We arrived in Perth after a long 4 hour flight from Adelaide to a sniffer dog, who slobbered all over our bags. The shuttle bus stands were all deserted so we got in a taxi with some dodgy driver who tried to sell us a car. On arrival at the hostel, he then got pulled over by the cops for doing a u-turn! He didn't have a driving licence on him and it sounded quite dodgy! The hostel wasn't the nicest or friendliest - there were loud trains right outside our window, the heater was making a loud clicking noise, the beds were flimsy and the light was flickering! We then went out in Perth city centre at 8pm sat night and everything was shut - we only came across drunks, aborigine and homeless people. Not the best introduction to Perth!

We woke up and went into city centre again, though this time it looked much nicer in sunshine and we decided we liked Perth! We got the free Blue Cat Bus to the botanical gardens and kings park. It was a steep climb up to them but it had really nice views from above the city. We walked back into the city and went out in Northbridge. We found an English pub which had Fox Sports 1 playing, so we waited for Ipswich to start. They lost 1-2 and I admit Ipswich were unfortunate to have at least 2 clear goal-scoring opportunities denied by the referee and especially poor linesman. We had really nice fish and chips with a pint for $16 which was great value considering the pints alone were $9 (£4.50). Although they were claiming to be an English pub, I pointed out that beer is almost half the price in England!

The next couple of days it rained a little so we sheltered in McDonalds on the internet and went shopping, then got on the free bus and went on the loop around the city centre. We found an outlet which had high street stores at factory prices so I bought a suitcase to replace my recently damaged backpack and some Dexter branded flip flops. Lisa found a dress and a cardigan that she liked for $2 each!! Bargain!!

Tomorrow we get our car and leave for our travels south of Perth. We have approximately ten days in a Toyota corolla hatch and are looking forward to it!

Paul