Unrelenting officers, unrelenting sun, unrelenting flies (Part 1)

---

Having spent my entire life in the Northern Hemisphere (with the exception of Jakarta), I decided to take a trip to Australia to take a peek of the bottom half of the planet. With my mum attending a course in the UK, my dad working in HK and my sister busy with her university studies, I finally had the freedom to sneak away from Singapore and take a secret solo trip. However, I spent most of my leaves and days-off-in-lieu on travelling (kinda expected for a travelholic like me), so I could only afford a short weekend break, and Perth seemed to be the perfect destination for a short getaway (not too far from Singapore, and flights not too expensive).

Many of my friends and relatives have visited Australia at some point of their lives, as Australia is relatively near to Singapore compared to US or Europe. Their reviews of Australia have been consistently good, so I carried a high expectation for my trip. In the end, the trip turned out to be rather discouraging, thanks to 3 unexpected nuisances.

Unrelenting officers
Australia is well-known for its strict quarantine and customs, but never in my life and never in any other countries in the world had my luggage and my personal background been checked so thoroughly upon arrival. Some of the questions the custom officers asked included:
- Where are you from? (They still asked even after they saw my Singapore passport...)
- Why are you here? Where do you stay here? Do you know anyone here?
- What are these? (They were referring to my KFC meal coupons and Cold Storage supermarket vouchers, after they took out EVERY SINGLE ITEM from my folder and spread the items out on the table, CSI-style...)
- Why do you bring these here? (They were referring to my coupons and vouchers again. Isn't it usual for people to leave such stuffs in their bags?)
- What do you intend to do here? Tell me in details where you will go and what you will do.
- Why are you here only for 2 days? (I told them that I just wanted a short weekend break as I don't have enough leave. They gave me a suspicious look. I guess Australians do not take short weekend breaks. Either they have so many leaves that they can take a week's (or even a month's) break, or they are so busy with work that they don't travel.)
- Do you have experiences travelling alone? (Oh please... I travel alone so many times that I lost count...)
- Do you consume drugs? Have you tried them?
- What is your mother working as? What about your father? Any siblings? (A younger sister) What is she working as?
- How much money did you bring? (A$200) What happens if you have no more money? (I can use the ATM.) Show me the ATM card. How much money do you have in this card?
- Did you visit other countries in the last 2 weeks? (I went to Kuala Lumpur.) Why did you go there? What did you do? How long did you stay? (Australians seriously do not take short getaway breaks, hence they gave me the suspicious look again when I said I went there for a short getaway break.)
- When did you move to Singapore? Why did you move to Singapore? (They asked me after they saw Hong Kong as my place of birth in my passport.)

The questions above were only a fraction of what I encountered during the 30-minute "interrogation" cum examination (of my belongings, that is). They really opened and examined every single item - including every piece of clothes and every single sheet of paper. (They put my laptop under x-ray, swabbed my handphone and iPod, and almost flip through every page of my guide-books borrowed from the library.) After the whole process, the supervisor said that it's a standard procedure for all foreigners. She also said that my "examination" was more detailed because I portrayed a "high risk" due to my very short stay. (What risk? I wondered.)

What a way to be welcomed into Australia, and what a first impression of the country!

(2) Unrelenting sun
Sunshine has never been a stranger to me, since I spent most of my life in tropical Singapore. I also encountered a lot of sun during my trips to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and Sri Lanka this year. Since Perth lies 31º to the south of the Equator (the northern equivalent would be Shanghai) and November is spring-time in Perth, I expected a milder weather. In the end, I returned with the most serious sunburn I had ever had.

In Southeast Asia, when the sun is out, the weather becomes hot. And when I feel the heat, I will seek cover. However, in Perth, when the sun is out, the weather is not hot due to an abundance of wind. Since I did not feel the heat, I continued to stay in the sun. As I expected mild weather, I didn't bring my sunscreen. BIG MISTAKE. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky during my stay in Perth, so my poor skin received all the sunlight the sun was offering. (In Singapore there are plenty of clouds that filter part of the sunlight.)

