Perth - 21st December 2009
Car Kilometres: 191,992
Distance Travelled: 449km
Total Distance Travelled: 23,741km
Total Travel Time 114 Days.
So, after the decision was made, we packed up and set off heading for Perth, the full loop. When I say packed up that was not really packing up in our normal fashion. This time we knew that we would be back into some kind of civilisation within a few hours so packing up consisted of the very un scientific, stuff everything into the back, technique. One final bit of forward planning was required: we needed to make sure that Steve would be okay with our early arrival. Normally with modern technology this wouldn't have been a problem but, with Steve not being a fan of mobile phones, this proved to be a little difficult. We did have his work number which during the week is a pretty good bet but today was a Sunday. Our plan was to phone Grace, who was staying there, and get her to text us when he was around so we could ring him. Luckily for us this plan worked a treat. With that all sorted we hit the road feeling a mixture of happy to be going back to a place where we knew people (that and the fact we could have all the luxuries we had been going without i.e. a bed, roof, bathroom and a TV) and a bit sad that our great Australian road trip was nearly over.
We had experienced the road between Margaret River and Perth with Caroline and Flemming when we first arrived, so only the section between Pemberton and there was new to us. That said it was nice countryside and made a bit more exciting by the fallen trees still on or at the side of the road, from the storm the previous night, but nothing inspiring. We got to Margaret River after a couple of hours and after a couple of unsuccessful ray spotting stops at local beaches, set a course for home. We did make a stop at a favourite of ours just outside the town...this was the Margaret River Cheese Company, where we picked up a hamper load of cheese that would hopefully see us through the Christmas break.
From then it was 4 hours, one road and a few familiar sights later before we arrived. Pulling into Queens Park tired but happy to be there. We have a sense of achievement in doing the full loop.
Within a couple of days we were back into the swing of things. The only real change was getting to know Grace and Jess and the fact that now the house was full we were sleeping in the conservatory area. This wasn't a problem as we were happy to continue on the air bed and it was actually cooler in the conservatory, at least it was over night. If it was hot then by about 10.00am that part of the house was boiling.
From our previous visit to Perth, and a few phone calls in between, we had confirmed work with both Armadale and Fremantle councils as before, so we concentrated on enjoying the Christmas and New Year's break as much as we could. We had Christmas day with Steve, and Jemma cooked a full Christmas dinner with support and entertainment from me and Steve playing kitchen cricket with a bouncy ball and a Frying Pan. The full menu was:
• Hot Smoked Salmon & Cheese Puffs for starter
• Roast Beef joint, garnished with garlic & Rosemary. Supplemented with Roast Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Mashed Pumpkin, Peas, sweet corn, carrots and Yorkshire pudding.
• Banana & Toffee Pavlova with fresh whipped cream.
It was really nice but the rest of the 5000 never turned up so we had a fair amount left over, plus it was edging the mid 30 degree mark for most of the day, so we were all glad when the oven was switched off. Christmas day was spent carrying out the time honoured tradition of napping, watching movies, eating left-overs and snacking on chocolate coins.
On Boxing Day we went and said Hi to Angela, Kevin and the boys before me and Steve continued another Christmas tradition by going to see the soccer (I have to say that because Football in Aus means AFL). Perth Glory are not the best football team I have ever watched, to put it in to perspective Eugene Dadi is their star player and he wasn't even good enough to play for Forest!, but I enjoyed watching a game and trying to explain the necessity to call the referee bad names to Steve.
Jemma's Birthday, in between Christmas and New Year, involved meeting most of the Fremantle Council Technical Services team in a pub called Rosie O'Grady's. Luckily for the working crew this was right outside the office so they all knew exactly where it was. There was a special appearance by Grace and Jess, who suddenly got a lot of attention from the male contingent of the group, and the evening was concluded by more drinks and a late night at Mia and Anthony's
New Years Eve was spent again with Mia and Anthony at a pub called the Left Bank in South Fremantle. It was a really good night and one or two drinks were consumed before, during and after the night. It was completed by an appearance by a West Coast Eagles Player, who I didn't know, and Fireworks at midnight. There was also the added entertainment of drunken Australians to talk to. The night officially ended at around 5am. New Years day was recovery time sitting outside in Mia and Anthony's garden staying out of the 40 degree heat as much as possible.
