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Arriving in Perth
My flight to Perth was highly uneventful and we arrived at the unusual hour of 12am, though by the time I got out of the airport it was more like 2am. I was sat at the very back of the plane so naturally I was one of the last to leave. As a result, I then had to queue to get through immigration, which was a lot easier than I had anticipated and I didn't require any of the documentation that I had been horribly stressing about in Hanoi (mostly bank statements!) I managed to pick my bag up almost straight away but then had the joy of Quarantine for which I had to queue for a long time. Having travelled through Asia, I had a lot to declare however, the stupid man at the desk only checked my jewellery and ended up throwing out one of my beloved beaded necklaces from Ecuador (you know, just in case one of the beads happens to fall off the necklace, implant itself in Australian soil enough to infect the surrounding area!) As you can imagine I was a bit miffed especially as he didn't even bother checking my walking
boots which were covered in soil from Africa, South America and SE Asia! Oh well, Australians do take their Quarantine seriously!
Finally I made it through this maze only to discover there was no one to collect me. I figured they may have just been late, so I walked up and down the airport for a while before figuring out that I should perhaps call someone. Thus it turns out that ‘Travellers Worldwide’ had gotten the date wrong for my arrival! And so at 2.30am, I was stranded in Perth airport waiting for a guy called Andrew to collect me. He eventually did but then we had the dilemma that due to the fact they had the dates wrong, I had no accommodation for the night. So I ended up going back to Andrew's place whilst he rang hotels to find me a room. So I finally got to bed around 4 in the morning.
The following morning, Andrew picked me up at 11ish and took me down to Townsend lodge, where I would be staying for the next month whilst doing my placement! However, the lodge (of course) was shut for lunch when we arrived, so we
Koondoola
My primary school had to sit in Dome (a great place, mixture between Starbucks and a Harvester) for a good hour until it opened! And so, I eventually got checked in and given my room and got the chance to sort myself out before Andrew took me into town to show me around.
Townsend Lodge
My first night in the lodge, instead of hiding out in my room, I went downstairs and sat in the living room with everyone and so got to meet a lot of the residents. A kiwi staying at the lodge called Reed soon brought in Guitar Hero and the night turned highly amusing. That evening I met Danny, an English guy also on Travellers and also on my placement. More Travellers people turned up whilst I was on my placement and we were soon called Team England by the lodge, as the Olympics were on at the same time.
Koondala School
Monday morning was my first day at my volunteer school and I had no idea what to expect. Jo and Andrew (Travellers people) had just given me my bus pass and directions to the school which was to take about an hour on
Let me free!
Us girls on the night time Freemantle Prison Tour two different buses! Luckily, another girl Jen was also starting that week and we had Danny who had been at the school for two weeks already. The journey everyday involved us walking across the city to the bus station and catching a bus for half an hour to Mirrabooka bus station where we had a 20 minute wait before our bus to Koondoola Primary school.
At the school, we met the headmistress who introduced us to the classes we were to be helping. The school was an ordinary primary school with an Intensive English section for refugee children. It was in these classes I was to be helping. My mornings were taken up with helping a lady called Sevil and her class who were all adorable and from all corners of the world from Malaysia to Sudan. My afternoons were with Jenny and her classes who were slightly more of a handful but still adorable all the same! A new pupil, Grace started in that class at the same time I did and it was great to see her grow and her English improve over the four weeks I was there.
Perth City
Due to my volunteering
being in a school, I had the weekends to explore Perth and the surrounding area. My first weekend, I wandered along the banks of the Swan river down to the bell tower and then up through the city to the Botanical Gardens, which are just stunning. There is also an island in the middle of the Swan river called Harrison Island which has wild Kangaroos, so one day Danny, Emma and I took it upon ourselves to find said kangaroos. And sure enough, just when we were about to give up, there they were hidden in the bush. And then my camera died. Typical.
One weekend, team England missioned across Perth to Caversham Wildlife Park. The journey there involved us spending 45 minutes in an empty supermarket car park waiting for the next bus because everything outside of Perth shuts on Sundays! We eventually arrived though and had a great day playing with Kangaroos and stroking Wombats before attempting to head back to Perth. The minibus driver who had picked us up from the entrance of the park was a meany and refused to give us a lift back so we had a good half an hour walk out
of the park and back to the main road. We then had to wait for over an hour for the next bus back to our car park and then got the wrong bus back to Perth! All in all a mission of a day.
On several occasions, I travelled along the train line down to the coastal town of Fremantle. Once, I went on my own to wander around and have a look at the coast and the Sunday markets and even to the famous Fremantle prison tour which was supposed to be a highlight and I wasn’t disappointed. On another occasion I went back with Team England minus Gemma to do the Prison Tour again but at night which was a horribly creepy affair!
Another weekend, Laura and I got up early one morning and travelled down to Freo (Fremantle) to catch the ferry out to the little island of Rottnest, just off the coast. Once there, we hired our bikes and biked around the island, seeing whales out to see along the way and discovering lots of little secluded beaches and bays. Laura and I cannot claim to be fitness enthusiasts but we really enjoyed biking
around and had a great time out there. We also got to see the famous Rottnest Island Quokka’s, the cutest creature ever who apparently mostly reside on Rottnest.
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