Finally my sentence was up at home backpackers...it was time to leave! After a sleepless night I hoisted my backpack on my back and made my way downstairs. It was 6am but my lovely roomies got up to wave me off, as did Kieran. I didn't want a huge fuss but whilst waiting for the airport shuttle the fire alarm sounded...and kept sounding for a good 15 bloody minutes. There I was standing outside with my backpack when most of the hostel comes outside in their pyjamas! It was as if the hostel was saying bye to me haha! It did look like it was me causing a scene to leave though...slightly embarrassing.
The fire alarm went off every day for the first few days i had gone... I think the hostel is missing me haha.

The shuttle ride didn't last that long and before I knew it I was back in the place I had landed 6 months ago, but this time on my own. First time flying on my own...first time in an airport on my own... It was a scary experience. Haha.

I checked my bags in and with 20 minutes to spare, I got a lovely cuppa and a muffin before boarding. It gave me the little bit of energy I needed to walk to the plane.

It wasn't the best flight I've ever been on and I was  soooo tired, I tried to sleep but couldn't. It was so cramped and uncomfortable. This was actually one of the shortest flights I'd had in ages but it still felt like one of the longest. It eventually arrived and I made my way to arrivals. Welcome to Perth!

I'd planned to meet Justine at her work so got in a taxi and made my way there. Im glad I did. As a result
of going there I had my food bought for me and drinks by the locals that are there everyday! Good times!

A few hours later after lots of catching up with the lovely Northerner, we made our way to her lovely home where I pretty much crashed out for the whole night. It was a well needed sleep.

The next day was a very lazy day. In fact most of my days here in the first week were lazy days. I was getting myself used to the not working lifestyle haha.  I did take a trip to Coles during the day...it didn't feel right though...I felt like I was cheating on the Coles in Sydney. I decided to cook a meal for Justine and Conor for letting me stay... I even said i'd be their maid for the week. Nice of me huh? Haha. After filling the bellies we ended the night playing UNO.

On Justine's day off we took a day trip to the city of Perth to price up campers for our road trip. The thing is with us two everything sounds like a good deal...why we were left in charge of this task I don't know. We got a few prices, one woman even tried selling us a 3 berth camper for 4 people...pushing the fact that the single bed is bigger than any other single bed! Bulls*** love. It was a single bed...fact! We passed on that offer! After pricing up for 4 people we gained an extra camper van buddy. Janis had decided he wanted to join us on our trip. We also had an undecided camper, Liam,  which turned out to be a yes in the end. That pushed our number to six! This meant we wouldn't really be getting a camper...oh no that's too small. We were getting an RV!! Scary bloody stuff! I drive a little KA at home. Granted I had some practice driving a chevrolet in the US but still that's like a toy car compared to an RV! Well anyway I put this thought to the back of my head and we stopped pricing up for the day. It was too much head work!

We stopped for some food, I tried my first bit of sushi!  why have I not had the pleasure of tasting it before?YUM! That's all I can say. Heading back to the house was extremely unpleasant for me as I was bursting for a pee! And getting to a toilette was not in my favour. As we got to the train station I had no time as the train was already at the platform. Going on the train was hopeless, there were no toilettes. I thought don't panic there'll be one when we get off the train. I was wrong about that as well...well there was a toilette but some bloody guy got there first! Luckily Justine's house is 5 minutes from the station so thankfully I made it, against all odds haha!

Another lazy day was on the cards until boredom hit! So me and Conor took a trip to justines work for a couple of drinks and games of pool.The flukiness of me playing well at pool kicked in because I kicked Conors ass! It was awesome!

For something a bit different the next day we took a car ride to Mount Lawly in Justine and conors new ride.  The sun was shining the  windows were down and the music was pumping! We thought it would be quite interesting to look around but there wasn't much there...we ended up in a book store for about an hour and a half. I have to be honest I havnt laughed that much in ages...me and Justine had so much entertainment from a book called:  unuseless japanese inventions. It was BRILLIANT! Want to have a bath without getting wet? Wear a human sized bag...then you can wear your clothes in the bath!  You can imagine how ridiculous the inventions were. It's a must buy! After an hour of laughing we headed back to the house to continue with a lazy day! I'm an unemployed bum! Not cool. But as I go to settle down for the evening Justine walks in after an early finish at work with a crate of beer. No early night for us. We took the beers outside and began the game drinking UNO. James also joined us, well he actually came out with a cuppa with the intention of reading a book. I can safely say that  didn't happen lol. The beers were flowing so much so that I ended up falling asleep (passing out is probably the best way to explain it).

