Perth

2nd March 2008 - Right Now!

I have never taken a 4 hour flight before that hasn't been across at least one large portion of water.That said, there might as well have been sea underneath as there are probably as many people working on water as there was for most of the bits of Australia that we flew over. It was probably the first time that either of us began to understand the scale of the country and how little civilisation there was after you have left the coastline.

The landscape was certainly barren but from that height you could see the patterns in the soil that reminded me of looking at a piece of marble with the flowing lines being changes in the red soil below.

The flight was pretty uneventful, apart from the small child constantly being sick on a row near us, but that just made us confirm that we wouldn't want to be doing this trip with small children in tow rather than annoy us. Maybe taking the cats with us would have been an option...

We arrived at about 11am into Perth after an early start from Sydney. Incidentally, 5am seems to be the only time in the day there were no drunken kids hanging around. It must be just about past their bedtime. Steve, who we met in India and can be blamed initially for the idea of going across to Perth, was waiting for us at the airport. It was a bit of a surprise actually as he was waiting right at the gate and not in an arrivals area which we weren't ready for. We realise now but at the time we had not thought about it but it was an internal flight not international so there was no need to go through passport control and a security check was all you needed. Also you could go in and out as much as you like as long as you went through security each time. So Steve had gone through security and was waiting for us even before we had picked up our luggage.

Steve drove us back to his place and we got unpacked etc. He has a nice three bed bungalow in an area called Queens Park. It's about 20 minutes on the train to the south of the centre of Perth. After a few hours relaxing and catching up with Steve we went to an open air cinema somewhere in Perth (sorry but we still can't figure out where it was we went), and watched a Bollywood movie called 'Sway Baby Sway', which was ironically filmed in London. So, we made it half way around the world and took over six months to get there, and then watched a film set in Waterloo station. We watched a couple of films while in India and made a comment at the time that we would meet Steve again at some point and see some more (he is quite a fan) and were happy to have eventually we made it as discussed a few months before.

The next couple of days Steve was off work (one public holiday, of which there seems to be a few, at least more than we get at home) so he took us for a guided tour of Perth City Centre, which at this point seemed to us as a random collection of streets. Not that it was badly laid out or anything, but when you're driven into a town you have never been to before, it doesn't seem real.Add to that the fact that we slept very badly in Sydney (a very loud and busy Mardi Gras not far from the Maze), and had not been to bed yet...it did all seem a bit of a blur but looked nice enough.

We also took a trip to the local shopping centre called Carousel.Not that entertaining you may think. Technically right, but it was good to start to get to know where things were as it was pretty set by this point that we would be here for a while. It was not anything unusual really, just a big indoor shopping centre. It was about 35 degrees though on that day so we began to understand why a lot of things were indoors.After Carousel we drove to York which is pretty much the next town to Perth once you leave the city going inland. That said it was an hour or so drive through bush and trees to get there.

York was an old settlement, around 100 years old or so, which is about the oldest anything is in Australia, and looked like it had not changed much, apart from a tarmac road, in all of that time. There were a few Australian/Victorian buildings similar to the ones in Sydney and an old Mill selling Jarrah wood furniture. The Jarrah wood is a very dark red and used a lot in WA. Some of the furniture was spectacular and only just overshadowed by the prices. It was a really nice place but unfortunately, mostly closed. Not closed down or anything, just closed for the afternoon I think.So not a particularly busy day but again good to get out and about and start to get to know the place.

The next day Steve went back to work and we took advantage and had a bit of a lie in before starting to concentrate on our priority once arriving in Perth, getting a job. After six and a half months of seeing money going out it was always the plan to get work in Aus, and with Perth being on a bit of a boom at the moment (lots of money and development as the big mining companies are all in WA and the economy etc is growing really fast), it developed into working in Perth. Over the last few weeks I had been setting up a few interviews with agents etc in Perth and we now needed to get kitted up in work attire ready for the first interview the next day. So, a small walk (but hard work in 37 degrees) later and after dodging from shade to shade all the way there, we were back in carousel and heading for the budget work clothes departments.

