Perth/Freemantle/Rottnest Island

Let me start off by saying that Perth is an interesting place to visit.  It is definitely different from the other major cities in Australia that I have been to so far (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide) because of its laid-back attitude and unique location.  Perth is the only major city in the state of Western Australia, and in fact, the closest city is on another continent - Singapore.

On the first day in Perth, we checked into our hostel after the train ride to discover that the pipes were being repaired and we would have to wait until 3PM to shower.  After 3 days of waiting, a few more hours wouldn’t be too bad...  To kill time, we walked around to check out the other hostels to see if we would want to book in one of them for another night and ate brekky (or breakfast).  If anyone is interested in visiting Perth, I can definitely give you my take on pretty much all of the hostels located there.

After showering, we did a walking tour of the Perth City Centre that was recommended by the Lonely Planet guide.  It was interesting to see some of the architecture and interesting fact - the Town Hall in Perth was actually built by convicts.

By coincidence, one of the guys who I had met at my hostel in Melbourne was staying at the Britannia (our hostel in Perth).  He is from the Netherlands and very social, so he was able to introduce us to a lot of fun people.  One of the people was an American (Marlon from Florida, ha!) which I thought was interesting because I have not met many American travelers so far.  Most of the people I have met have been from Europe, especially the Netherlands and Germany, and Canada.  They taught us a drinking game called “Not up in here!” which is apparently named after the scene in The Hangover at the police station.  Very fun...

On the second day, we decided to explore around King’s Park which is on a hill overlooking Perth.  The park is enormous and we were tired after walking around just a bit, but we got to see a few of the major attractions there, including the Lotterywest Walkway (yes, it is sponsored by the state lottery) and the DNA Tower, which had 101 steps!  After King’s Park, we took the bus to Scarborough Beach because we wanted to go swimming in the Indian Ocean.  However, by the time we got there it was too windy and cold to actually go in the water, so we just watched the kite boarders for awhile.

I officially became a backpacker on the second night in Perth when we went to Mustang Bar for the $5 Backpackers’ Special.  It included 2 sausages on a roll, a piece of steak, potato salad, a Tooheys New beer, (basically equivalent of a Coors Light) and a drawing into a $100 raffle that would be drawn later in the night.  We later learned that the $100 raffle was a scam, but that is a different story.

Side story - we had heard that we should make it a point to visit Rottnest Island for a day which is off the coast of Freemantle, a nearby town to Perth.  After going to a few different places to inquire about Rottnest Island tickets, we booked with the cheapest place.  Our tickets included a ferry ride to the island and bike and snorkel hire once we got there.  However, at the time we were booking, there was a queue ahead of us with the reservation center, so we were given a receipt (we paid cash!) with no booking number.  We were told that we would get a call later that night with a reservation number, however that call never came.  When we checked out of our hostel the next morning and headed to Freemantle for the day, the shop where we had booked our tickets was closed.  This was not too shady yet though, because the hours posted on the door were 11:30AM - 5PM and it was 10AM.  However, the phone number that they provided on the receipt was non-working which made us suspicious.

Since we were not going to be going back to Perth (we booked a hostel for the night in Freemantle), we had our friend’s aunt who lives in Perth go by the store during their “working hours,” but the door remained closed.  We started to worry that we had fallen into a tourist trap, but then we had our friend from our hostel also walk by.  At this point, a sign had been hung on the door saying, “We are temporarily closed due to renovations needed after damage from a hail storm” - when this hail storm happened, we don’t know! - but there was a name and number to call.  Of course I called the number from the sign, but after getting through and explaining my problem, the call was cut short and then the number was non-working.  Since we thought maybe they were using caller ID to screen my number, Jack used his phone and was able to get through.  He was told that the reservation was still in the process of being made (keep in mind this was the next day!) and we would be called when it was completed, in about an hour.

Instead of waiting because we were growing ever more suspicious, we decided to go directly to the Rottnest Ferry office and see if they could give us actual tickets.  Surprisingly, they printed us tickets (not sure if they took pity on us after we told them the above story or there was actually a reservation made) and we were so relieved that we did not fall prey to some tourist trap - phew!

In the meantime though, we were in Freemantle (add Liora, Jack’s friend from Bondi who was in Perth visiting her aunt) and decided to do a brewery tour.  Freemantle is a very cool place - it is known for its live music and breweries as well as having an artsy vibe.  Little Creatures, one of the breweries we went to, was on the water and reminded me of Sam’s in Tiburon (fond memories!)  We also tried chili mussels which is the specialty of Perth.