After that we pretty much fell back into the work routine with me leaving at 6.30am and Jemma on the train to Fremantle. It was nice to be earning money again even if it was only for a few weeks, but also a shock to the system. When you have done exactly what you wanted for 5 months solid it was a little difficult to get used to deadlines etc. We both enjoyed working and we were really lucky that both places we were at before had another opportunity for us. It did feel like we had never been away at times though. It's amazing that after 5 months most of the same problems were still there at Armadale. Some of them have been progressed, most have not changed and there are one or two that have actually got worse. I think it will be really interesting to see what has changed by the time we get back to the UK but if Australia is anything to go by I think it will be in a similar situation to when we left.
We did other things beside work while we were back in Perth (Thank god I hear you say!). Apart from coping with the 44 degree heat (on some days at least, most of the time it was high 30's to early 40's) we managed to see Shakespeare in Kings Park. This was courtesy of Steve who bought all four of us, and himself, a ticket. We sampled the display of Bogan Pride (alternatively known as Australia Day) by watching Fireworks in at Armadale and we escorted Elliott to the big day out where we saw some good bands but he managed to out cool us on every front. We did manage to accidentally park in the staff car park though. I am still not sure how that happened.
Our last week was a combination of preparing to leave our home of the last year, selling or giving away and unwanted or un needed things we had accumulated and catching up with Mum and David, who arrived from the UK. Jemma decided to work but I got chance to show them around Fremantle and a few other areas of Perth and we did a few more of the touristy things that me and Jemma never got round to. It was really good to show them Perth and everywhere we had spent time. We hoped that they would understand why we enjoyed it there so much.
Mum and David were staying with Angela and Kevin. I won't go into the full relation detail but there was also my Auntie and Uncle, Ruth and Paul, and my Uncles Brother Steve, so it was a bit of a family gathering. We spent quite a lot of time with all of them and other times with just Mum and David. There was a small incident of an emergency pool rescue which resulted in me requiring a new mobile phone and also wearing a singlet for very small period of time. I can confirm that the singlet, or muscle vest as it may be known back home, was not designed for me. Luckily I swapped the 'singlet' very quickly for a fetching bright stripy T shirt.
Jemma was at work but I managed to tag along on the family visit to Rottnest Island, just off the Perth coast. Main event of Rottnest were the stunning beaches and scenery, the Quokka's (small animal that looks like a cross between a rat and a Kangaroo) and missing the bus which led to a hold up for the others. I do wish that we had chance to spend longer there as it was an amazing island and the snorkelling was fantastic. It was still fantastic even though I forgot my swimming shorts and towel so decided to go in wearing what I had on. This worked fine in the water as I was wearing shorts but it did result in being soggy for a while as I dried out sitting on the bus. It was a hot day that day though and I managed to get pretty comprehensively sunburned after half an hour snorkelling.
The final night in Perth was a catch up with Mia and some of Jemma's other work friends in Fremantle before heading for a night tour of Fremantle Prison. The prison was built in the late 1800's and was still used as maximum security prison until the 1970's. There were all sorts of gruesome tales of hangings, gangs, fights and how drugs got in etc. There was also some comedy acting thrown in. This was generally just as you didn't expect it and made us all jump. No ghosts were seen but it was good fun. The night ended with a quick drink, and family goodbyes, in our favourite bar, Little Creatures.
For the final day in Australia (two days short of a year) we packed up and got ready to go. We were both sad to be finally leaving but getting excited about New Zealand. We had a few weight issues (the bags, not me or Jemma) but managed to get it down to a respectable carrying load (a few things had to be left behind) and Jemma was insistent that she wanted to take the camping lamp despite the fact her bag was about to burst. We once again realised how much we had accumulated during our time in Australia, especially at check in where my bag weighed in at 19.9kg's out of a limit of 20kg... I call that good planning! We had a drink with Mum, David and Steve before checking in and heading off. We will be back in Perth again sometime, we are both sure of that, but at this point we just don't know when. Thanks to everyone we met, stayed with, worked with and drank with, you all made Perth feel like home and maybe it will be again someday?