In Sydney we enjoyed seeing proper shops again. It was a bit strange for a few days not to see an entire family living in and around the produce. And we were now starting to get used to the Australian shop names and the UK equivalents.

For example:

Target = Matalan

Myer = Beatties / Debenhams

David Jones = John Lewis

Woolworths/Coles = Safeway/Tesco (not like the pick and mix/cheap toy shop Woolworths at home!!!)

Dymocks = Waterstones

Westpac = HSBC

Reject Shop = Everything's a pound

McDonalds = McDonalds (sorry but these get everywhere!)

So after a few hours we were fully kitted out and also had our very own Australian bank accounts and were all ready to become a fully working citizen of the Australian population. Apart from the obvious of not having the Job yet.

The next step being agency interviews, of which we had two. The first was with a company we had not heard of who pretty much said no way for temp work but if we needed long term work or sponsorship, it would be looking good. The next one being Hays, who anyone looking for temps or doing temping work in the UK will have heard of. They were a lot more positive, even for the short term work, so we left with a 'wait for a call' and headed back to Steve's. Incidentally by this point we had sussed out the local trains for getting in and out of town, and were starting to not look quite so much like tourists aimlessly wandering around.It was also my Birthday but apart from a nice cake, card and a couple of t-shirts from Steve, I didn't find having interviews much of a celebration.

So with Steve at work every day apart from one (on which he played golf), before he left for the UK, we had the house to ourselves for a while.We had the days to kill, a city to explore and a fully loaded travel card! We had agreed between ourselves that until Steve left we would pretty much spend the evenings with him and do a bit of relaxing some days and sightseeing others. We did need to save money and, as long as we had a period of time with no outgoings, we weren't going to do that much sightseeing.But, after the first day of aimless wandering we had a text from Caroline and Flemming, who we had travelled with in Laos and met up with again in Cambodia. We knew they were heading over this way and were looking forward to seeing them in a couple of weeks from now. Unfortunately their car had been stolen and burnt out and now instead of the 4500km drive they had decided, at the last minute, to fly over to Perth, and they arrived later that night.

Over the next few days, we spent time with Caroline and Flemming, other days in and around Perth and other days doing something we had not had a lot of chance to do for a while... domestic things like washing and tidying etc. We made it over to Cottesloe one day and saw a modern art sculpture exhibition on the beach. It was strange to be on a beach while still in a city again, this one caught me out at Sydney, but it was also really strange to have what were some impressive sculptures generally surrounded by bikini wearing girls and blokes with either board shorts or 'budgie smugglers' on (think about it...).

We drove over to Burswood Casino one afternoon but Caroline was refused at the door as she was wearing thongs. (Flip Flops to the English. It would have been more amusing if it still meant the same. I have visions of a routine underwear inspection before entering). Jemma, Flemming and me still went for a look round and I guess it was a world away from the glamour of the Vegas casinos... Unless they are also full of old people staring hypnotised into slot machines without ever looking away or, god forbid, cracking a smile.

Our experience of the second hand car yards was similar to what it is back home - mainly dodgy salesmen in bad suits trying to sell you cars at twice the price they should be. We do need to get a car, and at this point we were just checking out the prices. As soon as we had got onto the plot we were descended on by the salesmen (who always had an English dad, brother, auntie etc) and shown cars that were at least $1000 above the top end of the price range we had told them. Strangely, with every car we looked at the dealer was surprised he had not sold it yet (even though it was old, over priced and only had paint on half a door), and it was obviously exactly what we wanted. Needless to say at this point we have not picked up a car yet but we have a few weeks using Steve's before we need one so we can take our time.

The walk round Kings Park was a nice afternoon. Kings Park is one of the few things that the Lonely Planet recommends you visit if you make it across to Perth. I think that the Lonely Planet, along with most of the population of the East Coast, really can't understand why you would want to travel all the way to the West Coast when the East Coast is perfect. I don't think that many Western Australians would agree with that theory somehow.

