Beaches and Kangaroos!

The worst thing about travelling by yourself is the long nights in airport terminals.  I was so bored.  I finally dozed off only to have the voices of the 3 German (I think they were German) backpackers enter my dreams making everyone in my dreams speak German...it was really confusing.  I woke up with the terminal busy and everyone lining up to check in.  I was on my plane within an hour and on my way.  The flight was really good.  We flew over the Great Australian Bight - the bottom part of Australia that looks like a bite has been taken out of it -  it was massive, you don't see land for hours,  food on the flight was expensive as always and they charged $4 for a tea so I made sure to ask for seconds on hot water.
Western Australia, I love it out here! My first stop was Cottesloe Beach for two days.  The hostel was right on the beach.  The front common room was floor to ceiling windows with the Ocean right in perfect view.  There was a courtyard through the back and surrounding it was a tv room, movie room and some other sort of lounge.  You had to take a set of stairs up to the rooms.  The hallways were a bright yellow with high cathedral like ceilings and wooden floors.  The rooms were beautiful.  I was put in a girls dorm (and usually the girls dorms are super nice)  I walk into this room with high ceilings, wooden floors, four bunks a toilet and there is so much space.  I then see that there is another part to the room.  I walk to the back and step into another room that has one bunk, lockers and a wall that has massive windows with an almost perfect view of the ocean and the sunlight just pouring in.  Do I want dark and cozy or bright and sunny? At this point I really didn't care  I wasn't the happiest person.  I had only gotten maybe 2 hours sleep on in the terminal and could not get any sleep on the plane.  I could barley keep my eyes open when I got to my hostel.  After deciding on the bed in the sunlight and calling Sue (a friend from the hostel in Melbourne who was now in Perth) I literally climbed up to my top bunk and just passed out on top of the linen.

After about a 2 hour nap I freshened up with a nice shower got ready and went to meet up with Sue and some of her friends.  The weather was nice enough to wear a sundress and flipflops!  OMG!  I felt so free, I had been so confined by layers for the past couple of months in Melbourne I almost felt naked...it was great!
The front desk didn't tell me there were two trains stations so I went to one and Sue went to the other.  I ended up just having to walk back down near my hostel and meeting her there.  We bought some beers and took them down to the beach.  We sat down there, talked, ran around on the beach and took pictures and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.  It was a perfect day.  I'm so glad I got to see Sue again, it was really nice to catch up and Amy took a long trek from Rockingham to come and meet up with us on the beach for an hour.
The next day I went into Perth CBD with two of my roommates Sarah and Jen (from Ireland).  I originally wasn't going to go.  After spending 3 months in Melbourne I am really sick of shops and cafes, but Jen had come upstairs from the bus stop and said the bus hadn't come yet and I should go with them.  Why not!  I'm here I might as well. 
I quite enjoyed myself.  The city is small, it kind of reminded me of Auckland.  Smaller streets lined with buildings where the sidewalks are covered by overhangs on the the buildings so not to get wet when raining (and it was raining).  It's not all fashion like Melbourne and people are way friendlier!  We looked in some shops, grabbed some lunch, tried going for a drink at this bar that was completely busy.  We finally found one table against a wall that we moved to suit our comforts better, only to leave 2 minutes later because we looked at the menu and the drinks were definately not for a backpackers budget.  Sarah had to get her flight home changed so we went to get that done.  The building had the smallest lift I have ever been in.  It was so small we were almost kissing in it so when we left I asked if there were any stairs we could use - the stairway is key access only - "I am claustrophobic" I told the ladies behind the desk.  "wussy" one of the ladies replied.  I just looked at her.  I couldn't believe she actually had the odacity to acknowledge someones phobia that way - though I am not claustrophobic,  I actually have a fear of lifts and Sara isn't overly keen on them either so I was trying to get out of us having to go on it again.  Well, after a full day in the city we headed back to have a couple drinks. 
We had a drink at the pub next door.  We didn't want to spend bar prices so we went to the bottle shop next to the hostel or rather attached to the hostel and had some drinks in the courtyard of the hostel.  For a hostel that is meant to be alcohol free I did a pretty good job of getting wasted.  I drank a little too much but managed to get myself up in time to check out and head to Rockingham to go see Amy.
I hoped on a train to Fremantle and then grabbed a bus to Rockingham.  I wasn't exactly sure where to go from the train station so I asked one of the personelle.  When I showed her my ticket she basically laughted in my face and said "you really think you are going to get from here to Rockingham on that fair?"  "Well I didn't know!"  "You should always ask for help"  haha ya that would've been nice if there had been someone working there.  I payed more money and hoped on the bus for an hour long journey.  To be honest, when I have on my iPod and my backpack and I am heading somewhere I have never been, those are my happiest moments.  Looking out the windows and my surroundings, heading to a place I have never been before and everything I own on my back...I love it!!  Those are my favourite moments.
Just to rewind a little bit, Amy had stayed at the hostel in Melbourne my first month and her and I had been planning a visit in Perth (which is where she is living with her boyfriend) so we were pretty excited to spend some time together.  We grabbed some drinks and went down to the beach and then came back to their place for some drinks, played some drinking games and in bed before midnight.
Amy had to work for the next few days but luckily enough her boyfriend Chris had just finished his six months at his job and decided to show me around.  We went down to Peron Point and took pictures of the water and the rocks.  It feels so good to be out of the city and near water and nature again, its so refreshing.

We took a drive out to Serpentine.  When we got to the park there were kangroos right under the trees.  I got really excited so Chris pulled over.  We hoped out, grabbed our bag of Doritos and I got my camera ready.  Chris walked up to them but I was a little hesitant.  It was a mother and her baby and didn't know how the mum would react but as soon as she saw Chris with the bag of Doritos she slowly put her front paws down to the ground, leaned on them and hoped forward and did this until she was really close to Chris.  She ate the chips right out of his hands.  So I stuck my hand into the bag and pulled some out.  They came right towards me and started eating the chips.  They were so gentle and they licked my hands clean and just kept wanting more.  It was amazing, I couldnt believe I had these wild kangaroos eating right out of my hands, I couldn't stop smiling.  Chris still had the bag in his hands and the mother stood right up on her hind legs to look in the bag.  She almost towered over Chris it was almost intimidating.  After our little snack with the Roo's we walked up a path to a swimming area.  A water fall came down this rock wall and into a pool of water.  The pool was surrounded by a massive rock wall almost making it look private.  Apparantly in the summer its busy with swimmers and people jumping off the rock wall into the pool.  "It's really nice from up there its pretty easy to climb"  yes well of course with my vertigo and slippery shoes I struggled up and down the rocks but it was definatly awesome sitting at the top and looking down.
Yesterday Chris, Dave and I went to the Botanical Gardens in West Perth.  It was really pretty and we could see the whole city from up there.  We even climbed up the DNA tower which is a tower of stairs in the gardens so you can look out at everything.  Half way up my vertigo -again-kicked in but of course I made it to the top.
The guys cook dinner every night so I have been spoiled.  I even had kangaroo for my first time last night it was so yummy - I definately tried not to think of the roo's from the previous day. 
Tomorrow we are getting up at the crack of dawn for a day trip that I am really looking forward to, Wave Rock.  You are gonna have to wait for the next blog to find out what it is.  xox