Hello there everyone, thought I may as well attempt to be "hip and trendy", hence this card is from Freo. Nope, it's no use, I still feel old. Not much to add tday I'm afraid, but for some reason the computer here at the hostel is free at the moment and the owners aren't here, so thought I'd make the most of it and bore you all with nonsense. Still having trouble trying to locate somewhere to upload photographs though - there are still some from Veitnam and Singapore on there. For those of you who hadn't realised, I'm in Western Australia, which is absolutely vast - the state being larger than the whole of Europe, but with a population of only 1.9 million, 1.4 million of whom live in Perth. Australasia is the driest continent on earth and the West is the driest area within the continent. Due to it's proximity to the Indian Ocean trading routes, WA had early European contact with the Dutch, then in 1699 an Englishman charted the coastline, but his reports of a dry barren land initially discouraged settlement. French exploration in the late 18th century pushed the British into a rethink of the region and in 1826 the first British settlers arrived at the Swan River Settlement (later Perth). Because of it's isolation, the area was seen as a natural prison and in 1850 the first group of convicts was transported to the new colony. For the next 18 years, convicts were used as labour to construct public buildings and roads. Development was slow until the 1890s, when a series of gold rushes brought wealth to the state. Today enormous mineral wealth forms the basis for the state's prosperity, which has called for negotiation over native title claims on land of interest to both the mining companies and the Aboriginal people. Archaeological records have indicated that Aboriginal people have lived in WA for at least 40,000 years. As elsewhere in Australia, the arrival of Europeans had disastrous consequences for the Aborigines, with many being killed for their land or succumbing to European diseases. In 1992 a landmark judgement by the High Court of Australia established that Aborigines had the right to claim title to traditional land. In the following years, the Labour government enacted legislation to make this decision law. However, it excluded pastoral leases, which led to confusion and scare-mongering. Current Prime Minister, John Howard, was elected in 1996 and soon after the High Court ruled that pastoral leases and native title could co-exist. Fearful of a deluge of land-right claims, the Howard government devised a 10 point plan, which effectively eliminated many reforms of the previous administration and reduced the range of allowable claims. The issues are still very much on-going. There endeth the first lesson on Australian history and culture. Now for more mundane things. Today was very hot and the flies were out in abundance. The quantity is not so much of an issue, but they insist on landing on your face and in your ears, which is very irritating. I've never been anywhere where they do this before and I've been around a fair few decomposing maggot and fly ridden bodies in my time (sorry mum, I can just picture you pulling a face!). Strange woman sat behind me using a computer who is singing (badly) and actually really getting on my nerves. May have to say something or go to bed soon. Can you believe I've been gone 3 months already?! Sherry xxx