Day 25-28: Perth
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2004
1
10
57
Trip End
Jan 05, 2006
Perth,
Western Australia,
Australia
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Talking to Mick I mentioned that I was thinking of moving to a different hostel and he said he was thinking of doing the same coz he wasn't really into the Billabong either, so said we'd move together to Witches Hat which is like a sister hostel to the Emporer's Crown. During the night some bastard in the dorm decided he was gonna bring some woman back for a shag at about 2 in the morning, and the last thing I wanna hear is 2 hetties having a shag right next to me, was gonna give em 5 minutes to finish or tell em to fuck off and turn the light on. However she was making so much noise they gave up coz they were worried that they'd wake everyone.....but they decided to have another go at 8am in the morning instead - inconsiderate wanker! Obviously I didn't change my mind about leaving....by the way if you want to see the Billabong this is the site: http://www.billabongresort.com.au/
Mick slept over in the morning so didn't see him to meet to move together so decided just to move to Emporer's Crown myself...best thing I've done in Perth so far. Lovely place and if you want to compare that to Billabong this is the site: http://www.emperorscrown.com.au/. Met and chatted to about 4 people within an hour or so of arriving so was much easier to meet people there. Had a bit of a result too as there's only one en-suite dorm at $24 a night, it's a 6 bed but I had it to myself, in fact I've had it to myself all 3 nights which is very nice! Done some laundry and then took a trip to Subiaco. Subiaco is one of the numerous suburbs of Perth, but it's a really cool place with nice shops and a big market, great place to wander around and there's plenty of little cafes to stop off and have a drink.
Sarda got in touch in the afternoon to ask if I wanted to meet up with her and Darren for a drink that night so that was cool. We went out in Northbridge which is more or less where we're all staying, it's the big restaurant/cafe/bar/club area so it's pretty busy and there's plenty of places to go. It's close to a big Asian community so there's loads of cheap, good quality restaurants around. We just went to a bar called Brass Monkey for a couple, then wandered next door for another couple. They're a nice pair to chat to, they're off travelling round south western Oz in a campervan before heading back to Sydney for a couple of days, then they're going to SA so chatted with them about that, places to go, things to do, places to avoid! We swapped details so when they get back to Sydney hopefully we'll hook up. After drinks with them I went to Steamworks....which was a mistake, completely dead, never been anywhere so quiet in my life....so went back to the hostel and had a fantastic nights sleep undisturbed by anyone!!!
I'd been in touch with Derek's friend Brett earlier in the week and we'd decided to meet up on Saturday so he picked me up from the hostel around lunchtime and we went for brunch at a little cafe in a garden centre that he knows of. Brett was in SA for some years but is originally from Perth so knows the area really well, he knows plenty of people too and knew the owner of the little cafe. We talked about why Perth was so quiet as far as the gay scene goes and he said that it's quieter because it's so far from anywhere that a lot of younger guys move to Sydney and in Perth there tends to be more couples who've decided to settle down.....
After brunch Brett took me on a tour of the area...we went along the Swan River to Cottesloe, Scarborough and stopped in Fremantle which is where I'm moving to on Monday. Fremantle is full of original Victorian buildings so it's very pretty, it's also got loads of shops and a great cafe culture....it's basically how Perth would have looked if they hadn't ripped down most of the original buildings and replaced them with huge concrete things (that's the 70's for you!). We stopped for a coffee and cake in Fremantle and came back into Perth along a different route taking in the wealthier parts of Perth, with some very very nice houses which I'm sure one day I'll be able to affford once I've made my millions as a gay carpenter on Neighbours.
Nipped into Brett's for a tea after and a friend of his called Graham popped over too, he's a younger guy, 26, who's originally from the countryside. He's been offered a job in a place called Kalgoolie which is a big mining town and he's thinking of taking it...Kalgoolie is in the middle of nowhere and there's not much to do other than work, so Brett isn't sure Graham will enjoy it much...but the money is good apparently. So Brett dropped me off back at the Crown ready for the evening.
Earlier in the day I'd made plans to meet up with a couple I'd been talking to on the net for a meal. They were going to one of the Vietnamese restaurants in Northbridge with a couple of friends and invited me along. There was about 6 of us and the meal was very nice, and not too expensive either. The couple I was talking to were Mark and Tony, they've recently sold up and are going to go travelling around Oz together over the next few months, just decided to jack it in and take off - very popular idea! After the meal we went to The Court which is THE gay bar in Perth. It was only 9pm so it was pretty quiet but it soon picked up. It was a better place than I thought it would be, really big inside and a nice outdoor area too, it was open til 2am and also had a dance floor so it was more a pub/club. We basically stuck around there until the end, Mark and Tony left earlier than me and then I got talking to another English guy called Simon from Leeds. He's in Oz for a month and is travelling round with a mate who had buggered off to the club so we stuck together for the rest of the evening. All in all my first night out in gay Perth was very good, might do it again next weekend!
So Sunday morning came and decided that I would move to Fremantle Monday, couldn't be bothered to pack up today....and didn't really do a lot, just wandered around the city again. What happens next week will kind of be decided by the weather really and it's not looking great for Mon-Wed with showers. I'll go to Fremantle Mon and Tues, and depending on weather may go to Cottesloe which is on the beach so really there's no point going there if there weather isn't good, I also want to do day trip to a place called Rottnest Island (http://www.rottnest.wa.gov.au/) which is supposed to be beautiful and worth having a cycle round, but again the weather needs to be good. And the other place I want to get to before Sydney is The Pinnacles (http://www.nps.gov/pinn/) which is supposed to be spectacular at sunrise and sunset - again you need good weather, so we'll have to see how it goes.