Hangover day was not fun, so we enjoyed a film day and of course the final day of the premier league. And what a final day it was...I would have loved to have seen the faces on united fans after city scored in the final minute of stoppage time! I think they've learned never to celebrate before the whistles blown haha!

A new day had arrived I'd planned to meet Liam in the city and catch up after he'd been a recluse on the farm for 4 months! He had forgotten how things work in the real world...it's true. Haha. Well we walked for miles and miles...I'm pretty sure but we saw a lot of Perth, which was more than I'd seen in a week. Then it was back to Justine's for my last night as a couch surfer!

The arrival of Joe and curly had finally arrived! And it was time for me to leave the lovely Justine's and move to a hostel. I'm sure she was sick of me after a week. I got the train into the city with all my luggage including Curlys laptop which I think actually weighs more than my backpack it's so old, and made my way to 'The old swan Barracks' my new home for the next week! It's not Home Backpackers, I must say! The main living area has to be at least double the size of the whole of HBP altogether! It was massive!! It took a good stair climbing and long corridor walks to get to my room. At HBP I'd roll out of bed and pretty much be in the TV room! I missed my Sydney home!

Curly was first to join me at the hostel and we checked in. Little Lucy had picked her up from the airport and we took a walk into the city to get some food. This is where I was introduced to Eugene...Curly's gamy toe that was so disgusting she decided to give it it's own name.  Not only that she decided to introduce him to us in the middle of the food hall...whilst eating food.  It was gross. Theres a time and a place Curly! Crikey. Haha!

Joes arrival was due shortly after food and a wander so we made our way to the airport but after getting there we found out his flight was late. Typical Joe arriving fashionably late. Haha. Instead of heading back we drove a few miles to the Midlands to find a Supermarket.  It reminded me so much of driving America with miles of road and then hit an area with many shops. The only thing is it was about 6pm and everything in Western Australia shuts at 5 except bars...but they aren't much better to be honest, they close at around 12am, if you're lucky 2am.  We managed to find a coles, which was open! So we stocked up on food and headed back to the airport to chauffeur princess Joe back to the hostel where we had a little catch up in the bar before recharging our batteries with sleep!

It was surprise time for Janis, we were all up bright and early waiting for Lucy to pick us up to head back to the airport for another pick-up. We told Janis that we'd arranged for a shuttle to pick him up from the airport which had the hostel name on the side...which made us worry slightly when we were running late being stuck in traffic. I wasn't sure if there actually was a real shuttle, so until we got there we were waiting for a shuttle to pass us with Janis sat on it. Luckily that wasn't the case and the plan was successful  haha. He wasn't as surprised as we'd have liked though!

We checked Janis into the hostel then finally went to price up some campers. I didn't realise how difficult it would be to find a good deal! After a few different travel agents we took a trip to surprise Justine at work. Somehow after chatting away we came to the discussion about where toilette waste goes in campervans and on aeroplanes. Months ago on contiki we'd had this exact conversation with Sophie Irvine. This time it was Justine that was adamant that the waste just falls from the sky, but not only that she thought that if we used the toilette in the camper it would just empty onto the road! I mean seriously?Haha. This conversation will never fail to make me laugh! After a long natter and gossip we headed back to the hostel and played UNO and monopoly deal with a cup of tea while everyone else was chilling with a beer socialising. We were like the old biddy's of the hostel! But we had an important day ahead!

Another bright and early morning and we were off to book our camper! Yay!!! The Huge 6 berth monster camper had been booked and paid for! Now we just had 4 days to wait until the road trip began! Once we were done I got some sushi (Yes, I'm now addicted!) and we had a stroll around town then me and Janis went back for a cuppa and a few games of pool while curly and Joe went to the library.  On their return from a long library session we chilled out and  had a $3 burger (bargain) and some drinks before another early night.

