The last days of Albany, and finally leaving WA

Thursday Nov 20th - I had to go into town to print off my flight emails but as per usual it was pissing down in the 2nd of a 3 day storm that was happening. I got soaked on the way there since my waterproof jacket is crap and the water runs off of the jacket onto my legs and the pockets let in water. Got everything printed off though and after a quick shower I had to meet Steve after work at 3.30 so we could get some beers for a farewell drink. Tonight was the last night since Steve and Jack were heading off to Denmark (the town, not the country) the next day. He actually finished at 4 so I went off to find Nick and said bye to him, and then saw Sarah & said bye to her aswell. Jack picked us up and took us to Dan Murphy's (cheap bottleshop) We did a bit of shopping, grabbed a Hungry Jacks and headed back to Steve's. Cracked into the beers and watched "Outpost" which made no sense. And then proceeded to get drunk. Good times. Said our drunken goodbyes etc. The next day I said goodbye to Jack and Steve as they left. Sad times. I may have lost Darren as a mate on this trip but I've made new ones. I'm really going to miss those 2 and their banter. I had some awesome times there. If Steve and Becca hadn't let me stay with them I genuinely think that this trip would have been over long ago.

Saturday 22nd November - I was up early-ish since my bus left at 11am. Had to go to North Road to get money for the rent I owed which gave me even less time. I had to run to get my bus. Well...I say "run." It's a long way so I was running and walking. Got there in time though and the journey itself wasnt too bad, just a bit depressed to be leaving Albany I guess. I got into Perth 30 minutes earlier than planned and made my way towards the Townsend Lodge...yeah, i know i complained about it before but at least i know what to expect. It was pretty cool seeing the Perth skyline again. Doesn't feel like I left there like 10 weeks ago. The Lodge was fully booked but I booked myself in for december for the couple of days before I fly home. The girl there was sound though and gave me a list of hostels in Perth. So i went to the one that the idiot taxi driver dropped me and Darren off at when we first got here but they were fully booked too. But 3rd time lucky I got into 12:01 Backpackers. They didn't give me a key but charged me for a key deposit anyway. Weird. The key the Irish guy had to let me into the room didnt even work so eventually some Malaysian guy let me in. Then some guys told us that I could use a credit card to open the door...or pretty much any door in the hostel. I dumped my stuff and headed out for some munch. Wandered for a bit cause I wasnt in the mood for socialising and those old feelings of homesickness started coming back. Bad times. After a couple of hours I went back since I didn't want to be out by myself at night haha. I attempted to update my journal but couldn't be fucked so i went on the net...and talked to Winnie the owner. Nice guy, bit odd though. I was hovering about when the Irish guy who showed me about invited me to have a few beers out the back. My spirits lifted pretty much straight away as I headed to the Bottleshop. Don't think anyone told me their names so I'll go by nationalities. The Irish guy was from Dublin and had a mate with him(also from Dublin,) a Northern Irish guy, 2 guys from Melbourne, a German wifey and 2 Aussie girls. They were all friendly and pretty wasted...except the girls...and one of the Aussie guys who was absolutely ruined. In fact, he was sick in a corner half way through the night. A guy from Brisbane called John sat next to me and we were getting the craic for a while. Then the really fucked Aussie spilt beer on the German wifey-she was ripping but chilled out pretty fast once he got her a towel. He went on to get the hose to wash away his sick but gave up. His mate then tried to soak him with the hose but had the nozzle round the wrong way and squirted himself in the face! One of the funniest things I've seen on this trip, worthy of You've Been Framed haha. We got moved inside by Winnie since it was getting late and I got talking to a Welsh guy but I can't remember his name. His nickname was very original though - "Welshy." John let me use his laptop for a bit while he went out for a smoke. Still no word from the people I'm meant to be "couchsurfing" with in Melbourne. Reckon I'll just stay in the airport the first night since my flight gets in late and even if the trains run at that time into the city I don't know if any hostels will be open.

Sunday 23rd - Checkout was at 10am but I'd arranged a lift to the airport from Winnie for a small fee ($12) Way better than a taxi. He was giving me and John a lift to the airport at 5 so I had like 6 hours to kill. I needed to get a pen & some batteris but since it was sunday nowhere openes til midday. So I decided to get a paper and head down to the river to chill and read it. On my way there there was some sort of music festival going on in the field opposire Swan Tower...I presumed it was a dance event since they had a "Ministry of Sound" sign in the venue. But the dirty bastards had put a black cover round the fence so I couldn't get a free show haha. So I sat on the grass and listened to the tunes they were playing out for the soundchecks etc and read the paper. I got pissed off with the wind though and headed for shelter on a bench sheltered by some trees. I was there for about 15 minutes before 3 guys came up and sat down next to me "to look inconspicuous." They were drinking and hiding from the cops. Then the most talkative guy jumped up and was like "Where the fuck's my bracelet?!" They found it though and off they went to the music festival. By this point it was past 12 so I headed to the shops. Wandered about for ages then stumbled upon "The Big Game." Mental show that got kids participating in like a giant board game. It killed some time. I needed something to eat but didn't want to get a McD's or Hungry Jacks but the city centre was heaving so I just got a McD's and chilled on a bench for a bit. Wandered round a bit more then I saw this amazing dancing guy on the main street. He was total funny too. After that I got my pens and batteries and headed back to the hostel and updated my journal a bit til me and John got picked up about 5.10. My flight was at 6.40 but it was delayed so there wasnt a big rush. Then I got pissed off at the stupid info screens, almost punched some bitchy woman, and when I was in the departure lounge some kid hit me in the arm with a piece of cake or something in a bag. The flight was fine but the Jetstar planes are a bit cramped. I didn't get to see much of Oz from the air since it was quite late but the sunset was beautiful. Got into Melbourne airport about 12.40am, & it wasn't til after 1 that i noticed there was a bus running into the city centre. Saved me a fair amount of money since I didn't have to get a taxi. I found a leaflet for a hostel near the bus station & it had 24hour reception and free internet so I was sold. The bus took like 20 minutes si I'm getting it on the way back. Got to the hostel about 1.50, booked in without a wukka, got a bottom bunk (good times) and fell asleep...eventually.

