Welcome to Western Australia (Apr 19 - 22)

Now....I've been catching quite a bit of flack for choosing to go to WA, most of which coming from the people who are actually here. "You just got here? And you haven't been to the East Coast? Why are you here?" etc... But I'm not here to give "reasons" as to why I chose to come here, that is between me and my brain, I'm here to see some real Australian sh--stuff. And so far, I am quite please with my decision.

So I arrived in Perth at about 7pm on Tuesday night, no hostel booked or anything. Jumped on the phone at the airport and phoned a few hostels before I found one that had a spare bed for a few nights, Billabong. Decent set up, they have a pool, nice high showers, and an overall nice vibe; even if it is a bit dingy. My first night I just got set up in my room and had a few beers by the pool with some German dudes I met (ARG..can't get away from these people lol =P). Next day I did some job applying (Sidenote: I was applying for a bunch of different jobs, but once I started to read the IT stuff nerdzilla came out and I was geeked on working in IT. Don't think it will happen because I only want to work for about 2-3 weeks or so..oh well), then I ventured out into the city to have a wander, looks like a city pretty much nothing special. There is a pretty cool looking Bell Tower beside the harbor and some building that lights up all crazy at night. The city is a bit bleh to be honest, but thats how I feel about most big cities. Got back to the hostel and night and had a few with a bunch of people, one Canadian guy named Simon from VanCity.

I decided to do a day in Fremantle because I heard it was a cool place to be so the next day I took a trip to Scarborough Beach (haha, yup scarbs) which was really nice. Watching all the surfers and stuff was cool, I had a sweet time just laying out and chilling for a while (Sidenote: AUSTRALIA IS REALLY HOT~ GEEZ... it's still like 30+ here during the day, I can't even imagine what the summer is like). After the beach I hoped on the train to Fremantle to spend the night there and go to the market in the morning to just check it out.

I got to Fremantle with no plan...Oh by the way, I might need to get the Perth/WA lonely planet because the Australia one doesn't have any hostel info, its just general stuff and most of it is hotels and expensive things. Anyway, I got to Fremantle and asked the dude at the train station where the nearest hostel was, he pointed me in a few different directions so I opted for the closest and headed out...No rooms available, and the guy told me there probably wouldn't be anything in all of 'Freo' because it was easter weekend...UHOHZ~ No worries though, next place I went had ONE spare bed for ONE night only, perfect for me (bonus of traveling alone).

Fremantle was actually a really cool place. Nice small city with old style architecture and a very nice vibe to the city. I went out that night to some bar because I got a free meal ticket from the hostel and met some local dudes and had a chat. It was also open mic night so there was music going on, and I owned a bit at pool, overall I had a nice time there. Switched it up and went to a club, suggested by the locals I had met, so I could get my dance on. It ended up being a dubstep/electro club (two different rooms) so it was wicked awesome. I stayed there for quite a while then bounced. It's odd going to bars/clubs alone because you have to just talk to randoms all night, but it's good because you can come and go as you please.

The next day I wanted to wake up early and hit up the market then head back to Perth because Simon had offered to give me a ride to Margaret River (south of Perth) and then north up the coast to Geraldton. My plans to go to the market got foiled, as most of my plans do, something about some dude getting killed a couple thousand years ago... not to sure on the details...but it must be important seen as everything was closed everywhere. Anyway, I just grabbed some food and walked through some more of the city before heading out. Only to discover there were no trains that day from Fremantle because of some construction on the track, not to worry though there was a bus to take us. All in all, Fremantle was pretty dope, I enjoyed the atmosphere more than Perth...so if you're planning on going to Perth, go straight to Fremantle it will only cost you $3.70 for the train.

I hoped on the bus and headed back to Perth, Billabong was full so I booked in at a place called Easy Perth; this ended up being a great and hilarious idea. Check in wasn't until 2pm so I hung around Billabong at the pool until then, met back up with Simon and snagged his number so I knew what time we were going and what not the next day...phewf...I should have done that earlier. Once I got checked in at Easy Perth I met a couple of people, one guy was really drunk already which was funny, and everyone else was drinking...2pm remember and its face-melting hot. This dude ended up passing out for the rest of the day but woke back up in the evening and got right back on it..legend. He gave me the nickname James The Cat or Mr. The Cat which appearantly is an old cartoon, I had my own theme song too so I wasn't complaining.

I stayed up drinking with these guys for as long as I could, but they were all hyped because they were going to Creamfields the next day (big music festival for dance music). They kepted trying to convince me not to go to Margaret River and go to Creamfields the next day with them...it was pretty tempting because the tickets were only $95 and it was an all day event. But I had to decline and I crashed at about 1am.

Off to Margaret River in the morning..man it's hot here...whew..

Peace & Love