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  Perth, Australia
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Tuesday 29th November 2005

Had a great nights sleep and we slept through until about 8am so got up, showered and went to call a taxi at 8.45am to take us back to Alice Springs airport as the backpackers didn't do a free shuttle service back to the airport. The taxi driver was miserable and was playing tribal music quite loud in the back, very unsociable!
The airport was almost empty and when we got there we thought we'd be the only ones on the plane, we'd never seen an airport so quiet!
We didn't have too long to wait as we didn't arrive early so looked around some of the shops and had a pot of tea in the cafe. When we boarded the plane not long after, the plane was strange, it had 3 seats on one side and 2 on the other! Dan sat by the window this time and we got some GREAT views! The flight was nearly 3 hours, we had no headphones and no T.Vs which was a shame. When we took off from Alice Springs we could see the LOOOOONG road we drove down to get to Ayers Rock and 50 minutes into the flight we actually flew over it! It was just a strange blobby shape from the top (photo to follow as we took one out of the window!)
We had snacks and a light lunch on the plane and landed in Perth at 11.05 their time, another hour and a half difference in time. Half way through the flight we could smell this horrible burning smell and the other passengers could too, I was a bit scared when the captain came out but we managed to land okay which stopped my heart from beating so fast.
We hadn't arranged any accommodation in Perth so went straight over to the information board and called the 'Billabong Backpackers' hostel only a 15 minute walk from the City and a free ride from the airport. We had to wait 45 minutes but it didn't matter as the airport was air conditioned anyway. It was warm outside but overcast again :-(
The backpacker bus picked us up and took us the short drive 20 minutes or so to the backpackers where we checked in on Beaufort Road. We literally dropped our bags off and walked into the city to check it out. It was really busy and warm. We grabbed some 'serve yourself' chinese grub for a late lunch, caught up on some emails and then as it was late evening we sat in the common room at the hostel chatting to Ian a guy from Essex who was travelling. We walked up the road in the other direction to the cafes, bars and shops and picked up some drinks before hitting the sack. Liz called the hostel tonight for a chat which was lovely - thanks Liz.

Wednesday 30th November 2005

A great nights sleep in the bunk beds, a few mosquito bites on the feet and a golf ball sized one on Dan's knee but not bad! We woke around 8am or should I say got up at 8am, the birds outside were well noisy! We thought we'd head off for the short walk into the City where we were going to spend the day (on a budget!). We were going to go to one of the West Coast beaches but the weather could'nt make up it's mind on whether it was going to rain or not. It was still really warm and humid. We walked down through the shopping district and continued the walk along to Swan River, the main attraction river that runs through Perth. Just at the bottom of the road, in front of the quays is the 'Swan Bell's it is the Millennium Project here, it's like a tall glass building with a spire and has a winding staircase inside that you can see from the outside. Just behind the Swan Bells tower was the river. As it was 9.30 am ish, people were busy queuing for tickets for the cruises down the river and to the various islands. There were numerous Kiosks with different bargains and deals trying to get customers to buy from them. We had a browse around some of the shops on the river front and then took a walk along the river bank towards Kings Park, it was quite a walk and at the bottom of the road we found that the footbridge to the park was closed off, typical! We just continued walking back round in a loop towards the city stopping off overlooking this huge pond with fountains in the middle, the city skyline was over in front of us, it was a nice spot to sit and feed the ducks some crumbs from my flapjack earlier. There was a HUGE pelican sat in the middle of the pond, head up all proud, it looked like a statue.
When we walked back into town we took the opportunity to get our photo's put onto disk and we could of sworn we saw Sarah Hawkins, a girl that was in our year at school, neither of us said anything though as we weren't 100% sure!
As the sun was out we sat outside a lovely coffee shop and had a nice big hot chocolate, people watching for a bit! We had a bit of time to kill, we didn't really want to spend loads of money on boat cruises and what not so we spent 3 pounds on a movie in the wierdest cinema we've ever been in to watch The Corpse Bride, it was okay more like a musical really. On the walk back to the backpackers later that day, the street was really busy, people busking playing all kinds of cool music. We nipped for some tea and took a walk in the opposite direction from the city, there was a little strip of shops, bars and cafes so we stopped for a nice cold drink in the bar before heading back to bed. We fly to Singapore tomorrow morning.

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