20th July 2016 - 13th April 2017

When we arrived in Perth we stayed at Goodearth hotel on Adelaide terrace in the city. We got 20% off online and paid $590 for 5 nights. We had been contacting people and looking for a place to rent on our way over but when we arrived a new one came up on gumtree. We agreed it was out of our budget of $300/week but we went to see it anyway on the day we arrived. We also had other bookings in for the next two days. The apartment was 95/369 Hay Street in the city and we obviously fell in love! It was a one bedroom apartment with a sliding door to the bedroom from the open plan living/dining and kitchen area. The bathroom was off the bedroom. The bedroom had a nice double mirror wardrobe and lots of storage. It had everything we would need, all appliances, air con, TV, DVD, washing machine, dryer and it was fully furnished. There was a big balcony that stretched from one side of the apartment to the other, across the living room and bedroom. Downstairs there was a gym, sauna, games room with ping pong and a pool table. There was also an east and west wing, both with lovely swimming pools, deck chairs, a jacuzzi and a BBQ all for free use. We just had to have the place so we cancelled all our appointment and took it right away! We thought we may as well live in some luxury for our last time in Aus. Perth is known as the most isolated city in the world- so we have officially lived in the most isolated and the liveable city in the world (Melbourne).
We had quite a few drinks in the first week of being in Perth. We had a night at the Irish pub on the next street, Feinnians, a night at a bar in Northbridge. Then when we moved in on the 25th July, we had our first night in our apartment and had celebratory drinks on our balcony. We went out 4 times over the next week- for Nath's birthday we went to the Crown Casino on Saturday, had a few drinks in the casino and then went to a nightclub in there. We went down by river to Lucky Shag bar on his actual birthday and then went up the revolving tower restaurant (C Restautant) where they let us just have drinks. They let us sit in a part that revolved which was nice of them as the bar is in a part that does not. We saw an amazing sunset and got great views over Perth! It must have been the high altitude but I got very drunk whilst we were up there and fell off my chair, bringing the glasses from the table with me! We swiftly left after that!! The night after Nath's birthday we went out to a couple of bars near us and then we went out again at the weekend. Not a bad first month in Perth!
I started applying for jobs on 08/08/16, and I got a call on the 10th for a place I wanted to work at, a bakery/cafe that my friend Rosie had recommended as she worked for the company when she was in Perth, at their Subiaco store. This was their West Leederville shop that I got a trail for, what was not far from the city- about 20mins on the bus and then a 15min walk or I could drive there or walking took about 40mins. I had a trail shift on the 11th Aug and I worked a couple of hours and got the job there and then. I started work on the 15th. The job was Monday-Friday, no nights, no weekends (hardly ever), full time, $24/hour. What more could you want. Exactly what I was after! Wooo! The girls were lovely- Sam (Middlesbrough but lived in Aus for 8 years), Maria (Ireland), Mel (Aussie) and Marta (Polish). The hours were good, I rarely worked under 40 hours a week and the shifts ranged from starting at 6.15am and finishing at 2.30pm to starting at 9.00am and finishing at 4.15pm. Subiaco was open on a Saturday so sometimes they needed staff to cover, but very rarely!
I went on a night out with the girls in September, the first girly night since I've left home! It was well needed but ended up very messy!! We went to Maria's for drinks first and some of girls from subi store came too. Just me, Mel and Maria went to a club later and got rote off! It was a good night, but I paid for it the next day though! We went for a sizzler with Tash and Aidan as they were leaving for Lake King for work but I couldn't eat anything and spent my time being sick in the toilet! Typical! We told ourselves we would detox when we got to Perth and be healthy but that went well! We tried literally every dessert from work and drank every weekend. We had our first weekend off drink in mid September- just the one! We had stuff going on every weekend until mid October. Tash and Aidan came like our second weekend in the flat and stayed at ours for a night, we had some drinks and then went out for the day on Saturday to Hillarys boat harbour, which is lovely. We had another night out with them at the casino which was really good! We all got dressed up and Nath and Aidan had some bets! Aidan won quite a bit, we broke even really. We went to the circus the next day in Innaloo, which was really really good, we all loved it! It had some funny farm animals which we hadn't seen in a circus before and they had the motorbike globe, amazing! Tash and Aidan left for some more farm work in September, to go to Lake King, about 3 hours south east of Perth, but that didn't work out so they went back home.
