Early mornings are common when catching a flight and on December 29 we had quite an early morning not only because our flight left at 0700 but Danielle set her alarm clock for 0415 which meant we were up and brushing our teeth before we realized we were half an hour early due to the time change in Adelaide. Thank you Danielle :) We made sure to raze her good as we went back and lied in bed for 20 minutes. But everyone knows that even though you can have a little more rest your body is already awake so just laying there makes you more tired. So we got back up and just puttered around till the taxi came to pick us up. We flew with Jetstar and it was a tinier plane but with plenty of leg room which was an unexpected delight! We had no time to grab brekkie since we took longer to check in and as we passed a coffee shop we heard the call for final boarding for our plane and decided against the stop. A cup of coffee was not worth missing our plane. Luckily for us there was a cute flight attendent that bought us each a chocolate bar inflight to provide us with a nutritional and delicious brekkie!
I have to say I was getting pretty excited as we descended into Perth since I knew that I would be soon seeing mates that I never thought I would see again! Arriving into the airport I was greeted by my good friend Daniel...who was early and thought he would surprise us when we got off the plane so we had someone to welcome us. The sweetest thought but we looked pretty haggard with our early morning rise. Oh well it is the raw Canadian beauty he got to see in us. Soon Marc arrived around the same time as Valena's flight and team Canada was reunited once again! We didn't realize how much we missed each other and got used to being with each other 24/7 that it was great being back all together again! A big thanks to the boys who both picked us up due to the amount of excess luggage we had....our only excuse is that we are women. We drove to a suburb north of the airport where Daniel's home would be our home for the next five days. What a cute place he has in Ellenbrook, so clean and spotless...I have never seen a man's house that orderly and neat...I think our room drove him a little insane those days we were there but the sweetheart he is, he just didn't say a word! We got our first taste of the beaches in Perth by going to Cottesloe beach...the beach where they had Heath Ledger's wake! It is incredible the blue of the water here! Valena and I tried swimming out to a marker but 3/4 the way there we realized there was no one else around us and the sharks are huge on the west coast! We totally psyched ourselves out and hi-tailed it back to the shore!
It was a day of reunions with not only each other but I was able to see and catch up with quite a few friends from a contiki trip in europe a couple years ago. It was so nice to see these boys again and it was a pinch me moment that I was in Perth. Some dreams do happen I guess! After drinks we made our way down to Fremantle, the older part of Perth, for some fantastic Italian cuisine. Fremantle has so many cute cafes and shops that we instantly knew we would come back and check them all out in the days to come.
The days spent at Daniel's house were great! He is the kind of guy that is easy going and up for anything such as letting us cook our healthy meals (we had veggie pizza and he liked it!),watch movies and go for runs with him around his neighborhood. Being at his place has been the closet thing to being back at 269 Keystone Lane. Just the area makes it feel like I am at home! Daniel also played tour guide to the Canadians. He took us to Kings Park for a picnic and a good walk about. This park overlooks the city of Perth and the Swan River. This view is top notch and gives you such a unique view of the city. I have to tell you that this city is breathtaking and I can see why these boys boasted that this place was the best in Australia. I have been here for a few days and I am already agreeing.
There are a few intriguing facts about Perth that I feel the average Canadian should know.
1. Perth is the most isolate and the most sunniest capital city in the world, an average of 8 hours per day.
2. Perth has the highest population per capita of self made millionaires in the world.
3. South of Perth there is a town called Brusseltown that boasts the longest jetty in the southern hempisphere
4. Capital city in the world with the most consistent winds. There is the "Fremantle Doctor" that arrives between 12pm & 3pm virtually ever day of the year.
5. Kings Park is the largest inner city park in the world
New Year's Eve day was spent a little differently since Valena was having massive tooth pain and Daniel and I drove her into the city to get the first of three root canals. She is such a trooper and didn't complain at all and even went out with us for New Years Eve! I could not imagine having a dental surgery and then getting dressed up and going out for New Years but this girl did it! We met up with Erin, Marc, Ben and their friends and headed into Fremantle to go to a pub called Northfolk. It was cute and had some bands but there was no really good dancing music which is always sad since we like to bust out a move on the dance floor as often as possible! You would think that a pub would have a massive countdown to ring in the new year or that we would be on top of the hour since it was our first Australia New Year's but the sad truth is that we missed ringing in the New Year by 4 minutes. As we were getting champagne and organized to do the countdown, V looked at her watch and informed us that the New Year had come and gone so we had our own little countdown and post celebration with hugs and kisses around! The night ended with a stop at Hungry Jacks (the exact same chain as burger king just called different) with burgers and fries and then the walk back to the bus stop.
So after a night out the best way to really celebrate bringing in the 2010 is to be on the water. Lucky for us my friends have an old crayfish boat that is rightly named "ship happens". Our debut trip on this beautiful girl was today and we all were so excited! There are five people that co-own this boat and share in the fun of being skipper and taking care of it; Daniel, Stu, Jan, Jenna and Adam. Today Daniel was the skipper and did exceptionally well steering it down the Swan river. There was around 25 people on the boat in total and it was heaps of fun! It just is crazy that this is life for Perthites; to hang out on a boat, anchor it and play in the water all day...can I get citizenship please! We had a bbq on board and if there is one food aussies love its sausages...they can't get enough of them and they come in so many different kinds! We aren't that keen on sausages back home but here they are a perfect snack on a boat trip! The day went something like this; meet new people, catch up with old friends, play in the river, tan in the dingy, eat sausages and watermelon, jump in the water, chill to music and then reluctantly head back to the jetty. Life can be tough I know!
I really enjoyed catching up with the boys I met in Europe. They still all are the same fun loving Aussie blokes that I remember!
After the boat trip, we introduced Daniel to tim tam slams and he was appalled again how much we love our sweets! I hope all of you at home will be inclined to try the tim tam slam so you get the joy we do as we slam it! We all intended to relax and watch a movie but chose a scary one (the house on the left) and I do not recommend this movie! It was disturbing and so scary that afterwards Dan, V and I couldn't sleep at all!. So being considerate of the sleeping beauties (Jod and Daniel) we took our loud voices outside and went for a stroll around the neighborhood at 1am. As we headed back we were not tired at all and chose to sit on the sidewalk to continue our girl chat. Cops drove by and stopped asking if we were enjoying the cool air. We instead told them of being terrified of the movie and not being able to sleep because of it. Their witty response was "so you are sitting outside in the dark at 130 am". I guess they had a point but they didn't know who loud our voices are so being outside was our only option! Eventually we made our way back into the house and off to sleep.
The next few days were filled with taking it easy at Daniel's, trips to Macca's for free internet and our first Sunday Session. Here in Australia it is a massive thing to go out and meet your friends at a pub on Sunday and catch up on the weekend details. The rumor is that a boy would spend all his time with his gf and would then meet his mate's Sunday to chill out and catch up. We like it and enjoyed our first session so much that we extended it and crashed a going away party at a hotel down the way. It was massively fun and we ended up going to a friend's house with a mini elton john and sheryl crow concert on tv...life doesn't get any better than this! Five days in and I would recommend everyone to come to Perth. This city is absolutely beautiful being surrounded by ocean and river running through it. The people are relaxed, incredibly friendly and so kind. I would only say that you could fall in love with this city so have a return flight out before you come or you will end up like me wanting to stay for months...years...
Miss you all at home and hope this new year will bring some adventures your way! XOXOXO B
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