On the third day, we also went to Cottlesloe Beach from Freemantle and watched the sunset from the Ocean Beach Hotel (definitely recommended!) then headed back to our hostel.  The hostel where we were staying in Freemantle was built in what used to be a fire station and it had a unique personality.  Apparently, you are not allowed to slide down the fire pole although they do make an exception at Christmas.

We did make it to Rottnest Island on our last day in Western Australia, and it was definitely worth all of the trouble.  The bike ride (22km in total) boasted spectacular views, and we stopped at a few beaches along the way to snorkel.  We spent the entire day circling the island and even ventured to the farthest west point before completing the loop. Rottnest Island is actually named Rottnest because when explorers first went there, they mistook the quokkas that lived there as rats (Rat’s Nest).  They look a little like big rats but they are marsupials, or have pouches, like kangaroos.

After such a great day we were exhausted, and good thing, at 1AM we would be flying from Perth to our next stop, Hobart in the state of Tasmania.  Tasmania is an island off the southern coast of Australia, and is the only thing between mainland Australia and Antarctica.  We will be spending 10 days in “Tazzy,” as it is commonly called and are excited because we have been hearing great things...

Train Ride Across Australia (Sydney to Perth)

So this next part of my trip does not really make sense, so it is not advised for others to follow in my footsteps.  I had already planned with my friend Jack before I left the states that we would travel together for most of April.  He had been in Australia for almost a year on a Working Holiday Visa, and he had to leave the country before April 20th.  Since he had been to most of Australia already, we decided to travel to Perth and Tasmania together.

The part that does not make sense is that I was already in Adelaide after I got back from Kangaroo Island.  However, I flew to Bondi in Sydney (which is East of Adelaide) to meet up with Jack only to catch the train from Sydney to Perth (far west Australia) that would pass through Adelaide about 24 hours into the trip.  If it had been planned better, I could have just gotten on the train in Adelaide (and missed one night sleeping on the train!)  Oh well...

The train trip that we were on is called the Indian Pacific, and it is really an experience.  For all of you who asked me why I did not just fly, it was really for the experience that we decided to take the train.  In fact, we were given the option of getting sleeper cars or just sit in reclining chairs, and we chose the latter because it was 1/3 of the cost, and again, we were doing it for the whole experience.  Our “Red Service” car was filled with a lot of old people and a few other backpackers like us.  The seats actually did recline quite far and there was a ton of leg room!  There was also a diner car where we could purchase food or just hang out in to get away from our seats for a bit.

From Sydney, the train wove through the Blue Mountains and we made a couple of stops in small towns to pick up a few passengers.  After eating the dinner I had brought on the train (I actually did not eat at the diner at all during the trip!), I fell asleep in my seat.  It was not the best night sleep I ever had, but it was actually a lot better than I thought.

That is until we were woken up at 6:30AM to announce that the train would be stopping in a mining town called Broken Hill and we had about an hour to walk around before the train would depart again.  I should mention that it was Easter Sunday at this point and really early in the morning, so nothing was really open in Broken Hill (although it looked like a sleepy town so it may not have made a difference).  I picked up some food for later and we got back onto the train.

The next stop would be in Adelaide at 3:30PM for about 3 hours, so we had plenty of time to stare out at the scenery.  I even got cell phone reception at some point (I have no idea how since there was absolutely nothing around!) to talk to my parents for a little while.  I was excited about this stopover in Adelaide because Renee was home for Easter (that is where she is from), so she picked up Jack and I and took us to Glenelg, a beach town, for much needed food and drinks at a pub.

We made it back to the train station with plenty of time, and it was at this point that I realized the difference with the Gold Service (sleeper cars) and Red Service (low-class where we were sitting).  There were mats rolled out for the Gold Service passengers and we caught a glimpse of their bar/diner car where all of their meals were included.  Also, as we started walking towards the Red Service cars, there was definitely a disgusting smell in the air...

There were no familiar faces on the train when we boarded.  In fact, I think Jack and I were the only braves ones to travel the whole distance from Sydney (or crazy ones!)  The good news is that the average age of our rail car was down and there were a lot more young people for the rest of the trip.  Even the staff on the train was different, and they offered us sleeper cars at a discounted rate.  We considered it but decided that the cost was not worth it and we were doing it for the experience!

