Day 118 - January 18

Jenn and Paul picked me up at night to check out the midnight tour of the Fremantle prison.

The entrance.

This is where the first settlers landed and was the first public building in Western Australia. It is also where the British Government sent a convict ship. Upon arrival, the ship had 75 prisoners. These prisoners help build the Fremantle Prison in the 1950's. If I was them, I would've secretly built an escape tunnel at the same time.... or an ice cream stand.

Glass: the only thing that seperates you from the Irish convict Paul.

The tour guide showing us the 3 leveled prison area. He told us the story about how prisoners tried to commit suicide from the 3rd floor, that's why there's a crash net installed.

Art created by prisoners. It's to help them escape reality.

This is where flogging takes place, usually with a cat-o-nine tails whip.

Where the hangings were held. The lucky prisoners would have their head snapped for instant death. The others... well let's just say it wasn't a walk in the park.

Where the bodies would lay motionless.

The kitchen where they made soup in the big silver vats. Sometimes they used cockroaches and rats as ingredients. I'll take 2 bowl please!

Gonna get lucky with a zebra in cell number 43.... giggidy giggidy goo...

The tour guide explained a lot of what happens inside the prisons. It was very interesting. They also have some points during the tour where he tries to scare you. It scared most of the people. I won't tell which parts in case you decide to visit.

 

Day 117 - January 17

I went to the State Library of Western Australia, as all smart travellers should do. Got myself a library card so that I could use the computers and print out my resumes.

Wasn't very big for a state library.

After I printed out my resumes (one was geared toward office jobs and the other toward hospitality), I walked the busy streets of Murray Street and Hay street. This was the heart of Perth CBD (Central Business District aka Downtown). It was where all the shopping was downtown. I wasn't dressed to apply so I did some window shopping and also kept my eye out for stores that had 'help wanted' signs.

I remember that getting public transit cards are always convenient than paying cash everytime I use the bus or train. I went to the main train station on Wellington Street and William Street and bought a SmartRider card. It costed $10, but it's worth it since you get a minimum of 15% off the regular rate if you paid with cash. Plus, if you use it on the trains and travel within the CBD, it's free. There are also free buses that run in and around the CBD area. The buses are called Central Area Transit (CAT) buses. There are three of them: Yellow CAT, Blue CAT and Red CAT.


Meow bus

Map of the 3 free CAT buses.

Check out their webpage if you're ever in Perth, www.transperth.wa.gov.au. It'll save you money, especially if you live in or around the CBD area. 

If you're reading this as a traveller and may have some questions, you can email me, Alex, at stinkypickleman@hotmail.com. We can also discuss the origins of my email too if you'd like haha. 

Day 116 - January 16

More applying online. Finding a job sucks when you're not a citizen of that city. Employers, especially office jobs, are always looking for long term so they don't really look at international resumes. Jenn told me a trick during the interview process: just say that I love Perth and don't want to leave for a long time. Will do! Even though she hates Perth haha. She says the people are not friendly, which I got a taste of on my first day, and that the city shuts down after 5:30pm everyday and pretty much all day on Sunday. 

Day 115 - January 15

Now that I have a place to call home and have all the house essentials, it was time to look for a job. www.gumtree.com.au is always the first stop for me. In case you don't remember, gumtree is exactly like kijiji. I applied to many office jobs and restaurants.

Didn't even leave the house, plus it was blazingly hot outside.

Day 114 - January 14

Had an alright rest in my new room. Pretty hot, but luckily I had a fan in my room. It wasn't as good as an air conditioner, but it'll do.Since I just moved in, it was time to go shopping for the essential needs: food, toilet paper, etc.

I shopped at the Centro Galleria shopping centre that was about a 15 minute walk from my place. The suburb I lived in was Dianella, on Light Street. The only thing missing in the area was a train station, but a bus stop was nearby to take me to the CBD if needed.

The mall was a fair size. It didn't look big from the outside but it had a theatre, 2 grocery chains and lots of shops.

I agree that the statue in front looks like a killer dolphin with a human in its mouth. How inviting...

Day 113 - January 13

Paul had the day off and offered to drive me around to the places I had an appointment with for an inspection. The first place we arrived to had 2 guys outside the place. I went up to them and asked if he was the guy that live there. He said no. That was weird. Then I figured it out. I asked him if he was looking at the place to rent, he answered yes. Can't believe the guy double booked 2 people to look at his place at the same time. Apparently the guy was taking a shower inside his house. When he finally showed us the place it was pretty small. He said his sister also lived there. I couldn't imagine 3 people living there. It was really clean though and had a huge screen tv. I'll keep this place in mind.