Chops, bowling alleys & Eddie's 50th

Sat 15th Nov - Got a phonecall from Nick (the guy who works with Steve) asking if I wanted to go round to his for a feed and to "drink some piss." Weird expression, but kinda figures since Aussie beer isn't the best haha. I headed over about 5.30, and met Nick's girlfriend Sarah, and his flatmate Petra. Nick cooked up some awesome pork chops, chips and veg. After that we headed to the bottle shop, which actually sells Fosters! We ended up getting some "TED's" though. Then me, Nick & Sarah headed down to the Bowling Alley to meet some folk they work with; Rena & Sara, and Rena's cousin Kristy. The 3 of them played the game while myself, Nick and Sarah started drinking. We weren't there for long though as Rena got a call telling her there was a party on. So all 6 of us got in her car and headed to the bottle shop since they had already drank all their booze. The drive-thru on the highway was closed so we headed into town to the one on York Street, next to the Prem. Then it was onto the party...which turned out to be on the outskirts of Albany. And oh yeah, it was some 50th birthday party for a random called Eddie that none of us knew. Nick and Sarah were pretty fucked by this point so I started blitzing the beers. In the mean time Rena was getting "chatted up" by some old guy in a cricket uniform who was absolutely fucked. So I ended up pretending to be her date...at which point she said "You look like Harry Potter." Can't even escape that on the other side of the world. I'm not sure when Nick and the rest of them left but me & Kristy decided to stay. She was total sound, well good craic. It gets a bit hazy after this though...I think there was a fight between some massive Kiwi and I'm not sure who else but I either tried to break it up or somehow got involved. Didn't wake up with any bruises though so I'm guessing nothing happened. I remember Kristy saying her fiance was giving us a lift home, telling them where I lived, walking in the back door and telling Becca I was drunk, a random thought that I might be sick so I put plastic bags on either side of my bed. Fin. Then waking up still drunk in the morning and doing my classic of worrying about whether I'd lost my stuff...which I hadn't. That beer gave me a weird hangover, sore head instead of a fucked stomach...then a fucked stomach about 6pm. Stupid Aussie beer :P Good night though.

I've also booked all of my flights/buses that I need for the East Coast...and the South Coast too since I'm going to Melbourne and Adelaide. The plan is Albany-Perth-Melbourne-Adelaide-Brisbane-Mackay-Brisbane-Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne-Perth...all in the space of 25 days. Good times. I was also told to check out www.couchsurfing.com by a friend, which I did, and now I've got a place to crash in Melbourne and Brisbane. Hopefully I'll get to see more of each place than just the tourist places. Plus, it means I won't be alone for the next 4 weeks. I'm not worried about travelling by myself, it means I can see what I want, when I want. But it's always cool to have someone to share your memories/adventures with. And I'm also kinda nervous about staying at someone's place that I don't know but I'm sure it'll be cool. I'm only spending a max of 4 nights in each place though so it's not as if I'll be stuck anywhere for long.

And today marks 12 weeks since I left Inverness.

Thoughts...

I booked my flights for the east coast today, well some of them. Either way I'm definitely flying out from Perth to Melbourne on the 23rd. It's a weird feeling; most of the time I've been here I've been wishing that it would just hurry up and be over with...but there is a part of me that wishes I had more time here. Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily regret coming here. I've had some awesome times and I may not get another chance to do something like this. It's just not been what I thought it would be like...at all. To be begin with, back in Perth, I was completely homesick. I had expected that though. But I had visions of travelling all over Australia, having plenty of time to do whatever I wanted, and working on farms as we went. If you've been reading my previous entries then you'll know it hasn't been like that. It's been more of a "Shit, what am I actually doing here? I'm missing out on so much back in Scotland" kinda deal. I guess I've just settled in here in Albany and now that I've finalised leaving I'm starting to think I'm going to miss this place...well, more like the people I've met here. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Oz though...I'm actually going to see more in the last 3-4 weeks than I have in the rest of my time here haha. I guess I'm trying to say that all this time I've been willing my time here to go faster but now that I have less than 2 weeks left here in Albany it kinda feels like this trip is nearing it's end. I know it's nowehere near but I've been away for almost 11 weeks out of 16 so 5 weeks doesnt seem like very much. Anyways, I'm just putting down what I've been thinking for the past wee while into this.

And I've still not spoken to Darren since the morning I went to Bunbury...which is weird. I knew we were going to fall out at points in this trip, it was inevitable. Spending pretty much every day with someone for over 100 days...it's pretty obvious there are going to be some "disagreements." I just never thought it would get to the point where we would be going off by ourselves...

