After a day just hanging around Ho Chi Minh City I left for the airport at 4.00, changed planes at Singapore and then arrived in Perth at 7.15am. Had the usual trouble sleeping but wasnt helped by being in the worlds coldest plane and being sat next to a bloke with a serious nasal and fidgeting problem. It was brilliant to be in Australia, so clean, no need to worry about food, the signs make sense and people understand you, and me them.

My accommodation didn't fill me with confidence when I arrived, its being closed down in three weeks!

Feeling really knackered I booked myself onto the open top bus tour which left from just over the road. It included a tour of the beautiful Botanic Gardens which also give great views of the city and the WACA cricket ground, and probably other places of interest but I kipped off on the bus so missed chunks of it, so just had to go around again when I managed to sleep through the places I hadn't on the first circuit. After that I had a walkaround town buying a paperback and managed to stay awake to see a top band at a nearby Irish bar.

Next day I got the train down to Freemantle, a very attractive little town and I booked on the tram tour and got on well with a group of lads from New York. I cruised back along Swan River, a lovely way to spend an hour in the sun then went for a few beers in Bobby Dazzlers watching the Aussies loose to India in the cricket. One local guy heard my accent and said grinning so I could hear "Atleast we're not loosing to the fu**ing poms", "No thats next year" I said. He brought me a VB anyway so he wasnt all bad!

After a tour of the southern region of the West Coast (separate blog entry to follow) I got back to Perth four days later and met up with a good old friend from my TACA Shipping Days, Angie Dootson. She called me as soon as I was back from the tour and instead of an evening out we had all day as well, going to there favourite beach and around the lovely Hilarys harbour with its shops, cafes and water slides. We waited for her husband Graham by there pool (alright for some!) to come home then went back into Perth for a good few beers and tasty dinner.