We arrived at Perth domestic airport around 9:30 on the evening of the 26th of April, but we arrived at our hostel at nearer 12:30am! We had to get a bus, a train and then had a half hour walk so it took forever! So a lot of our time in and around Perth was taken up on buses and trains as we were so far out of town, but we are looking forward to mixing it up a little in Thailand, tuk tuk here we come! We had a lovely first day wandering around a town called Fremantle. This was recommended because it was the weekend and they have markets on. The harbourside town is quaint, full of cafes and there is a nice park opposite the marina where we sat to enjoy the last rays of sunshine before the rain started that afternoon. We also explored Cottesloe, the area where our hostel was, also by the sea about 20 mins on the train outside Perth city centre. The following day we met up with the lovely Fiona, Angela and John who live in Perth. Angela was amazing driving us round all day to places we would have found difficult to get to via public transport. We went to the botanical gardens where Katie thrashed both Angela and Colette at a game of billiard golf (crazy golf except you had to hit the sides before you putt the ball) then it was over to the Swan Valley to sample some Margaret river chocolate in the factory there, unlimited free samples were a definite highlight! We were invited back to their house for some delicious chicken casserole and roasties before they dropped us back. Its odd to think that though the temperature is still above 20 people in Australia are starting to cook winter foods! On the way home we were given a tour of some of the area. Every house was huge, there is clearly a lot of wealth, in fact we heard it is the city with the highest number of millionaire residents in the world! We still hadn't actually visited the city centre but we decided it could wait another day as Fiona had suggested we take a look round a place called Hillary's near their house and then generously invited us to join them for dinner again that evening. Hillary's is another pretty seaside area though far more centred around holiday goers. There is a big aquarium and water park but we just had a nice time looking round the shops and marina. At dusk Angela drove us to a cemetery, as oddly enough, it is the prime place for kangaroo spotting. There were loads there just grazing and hopping around, they let us get pretty close even the one which looked like it was carrying a joey! We didn't realise but there are a few kinds of kangaroo, these ones were quite small about the height of a goat. Stuffed full of more great home cooked food we left the Graham household with a list of sites and things to do over our last two days. It was great to have some local knowledge about the area as in most places we spend a lot of time looking at leaflets and maps from the hostels and don't see half as much. On Tuesday we had our big day in the city centre. We first hit tourist information, which didn't really tell us any more than Fiona, Angela and John had already told us, so then we headed to London Court. This is a narrow street which is supposed to look like Tudor London, with a cobbled street and old fashioned looking shops. It looks very out of place in modern Perth so it definitely stands out! Also every hour there's a clock which chimes and 2 miniature knights on horses come out of the clock and start jousting! We had a wander around the streets in the centre before heading to the bell tower, which has bells from St Martins in London, and then we went to look at Annalakshimi's, which is a vegetarian restaurant where the price is simply what you feel the food deserved. All the money goes to charity and all the food is donated. We then walked to the Mint, where you can see molten gold, bars of gold and basically every kind of gold! Then we rode the CAT bus, a completely free bus which goes all around Perth centre, so we used it to see a bit more of the city before getting off at King's Park. This is the biggest park in the centre of a city in the world: bigger than Central Park in New York! Here we had a mini picnic before enjoying a free walking tour in the park where we learnt all about its history and about the war monuments and memorials in the park. There are beautiful views of the city from here so it was the perfect place to stop and rest, before heading back. We cooked a late meal of pasta then headed straight to bed, exhausted by our day out! Thursday was unfortunately our last day in Australia so we were determined to make it a good one. We got up early and went into Perth for the morning then caught the train to Rockingham, which is where get off to go to the famous Penguin Island! After getting a bus to the Penguin Island Discovery Centre we caught a short ferry over to the island. We had wanted to do a boat ride on a glass bottom boat to see sea lions and penguins but as the weather wasn't great it was cancelled, so we just walked around the island (it only took 20 minutes, the island is tiny!) and saw the penguins in captivity being fed. We had been really looking forward to the boat ride but we soon cheered up when we realised we had the cash we would have spent on it still to use up so we treated ourselves to a cake and a drink in a posh cafe back in Perth. The next morning was hectic. We were up at 5.20am to get our stuff together and catch the earliest possible bus into the city, then ran to another bus stop to catch a bus to the domestic airport, then got a shuttle to the international airport. Luckily everything ran smoothly and we arrived at the airport at exactly the time we should have, but it was very stressful! It was time to leave the lovely country of Australia. We've had such an amazing time here, we've met so many amazing people and out of all the countries we've been to, time has definitely gone quickest here! Thankfully we still have over a month to go though, so bye bye Australia, hello Asia!