A decent start to November

Saturday the 1st - The day before I had suggested to Steve if Jack was up for it she could drive us over to see the Natural Bridge, the Gap and everything else that is too far away from Albany to walk to. (We had been round at Steve's dad's place for a few beers and darts, good times...didnt feel like Halloween though) Anyways, Jack was up for it so we headed over there just before lunch. It's a bit mental since I've been here, in Albany, for so long and never seen these sights before. Anyway the trip there was pretty funny, Jack was torturing us with her country and western cd's haha.
The area surrounding the Natural Bridge/The Gap was really beautiful to look at by itself, let alone with with the Bridge and the Gap added on. And there was an amazing looking beach a bit farther off that you only seemed to be able to get at by walking along the otherwise rocky coastline. We sat and admired the view for a bit then headed to "Whale World" for some munch...fuck going actually going in; $20 entry = fuck that shit. The menu was shitty though so we just grabbed some ice cream and started towards Albany. We passed the wind farm on the way back though, and since it said it was a tourist attraction I had to go :P We went to a cliff on the coast first though, which was right beside the windfarm anyway. It was so peaceful there, and i love how the oceans are so blue over here. Then we went and stood underneath one of the turbines, they're ridiculously big...that sounds pretty stupid but you dont fully appreciate how big they are until you're right beside them. We jumped back in the car and headed to the "city centre" for some lunch, taking a look at one of the biggest houses i've ever seen on the way. Headed to a place called "Cossie's" (I think) ...it was an alright place. Then we headed up York Street and up to the Plaza, having a general look for clothes for Steve to wear to a wedding haha. We met Jack's mum and sister in the plaza too. Seems like a really cool family, they all seem to share a similar sense of humour :P Back at Steve's we decided to get a chinese for dinner so we drove back into town to "The Hong Kong Restaurant" (I think) ...wasnt the best, no Magic Wok but the guy who owns it was cool haha. Watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" with our munch. Awesome day, best i've had in a while. Good times :D

Tues 4th - I've been wanting to climb Mount Clarence for aaages but either the weather has been shit or i've slept in or i have something on. But I finally decided to do it today. I looked up how far it was on google earth and it was about 45 minutes to the start of the road leading up to the summit. I didn't exactly have anything on so i went for it. Of course the weather had to be a shit and changed from hot, sunny and windy to cold, rainy and windy in about 15 minutes. I made to the start of the road though...it was lined for hundreds of metre's with trees planted in memory of all the soldiers lost in the wars Australia has fought in. Pretty intense, but a really cool idea i think. They have the same thing in Perth's King Park. After that though it was just a curving road up to the Memorial, dedicated to both Australian and NZ soldiers. Turns out the very first soldiers from both countries to go and fight in WW1 set sail from Albany. Behind the memorial there was another path up to the summit so I headed up. It was so so windy. I was pretty much getting pushed about by the wind haha. It had a cool sort of map at the top-most point; it was circular and you could line yourself up with the lines on the map that showed you what you were looking at and how far away it was. On the way back down i took a different route and ended up going down the rocky part that you can see from the back of Steve's house...and from most of Albany actually. This way took me out near the top of York Street, which would have saved me about 20-25 minutes...ah well, at least i saw a bit more of the place.

Bunbury and The Revolution Tour

Saturday 25th - I was up at 6am to get the bus to Bunbury for The Revolution Tour. I got a phonecall from Darren about 6.40 asking if i could meet him at the visitor centre where i was getting the bus from. He hadn't slept at all. He asked for his Aussie mobile number and told me his general plans for the rest of his time here. Mental how things turn out. We were talking for like 2 hours after a week of not talking then this happens. So he went off to book himself into the hostel for a couple of nights. Got on the bus but the driver was a total prick.
"What's the name?"
"What name do you want? My name or the name it was booked under?" Since it was booked under Steve's name.
"THE name!"
"It was booked under Whyte, my name is Mackay!"
"Just give me the name!"
Idiot. The bus journey itself was alright though...all 6hrs and 30mins of it. I found the hostel easy enough but the office wasnt open til 4pm so i had a couple of hours to kill. I went up to "Boulter's Heights" lookout point. I noticed how close i was to the coastline so i took a wander down and walked most of "Back Beach" as far as i know. On the way back into town i saw a better lookout so i scoped that out too. That killed the couple of hours i needed to i booked into the hostel, dumped my bags and asked for directions to The Rev Tour. So I went to the bus station to check the times of buses that went down that way and the last one was at 5.10, which gave me 30 mintues to grab some munch. Sound. Anyways, i made it onto the bus which took me pretty much to the front gate of the place but i fucking left my ticket on the bus! Rough, rough times. Fucking idiot. So i had to buy another one at the door. Eugh. The show itself was pretty damn good but the crowd were shit and not up for anything. Plus, i couldnt afford to get fucked :( They delivered on the bikes, babes and bands though so altogether is was worth it. Afterwards i went to the shopping centre opposite the field to try and order a taxi but all the lines were busy. So i hung about for 30 minutes before these 2 guys came out of the garage and started talking to me because they thought i was upset! They said they were heading to "the forum" which i knew was like about 3km away from my hostel so after they insisted on me coming i joined them in what i hoped was the right direction... Their names were Nick and Corey, and they were total legends. Had some of the best banter I've ever heard from Aussie's, and a lot of other folk too. Nick was way more fucked than Corey so he decided he needed more beer "for this mission." We took a little detour to his mate "Jonesy's" house but he wasn't in. So Nick decided to go by himself to the nearest bottleshop whilst Corey told me that the neighbourhood we were in was really rough and the sooner we got out of there the better : | He was on the phone to his gf and her parents just happened to be driving past us in the next 5 minutes so we rushed to the end of the road and called Nick to come back. So i managed to get a lift right to the front door of my hostel from Corey's gf's parents! Absolute legends. So thank you Corey, Nick, Frank and his wife. I headed to my room (4 bed mixed dorm, cheapest they had) and met Mitchell and "Chick" apparently... They were watching a movie so i decided to go socialise. Started talking to this guy from Northern Ireland called Ross, he was good craic. Gave me a couple of beers, introduced me to a couple of folk, wasnt an idiot, funny guy. Then there was the constipated Indian guy Riaz, his German gf, the Japanese girls (one of whom came into my room and tried to get it on with the guy in the bunk below me-he was having none of it haha), a Korean girl who started screaming when didnt know how to say certain things in english, Hayley the Cornish girl, Bubbles (cause he looked like Bubbles from Finding Nemo) and some guy from NZ. Sat up with them for a while then headed to bed about 1.45.

