Australia contained a lot of Italians so it was no surprise that Italian food was good there. Than I decided to go to Kings Park which was recommended by some of my local friends as the best park to see in Perth. I got on the necessary bus and I thought there was something wrong but I didn't say anything until the bus driver announced the end of the line and I found myself way off in Perth's suburbs. I had gotten on the right bus but going in the wrong direction. After getting advise from the bus driver I got on the correct bus but by the time I got back to the CBD it was into the evening and I was meeting a friend soon. I headed back to the hostel and had enough time to grab a 30 minute nap before it was time to head out.

My Perth friend Aileen was good enough to pick me up at the hostel even thought she already had a long day at work. Background, Aileen was another friend from the Topdeck Tour. I remember her because on the bus ride into Rome it was very crowded and I was more or less sitting in her lap for 30 minutes or so. Like I said before we were all pretty close on the bus. She is an easy person to talk to and an avid dancer of the Lindy Hop. After a hug hello we were off to dinner. We went to Perth's small Chinatown. It was really only 1 street of shops and restaurants. We sat outdoors and had a meal of rice, squid and vegetables. It was good food as well and it was not too expensive. After overcoming some resistance from Aileen I paid for dinner.

Afterwards we went for a walk around the street and were entertained by a very loud drunk guy who was being calmed down by some police officers on bikes. Even a block away we could hear his shouts of defiance 😊. Leaving the drunk behind we went to a bar called the brass monkey that Aileen knew. Once there I decided to try a few local drinks that I had not tried yet. So over drinks we caught up on our lives since the tour and I told her about our topdeck buddies. It was a nice evening and I enjoyed the drinks even though they were having a strong affect on me. We were planning on seeing Kings Park at night but it was cold and windy so we decided to call it a night. Being the great lady that she was Aileen drove me back to my hostel and we said goodbye for now as we would see each other tomorrow when we met with our other Perth friend Rachael.

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