Xmas on the beach, Perth
Trip Start
Oct 21, 2006
1
14
31
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Perth,
Australia
Friday, January 5, 2007
It was with a tinge of regret that i left Africa. I had started to enjoy and relish the gritty reality of the place and the adversity, (even in South Africa which didn't really feel like Africa to me - too developed). I must be blessed with bad luck when travelling on planes. Spent the trip with a mother and her two kids - both under 8, intent on goading each other and unable to resist the inevitable concluding fight (except on this occasion they managed to keep it up for almost 8 hours). After being elbowed and kicked in the ribs for the fifth time i decided to sit in the aisle by the emergency exit until they had either beaten each other unconscious or fallen asleep from the effort. The threat of deducting $1 from their savings accounts each time they hit eachother clearly did not work and they must have owed their mother a fortune by the time we landed. I almost cried with joy when we stepped out onto the tarmac !
AUSTRALIA ONE WEEK IN - XMAS ON THE BEACH
I stayed with friends in Perth whom i had met travelling 10 years earlier. It was a relief to debug for a week and spend it in familiar company as i was starting to get tired of the usual backpacker script; it inevitably starts with 'How long have you been here ?' and proceeds through questions about where people have been, what they did, what recommendations they have etc etc and inevitably ends up with discussions about the various ailments picked up on the way and the relative merits of the different Malaria treatments. Still, it makes for easy introductions.
I like Perth - the city centre is not much to write home about (so i won't), but the eclectic collection of trendy and alternative suburbs makes it a very charismatic city. Subiaco is a trendy and chic suburb centred around a very varied undercover market selling everything from clothes to jos sticks and cheese, round a central garden area. I had to marvel at the patter of one market stall owner who was extolling the virtues of buying his honey in bulk; 'go on mate, how can you refuse ? You save so much buying the bigger one you can throw the rest away if you don't want it' - not sure this made sense but it seemed to be working and he was still using teh line when i came back round a second time.
Freemantle, the original settlement here before they realised the harbour was unworkable and moved further north, is steeped in History. Well, as much of it as you get in Australia. The main drag is a series of wonderful cafes and restaurants under balconies which overhang the pavements. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon drinking coffee and watching the beautiful people preening and promenading.
By contrast, due to the rather more developed nature of Australia the backpacker scene here is not as easy to penetrate as i found it in Africa. The shared adversity of travelling in a third world country has a way of breaking down self imposed barriers to socialising and people fall over themselves to talk to familiar faces and share stories as they try to make sense of what is going on around them. Australia is full of people once again pre-occupied with how they look (think i wore the same stained yellowing t shirt in Africa for a week and i did not look out of place) and how they come across so people are more guarded and wary.