Sunday 26th - Got up at 9. Amazing sleep, first proper mattress i've slept on in like 5 weeks! I checked out by quarter past but i had a nasty feeling that daylight savings had kicked in...so that i would be an hour ahead. I had to check since my bus was at 11.30 and there was no way i was missing that. So yeah, the clocks had been put forward an hour so it was now 10.30 instead of 9.30. Made no odds though since the bus station was close to the hostel, so i grabbed a subway and had a wander. The bus was fine, minus the old people in front smelling like burnt hair, and i just chilled when i got home. All in all, the trip was definitely worth it. Bunbury is a pretty cool place, doesnt look like there's much to do though. I would definitely recommend a trip there though.

The past 6 weeks, in a nutshell

There's not much point putting down all the boring stuff that we've been doing since the last proper entry because, to be honest, we havent been up to much. Wandering about town, watching films, playing the xbox etc. I'll put down all the important/interesting things though - at least they are to me :P The first sunday we were here (at Steve's house) I was up late watching tv after Dar & Steve had gone to sleep when Becca and her mate Alfie came in from the pub. We got talking and i mentioned wanting to work on a strawberry farm & it turns out Alfie works for a company that supplies local farms with feed, fertilizer etc. So he said he would talk to one of the local farmers for us and get a phone number - good times. That thursday Alfie gave me a lift up to the farm to get things rolling. Darren stayed behind because he was planning on going home...for a couple of reasons, not really going to go into them. The farm seemed alright, it was just getting out there that would be a problem. The day after i bought an Aussie mobile and spent half the fucking night trying to register it online & just gave up in the end. Ended up returning it the following tuesday and getting a decent one that worked. The same night there was a carry-on after our carry out, mainly between Steve and Becca, but again I wont go into details.

So between the strawb farmer owner being on holiday, reading the whole of the Narnia chronicles and playing the xbox time has been flying by with nothing much happening really. However me, Steve and Dar went out one night without having any dinner and we all ended up blacking out by the end of the night...with Darren managing to puke all over our room...and on some of my clothes - rough :S Then there was Gemma's (Steve and Becca's younger sister) "BBQ" the next day, which was actually held inside thanks to the arse awful weather. Good craic though, met a lot of their family, had a laugh.

Then there was the whole strawberry farm debacle. We had finally managed to score a job on the farm, so we started at 8am on monday the 13th. The taxi cost us $20 to get there, mental. We got there and were told to "talk to Joe" who got us straight into the work, didnt even ask us for working visa's, tax numbers etc. The work itself was alright, but it was back-breaking. So after our 15-minute lunch break i asked this Joe guy what the pay was like; $1-$3 a fucking tray! Complete slave labour! We were expecting like a basic wage plus more money for the amount we pick but no. Plus the assholes "in charge" were stealing our baskets and giving them to the pretty girls in an attempt to impress them or something. The place was full of window lickers anyway. So we just walked out. BIG mistake. I was wearing wellies and ended up with 4 blisters on my feet thanks to the 2 hour walk back to town.

That friday (17th) my feet had recovered enough for me and Dar to go up to the lookout tower on Mount Melville. The weather was brilliant, almost too hot but not quite. And the view from up there was awesome. We were planning on heading up Mount Clarence too but Dar's foot was fucked so we got a carry out and headed home. That night, after a few beers, me and Dar fell out again. Which started a week long silence (almost exactly) between the 2 of us. But I'm jumping ahead a bit.

So on saturday me and Steve headed round to his dad's house for a few brews and a chat. Well good craic. But of course i hadnt had any dinner so by the time we left i was fucked. The beer wasnt the best either so that didnt help. Spewed hardstyle when i got back to Steve's. Meanwhile it was Jack's mate's Hen Night and she stopped by to drop her bags and for some reason we were persuaded to go into town with them. We ended up going to Nsomniax, officially voted the worst nightclub in Australia. At least now i can say i've been there :P It was pretty pish, and far too small...although there's hardly a lot of folk here in Albany. Pretty cool night altogether though.