On the third day, we were again woken up early by the annoying PA system announcing that breakfast was being served in the diner car.  I should also mention at this point that after using the restroom on the train on the first day, I decided to strategically plan my breaks for when the train stopped.  The smell was overpowering and there was a non-flushing urinal (that Jack swore went down the drain when the train turned!)  Both Jack and I decided against actually showering on the train, and I used my dry shampoo regularly.  After all it was only for three days...

On this day, we entered into the longest straight stretch of railroad in the world - 478kms!  This basically means that I took a long nap while the train continued straight ahead through the desert.  Our next stop was in a township called Cook that has a population of 4!  Actually though, we think the population should be increased to include the over 1 million flies that also live in Cook.  They were so annoying that Jack and I decided to get back on the train before our 45 minute stop was even over.  Even though the train crew insisted that the flies don’t like air-conditioning and would not get back on the train with us, about 100 did.  They provided entertainment for some people who made it their mission to kill each and every one.  The township of Cook is actually a funny place that had a lot of little jokes, such as the Cook Country Club which was actually an abandoned building that was condemned.

Our next stop would not be until later that night, after we passed into the state of Western Australia, at a place called Kalgoorlie that is known for 2 things: mining and skimpies.  Skimpies are female bartenders that serve drinks in their underwear, literally.  Of course, Jack and I had to go see them for ourselves, so after dinner we went to a place called the Wild West Saloon.  There were 2 girls dressed in skimpies and they (along with me) were the only girls in the bar!

We continued on from Kalgoorlie into the night and would be arriving at Perth in the morning.  All in all, we spent 3 nights and 2 1/2 days on the train.  I am really glad that we decided to take the trip because it was definitely an experience.  We made it safely to Perth and were anxious to take showers.  Ask me someday if I would ever take the Indian Pacific again - the answer for now is “not for a looooooooong time...”

Kangaroo Island

From Adelaide, I booked a 3-day trip to Kangaroo Island with a company called Surf ‘n Sun (definitely recommend it!).  To start the trip, we left Adelaide at 6:30AM and drove through McLaren Vale, a wine-producing region that bottles their own wine outside of Adelaide while we watched the sun rise.  We drove down the Fleurieu Peninsula to a place called Middleton Beach where we would be learning how to surf from our tour director, Gus (a 24-year old Australian who was actually from Kangaroo Island).  Gus was very patient with me and taught me some tricks, and my surfing is definitely improving.  I would not say that I can completely stand up yet, but I am getting closer!

I should mention that also on the trip were 2 girls from the Netherlands who had just completed a 10-week English course in Byron Bay (who would become my friends for the trip), a Spanish girl who had been studying English in Sydney, and 2 guys from the UK (1 from Wales and 1 from England, both very nice).

For a little history about Kangaroo Island (provided by Gus “who drives the bus”), there are about 4,500 people who live on Kangaroo Island full-time, including his family - he now lives in Adelaide when he is not leading tours.  There is no cell phone reception unless you have a special phone and plan, and even then local calls are around $1.00/minute.  There is also no wireless internet and computers that are available for public use anywhere we were, so I was hard to get ahold of for the trip.  Aboriginals do not go to Kangaroo Island, and it is one of the few places in Australia where they do not live.  This is because they believe that when they die, their spirits go there to have a party.  In fact, when European settlers first went to Kangaroo Island, the animals had never been hunted and approached people.  That of course made it easier for them to be hunted and eaten, and now many animals that were only found on the island are extinct.

Most people take a ferry or plane to travel to Kangaroo Island, however we chartered a small boat in the hopes that we would see dolphins swimming and could stop for a closer look.  The 40-minute boat ride is the 5th roughest boat crossing in the world (not sure according to whom), but we were lucky because the day that we crossed the water was actually calm.  We met Sammy the seal, a New Zealand fur seal who hangs out near the harbor because fisherman feed him scraps, but unfortunately did not see any dolphins.

Once we made it across, we learned that the tour bus we were supposed to use had 2 flat tires.  We had to change our plans for the night and drive to the town of Kingscote (largest township on Kangaroo Island with 2,000 people living there) to get some spare tires, however they were of course closed for the night.  We then backtracked to our accommodation for the 2 nights which was actually on a family farm which they gave us use of one of their barns...  It sounds much worse than it was, and I actually opted to sleep outside in a swag (basically a sleeping bag with a mattress inside - genius!) instead of inside where we were provided with warm beds.