Me and Nath had some days at the beginning of our time in Perth when we weren't working, exploring the city, Northbridge, West and East Perth. We went to Kings park, which has lovely views of the city! It's one of the largest inner city parks in the world. We spent quite a bit of time at Elizabeth Quay which is nice and newly built in January. We would always go to the lucky shag bar there. It was very nice down there by the swan river, looking back to the city. We walked the full lap (10km) from ours down to the water and across to south perth, again lovely views of the city. We visited Guilford, on edge of the Swan valley, it was a lovely English historic town from the first settlers. We visited Hillary's a couple of times and went to the beaches (City, Scarborough, Cottsloe) they were all very white sandy beaches- beautiful! We went for a drive to Perth Hills, where there were views of city from a distance. We drove down zig zag scenic drive (zig zag road obviously) overlooking Perth and the surroundings.
It was winter when we arrived, it was still not too cold, but we did have had some coldish nights- nothing like home mind! Spring soon heated things up and the odd day in Spring was in the 30s, a couple of days as high as 37.
I met up with Alice Gibson for first time in September. It's been 10 years since I've seen her. We went to Scarborough to bar for some food after work. It was lovely, but strange to see her!
We went to a Beer and Beef festival at Elizabeth Quay at the end of September. It was pretty big, with lots of ales and food stalls. It had two live music stages and it was a really good, lovely setting. We both got pretty drunk and Nath was riding the kangaroo statues on the way home. At the beginning of October it was Oktoberfest at Langley park. It was very good, but not very good weather. It rained quite a lot and because it was on a field it was very boggy and muddy! We had a good day though drinking German beer out of our steins, eating bratwursts and listening to music. The week after was the NRL test match, Aus vs NZ at the nib stadium. It was the third test match, with the kiwis winning the first two. It was a good game and the Aussies won! I didn't know who I was going for, I kept clapping for both but went for the Aussies. I saw the Hakka which was very exciting! We had really good seats, 2 rows from the front in the north stand. It was only a small stadium but reached it's highest attendance at the stadium at 20,000 people. We really enjoyed it!
It started to warm up a little in October, it hit 32 on one odd day, but it was mainly 20ish, but still a record low for Perth at that time of year. Nath started to work a different company in October, it was still for Grace Removals but he was employed through a subcontractor that worked for Grace. It was better money at $30 flat rate an hour (to pay his own taxes) and even though it was a little slow to start with it was a brilliant job to get! He did so well! The guy had never hired a backpacker before. Nath is always a hard worker impressing people!
After the rugby weekend we had a detox for a couple of weeks and got out seeing things. We watched WA strongest man/woman competition at Elizabeth Quay. We also went to Yanchep National Park and saw the wild koalas and kangaroos and had a nice walk around. In the same day we drove to The Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. I thought we would get there and be like ah it's just rock formations randomly sprouting out of the ground, but we were really impressed! It is a true desert landscape in Nambung National Park, where the weathered rock spires of the Pinnacles rise out of yellow sand dunes. The park also sits on the Indian Ocean so you could see the sea in the background of the pinnacles. We did a scenic walk and passed the ancient limestone pillars, some several metres tall. They're scattered across the desert in their thousands, creating an eerie, alien-like landscape. Some are as high as three and half metres. They are made up of shells, and the Pinnacles date back millions of years to when the sand was beneath the sea. It was definitely worth the visit, and I loved being in the desert! After The Pinnacles we drove up the Turquoise Coast to Jurien Bay, a small coastal town with a lovely beach, where we sat and ate lunch. It was very windy but still warm and the water was so turquoise- would you believe!
We both had nights out with work for Christmas, but in November. I went out with the girls to Scarborough and Nath went paintballing and then on a night out. We both had good nights! Nath didn't get in until about 5am!
In November we went to see Dynamo at Perth arena along with 8,000 people on that night! He did 3 shows and we went to the first one in Perth. It was really good and he did some mind boggling tricks!!
We had a day out and drove south and visited Bunbury and went to
Marlston lookout and Koombana bay. We then went to Mandurah and had some lunch by the water at Dolphin Quay. Then lastly we stopped for the afternoon in Rockingham and had a walk along the beach. It was the most beautiful coastline. I fell in love! It was so shallow and clear! The islands just off of Rockingham (Penguin and Garden) are a part of the Shoalwater Marine National Park which is great for scuba and snorkelling because of it's coral and it is so clear.
Summer hit with a bang and it rarely went below 30, sometimes over 40 too! Summer time (Dec-Feb) is obviously when Christmas falls so it was a warm one for us! We had an afternoon out and went for a walk to Bold Park and walked up Reabold Hill for views over the city and to the coast and we could see Rottnest island too.
