P..p..p..Perth
Trip Start
Nov 24, 2008
1
74
98
Trip End
Oct 21, 2009
Where I stayed
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
On Thursday we decided to do some sight seeing. We caught the bus to King's Park which overlooks the city and the bay. The bus left us at the bottom of the hill and we strolled along the paths around the bottom of the hill before starting the climb up to the top. The climb was dedicated to the Australian soldiers who had hiked along the Kokoda trail in Papua New Guinea to defend against the Japanese in World War 2. The climb was steep but the trail had little information plaques along the route which made for interesting reading and a short break from climbing. We made it to the top after about 10 or 15 minutes where there were two memorials dedicated to the brave men and women who fought for Australia in past wars. One memorial listed the soldiers who had died fighting. There were many Irish surnames in the list including Donnelly (my mum's maiden name), Kelly (my grandmother's maiden name) and Smith (my other grandmother's maiden name). I didn't see any McSherrys or Keanes. The view of the city and the bay was beautiful and we were lucky it was a clear, sunny day. We spent a while up there and then walked back down into the city where we caught the bus back to the hostel.
That evening we had a couple of beers during happy hour and the headed out to a local pub where a band was playing. We had a good night and we had a celebratory drink in dedication to our friends who had rang us earlier to tell us they are expecting their first child. Congrats to the Mahons! The following day was a hangover day. I stayed in bed watching TV all day while Alan went off to town and to the post office to see if our package had arrived yet....it still hadn't. That night we went to see The Hangover in the cinema. It was very fitting really!
On Saturday we woke up with an overwhelming sense of nervousness and excitement. The second Lions game was due on our screens at 9pm that night. With one game lost to South Africa we had to win. Since we had rearranged our travel plans and forked out a lot of money to get to the third game we were hoping that the trophy would still be ours for the taking when we got to Jo'burg. We went to the Western Australian Museum to take our minds off things. The museum was interesting. We've been to many now so it takes a lot to impress but we enjoyed it. There was an "art" exhibit by Nick Cave (as in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). It was weird! He basically sent them all his stuff and they displayed it. There was a mannequin wearing one of his suits and a horse mask. They displayed a whole lot of nude drawings he had drawn. There were lots of photos of him and fellow band mates and other people in his life. I didn't get anything out of it but I think Alan liked it. I'm sure fans would have loved it.
That evening we had some beers in the hostel and watched the game on the big screen in the basement of the hostel. It was an exciting game but towards the end none of us wanted to watch anymore. It was a very disappointing ending and we were all gutted. We decided to head out since it was Saturday night after all. We went to the same bar as Thursday night where an 80's band was playing. We got chatting to loads of different people and had a great night. We left the bar at about 1am and headed back to the hostel for bed. When we got back Alan could hear people partying in the basement so decided to go join them. He tried to convince me to go but I was ready for bed. Alan didn't go to bed until 8am. Crazy!
The next morning I decided to go for a walk into the city centre and do some window shopping. Alan stayed in bed since he'd only been there about three hours at that stage. When I got back a few hours later he was still in bed and I managed to entice him out with some Heinz beans that I had bought him. I couldn't convince him to do anything else for the rest of the day so we just chilled out. That evening I rang my parents who had not heard from me for quite a while.
On Monday morning we woke up to torrential rain and wind outside. The weather hasn't been great since we got here. Its been pretty stormy most days. I wanted to visit Rottnest island but for the first time in years the ferry hasn't been able to make any crossings for a few days. Looks like thats out. I had hoped we'd visit Freemantle which is an area of Perth that's supposed to be lovely but again the weather has been so bad that we've been a bit limited. We were stuck inside all day Monday and so it was pretty uneventful. Alan decided to go to the post office to see if they had received our package yet and they hadn't. We were getting worried so we rang Australian Post with our tracking number for the package and they confirmed that the package had been received by the correct post office on 19th June. Alan went straight back down and surprise surprise it had been there all along. The woman had been looking in the wrong place. We opened the package straight away and found that we had the tickets, the hats and bags but no wristbands which entitled us entry to the Lions Big Bar for our free drinks and meal before and after the game. I had to ring the travel agent and they agreed to leave them for us in a hotel in Jo'burg. We got no apology and they're not even being sent to where we are staying. I hadn't the energy to argue. We'd been through too much already with the tickets and I was still in a bit of a slump from the game on Saturday. Anyway drama over hopefully.
The next day we just got ourselves ready for South Africa. Did some washing, packed our bags and made another trip to the cinema that evening. We had an early night in preparation for the journey to the last leg of our trip. As of Monday we had been traveling 31 weeks or 217 days and due back in 18 weeks or 126 days.