Went to the second place and an older woman answered the door. He face had cuts and she also had some bruises on her. The place was big, but messy. I wasn't going to live here for sure.

Went to the third place and met Cait. She had a little villa that looked fairly new. We chatted for a bit. And when I say for a bit, I mean a couple of hours. We got along very well. She said she would be happy to have me as a house mate. I agreed.

I moved in that night. Nick, a 25 year old Kiwi, also lived there. He was moving out in a couple of weeks though. His room was bigger and I would move in there when he moves out. My room was like a shoe box. Only about the size of 3 single size matresses.

My new home. It's pretty much a duplex.

The backyard patio.

The backyard.

Side of the house.

Tv lounge area.

Dining area.

Lounge area by the kitchen.

Kitchen.

Entrance to my room.

My tiny bed. Just a matress.

The other corner of my room.

And back to where my door is.

A small tour of my shoebox bedroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 112 - January 12

Woke up and packed all my stuff. I gave my thanks to Julie for the stay. I took the bus from the Southern Cross train station, where the airport bus stops. It costed only $13. I went with Tiger airlines again as they usually have the cheapest flights.

We landed in Perth and when the airplane doors opened, I could instantly feel the heat. It was scorching hot! It was at least 38 degrees. Jenn and Paul were in Perth as well and I had plans to meet up with Jenn for lunch. I took the bus to Perth CBD. As I was crossing the road with my giant backpack, small backpack and laptop bag, the cab driver yelled "Can you walk any slower?!". Geez, what a nice first impression with these Perth people.

I was so happy to see Jenn again! We went for lunch and talked about our travels so far. I told her about my cab driver incident and she said that Perth people aren't as friendly as Melbourne people. She says that Perth is also 10 years behind the rest of Australia. Great, I just landed back in the stone age.

That night I slept at Britannia on Williams backpackers. They didn't have air conditioning, only a fan. It was so hot and humid! I told myself that I would have to find a place by tomorrow night. 

Day 111 - January 11

Got up and returned the car to budget. I was rushing to see all the things I wanted to see before I left Melbourne. I headed to the Melbourne Aquarium. The lineup to get in was ridiculous! Since it was summer and lots of kids didn't have school, they were all at the aquarium. Either that or the kids all plotted against me to ruin my visit to the aquarium. Little do the kids know, I never back down from a challange!

Saw the Emperor penguins. They are the tallest and heaviest of all penguin species. It was completely opposite of the penguins I saw at Phillip Island and at St Kilda, the Little Penguin (aka Fairy Penguins), where they are the smallest of the penguin species. The Emperor waddling was very prominant, just like how you see them in movies. It was funny.

Next area was the Weird and Wonderful. There were so many kids there that a lot of the times they would step on my shoes or run into me. I wanted a baseball bat. Most of the parents would let their kids just run around and scream.

Seahorse

Long neck turtle

Sawfish

 Lionfish 

Adult Moon Jellies

Japanese Spider Crab

Giant aquarium

Smooth Stingray

Sea Turtle

 Grey Nurse Shark 

After pushing and beating my way through the kids of the aquarium, I'm kidding... there wasn't any pushing... I headed to the giant arcade by the casino. There was about an hour before I was to meet up with the winery gang: Craig, Tobias, Ineke and Gina. Afterwards I went to the Suzuki Night Market and met up with them.

There I also met Gina's friend, Donata. The Suzuki Night Market is held at the Queen Victoria Market, only it's a seasonal market held every Wednesday during summer (November to February).

There was a lot of food stalls. It was like Taste of Calgary. I had an Emu burger and some ice cream covered chocolate cream puffs.

We watched some break dancing and live music acts on stage. It started raining and everyone went for cover.... except for us. We started dancing in the rain since the music was still playing. Then after everyone was watching us for a couple of minutes, they joined us. It was a lot of fun.

We left and went to a pub for my one last drink with everyone as I was leaving for Perth the next day.

Day 110 - January 10

Woke up and went surfing at Back Beach in Torquay. We rented wetsuits and surfboards for $30 for 3 hours from a store that the hostel suggested. Though it was also raining, it wasn't cold.