Anyways, I'd been thinking for like a week or so before me or Dar fell out about how i would get to the east coast to see Sydney, Melbourne etc and the most feasible way seemed to be by air. But Darren's not too keen on flying...so i didnt want to leave him behind. But with the carry on on friday night i decided that i would fly out so i've been planning the trip since. The general plan is to work for 4 weeks, up til the 22nd Nov then fly out from Perth to Melbourne and travel round the east coast for the remaining 4 weeks that im here. And I'd also decided to go to Bunbury on the 25th by myself for the Revolution Tour since Steve didnt want to leave Darren behind, which was cool with me. That doesnt sound genuine...but I really was cool with it haha.

So yeah, up til friday just past (the 24th) me and Darren had barely said a word to each other. That night Nic, a guy from Steve's work, came round and invited me round to his via McD's and the Bowling Alley...which we left before we'd even had a game of pool or anything since he spilt his drink. We were halfway through watching a film round at his when Dar text me saying he had just been "slightly slashed" by a couple of aborignals...aboriginese? Anyway, I headed back to Steve's and walked in to see Dar with his face covered in blood and not in the best mood, as you can imagine. So ended the week long silence but it wasn't to last. Steve and Jack were out on a night out and Becca was working. Over the next 2-3 hours Steve and Darren fell out (via phonecalls and texts) which ended in Darren packing his bags and leaving completely. Notice a pattern here? 2 weeks in a row...

I'm pretty sure I've missed stuff out...can't be that important if i have though :P

More of Albany...

Sunday - Went for a wander until 11am when Becca started work so I could get properly introduced etc...had a couple. We had planned to head to hers that night but she was working the next day. And then she wasnt sure if we could stay at theirs until she'd spoken Steve - bad times. So we booked 2 more nights at the hostel until wednesday morning. Ended up renting some movies from the front desk at the hostel.

Monday - Another slow day; wandered, went to the supermarket, rented some movies, played more cards...

Tuesday - Had to meet Becca at 2pm outside the townhouse & went shopping with her. Becca said Steve thinks Darren AND me being there it'll be too many people - terrible times. So many thoughts went rushing through my head; where im going to stay, where im going to work to get money, will i get money? We got a taxi back to hers and Steve had returned from his holiday in Scotland. Almost instantly he said it was cool for us both to stay - absolute legend. Thank fuck. Had a few brewskies. Jack (a girl Steve works with) came round and was total good craic. The 2 of them (Steve and Jack) are the nicest/coolest people I've met over here. Steve had to crash cause he had work and Becca was pissed so Jack offered us a lift home. We got dropped off at the 24 hour garage, grabbed some munch and headed back to the hostel.

Wednesday - Checked out & headed for Steve's work to get a set of keys. It was pissing it down, typical. We got there and got the keys, despite Dar getting hit by a car on the way there :S We headed out after we'd dropped our bags and each got an inflatable bed and sleeping bag. We just chilled that nigth, watched some tv. Little did we know how cold it was going to be, i thought i was going to die - it reminded me of how cold it was at night at T in the Park.

Fremantle to Albany

Monday - Woke up with no hangover and watched some Aussie morning tv. In case I haven't mentioned it Australian tv is gash. Rarely any good shows unless they're imported. Oh and any Neighbours fans - the show has changed a lot. Seems to be a lot darker now... Last night I got some directions to South Beach (which i could barely remember) so we decided to check it out. It didnt take us long to to find it. It was stunning. The blue of the Indian Ocean and the white beaches looked amazing. We took our time getting back to the hostel, and a couple of pints on the way too. Grabbed a fish and chips and practically got swarmed when we decided to eat it in the park. Cunting seagulls. We just ended up watching tv for the rest of the night.

Tuesday - Watched some tv and headed back down to South Beach for a...beverage...on the beach. So good. Exactly what i pictured Oz to be like. The Indian Ocean wasnt as warmed as i'd thought/hoped but the weather was hot enough that I dried off pretty much straight away. Wandered about the beach for a couple of hours then headed back to the city centre for a couple of pints. Headed back to the OFS and watched some more quality programming. Had to "check out" that night since we had to be in Perth at 9am the next day for the bus to Albany. The guy was sound though and we got our deposit back and got to stay that night too. Turns out the hostel wasnt as good as we'd hoped - ridiculously loud music system, rubbish staff minus one guy (the manager, i think.) It probably would have been better if there was a big group of us but there wasnt so meh. Overall Fremantle was pretty sweet, accommodation not so much. Like an Aussie said to Dar back in Perth "There's not a lot to do anywhere over here."

Wednesday - We were up early cause we had to the bus from East Perth to Albany at 9am. We got there in plenty of time so we decided to get some breakfast from the cafe in the station. It was terrible so we were both starving til the bus had a stop at Kojonup. It took about 6 hours to get to Albanybut it felt like nothing...maybe cause i slept for most of it... Anyways, i was expecting a call from my mum to tell me if she'd sent off my bank card, license and camera...and to find out where we were meant to be staying. The call came and luckily it was Albany Backpackers - which was just across the road from the bus station. First impressions - sweet as fuck, minus the fact there's no tv in our room. Sounds bad to be wanting a tv over here but the weather hasnt been great in Albany and there's not much to do, unless you have a car. According to Dar's mate there's only like 5 pubs. So we had our preliminary walkabout and there doesnt seem to be much of anything. Look like there might be a retail park further up the road so we're checking that out tomorrow. We got a pint at The Premier Hotel Bar then went onto the George and had a couple there. Dar tried a couple of times to call his mates sister - no joy. Finished the night with a KFC and accidently finding Dog Rock (apparently it's a great tourist attraction - it's a big rock...) and crashed out early since we were up at 5.30.

Thursday - Had a walk up to the "retail park" - it wasnt great, so tiny. Went back to the hostel, played a drinking game for a few hours, grabbed some munch then went to the George to meet the barmaid we'd met the night before. We've nicknamed her "Tits" (for obvious reasons) until we find out her real name. Slow day...

Friday - Woke up to a nice but windy day so we thought we'd kill some time by heading down to Middleton Beach. After walking down a main road with no footpath we took a path off the road and ended up on the "Albany Scenic Path." Dar spotted a big lizard but i didnt believe him haha. But he'd made so paranoid that when i heard a rustle in the bushes i shat myself. Turns out he wasnt taking the piss and the lizards are called King Skinks. Mental. Made it to the beach but the only thing that i thought was better about it than Freo beach was the size of the waves - they were awesome. Walked back a different way since Dar wasnt too keen on the skinks. The wind is relentless here, so strong. Got back to York Street and stumbled upon a parade of US and Aus sailors in honour of the 100 years of the Anzacs...or something like that. Stopped off for a pint at The Premier and met Becca - Steve's sister. Steve is Dar's mate who lives here now, with Becca. I got a carry out and watched Dave Chappelle on Dar's laptop while he caught up with Becca. I got some cake too - the hostel does free "coffee and cakes" every night. Met a cool Korean guy called Rick...i think that was his name anyway. Dar came back steaming and told me the good news - Becca would let us stay with them for a bit while we got a job/money together. Awesome times. We went down to the George to see Tits and had a few. Played pool doubles with a guy called Arron (we lost) whilst Dar supposedly went back to the Hostel. I left about 15 minutes after he did only to find he wasnt at the hostel. I found one of the owners (who was steaming) and she let me back into the room since Dar had the keys. Just as i was about to fall asleep Dar bursts in with a girl saying we're "going out somewhere," so i leave the room (nothing happened...) and fall asleep on the couch in the common room while im waiting. Can't have been that long. So Lucy left and we wandered about in the rain til Dar realised that it was too late to get fags. Funny night.

Saturday - Did nothing cause Dar was rough. I had a little wander for a bit. I did discover that they sell Irn Bru over here though - good times.

Thursday 4th - Sunday 7th

Thurs - I had to phone our Albany accommodation to see if we could extend our stay up til sunday which meant using a payphone. First time the woman couldnt hear me so I tried again but it didn't connect. We headed down to the payphone next to where we were getting the cruise from (it's quieter) but it still didnt work after 2 more attempts. I wasted like $3-4 so I thought fuck it, I'll do it later. Then more bad news-we'd missed the cruise by minutes & the next one wasnt for 2 hours. There wasn't much point waiting since we would only have 3 hours so after 15minutes of disappointment of having to find something else to do Dar suggested we get the train to Freo. Brilliant idea. It was only$3.50 each way (so much better than spending $28 on a cruise.) As we got off the train at Fremantle & started walking down the street I noticed the hostel that we had planned to stay at. This got us thinking that we could still go to Freo after all. After wandering about for a bit we finally decided to go for it & book the room. It seems like an awesome place so here's hoping. After attempting to walk to North Freo beach (too far) we got the train back whilst having to endure some drunk has-been surfer and his ex-rugby star mate. I went to bed early that night while Dar stayed up til 5am with a guy called Lockey drinking haha.

Fri - We went into the centre to grab some munch and kill some time but Dar's card wouldn't work. Shite times. It seems everyday we have to deal with something shite. The Commonwealth Bank couldnt help so Dar phoned his mum & it turned out the Bank of Scotland had frozen his account because he used his card abroad. Thing is he specifically set up that account (had meetings etc) so that that wouldnt happen. We eventually ended up trying to find East Perth Terminal so we could buy bus tickets to Albany. It took us fucking ages. We took the long way round by mistake because the maps in Perth are pish. We got them though so we're off to Albany at 9am on wednesday. We got back and Dar got the number for the Fraud Squad but it didnt work! So his mum had to go back to the bank and it turns out the bank themselves could have sorted it so all he had to do was wait 24 hours for it to be cool. Freestyling Ian & his mate got a carton (crate) of beer so we tore through them. Dar went to bed about 10 and me & Pete ended up going out with a girl from Rhode Island called Kim. The 3 of us went to Fenian's (no joke) for a drink then went on a mission to find a Bottle Shop (off license) but they were all closed. So we went back to the hostel and had a bit more to drink before going up to Northbridge to a place called "The Shed" to meet some Glaswegian that Kim was meeting. Me and Pete didnt like him much. After that we (them) tried to find a karaoke bar but they were all shut. By this point I was fairly steaming so I ended up practically throwing myself over a fence when i misjudged the jump to find a place to piss...in front of everyone too! Just got a taxi home, got to bed about 4am...i think.

