SO Western Australia or "WA" as they call it... My 2 weeks in Perth were eventful... I had Christmas and New Year in Perth... stayed with Siobhans family... spent 10 of the 14 days hanging with Jamie (which was awesome) and did everything there was to do whilst in the midst of a 40oC heat wave...

I had heare dmixe dreviews about Perth... some people love it and some think its the most boring place on Earth... it is the most isolated city in the world and Perth itself (the central part) is probably smaller than Kingston (eeek) with the nearest city being Adelaid (about a 3 day drive away)... During my stay the temperature range dfrom 35-over 40oC ... some days were so hot we couldnt actually go outside as were frazzelled within minutes - so sadly some of my East coast tan has faded boo hoo :(

In Perth we made sure we (me, Siobhan and Jamie on most the days :P lol) visited Freemantle, seeing the infamous prison (we did 3 hours worth of tours there and it was definitely a hightlight to see it!!) ... we went to Swan Valley (on new years eve) that was great... trying free chocolate at the chocolate factory visiting lavenda gardens (for lavenda tea and lavenda scones.... LOVELY) and sooo many wineries... I was tipsy by about 4pm before the celebrations were even underway lol...we also visited central Perth (shopping.... and see the picture above; the view from kings park - a beautiful place we had picnics, played music and just hung out)...

Perth is one of those places... you need to get into the lifestyle rather than just visit (and you need a car - everything is so bloody far away!!!) it was nice just hanging with old friends - even met up with an old Aussie friend from London one eve - so random but cool!! I think you only need to spend a week there to see everything but for me and Siobhan it was nice to relax in a house with her rellies and get spoilt round Christmas and participate in the many celebrations that happened over xmas (includes an engagement party too) the amount of champagne, chocolate, wine and nibbles I have had this week has been fantastic - I spent xmas day with 20 of Sio's rellies... a massive buffet lunch and unlimited bubbles sitting in 36oC in the garden - a christmas I wont forget and beats a chicken sandwich in the hostel (which would have been the case otherwise lol)...

I have had a lovely time but am now ready to see something else (back to Asia and culture!!)

The culture in Australia is beer and beach - which is a great holiday attutude but after 6 weeks I am ready to explore more ventures... Australia is so big and when you put it over Europe you can see the vastness of it - each territory is like a different country (different vibes, different climate, different accents and different attractions)... Perth was definitley more relaxing and it was funny as most the policeman...bus drivers... shop assistants were ENGLISH - so it was like mini England (home from home)....

One thing I wont miss are the bloody hourly buses.... hourly trains and I did miss the English/ London transport system or miss using my car...

Other random things about Perth is the trains ran in the middle of the freeway (weird) Australia does have a few backwards methods and their lack of TASTEY chocolate and sweets - Jamie was missing our English Nandos, toffee crisp and monster munch (things we take for granted) LOL ...

All in all Perth was a mixed adventure as by day 10 I was getting a bit bored, but before I knew it Siobhan was going to the airport - and me shortly to follow to start the travelling adventure again (with about 5kgs more of "stuff" to fit in..... eeeek ....