Christmas Eve I worked but Nath had it off. I finished at like 2.30 though so not too bad. We went out later on to Trigg Beach for a walk and watched the sunset. Christmas Day we got up about 8am and opened our presents before going for a walk down to the river with alcohol in hand. It was like 33 though and it killed us. We had an early dinner about 4pm- we had prawn cocktail for starter and then a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. We had a joint of beef and joint of pork, we did homemade cheese in blankets, stuffing, Yorkshire puddings, roast veg. We mastered it, the meal was perfect. Our first Christmas dinner cooking together! We had some Moët with dinner and then more drinks and chilled after, we skyped family and then played the new updated trivial pursuit that I bought Nath. Nath won! We got ready and went out to the casino about 10.30pm, had drinks there and played roulette and blackjack. I won about 100 so we didn't really spend too much! Winning! We got home about 2:30am and it was a brill night. We had such a lovely Christmas and we got sent some lovely presents from family at home and got each other some nice bits!
We hit up the Boxing Day sales the next day and both got some amazing bargains! On the 27th we got Rottnest fast Ferries from Hillarys. It was a very rough trip over, it took an hour due to high swell and bad conditions. The boat was getting drenched in waves. There were two overturned boats the day before so it gave us great hope! It was awful. A few people were been sick I don't know how Nath wasn't! There were a few screams when we hit high waves. I thought I might have a panic attack and I was very happy to get off. It was highs of 22 on rottnest so it was a nice cool day and perfect for cycling around. It was 2 years to the day since we started our adventure so a great way to celebrate! We cycled 27km in about 4-4.5hours. There were some very hilly parts and it was very up and down so it was very tough! The bays were beautiful. Pristine clear water, with white sandy beaches. It was good weather to cycle round as it was not too hot, but was quite windy. We rode the full way around the whole island. We managed to get a selfie with a Quokka and it climbed all over me and pulled my hair. It was such a perfect day and Rottnest is beautiful!
Nath was back at work on 28th but I was off until 4th Jan. I had a nice few days at the swimming pool topping up my tan. We had New Year in between and we had bought tickets to a festival called Origin which was at Claremont Show-grounds. There were thousands of people there, they had three stages, loads of food trucks and a few little rides. It was a really good night! We saw quite a few different artists, some we knew, some we didn't. We saw people like the Newham Generals, JME, ASAP Rocky, Chase and Status and Pendulum. It was a fab last new year in Aus! We got the train back into town and walked home and on the way back Nath managed to walk square on into a lamppost! It was a brilliant end to 2016 and had me in fits on giggles for a good while!
After Christmas we had a few quiet weekends and both worked a few weekends too. We had a day at Sorrento Beach next to Hillarys and eventually got in the sea for the first time in WA! They have installed a shark barrier there so we went and had a swim. The sea was lovely and warm! We wouldn't be getting without the shark barrier as there are just too many shark attacks. WA is one of the worst places in the world for shark attacks and you just hear about them too often, or different sightings every week. They have some of the sharks tagged and there is a website where you can see where they are or where sightings have been and they are all around the Perth region! Not worth the risk at all!
Out of nowhere with no warning, I then turned 26! My birthday was on a Sunday so not a great day to celebrate. I went for brunch with the girls from work on Saturday and then started drinking with Nath when he was home from work. We went out to the Avairy, a rooftop bar in town and had drinks and some nibble food there. Later we went to Tiger Lil's, a bar/club and spent the rest of the night there. It was a very nice night. On Sunday we had a dip in the pool and the jacuzzi and chilled out for the day. On the night we headed to the Crown Casino and went for an all you can eat buffet. It was very fancy and didn't have any cheap buffet food. There was lovely seafood and fillet steaks, roasts, sushi and plenty of other dishes, as well as a desert bar. It was $75 each and worth every penny!
I worked Australia Day but got paid good money as it's a public holiday. When I got back we went down to Langley Park to the Skyworks celebrations by the swan river. There were lots of food trucks, slip and slides, bike stunts, music and then at 8pm the fireworks were due to go off. It was such a warm day- 42 degrees! The hottest Aus Day in 40 years! Scorcher!! We were chilling on the grass with our back to the water but could see stunt planes flying above, doing a show over the water. A while later there was an announcement that Skyworks had been cancelled due to an accident in the water and for everyone to start making their way home and make way for emergency services on the water. We knew it must have been fatal if they have cancelled it. We walked to the water and there were news crews running around trying to get interviews and quite a lot of police too. In the middle of the Swan river was a stunt plane, split in 2. The two people that were in the plane, which was a part of the show, were killed. The plane was carrying out a stunt and the turn went wrong and the plane crashed straight into the river, splitting on impact. There were still a lot of boats in the water which could have been hit or the many pontoons with fireworks on. It was just so awful that two people had just died in front of all these people. I couldn't believe it. I don't think anybody could. We left not too long after sunset with a strange feeling about what had just happened. A very said Australia Day for those families.
