It has taken me way to long to wrtie this one. Western Australia is amazing and beautiful! I got to go to a lot of places, see some really cool things and best of all meet some really interesting people. I feel lucky in the ability to quickly meet people wherever I go. My first night that I was off traveling, I was spending the night in Perth.
My first night in Perth I was a little nervous because though I flew all the way to Australia by myself I actually hadn't been truly by myself since then. All my travels and short trips have been with people, except my daytrip to Brisbane. But now from that day on I was on my own for the next 4 weeks, or so I thought. So off I went to this little beach bar in Cottlesloe because I was told by Liam that I had to go there for a Sunday session. So off I went and instantly met a really nice Brazilian bloke. I then meet his friends who were all Aussie. We all talked, drank and had a good time. since it was Sunday the bar closed quite early and that left plenty of time for some mischeif. We decided we would go to the beach and hang out. We did and it was really fun. It was a great first experience on my own. At the end of the night we all split ways and I was back to my hostel getting a little sleep before I had to get up and get going unto my next destination.
I decided I wanted to start at the bottom and work my way up. So the next morning I got a bus ticket for Albany. I was excited about taking a bus because it was the first time I had ever taken a public bus on a trip. In Albany I quite enjoyed my stay in a hostel that was once a hotel. The town was nice and quant. After I checked in, I asked about all the best tourist spots and the owner felt that they would be hard to get to without a car so he decided he would take the next day off to show me all the most beautiful spots in Albany. It was so nice of him and the sites were seriously breathtaking.ev
Early in the morning before I went on my personal guide I did get some great alone time. I ran 5k to the nearest beach and
swam a bit. The trail was beautiful and it was so refreshing to swim in between my runs. The 5k back I took the trail along the coastline and it was fabulous. The rest of my time in Albany was very nice and pleasent. Everybody that night from the hostel hung out drank and had great conversation. Each person seemed to be from a different part of the world so it made for some very interesting conversations.
Maragret River was my next destination, known for it's wine and surfing. My first night I went to an outdoor cinema at one of the vineyards with one of the girls staying in the same hostel. It was really fun watching the movie on grass, under the stars, with the grapevines being the backdrop of the screen.
The next day I checked out a few more wineries when I took a winery tour with a few German girls. The wines were wonderful and we even stopped at a cheese factory and a CHOCOLATE factory. That night I changed hostels to the one near the beach and went and watched the sunset with a group from my new hostel. I went and had a parma and a pot (very aussie bar food) with some of my new friends and then crashed out from my big day. The next morning I got up very early and checked out the beautiful beaches around me. I finally stopped, swam and relaxed at a point where all the surfers were. The waves were massive so I didn't try surfing but I did jump in for a bit. The waves were really strong so I only lasted awhile before returning to sunbathing.
My last day in Maragret River I wanted to make the most of it so I got up early, ran along the trail overlooking the beaches, took a swim and then ran back to my hostel to get ready for my next adventure. That night I was off to Perth again.
I was excited because I had heard good things about the nightlife in Northbridge and wanted to check it out. It lived up to its hype. I got all dressed up and went off to a couple different bars and clubs.
I met people at each one and really enjoyed my evening. The next day I was off to cottlesloe beach again. It wasn't the sunniest of days so I ended up checking out the shops and getting the most amazing nachos at a nearby pub. My father's company has a division in Australia so one of his co-workers actually lives in Perth. So he arranged for me to meet him and his wife. Well it turned out they were so sweet that they offered for me to stay with them for free during my stay in Perth. Since I am a backpacker and on a small budget I of course agreed. They are a wonderful people and I loved staying with them. The first night, they had a bar-b-q where I met some very nice and interesting people. The next day Beth showed me around Perth. We went to the art gallery and then through all the wonderful stores downtown.
I had planned to go to rottnest island the next day. George is a german guy who I had talked to about traveling farther north in WA. When he heard I was going to rottnest he decided to come too. Rottnest Island was beautiful.
Over the beaches you could see the city skyline of Perth. We biked over 20k around the island and even saw the quokkas. Quokkas are marsupials just like kangaroos but are only found on Rottnest Island.
After our day on the Island we took the ferry back to Fremantle and headed to the Little Creatures brewery. There we enjoyed some of their great beers and a delicious meal! After dinner it was time to head back to Colin and Beth's place for the night. Their son had flown in and his girlfriend came over to see him. We all drank wine and had a good night. The next day was Australia day and Perth knows how to do it up right. Jonathon, Ashleigh and I met up with some of my friends to enjoy the amazing 30 minute fireworks show and a little celebration of drinks. Jen had flown in from Melbourne that day and scored us a spot in the downtown area overlooking the lake. Shortly after we got there George and stephanie my soon to be travel companions arrived too.
The fireworks were awesome and afterwards we headed to Northbridge for a little dancing. It was a fun night and my last one in Perth before I headed up to the northen parts of Western Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment