Perth

Thu Oct 16
7:30 Perth
Kinda bored right now, waiting to check out. Glad I only stayed 2 nights here at Perth City YHA. The room that I’m in is right by the train tracks, so every time a train goes by every 5 minutes or so it seems, the alarms go off, warning pedestrians of the oncoming train, followed by the squeak of the train wheels on the tracks. Totally uncool.

I’ve got something of a case of insomnia right now anyway, so it’s not a huge deal. Logic is totally not functioning at the moment. I dunno why, but I booked a Monkey Mia tour for Friday, rather than today. And since the YHA is booked up for tonight, I’m gonna hafta make my way to another hostel. I called one last night, but he told me I would have to walk in when reception was open.

The guy at the YHA was singularly unhelpful. When he told me that it was full, I asked if there were other YHAs in the city. He says no. Liar. All the others are connected by train. There’s like 3 or 4 of them in the surrounding area, maybe 20 minutes by train.

Anyways, here’s to hoping that I don’t need to check myself into a hotel for the night.

Yesterday was spent in the surrounding suburbs of Perth. Got a really helpful tourist information lady, and went to Hillary’s Marina, which is where the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA) is. Cool place. Their tunnel has a conveyer belt, and seeing sharks and rays swim above and around me is always cool. I still think the glass floor at the Sydney Aquarium is the bomb.

There was a little video clip of stonefish. Their skin is camouflaged to look like stone. In under 1/20 of a second, they grab unsuspecting prey. If anyone finds a youtube video of it, lemme know. I think it’d be something neat to show the kids.

Wandered around the Marina, then headed over to Fremantle. I had a day pass, so I figured I’d go to the suburbs. Fremantle’s got that old feel to it. The architecture and the streets are more European. Had fish and chips at Kailis, voted best in town, and wow, talk about flaky and light! Also had an iced coffee, on the recommendation of Chaturi. It’s made with ice cream here. Really yummy, especially on the warm day that it was yesterday: sunny, high of 27, with a nice ocean breeze. Haha, some senior commended me on throwing away my trash when I finished my meal. I actually wasn’t going to, but the seagulls made me worry that the dishes were going to break. Oh, also had a glass of Pipsqueak(?) at Little Creatures Brewery. Apple cider, not as dry as Strongbow.

The day was capped off at Cottesloe Beach. It’s nice how they have the walk to the beach from the station so nicely marked. Every half a block or so, there was a painting of a wave on the sidewalk.

Perth has really nice beaches. Even a non-beach person like me can appreciate it. The water was cool, and a beautiful blue. I am sorely missing my camera at this point, because the wave action, and the sunset were something else. It’s funny, because I always think of sunsets as tranquil events. But at Cottesloe, the rock peninsula and the crashing surf contrasted with the slow sinking of the sun.