Before bed though, we had a BBQ outside and roasted marshmallows on the campfire.  Australian marshmallows are very different from the marshmallows that I was used to.  They come in either a pink or white variety - I found the pink ones to taste like old lady perfume and the white ones were just disgusting.  We learned how to play the Aboriginal instrument called the dijereedoo (sp?), which apparently is only supposed to be played by men.  Aboriginals believe that if women play the instrument, they will become infertile.  I still played it of course...

Sleeping in a swag in the middle of a field with my new friends was definitely an experience.  I woke up multiple times and it was the coldest I have been since getting to Australia.  There was almost a full moon which was not only bright but also seemed to make the animals more active.  I did not see anything but definitely heard some weird noises throughout the night.

The next morning, I was awoken by Gus shining a flashlight in my face at 7AM (the sun was not even up yet!).  We ate breakfast and left to go kayak down the Harriet River which brought back fond memories of the canals in Foster City...  After kayaking, we walked down to the beach at Vivonne Bay, which was recently voted the best beach in Australia by a Sydney professor.  He had traveled around Australia for 3 years, rating all of the beaches on criteria such as best surf, sand, fishing, etc. and chose this beach as the best overall.

For lunch, we had another BBQ - this one with kangaroo meat! - then went to Seal Bay which is a preserved beach for Australian sea lions.  It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat, and we just sat on the beach and watched them for about an hour.  I did not know that much about sea lions but learned that females are almost always pregnant.  They go out to sea for 3 days at a time to fish and then return for 3 days and lie on the beach before leaving to fish again.  If a mother seal is killed while out at sea fishing, her pup usually dies too because none of the other mother seals will help the orphan.  It is one of the saddest things about sea lions - we saw a baby seal searching for its mom which may have been gone for longer than 3 days...

After Seal Bay, we went to a place called Little Sahara which has amazing, naturally occurring sand dunes.  We learned how to sand board, and I had a great time riding down.  The hard part of course was climbing back to the top and after about 3 or 4 times, I was exhausted!

We headed back to our accommodation for dinner - again a BBQ - before going out to the Vivonne Bay Jetty to look for little penguins.  Before dinner though, I saw my first echidna in the wild!  For those of you that do not know, echidnas may be the most bizarre animal there is.  It looks like a porcupine with spikes on its back but is part of the monotreme family (along with the platypus) which means that it also lays eggs!  It walks on its knuckles because its claws are so long and meant for digging to find food.  It is one of the hardest animals to spot in the wild so I was very excited!  In fact, we saw it in the same exact field where I had slept in my swag the night before.

After dinner, we did see a few little penguins and they were very cute, but the most interesting thing about this trip was the drive to and from the jetty.  I had noticed earlier in the day that there was a lot of roadkill on and near the road, but unlike roadkill in America, there were kangaroos, wallabies and possums.  During our drive, we nearly hit many wallabies and possums, and at some points, I thought Gus would intentionally hit some thing.  For people who live on Kangaroo Island, the animals are more of a bother than for tourists, and they do not even move the bodies after they are hit.  Instead, they can remain on the road for up to 2 weeks before wedge-tailed eagles or cats clean up the mess.

That night I decided against sleeping in the swag and instead opted to sleep in a warm bed inside.  I was very glad I made that decision when I again woke up at 7AM (thanks Gus!), this time feeling much more rested.  This was our last day on Kangaroo Island, so we packed up our stuff and left our accommodation for the last time.  We drove to Hanson Bay Sanctuary and did the Koala Walk to look for wild animals.  It is easiest to spot kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, etc. during dawn and dusk because they are more active at those times.  We saw many koalas in the trees and wallabies digging in the ground for food.

After the sanctuary, we went to a place called Admiral’s Arch which is home to many New Zealand fur seals (like Sammy!) and also a beautiful view.  Although very pretty, we were not able to get as close to these seals as the Australian sea lions from the day before.  Then we drove to a nearby place called the Remarkable Rocks and took a lot of funny pictures with the weird, naturally occurring rock formations.  At one point, I actually thought I was stuck underneath a large rock!

Luckily, I made my way out and we left for a beach on the Northern coast of Kangaroo Island (before that, everything else was on the Southern coast) called Stokes Bay.  I actually preferred this beach to the one at Vivonne Bay because of its unique entrance and beautiful views.  My new friends and I were so tired from all of the earlier activities, that we decided to use this time for a nap on the beach.  I later regretted this because for days I still had sand in my hair!