Friday was a beautiful day, so we ventured out of the city and caught the train out to Freemantle... A lovely place, but not really much to do. We did find a market where i got a bit carried away.  Everything I saw I wanted! I got myself a ripple... It had to be done! Scrounged around for free samples which turned out to be delicious, which then resulted in me buying them. Damn! I have no self control! We took a walk down to the harbour... Well that was our aim, but we didn't quite get that far as we got distracted by the cutest dog. So we sat with her and played fetch for what must have been an hour. It was fun at first until she got bloody tired and started slobbering over us all and the stick, but there was no stopping her! Haha.

Joe had earlier spotted that 'the Avengers' was playing in the cinema and both him and Curly were desperate to watch it, so while they made their way to the big screen. Me and Janis made a return to the city. Our job was to buy the goon for the evening and sneak it into the hostel as they had a strict 'No alcohol' policy! That's a stupid rule so we chose to ignore it! Rebels aren't we! Haha!  We had one problem when we got to the liquor store...there was no daybreak or tangled vine! This was a problem as those were the only makes we knew were decent enough to drink. It took us a while but we chose 2 and hoped for the best! Turns out one was lovely...the other tasted like dog piss! Not cool. Even worse we'd taken both bags out of the boxes so we had no idea which one was which for next time! Idiots! Ah well goon is goon and we managed to sneak it past reception! Score!

I had time to fit a skype session in with P. And Christie, before curly and Joe made a return, then we hit the drink. Now, we'd made it past reception without fail with our drink but we hadn't thought about what happens next! That being the hostel came around doing room checks! Epic fail! We gave Liam a call, got ready and made our way to his hostel with two additional people from our room, Olly and Steve,who had been forming a little bromance with Joe, haha. We met Liams roomies and sat downstairs playing drinking games. Wherever we are in Australia there will always be goon and drinking games...without fail!

Finally! The time had come to hit the town!  It's been 2 weeks since my last night out! Crikey! A new record for me. I got in a taxi with Liam and his roommates following a big group of people out! The rest followed. I can't remember the name of the club, but it's irrelevant to be honest as we only got to see the outside of it. Unfortunately the guys weren't allowed in because they didn't have a passport for ID. Luckily the other lots taxi had just turned up, so we hopped in. It was a huge taxi...more like a mini bus to be honest. Curly had stolen some groups mini bus back at the hostel. Funnily enough the taxi driver asked her if it was booked under Joe and as we have a joe with us she said yes! Technically she did nothing wrong! Haha. It was a random taxi ride to the Wise monkeys bar! This is where  Curly was denied entry because she was wearing flip flops...apparently you get a fine for wearing them here in WA. What a stupid load of bulls***!

After trying to persuade, well convince the bouncer that they weren't flip flops, and failing, she went home. Everyone else stayed and had a dance. Joe was throwing some moves on the floor...he even tried teaching Liam some moves. My bonus of the night was a free drink at the bar courtesy of the barman! Score! It got dead pretty quickly plus Liam was escorted out so we left. Liam managed to find his way back in and Joe was still partying with Steve on the dancefloor and having an in depth conversation about politics haha! Janis, me and both Liams roomies began the walk home. I couldn't wait to get to bed, and get under my awesome blanket! The hostel had the comfiest beds and the cosiest quilts, I wanted to steal it for the camper! I think they would have noticed though! Don't you? I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Hello hangover day!! First, the usual morning occurrence happened. This being; every morning Curly drops the phone off the bed, instead of picking it up as soon as it falls she leaves it an hour or so until she needs it! When she needs or wants the phone she can't find it so my job is to ring it, I suppose it's like a little alarm
system haha. The rest of the day was pretty much films and 'How I met your mother'. There was no leaving the hostel. Well actually we took a walk to McDonalds where we scoffed our faces! It was gooood! The day pretty much continues with films and tv shows....we were lazy little b*****s for the day!

Our last day in Perth had finally arrived... It was time to collect the final few bits and bobs before campervan day! Me and Curly took a stroll into town and spent some dollar! Later on that day Liam came round and we all discussed our plans and where we were going to make our first stop over a few beverages. A lovely way to end our time in Perth. To be honest we just wanted to get to bed so Camper day would arrive sooner.

Perth's been fun...well sort of but we are ready to leave! Camper time is here and we are ready for a BIG West Coast road trip! Woooo!

I'll be in touch you lovely lot.

J.L xx