Sat - Got woken up at 10.15am by Dar saying that we had to check out. What a mind fuck. Didn't know what was going on. Turns out we had worked out the day we had to check out wrongly...Luckily the girl who worked there was sound (by far the coolest member of staff there) & we got other rooms & didnt lose our deposit. I just had a shower and finished off a book i nicked from the "Games Room" at the Lodge. Dar checked his card but it still wasnt working...our joint funds are running low since i didnt manage to get my bank card before i got out here. It was all good though, they'd just frozen his account again because he was topping up his phone...ironically enough to phone them to sort out the freezing in the first place. He got it sorted though and we watched Never Say Never Again (overlooked comedy :P) and i crashed out.

Sun - Checked out, grabbed some breakfast & got the train. There was a guy opposite us who kept twitching every time he listened to music...I almost burst out laughing thinking of what he was listening to. No one answered when we got to the Old Fire Station so we chilled at the park for a bit then headed back. They fucked me over saying that i only paid $20 deposit when I'd actually paid $40! Cunts. Went out for a bit, got a few pints at Rosie O Grady's, got a carry out and headed back to the OFS. I got blazing, talked to too many people so i remember like 5-10 names but don't know who they belong to...Met a sound Swedish guy though, possibly the coolest person I've met over here. Crashed out early (if you know me then you know that i can't put here why i did...)

General observations etc.

Perth - For the size of it you'd think there would be more to do. But underneath all the skyscrapers and palm trees it's pretty dull. Pints are too expensive, there's not much to do and people here aren't as friendly as you're led to believe. Loads of ants too but Fremantle seems to be the same. Luckily enough our Lodge isnt infested. So many homeless folk too, they literally stink up the street. Despite all that though it is a beautiful place and i would definitely recommend a visit, but 2-3days max will do to get everything done. King's Park is by far the best thing about the place.

Food and drink is bigger here...sounds weird but let me explain. Their bottles are 600ml (or 390ml) compared to our 500ml. The chocolate bars like 1.5x as big as ours, and the crisp packets are twice the size too. Although they do seem to love their half pints here, probably because actual pints are too expensive. They like LOADS of salt on their chips too. It's horrible. I actually like a BIT of salt on my fries/chips but they coat them in it.

The Townsend Lodge - Where we're staying. Our rooms are like prison cells really, except we don't get food. It's noisy as fuck despite the "quiet time" rule from 10.30pm-7am sun-thurs and 12.30-7am fri-sat. The toilets/showers are shared between each floor which i don't normally mind but there are some manky fuckers here. As Dar said to me "some cunt left a handful of pubes in soap dish" in his floor's shower. Rough. And there is a group of Middle-Eastern folk who I'm sure take the piss out of you in their language everytime you walk past. And then there's the drunks. Half the people here have been kicked out of their homes for alcoholism. They start about 10/11am and are wasted by 3-4 in the afternoon. Not so good when it's everyday. There are a few good folk here though too but it's not really worth risking getting caught up in the pish banter of the drunkards to talk to them. Right next to a building site too, they start at 7am mon-sat. The bin men are noisy fuckers who should be shot for pissing around with the bins at 5am. And the king of all snorers who i can hear 2 or 3 rooms away. People grogging in the sink at 6am - great thing to wake up to...

Sunday 31st - Wednesday 3rd

The writing style of this changes from past to present at points...not sure why i've been doing that...but you get the idea.

I'll skip the boring parts about sunday. The "events" really started when i was making dinner and got talking to some English girls. When i mentioned i was going to be watching the Old Firm match they told me about their mate Ian who was going to be watching it too and was staying at the Lodge aswell. We ended up in a place called "Mustangs" with Ian since the the place he was going to was full. Me and Dar had already drank most of out beers from the Lodge *important point* So that was all good, at least we got to see the game. (4-2 Rangers btw...bad times) Anyways we got seperated afterwards cause Dar was showing these randoms where a pub was and i was keeping Ian standing. He ended up "freestyling" on the steps of a building (WTF?!) before going to McD's and passing out on one of the tables. I managed to practically carry him back to the lodge where Dar had met this sound guy called Peter. We all wanted more booze (since we'd drank it all earlier) so we went to the casino...and Ian came too. Well myself and Peter had an awesome time on the roulette table (made my money back from the pints earlier plus more) but then i thought i had lost my passport so i was running around looking for it and asking security/bar staff if they'd seen it. Turns out it was on my bed... Meanwhile Ian was being a total prick to Darren and everyone else so Dar ended up taking him home. 45 minutes later me and Pete return to find Ian passed out and Darren $70 short. Stuff happened (too incriminating to say here) which ended in me and Darren falling out. I was fucked. I went to my room, worrying about what i was going to do. Pretty much wishing i was back home. This continued into the next day so i got up about 1 and wandered for 2 hours or so then went back to bed. Dar text me apologising but i was still in a dire mood. I fell asleep til tues morning, woke up in a better mood but still not sure how things would be...