Sadly, it was time to leave Kangaroo Island, so we drove back to Penneshaw to catch the charter boat back to the mainland.  As soon as we started leaving the harbor, we saw a ton of dolphins in the wild!  It was so amazing to see, even our boat driver said he had never seen them behaving in the way they had.  This boat crossing was a lot more rough than the way over, and I was actually glad to be back on land.

After about 2 hours, we were back in Adelaide.  The next day I will be leaving for Sydney where I am meeting up with Jack to board the Indian Pacific Train.  We are taking the train for 3 days across the entire country (and outback!) to Perth, which is the capital of the state of Western Australia.

Naracoorte/Adelaide

We got to sleep in a little in Naracoorte until 8AM and left for the caves at 9AM after eating breakfast.  Caving was much more difficult than I thought it would be, and I actually got stuck a few times in tight places.  The caves in Naracoorte are not the most beautiful caves I have ever seen - in fact most of the crystals are dried up - instead they are known for the many fossils that are found here.  It was actually Paleontology Week at the visitors center, so we got to see many of the fossils for ourselves.

After leaving Naracoorte for Adelaide (the capital of South Australia), we entered the township of Padthaway, which is known for growing grapes for wine.  Unlike a lot of other places known for wine, none of the grape harvesters here actually bottle their own wine.  Instead they send their grapes to other places (like McLaren Vale or the Barossa Valley closer to Adelaide) to process the grapes and send back bottles of wine.  We stopped for a wine tasting at a cellar door called Henry’s Drive that was actually kind of nice for being in the middle of nowhere.  The winery is named after a guy named Henry who used to deliver the mail in this region by stagecoach, and all of the wine names have a postal theme to them.

The winery was cute and quite quaint, and after sampling about 9 different types of wine (mostly Shiraz), we were quite sleepy but happy.  That is until 3 French winemakers came in and we were ignored by the staff...

We continued driving through the Adelaide Hills until we got to Adelaide.  After checking into my accommodation, I met up with one of the girls from the trip to go to Victoria Square.  There was a little event for Earth Hour which led up to everyone turning off their lights for an hour.  It wasn’t too exciting, so we decided to go on a pub crawl down Hindley St.  We went to a variety of bars and even rode a mechanical bull, but no night in Adelaide is complete without going to Australian Pizza  House at 3AM for some $5 Pesto Magic, yum!

The next day in Adelaide was rainy, so I spent some time at the casino (no I did not win!) and went to the South Australian Museum.  The museum is known for housing the largest Aboriginal collection in the world and also houses unique opalized fossils.  The fossils were discovered by an average person who did not understand their importance (they are bones that have turned into opal!) for many years.

The sun came out the next day, so I decided to book a tour of Haigh’s Chocolates which Adelaide is famous for.  The Haigh family learned how to make chocolate from the Lindt family in Switzerland.  They do not export their chocolate outside of Australia, and you can only buy it currently in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne or online.  Since Easter is next weekend, the factory was very busy with many people hand wrapping chocolate Easter eggs in foil.

After eating a lot of chocolate, I decided to do something a little more active.  The city of Adelaide provides free bikes for hire, so I decided to try the ambitious ride along the Torrens River to the beach town of Glenelg.  It may not sound far, but the ride was about 14km, but I have not ridden a bike in years!  The ride was beautiful although confusing at times, because the paths were closed at random points and there were no detour signs.  Luckily, there were people along the way that continued to point me in the right direction.  On the way back to the city center, I had to take a shortcut on the Anzac Highway (yes, highway!) to save time to get the bike back on time.  This was very scary and quite dangerous, because the bike lane is actually on the highway and at times I was only inches away from cars and large trucks!

I did make it safely back, and decided to go see Gouger Street and Chinatown is a really popular place to go for dinner.  There are a lot of alfresco cafes, and I ate at one that had been recommended to me.

I had met a girl on the beach earlier in the day who had invited me to go out with her and some friends that night at a pub called the Grace Emily.  For a Monday night, the place was crowded and I met a few people who asked me how I knew to come to this bar.  Apparently it is a well-kept secret that there is live music (local talent and really anyone can get up on stage) and even a bbq in the beer garden.  I didn’t want to stay too late though, because I was leaving early the next morning for a 3-day trip to Kangaroo Island...