Perfect Perth

the first dance for the newlyweds
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Its taken me a while to get around to writing about Perth as I've been so busy since I've been here!

I arrived from Broome on a Friday lunch time and immediately felt extremely cold as I'd been used to 38 degree heat and it was about 18- time to bring out the jeans again! Happily since then its gotten a whole lot nicer and is now sitting at about the 24 degree mark with bright sunshine. (which is good as i was worried the tan would fade!!)

I checked into a hostel for a coupe of nights and booked a longer stay at  onethat had been recommended to me when beds became free. I'm very glad i did that as the first place was a bit rubbish despite being the lonely planet "pick" It had no communal areas except for a kitchen table and was ridiculously noisy at night. Now I'm all for drinking and making noise, but when i stagger in at 4am I want to sleep, not hear noisy Germans yell about nothing in particular all night long!

meashas hen night
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It was a good friendly hostel though and i had an excellent first night out- about 20 of us went to a club called black bettys and had a good dance. I went home early though (well- 2am is early for a perth weekend!) as i had Meashas hen day and night the next day and knew I would need all my energy for that!

The hen day was really good fun. They have what the call "kitchen teas" in Oz s that the brides family and friends can all get together and have posh finger food and drink champagne. This was quite lethal as we began at midday and champagne bubbles lead to light heads! By 5pm things were looking to be winding down a bit when the next surprise came aling in the shape of a naked man, a blank canvas and an art class in "real life drawing" we had to draw this poor man in various different positions for a couple of hours- my drawings were dire and got more and more surreal the more champagne I drank! (i have photos which I'll post on here as soon as i can get them onto a CD)

foxy bride!
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After all that excitement we went out for dinner and then to a nice bar in Perth (way nicer than the seedy backpacker cheapo pubs I've been frequenting lately!!)

I moved into a new hostel that night and am in a room with the geekiest germans you've ever met! I was having a doze at about 6pm the other night and they came in and were really noisy. They have these model sets of lord of the rings (war hammer i think?) which they enjoy playing with (tragic at the age of 30!) and they were crashing around with those and jabbering in german. I opened one eye to give them a dirty look and, obviously greatly affronted, one said to the other (in english to make a point!) "come- let us go and paint our orks outside" and stalked off! Very funny and not quite the insult he intended it to be!! ah well, at least they''re quiet at night! (orks have an early bedtime!)

wild flowers and annoying angry gulls at Rockinghams penguin island
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The next day, Rochelle (my new mate from the hostel- a girl from Sunderland who has become my partner in crime) and I decided to check out Freemantle which is pretty much a suberb of perth but counts as a city in its own right (they call everything a city out here- even places we'd call villages!)

Freo is lovely as its on the water and v cosmopolitan. i was delighted when Rochelle told me that she'd bumped into a lad she knew from home who lived out here and would be our tour guide for the day- i thought I'd get to see some new places and get some insider knowledge. Hmmm-never trust a northern tour guide!!! We only really saw pubs and it turned into a messy afternoon (but I'm told that this is what Perthsiders do with their sundays anyhow so when in Rome....) We went to a local brewery which was really nice and of course we had to sample all of their fares to truly get the full experience!

the life drawing model at the hen do!
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So, feeling slightly the worse for wear on Monday, I went to the zoo with a  canadian chap I met (Patrick)who shares my great excitement at seeing penguins and lemurs! Its a huge zoo and was a really fun way to spend the afternoon. (and blitz the hangover!) The evening was spent at another bar in Northbridge (the backpacker district of perth and where all the fun bars are) meeting up with people that I met in Broome and catching up on stories.

I decided to hire a car for a couple of days to see the area around Perth as people had been raving about how beautiful it was. So,on wednesday, Rochelle, Patrick and I set off ridiculously early to drive the 300km down to Margaret River (guess who had to do all the driving??!! Rochelle has failed her test no less than 11 times and patrick didn't trust himself to drive on the worng side of the road!- good job I'm used to it from all that repping!)

the maccum tour guides who only showed me pubs!
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Margaret River is famous for its beaches (surf dudes galore!) and its wineries so I knew we were in for a good day! It was definately my best day of the trip so far as the scenery was stunning (so green and full of wildflowers) the wine was tasty (sadly in tiny sips for us drivers!) and the beaches just breathtaking. We also took time to see at 600,000 year old cave with amazing rock formations and watched the sunset from a lighthouse on Australias most southwesterly tip.

It was a fantastic (if exhausting!) day and we got back at about midnight feeling like we'd really seen the area.

wine tasting in the margaret river
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Yesterday we went off in the car again to a place called Rockingham where they have penguin island. I was a bit gutted to learnt eh penguins sod off to sea all day so weren't there but we did get to see some amazing birds and lizards and the weather was glorious for a spot of sunbathing.

Last night Rochelle and I drank some of our margater river wine and toiday we're off on a wine tour of the local swan valley (no driving this time- yay!)

Tomorrow is Meashas wedding which I'm really lookign forward to although I think I'll look a bit odd in my finery leaving the backpackers hostel!

the cave formations at margaret river
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I'll add more to this blog before I,leave perth for Sydney next weds. Hope you're all doing ok and having fun in what i hear is not so sunny england! miss you all! xxx

I fly out to Sydney tomorrow to savour the east coast so I'll finish this entry whilst I still remember what I got up to!

Fridays wine tour was fantastic! The swan valley is only about half an hour from perth and is a major wine growing region. There were 6 of us on the tour - all brits- and we got on like a house on fire. There was a chap on there called Hercules! I nearly choked when he told me and, to make it worse he was with a gay guy so we all assumed he was going to be the most camp super hero ever! He soon made it apparent however that he was most definately straight (collective sigh of relief from the girls on the bus- he was HOT) and was just a travelling companion to the very camp Gwin.

the stunning sunset at the most SW tip of Oz
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We visited 4 wineries and a brewery and sampled heavily at each! Hercules and Sally his amazing sidekick had to come to the resuce of the girls who didn't like red wine and drink theirs for them - what a shame! By the end of the day I think our guide was exhasperated by the slightly loud poms he had to chaperone around but we had a blast! this was followed by a wild night out in Perth that ended at 4am.

The next day was Meashas wedding and it took every last ounce of strength to haul myself out of bed and into my finery. I found the church ok, much to my relief, and settled down for the ceremony. It was really beautiful-Measha looked stunning- she has lost about 3 stone!!-and they seemed genuinely happy and so in love. There was a 2 hour gap between the ceremony and the reception though so it was down to the pub again (i had no choice!!) for a few bubbles before heading for the reception. It was a great evening with a lot of dancing and laughter and I was so glad i was able to make it out her to share their special day with them (hangover and all)

raiders of the lost ark pose in the caves!
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After all that excitement, I've had  afew chilled out days. Rochelle and I have been to the beach and the park anbd I've been giving my liver a bit of a rest! We did go to the Sunday Session which is a trendy perthsider tradition at a beach called Cottesloe on Sunday night but only had a few beers so as to not feel too bad on Monday morning!

Tonight I'm off out for my last night to bid a fond farewell to Perth- I've really enjoyed it here despite the dorky ork loving room mates, and I'll have some very good memories and new friends to treasure.

surfs up dude!
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I'll let you know how i get on on the East coast!

xx Sal