Its my return to fresh milk and microbrew mate!

Trip Start Mar 27, 2004

Trip End Jun 27, 2007

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Flag of Australia Perth, Australia
Sunday, February 5, 2006

Ah a vacation where i could actually relax. I know what you are thinking, you relax every day and barely work, but you say that from your air con apartment with Internet, cable TV, car sitting outside ready to go when you are, and if you are my friend with a cold beer in hand that's not San Miguel. Great time although expensive comparatively but much cheaper than flying from the USA and i had a free place to stay so that also saved heaps of cash. The first day I arrived an old man came up to me at the airport, who happened to be Bec's dad. So he informed me that she was not arriving til the following morning and I could wait for her at her sister's apartment. No problem after three delays to get here and a few days confusion of whether to go or not, at least at this point I know I am here for a week. As long as she shows up all is well. And she does at around eleven am the following day. I arrived late the previous night so no problems there. Had good food including the craved steak, good beer, great fresh milk (2 liters in fact), gelato, pasta, pizza, salsa, chocolate, lemon lime and bitters (a Australia soda drink) but didn't get the famous meat pie (darn)

Big Day Out concert 2006

. And honestly I was a bit disappointed in the Chai at most of the million coffee shops, to milky not enough tea or sugar.
I was strongly encouraged to visit this particular week, relatively early in my service because of the largest concert in Western Australia, The Big Day Out. It was a rock concert and included well known artists like the White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand. I managed to do everything one would do at a concert but was a bit disappointed that the beer could only be drank inside the beer tent area! And unfortunately I got lost in the crowd and spent my time during the last three bands alone with people I didn't know. All is well though as I found my friend at the end (we had a meeting spot:)
I also did everything that was worth while in Western Australia; went diving on Rottnest island where we swam through cave like areas between coral, disturbing many schools of beautiful fish, and managed to swim right over a three foot wide stingray who was not at all interested in me or the other divers.
Went on a dolphin watching tour in Rockingham and learned that they only sleep for a few minutes at a time, have sex lots, dive in and out of the water so that fish can't detect they are near then use their tails to hit them on the head (sounds like a Looney Toons episode except the sex bit)

Dolphins in Rockingham Bay

. Also their life is lessened by about ten years if they are held captive while the rest of their herd will die.
Also visited the Cabersheir wildlife park where you can camel ride (i did), walk amongst kangaroos and feed them, pet koalas, and hold a wombat! All of which were a lovely time.
Wine tasting made me feel rich, but its obvious we had no experience in this when Bec asked what are we supposed to look and taste for and my favorite wine was the cheapest one! Also stopped at a car show on the way which really made me nostalgic for Michigan. There were a few Chevys and GM cars but here they have their own local version of GM called Holden, and Fords are the most popular. The favorite of Bec's bro is Suburu which is made in Korea!
Where we were staying was right outside the city of Perth in a suburb so it was very easy to get around with all the public transportation available trains, bus or taxis. Perth seems to be a very clean, environmental and health conscious city, where people are encouraged to take the public transportation and exercise. Everyone there was super nice and really tall! Maybe its just because I am used to the Filipinos but it seemed that they were even taller that most Americans! After missing my flight last Thursdays and being forced to stay til Tuesday (darn) I did some exploring on my own, as Bec had to leave Sunday to fly home to work

Kanga and I

. I visited Valley of the Giants, in Walpole, a national park area, which is home to the last Eucalyptus trees in the world. There is a foot path above them where you can walk and one is pegged for climbing, it was previously a watch tower for forest fires. I was amazed at how many trees we passed on the long bus ride that had black burnt areas on their trunks. I asked the driver and he said they do control burns every year to divide the forest up so if a fire did start in this dry desert place it wouldn't destroy everything.
Then monday I went to the beach in Cottlesloe, beautiful and went for a hour and a half bike ride around Swan river. The bike path had stops where you could lift weights and exercise, but since I rented the bike for only one and a half hours, and I'm cheap I didn't try. Their are a lot more animals here than I thought. All around the river right next to the city there are cockatoos, white and yellow, white and pink, black and red (I think?), and swans both black and white in the river. It is obvious that this town cares about their environment and is doing a decent job of it.