We surfed near the edge of the beach, a little close to the rocks. The area I was in was close to the rip. Everytime I paddled out, I was slowly being pulled toward the rocks by the rip. Rather annoying. I had enough of that, so I repositioned myself and moved closer to the middle of the beach.

The waves were bigger and came more often than I was used to. Since I had the beginner G board, because it was more buoyant, it didn't go through waves very well. Because of that, I was pushed back toward the beach a lot father than I would have liked.

After about 2 hours of surfing, Craig and I were done. We headed back toward Melbourne. On the way back, I spotted a Red Rooster restaurant and had to get some. I saw them everywhere so I thought it must be worth trying. I ordered the tropican meal. It was a quarter chicken leg, fries and 2 deep fried pineapples. The pineapples were really good. The chicken was pretty good too. Not as good as KFC or Swiss Chalet, but okay for a fast food place. Mmmmm... Swiss Chalet... I miss their sauce. Come to think of it, I will have a Timmy's coffee and a whole chicken meal at Swiss Chalet with 3 extra side orders of the sauce. A good ol' fashioned Canadian meal.

I dropped off Craig and at his place. He lived in a very tiny apartment with 2 other housemates. His housemates owned a one-eyed cat.

What is it with me and meeting cats that have some sort of disfigurement? First it was Oscar the tailess cat that I lived with, now Craig's One-eyed cat. Just looking at its gaping hole was kinda creepy. I wanted to put a blue marble in the socket so that it just might look normal.

Afterwards I headed to Julie's place. Julie and Nicholas offered their place for me to stay for a couple of days. The perks of making friends who are also travellers.

Since I still have the car for 1 more night, I drove Julie to St. Kilda to see penguins. It was super windy as well and it's always colder by the harbour. We saw a couple of penguins here and there. We got really close to them too. There were a couple of volunteers that made sure that no one touched the penguins. It wasn't as cool as the penguin parade on Phillip Island, but since this was free, it was really neat. Definitely something to see if you're in Melbourne and can't make it to Phillip Island.

Day 109 - January 9

We decided not to stay in Warrnambool and got back onto the Great Ocean Road. We passed by the London Bridge lookout.

In case you can't see the words: 'On the evening of January 15, 1990, the main arch connecting London Bridge to the mainland cracked and fell into the sea. Fortunately no one was injured. Two people marooned on the new island were rescued hours later by helicopter.'

If the left part of the bridge didn't collapse, we would be able to walk onto the bridge.

We arrived in Apollo Bay and went surfing again. We rented a board and wetsuit for $20 from the same place we took the lessons.

The waves were a lot bigger this time. I went out a bit farther into the ocean this time but after getting my ass handed to me by the waves, I decided to head closer to land and practice more with the smaller waves. I didn't learn the logistics of surfing. Looking back on the lessons, they weren't really teaching us a lot. The ocean knew that and took advantage of that. There was one wave I tried to ride and the ocean handed my ass to me. I actually talked to the ocean. The conversation went like this:

"Hey ocean, how's it going? I hope you're nice to me since I'm new to riding your waves and all".

"Hey Alex, welcome to Australia. You're doing okay for a newbie, but you shouldn't try my bigger waves till later. By the way, here's your ass".

The wave broke right down on top of me and it took me for a tumble. My chin actually hit the sand floor and dazed me a bit. The inside of my mouth was chopped up from me biting it to pieces. I was spitting blood for 5 minutes. After resting for about 10 minutes. I went back out.

I rode a couple of the smaller waves. I thought I try a bigger wave. This time I lost my balance and it felt like I was in a washing machine. I did a cartwheel and a summersault in the waves. Then the side of my face hit the ocean floor. Now I have scraps on my chin and the side of my right face.

After surfing, we drove along to find some hostels, but most were booked up. We decided to head on the road back to Melbourne and find a hostel with vacancy along the way.

We stopped for another Ice Cream in Anglesea. Post surfing ice cream is always delicious.

After that we stopped in Torquay at the Home @ backpackers. It was about $28 a night. It was a nice home style type of backpackers. Cozy living room with attached kitchen. The girl at reception was super cute. She lived upstairs by herself.

Made a ham, cheese and tomato toasty. This is one of the things I'll bring back to Canada.

Australians love their toasties.

Had to improvise with a waffle press.

Craig and I called it a day since we were tired out from surfing.