We had some other nice days out. We went to Bussleton- we walk all the way to the end of the jetty- the longest timber jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. It took forever too! We had a swim in the sea again as they had shark barriers there. It was a lovely day. Bussleton is like something off a post card. So picturesque and perfect water and beach and the jetty just adds to the effect. We had a day at Rockingham, one of my favourite local beaches. It's just 40 mins away. The water is beautiful and very shallow for quite a long way out. It's a popular spot for scuba divers. It's within sheltered waters of Cockburn Sound and just offshore is Shoalwater Islands Marine Park. We had a lazy on the beach for the day and got in water a couple of times to cool down. There's no shark nets there but it's so shallow you would never go that far out. We saw a sting ray swim past us which was quite exciting but scary then when the clouds cleared we noticed we were surrounded by so many jelly fish! We didn't see them before because they were just blending in. I got back in the water again but nath didn't. Then we were warned by a local scuba diver to be careful not to get stung and to go to the chippy for vinegar if we do. We both decided not to get back in after that!
I had another night out with the girls- Me, Maria and Mel. Nath organised to go out with the lads from work on the same night too. We all had pre drinks together at ours which was a good laugh! Then we went out separate ways when we went out. Nath obviously got home much later than me as usual but we both had good nights!
In February I got the chance to see Adele live in concert. I dragged Nath along with me and he really enjoyed it too. It was at the Domain stadium in Subiaco and 65,000 people attended. The biggest concert that Perth has ever had and also Adele's first time to Australia and her first stadium concert.
She sent shivers through my body when she started singing. It was unreal!
I left work on the 3rd March as my time up was done there. Sam let me stay an extra couple of weeks past my 6 months but I couldn't stay any longer. I was gutted! I loved working with the girls and although it was mega busy and stressful most of the time, I enjoyed it. It was sad to leave, but at least I didn't have to say bye to the girls and I would seeing the often. We tried to arrange stuff to do and meet up often which was nice. We went for food, cinema trips, nights out and just catching up. I had become very close with Maria and she became a very good friend. We spoke all the time and generally met up about once a week since I left work. I still ended up doing some more shifts just for cash after I left, just when they needed me, which was a nice bit of extra money!
The weekend I left work me and Nath went on a trip to Bremer Bay to see the Orcas. We had booked to go down to Albany (4 hours south of Perth) for the Friday night as we couldn't get any accommodation in Bremer. The trip was booked for the Saturday at 8am and Albany was around 2 hours from Bremer. It would never usually happen, especially on a Friday but Nath didn't get away from work until late on Friday night. It would only happen on the time we had something booked and a long drive ahead! Nath drove us down to Albany in the dark, with no street lights, on kangaroo prone country roads! We didn't get to the accommodation until around 11.30pm so just got our head down pretty much straight away as we were up at 5am. We had to drive around 2 hours to Bremer in the morning but it was an easy drive. The trip was amazing! When we first got out to the canyon we saw some Orcas pretty much straight away. There were only a couple but they came right up to the boat and were swimming under it. It was amazing! They are actually a lot bigger than I thought they would be- they are huge! Naturalise Charters were great, very informative and had free hot and cold drinks and fed us with a lot of snacks through the day and a nice lunch. We spent a good few hours looking for more orcas in the spots they were known to be but we didn't really have much luck. We saw them in the distance often and spouting water but once we got near they disappeared. The skipper decided we would look for sperm whales which we spotted the biggest one the crew had ever seen but it was too far in the distance and we didn't really see. It was nearing the end of the day and we were heading back across the canyon when the same pod from the morning came back to investigate us. We were literately surrounded at all angles we didn't know where to look. They came belly up under the boat, swam alongside and in front of the boat and interacted so well. It was a once in a life time experience and we were so excited and quite overwhelmed! It was unreal beyond words to see the amazing animals that close! It was worth every penny and the long drive and not a lot of sleep for that breathtaking experience.
We had another great day out at Lancelin sand dunes where we went sandboarding. The sand dunes were never ending and quite steep! We had such a good laugh sliding down on a boards and did some great tumbles and ultimate fails on the boards. The sand did get in places that were not pleasant though!
For Paddys day I went out with the girls from work to an Irish pub which was a good laugh. I had a day with Alice again too and we went for a walk to the secret garden and then to the beach. Me and Nath went to go and a Man U legends vs Aussies Legends football game at Nib stadium in March. It was a charity match and there were some faces we knew there. It was good fun anyway! There were a ridiculous amount of Man U fans you wouldn't believe! There were literally no Aussie supporters! And to say we are in Aus it's pretty shameful!
I worked back at Jean Claude's in Easter week which was nearly as busy as Christmas! Then off we went on the long weekend away up north.. :)