We have been in Australia for about two weeks, but we hadn't yet been to Perth, WA's capital city, so we thought we would do that over the weekend. It's only about an hours bus ride to get to the centre of Perth, however we thought that we would stay there for the whole weekend. One day wouldn't be enough really, and there was no point going backwards and forwards. Early friday morning (Day 39) we headed out on the bus and arrived at our hostel late morning. We had booked in for three nights, and came home on the monday morning. I don't know if it is the same in all Austalian cities, but in Perth they operate a free CAT bus service. They have three routes around the city and you can just hop on and off whenever you like for free. This really helped us out over the weekend. When we arrived at the bus station, we just got on a blue CAT bus and drove up to our hostel. We still had a bit of a trek to get there though as we didn't know where on the road it was. It turned out to be right at the other end to the bus stop we got off at, and it was a very long road! Luckily we just put both of our things in one backpack so we, or should I say I, didn't have much to carry. The hostel we stayed in was good and really big. We were in a six bed dorm, so we didn't have to share with many people. Although it has been great staying in Mandurah because we aren't staying in a hostel it's harder to meet people and it's not really the same experience. It was good to feel more involved again and to be able to meet other people doing a similar thing to us. It was the first place we have stayed that had a pool too, but I don't think I would have wanted to swim in it!

We didn't hang around in the hostel for long; just dropped off our stuff then headed out to take a look around. We managed to find a bus stop that was a little bit nearer too which saved our legs. We got off the bus at the waterfront and stopped for some lunch. We also had a walk around the front and the Swan Bells tower. After lunch we got on a ferry to take a tour off the Swan river. I like boat tours as you get to see a lot of the city but don't actually have to walk much! There were some really good views of the skyline, and we went all the way to Freemantle and back. Luckily it was a really hot day and nice and sunny. We sat on the outside of the boat for most of the journey, but then we realised we had forgotten the suncream and were getting very red so we sat inside for the rest of the trip.

After the tour had finished we went up to King's Park, a very famous and completely huge park in the city centre. It was getting hotter and hotter by this time though and my burn was starting to hurt. The park was really nice and there were lots of things to see. We got off the bus at the wrong stop though I think, because to get into the park we had to walk up a really steep set of steps, which is called Jacob's Ladder. There were over 200 steps altogether and it killed me. There were loads of crazy people there running up and down though as part of their workout or something. Weirdos! We walked around for quite a bit and stopped to look at the views. Apparantly the best views of the city are from the park and you can see all the way past South Perth too. There were some memorials, including one for the people killed in the Bali bombing, that we looked at, lots of sculptures and things and a bridge that went through the tree tops.

In the evening we went back to the same area where our hostel was, Northbridge. It is the best place in Perth to go out in at night, wth loads of bars and clubs, cafes and restaurants. We went for a meal at an Italian restaurant, then went for a drink after. However, because we hadn't been back to get changed and were still wearing what we had on all day, we couldn't get in to any of the good bars. Justin still had his 'thongs' on and you can't wear them anywhere on a friday night apparantly. The only place we could find to get a drink was a bizarre asian karaoke bar that was just like someone's living room. It worked out ok in the end though and we had a really good night. It was so funny watching everyone sing, but we didn't join in!

The next day the weather had changed alot, and it was propbaly the first bad day we have had since we have been here. We went around the shops for a bit up until lunch time. There's a street called London Court we walked down, which has loads of old buldings and small souvenier shops, then we went to the newer malls. It wasn't too busy but there was load music and a DJ in the street. I bought a couple of things I must admit but they were both in the sale. Also I got served in one shop by someone who used to be in Neighbours, so that excited me! After lunch it started to rain and get really miserable, so we just went back and chilled out at the hostel. We played some ping pong and watched TV for a bit.

It was still raining later but we went out all the same, this time dressing up a bit more first. There were loads of bars and pubs to go to all over the place. We went to a couple of pubs first which were nice, then to one of the main bars near where we were staying. It wasn't much fun queuing up in the rain to get in though. It was called The Shed, and was mainly an outside bar, but there was one bit that was undercover so we stayed dry. It was a good night. The bar was packed, but there was a really good band playing. Justin cracked out some of his infamous dance moves once more!

The next, Sunday, we had booked with the hostel to go to the beach. They were running a bus to one of Perth's most famous beaches, Cottesloe. I had been really looking foward to it as it's supposed to be great there, but as the weather was still rubbish we decided not to go. It's depressing being at a beach when it's raining! Instead we decided to try our hand at another Aussie tradition; the 'Sunday Session.' Basically everyone just goes to the pub all day on a sunday. That was something we could even do on a rubbish day. We tried another pub up the road which was famous for it's sunday session, The Queen's, then went back to where we were the night before. They had a couple more good bands on,and it's was still quite busy even in the afternoon. We didn't stay out quite as late this time as the last two nights had caught up with us a bit, but we went back to the hostel and stayed up there with some of the guys watching tv. I'd had to do one of the blokes make up earlier in the day as he was going out dressed as a woman for no reason at all, and he was telling us how it didn't go down well at the pubs! On Monday morning we had to get up early to check out, and then headed back to Mandurah. I must admit I was looking forward to being in a nice bed again, even after just three nights away, but I really, really loved it in Perth. It's definetly the best place we've been so far in Austalia!