Anyway, Back to Kings Park. It is (according to the bible) '4 sq km of natural bush land... with over 2000 western Australian plant species'. Yep, that's about all it says. What it was to us was a big park with an amazing view over central Perth. It was also a walk round for Caroline and Flemming as they were looking for potential wedding venues. We've also noticed an Australian fondness for claiming that whatever attraction we're at is the 'Best in the Southern Hemisphere'... that kind of rules anything in Europe, North America or Asia out then...

Steve left for the UK and although on the negative side it meant a 3.30am start, on the positive side he had generously offered us the use of his car for the six weeks he was going to be away. We really do need to say a big thank you to him when he gets back as on top of being a really good host while he was around he also lent us his house and car for six weeks.

After dropping him off at the airport it was my turn to drive. Bearing in mind that this is the first time I had driven in getting on for six months I was understandably a bit nervous. It's not that I thought I had forgotten how to drive, I think I have done enough miles in my life to still remember; it was more because it was in someone else's car, in country which is not home, on roads I don't know. On the upside, the fact that it was 4am by this point, the indicating with my windscreen wipers and a couple of over revs between gears pretty much went unnoticed. Well, apart from by Jemma, who still has a little smile when I still try to indicate with the wipers.

That evening we invited Caroline and Flemming over for dinner. It was almost a mini housewarming. Not in the way of celebrating that he had left but more just enjoying having a house and car again after so many months with just a room and a bag. The main extravagance that evening was a 4.5kg Toblerone! Now, this was not the standard large chocolate bar box with small bars inside. This thing was literally one 4.5kg bar of chocolate. Exactly like a normal Toblerone... Just... well, bigger!Dinner was nice and desert was half a piece of Toblerone. We made it last about a week between us all.

Caroline and Flemming have spent time in Perth before so it was nice to still have a guide while we were getting our bearings. They had already shown us Kings Park and next they took us to City Beach. Well when we say took us we met them there. We were trying to get there to watch the sunset as they were thinking of it as another possible venue for their wedding. Unfortunately we got a little lost and managed to get there about five minutes after the sun had gone down. We made it there again a few evenings later with just us and sat and watched the whole sunset.They also introduced us to Eagle Boy Pizzas and Half Price Tuesdays and Green Wing on DVD. In return we introduced them Coupling DVD's andSudoku. It seemed only fair.

Steve had introduced to Aussie Rules Football before he left. We watched a Pre Season Cup Final on TV and he tried to explain the rules. I think I pretty much had it apart from some of the more obscure rules. It was good to know something of the game as after Steve left he left me his season ticket which meant I would be going to three games while he was away. I have only been to one so far and watched the West Coast Eagles beat the Brisbane Lions by 92 points to 76. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the next game. It's not football as I know it obviously but I thought that in the ground with 40,000 fans was not the time to explain how it was a silly idea to call a game football when most of the time you are throwing it. I am prepared for the next game now though. I have the poster (free at the game) and even an Eagles T shirt (although not the armless vest ones the players use. I wouldn't say I have the arms to pull that one off).

The only other touristy thing we have done was a visit to the Perth Mint. This was working mint producing legal tender coins until about 1980. They now produce commerative coins that are still really expensive and sought after. As well as that they have an exhibition of a prospector camp site (including real moulds of big Gold Nuggets found in Australia), a real gold bar that you can pick up, albeit well and truly strapped down and an exhibition of other gold bars from around the world. This was concluded by a demonstration of genuine gold being poured and formed into a solid bar. Altogether very interesting even if it was a very touristy thing to do.

So, the only other things we have been doing of importance have been job Interviews. We had a day in Fremantle for Jemma's interview. Fremantle is a really nice coastal suburb of Perth and unfortunately for me that is where Jemma will be working as of Monday. It is unfortunate for me as I have managed to get a job in a place called Armadale. This is possibly a not so nice area of Perth and about as far away from the beach as you can be while still being in the city.On my side I do get a 'vehicle' but at this point in time I don't know what it will be. I am hoping for a Ute!

So, there we are. We are now up to date as of today (29th March). We have one day left before we both start work and hop back into the Rat Race, albeit not for too long hopefully. We will keep you posted.