One week left...

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As most of you may already know I will be leaving Perth for Hong Kong on the 10th December - 6 days! I am actually really excited although it is definitely bitter sweet as it will be extremely hard to leave the family here in Perth...I am predicting another emotional goodbye at the airport, but if you are going to do something it may as well be dramatic. So as I am leaving so soon I have had a very busy week and also have a very busy week ahead of me which I am extremely excited about!
Since my last blog I have visited Perth zoo which was really fun, I went with my uncle Eric and cousins children India and Leo. Now as you have probably guessed I am a bit of a fan of animals - which is most likely clear as this has been a very animal themed holiday! Obviously the difference between this zoo and Singapore zoo was the added Australian animals - although there were actually kangaroos in Singapore but anyway - this zoo also had Dingos which I love and these adorable penguins - I reckon they are Australian penguins as in Perth there is 'Penguin Island' (which I will be visiting next week) and in Melbourne there were the fairy Penguins at the end of the pier. Anyway, I had a really lovely day but it was ridiculously hot - don't know if that's a bad thing though!
The next day I went to Hilarys Harbour with my uncle, cousins children and Indias best friend - it is such a nice place, there's a beach which is surrounded by shops and restaraunts - a bit like Brighton I guess but not cold... I got burnt after about 10 minutes in the sun - pretty crazy, but it has turned to tan...YAY...so it's all good. The sea was suprisingly cold - I was expecting to walk into 'bath-like' water...but no - my toes actually went numb. Good way of cooling down after baking in the sun though! The day after this I moved in with Erica (my cousin) and her family to spend my last couple of weeks with them which has been really great.
My second day staying with Erica and we went out for a really nice lunch with some of her friends and then went shopping which is probably something I shouldn't do but oh how I love it! After this one of Erica's friends invited us both and Erica's son to swim in her pool which was nice after a hot sunny day. While at Erica's friends house I saw my first Red-back Spider, wierd to think such a tiny little bug can cause so much damage!
Now the highlight of the week and definitely one of my top 5 memories of Perth so far was the Fremantle Prison tour - it was so incredible to see. It hasn't been changed at all since they closed the prison in 1991 and I found it so amazing to be walking in the same corridors that prisoners had walked down over 100 years ago. The prison cells had writing on the wall from actual inmates, one truly touching message said 'Julie, Megan and Todd I love you more than life itself DAD' I just found this showed the actual emotions of these prisoners, they were just like an normal person and they did not deserve these inhumane conditions. We were shown the stand on which prisoners were attached and whipped, some until they were unconcious or even dead (not that this was 'intentional') and we were also shown where prisoners were hanged - a very sereal moment to actually be in a room where people were killed. Out of the many people that were killed this way, only one was a woman - she had killed her 3 step-children by poisening them over a period of time making it look as though they were suffering from Diphtheria...one of the many horrific crimes committed by some of the prisoners. This tour was so interesting and I am so glad I went on it - I definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Perth - and I could go on about everything I learned forever but I feel I must get onto lighter subjects.
In the evening after the tour I went to Northbridge to meet up with Olive (my cousin Tony's ex-wife) and a friend of hers that I had met in England (Debbie) we went for dinner in a Vietnamese restaraunt which was really nice and then went to a commedy club - was nice to have a good laugh after such a serious day. I had such a great time and it was so nice to see Olive again after all these years. Hopefully I will be able to see her again before I leave but this week will be very jam packed!
The past two days have been a bit more relaxed which has also been nice. I went swimming with Erica and her son and the next day Erica, Eric and I went to an art 'exhibition'. It wasn't so much an exhibition as just one painting - but it was still very good! It was in a shopping centre so we just went shopping for a bit afterwards...SCORE!
Well anyway, I have loads planned for my last week in Perth including, Rottnest Island, Penguin Island, the beach and as much more as I can fit in and then I am off to Hong Kong and soon home! Home Sweet Home... Goodnight everybody.

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