After being "burnt" for one day, I decided to open my umbrella on the 2nd day. However, shortly after I opened my umbrella, the wind was so strong that my umbrella flipped inside-out and the frame of the umbrella broke... So I had to throw my umbrella away. Because it was a Sunday, most of the shops were not open, so I didn't manage to buy a new umbrella (I was not really interested to buy a new umbrella anyway, because everything in Perth was so expensive.) In the end I continued to be "burnt" by the sun for the rest of the day.

Before flying back to Singapore, my skin was as red as a cooked lobster (esp my nose and forehead). A few days after returning to Singapore, my poor skin started to peel and flake.... and my poor lips had so many cracks that rubbing my lips felt like rubbing sandpaper. Next time when I travel, I will bring my sunscreen with me, no matter where I go.

(3) Unrelenting flies
Flies can be found all over the world, and yes, they are irritating. But in Australia, flies reach a whole new dimension. They don't come in swarms. They come in "storms". Not only that, Australian flies follow you and pester you non-stop. They are so aggressive that even the worst touts I encountered in Morocco/China/Indonesia look weak in comparison. (And I thought touts was the worst thing that I could ever encounter.)

During my 2-days trip in Perth, I was surrounded by flies most of the day-time. On the first day, from the very moment I stepped off the train at Fremantle station at 7am, I was surrounded by flies. They follow me all the way around Fremantle, onto the Rottnest ferry, all the way around Rottnest Island, and back onto the return ferry. On the second day, I was surrounded by flies in Kings Park, and during my entire trip in Guildford. They just won't go away, despite my vigorous movements and fast runs. And they continued to pester me even after I kept applying insect repellent onto my skin, my hair, my clothes, my bag.... (I used up 3/4 of my bottle of repellent just on Rottnest Island.) The most irritating thing about the flies was that they liked to fly around my head and bombard my ears non-stop with the disgusting buzzing sound. Unlike touts, which you can chase away by shouting or simply ignoring, the flies in Australia just won't go away despite my loud shouting, scolding, or swearing... (I have never said the F word so many times in one single trip.) Ignoring is the worst action, as the more you tried to ignore, the more flies will surround you.

------------------------------------------------

In addition, I also find things rather expensive in Perth. For some items, I find the prices in Perth even higher than UK or Scandinavia. The high prices are probably due to the isolated location of Perth, resulting in many goods being imported. (Reminds me of Iceland.) The high price is most evident for drinks - soft drinks, mineral water, milk, juices. On average, a bottle of drink costs A$3 in Perth, whereas in other parts of the world the same bottle of drink may cost around A$1. Besides Perth's isolated location, the dry geography of Australia probably also contributes to the high price of drinks. (Australia is the 2nd driest continent after Antarctica.)

Another thing that is expensive in Perth is the transportation between the airport and the city. The international terminal and the domestic terminal are bizarrely built on opposite sides of the airfield. While there are public buses to/from the domestic terminal, the only public transport to/from the international terminal is the expensive shuttle (A$20 single, A$30 return) or the even more expensive taxi. Even the inter-terminal transport is pathetically limited to the expensive transfer bus (which is only available for transit passengers) or taxi. Such a limited variety (and high price) of transport for a major city's international terminal is pathetic. (How I wish Easybus or Terravision can set up a bus service in Perth... or better still, Transperth can extend a bus route to the international terminal...)

Looking beyond all the nuisances and high prices, Perth is actually not a bad place to live. (It's kinda funny to see myself spending so many time talking about the cons before I go into the pros.) The streets are clean, the air is fresh, and the atmosphere is relaxed. Most of the sights in Perth can be reached by walking or public transport. Although transportation is expensive, it is pretty efficient and has a good coverage of the whole city (except the airport's international terminal). And Perth's residents are really blessed with the good accessibility to fantastic beaches and wonderful wildlife.

Although I only spent 2 days in Perth, I managed to visit all the places that I wanted to see. I spend 1 day in Fremantle and Rottnest Island, and 1 day in Downtown Perth, King's Park, Subiaco and Guildford. Please refer to my photos for the details of my trip. As I took plenty of photos, I divided this trip into 2 posts - the first day in this post (part 1), and the second day in the next post (part 2).

---

Photos

Airport City Shuttle
The only mode of public transport (besides taxis) from/to the International Terminal

Northbridge at night
View from my hostel