Tuesday morning was a bit awkward but that passed soon enough. By 12 when we were looking for places to stay in Fremantle and Albany everything was cool. Yeah...I'm getting up way too early. The plan so far is to head to Fremantle on sunday and stay there for 3 nights. Perth has gotten old-fast. Possibly the most boring city I've been to. After Swan Tower, King's Park and some exploring all that's left is the zoo. Anyway, after getting a cruise to Fremantle down the Swan River & staying for 3 nights we're off to Albany to stay in a hostel for 5 nights til Dar's mate gets back from his trip to Scotland (bad timing or what.) Then hopefully we can stay at his, for at least 2 weeks I'm hoping. Right now I'm thinking of working loads in Albany (not only to make money to support this trip but also to kill some time-that's what kind of mindset I'm in) for a month or so depending on whether or not Dar's mate will lend us his car to go to Ayer's Rock etc. Otherwise we might need to buy a car then sell it at the end of the trip, which means more working, less travelling. Sorting out accommodation was proving tedious so i ended up getting my mum to sort out our Albany hostel. Just waiting for Fremantle now. So on my way back from the supermarket i went to grab a dvd from the dvd-room in the Lodge so we could watch it on Dar's laptop when Ian (drunk freestyler) started talking to me-oh joy. I ended up pointing him in Darren's direction so he could give him that $70. I retreated to my room but it turns out Ian couldn't apologise enough - to me, Dar & Peter. After that me and Dar just watched Land of the Dead then i crashed out after that.

I was up early once again on Wednesday morning so i decided to go on the net. I got a reply about the Fremantle accommodation but they need bank card details too which im not too keen on giving out on a public computer like the one im using in this lodge. I waited til Dar was up and we decided to think about it later on. We'd chosen to go to Perth Zoo today which is about a 45-60 minute walk to South Perth across the Swan River. Luckily we had a leaflet which a map on the back cause it's not very well sign posted, found it easily enough though. We had picked the right day to go as adult get in for kid's prices every wednesday. And I would recommend if you want to visit the zoo go on a wednesday because it's not worth $20, barely $9.50. It started off poorly with some of the park closed off or the animals hiding away but it picked up with the "African" section. We spent a fair amount of time there (anything to get away from the Lodge) & it was quite shaded aswell which was alright since it's been the hottest day since we've been here. So back at the Lodge after I checked buses, trains, ferries etc for both Fremantle & Denmark (we're thinking it might be cheaper/easier to go to Denmark instead of Fremantle since Denmark is so close to Albany) we came to the conclusion that we'd be better off just going straight to Albany after Perth & going on the ferry to Fremantle tomorrow. Quite looking forward to it. We just need to get the Albany accommodation extended up to and including & bus down there & we're sorted.

The First

Seeing as how this is the first time I've ever written a blog you'll have to excuse the fact that it will probably be shit...and full of mistakes...but hopefully it'll get better with time.

I've been keeping a note of my travels so far so I'm just going to write it word for word from the notebook I have until I pick up a certain style or whatever that's easiest for me, or easier to read. I'll do everything up to this point in this one part...since i can't be bothered working out how to use this properly yet. And I'm guessing if you're reading this you already know what the general craic is behind this trip. If not then me and my mate Darren are travelling around Australia on a sort of working holiday for about 4 months...that's the general idea.

Also, I may miss out certain..."activities" out that may be incriminating and could get me deported...not that I have or will be breaking any laws out here.

On tuesday 27th Aug me and Darren got the megabus down to Glasgow, it was the same as usual. We got to Glasgow, grabbed a carry out, played some Rock Band and watched Dead Man's Shoes. Good times.
Early up the next day to get to the airport. We got there in plenty of time but the flight was already delayed by 40 minutes. Then the fire alarm went off which made us a bit paranoid about missing our connecting flight in Dubai. Luckily though it didnt delay the flight anymore so we were sound. I met Danni in the airport and it turned out she was getting the same flight as me but she was going to Thailand. Random. So anyway the plane was awesome (you have to realise that I haven't been out of Europe before so I've only ever been on a flight for 4 hours max on Ryanair or some shite like that) Emirates kicks ass. I ended up watching "Son of Rambow" and "Kung Fu Panda." When we got to Dubai it was ridiculously hot, easily 35 celsius...thing is it was 1am by their time. Toasty. There was pretty much no waiting about since our flight was delayed to begin with so we got on the plane in no time. But then we were waiting around for ages because some old wifey was sick or something THEN one of the computers fucked up so we were delayed in total by like 2 and a half hours. So I had to phone home so they could phone the place we were meant to be staying to tell them we were going to be late. Bad times. We eventually made it, even though Darren almost got fucked going through customs even though neither of us had done anything wrong. He looked "nervous" and that was their excuse. So after getting screwed over by the taxi driver (over-charging and leaving us at the wrong hostel) we made it to the lodge at about 8pm Oz time (7 hours ahead of the UK in case you were wondering.)

I could get into a massive rant about this hostel but i'll save that for another post. So after dropping off our bags in our rooms we headed out and got a McDonald's...the burgers are almost identical but they coat the chips in salt. Disgust. We ended up in a "British pub" called "The Moon and Sixpence" which isn't too shabby. But it's like 5-6 pound a pint! Didn't get a very good sleep, I'm guessing it was jet lag haha. The next morning Dar got me up about 9.45. We had a Hungry Jacks for breakfast although im sure it's Burger King...then wandered about the park down by the river. I went to Swan Tour (which is a bit boring) but at least now i can say i've been there. Went back to "The Moon..." and got pretty drunk + the jet lag. We grabbed a carry out and after i'd had a short nap we stayed up til 1.30. I woke up at 8 the next morning...stupid jet lag. We wandered down to the river again and decided to go to King's Park. It took us a while but it was so worth it. Awesome view of most of Perth, amazing "water garden" and so beautiful. I went to the supermarket to stock up on cheap munch (Woolworths :S) which was intense. Tiny shop, so many people. Crashed out at like 8 that night. I reckon that was the end of my jet lag.