Perth 4

On Monday I just spent the day wondering around King's Park, which is amazing! There are trails all over the park that are rugged and it feels like you're up in the mountains somewhere! I seriously felt like I wasn't in the city at all, you couldn't even hear anything! Every now and then I would be brought back to reality when a car drove by on a road that was nearby in the park (could only hear it) and only once did I meet a runner, didn't meet anyone else. It was amazing!!


UWA is just on the other side of King's Park, so I also walked over there and hung around on campus for a bit. I ate lunch on the lawn in front of the library. So, a little background story, one of the girls who showed me around the UWA campus told me they called the gardens "Jurassic Park," one reason being that one day she was eating lunch and there was a kookaburra watching her eat and she was watching it, and while this was going on one came from behind and snatched her sandwich! HAHA So, I was sitting there eating my sandwich, minding my own business, when I hear a whoop whoop whoop sound behind me. I turn just in time to see a kookaburra zooming at me and I ducked just in time. It landed in a tree very close to me and watched me eat. I tore off a few pieces of bred and threw them on the ground close to me. The little guy came down, a little nervous, and started (trying) to eat the bread. He was sooooo cute!!!! I LOVE kookaburras!! They're up there in cuteness with ducks and puffins. :P After eating a few pieces, or at least trying too, the few up to a close by tree and I watched him. When I got out my cheese and crackers he again was eyeing my food, and I could see him get ready a few times to try and fly at me and take my cheese and crackers, but he paused because people would walk by behind me. Finally, and mind, I was starting STRAIGHT AT HIM, he flew right towards me, I ducked and saves my cheese and crackers, but it was so bizzar!! What a brave bird. :P






After my bird encounter I went into the library and picked up the Mark Twain book "The Prince and the Pauper," which I have been wanting to read, and I had the urge to read a book and had nothing else to do, and so read that for a while. Like 10 chapters... (not long chapters). I then went and had a lay down on the grass near the beach next to campus. That was relaxing. When I got back to my hostel, I took the initiative to talk with some other travelers and became fairly good friends with a group of British guys, along with 2 New Zealand guys, a few Irish girls and a Belgian girl. Had a good time (one of the British guys was one of the other Matts I mentioned) :P. We would stay up late talking and playing cards and drinking. :) Good times.

UWA has peacocks on campus, in the pics is one of them, which is albino. The building is the library. The bridge is the treetop walk in King's park.

Perth 3/ Fremantle

On Sunday I decided to head over to Fremantle on the train. Whilst on the train I had some conversations with two high school girls and an old Irishman. :P The Irishman was going to the markets cause he was part of a band that was playing there, I ended up seeing him there later on that day before I got on the train back to Perth. Anyway, once I got there I started walking in the direction that my map told me to :P (I had a map of Fremantle that showed the best places to visit, and showed a walking tour around the city). Just a little way down the main road I saw a pretty cool looking didgeridoo store, I almost didn't go in (as I had one now) but then decided to. I am really glad I did, one of the guys that worked there was telling/ showing some guys how to play and I joined them and they asked me if I wanted to try and they were all impressed at how well I did. :P Of course I then mentioned that I play one a bit... just starting out. :) After those customers left the store attendant asked if I wanted to stick around and jam, and of course I did! It was awesome, we sad on the couches they had and he showed me some tricks and gave me tips, it was amazing! After a bit another customer joined our little jamming session (a guy probably in his 20's from England named Matt... random note, since being in Australia I have met three different English guys named Matt. :P). We probably jammed for about an hour, it was amazing! I could've stayed there all day but thought I should actually SEE Fremantle. :P Oh, just one funny thing, the store attendant was originally from japan (he'd been playing the didgeridoo for 12 years!) and I mentioned at one point some of the Japanese words I know, then we started saying some of them into the didgeridoo (as that is one way you make sounds is to say words into it) and one thing we said was arigato taicho arigato taicho, (thank you captain) over and over... it was really funny. :P So, I walked more around Fremantle, and went to the markets (the main thing there, they have amazing markets!). There were some performances outside the market entrance, on my way in is was a woman singing opera (she was amazing) and when I came out it was a comedian/contortionist pirate guy. he's in the 2006 Guiness Book of World Records for swallowing a flaming sword. He was funny but also a bit controversial one could maybe say in things he would joke about. I got one shirt, and one Christmas present for someone, which was the extent of my shopping there. :) I found some really neat stores there though! There was one place where you could dress up as a fairy and a lady would take professional pics of you, neat. There was also a lady who designed/made and sold medieval/Lord of the Rings like dresses! She even has done a few weddings! I thought that was neat. I tried one on cause I had always wanted to wear a dress like that. :) I also went to the shipwreck museum then walked by the beach and had a hot fudge sunday from Mac'ers (McDonalds). The other best part of the day was when I went over by the old jail (or gaol as they spell it here... strange), which had just closed, so I couldn't go in, I saw a little art gallery and decided to go in... one of the best things I did! I was looking at this art, that I REALLY liked, and was noticing that there were no name tags next to the art but noticed that all the ones I had seen so far were by the same guy. There was a guy walking around and we got to talking. He was the artist and the whole building (it wasn't very big though) was his gallery! We had some really great discussions about art!! We probably talked for maybe an hour or close to it! He really inspired me to keep at my art, which I have been really missing and wanting to do more of lately. It was a little funny cause I had also bought a little pad of paper for $1 at the markets, which I been using as a little sketch pad, so had a few sketches and he wanted a look. :) It was just an awesome experience, I'm really glad I went in there! After that I made my way back to the train station, sat by the water and sketched some more for a while while people got on the boat to Rottnest Island (I ended up not going there cause a ticket is $50!). It was a really good day. :)

Perth 2

So, the second day, Saturday, I spent the day just walking around Perth. When I first got there I looked around some gardens and went into a cathedral, which was really nice and relaxing. I find it's nice to go into cathedrals and give thanks to God for all of the wonderful things I've been able to do and have in life... I know I don't have to go into cathedrals to do that, and I do it in general too, but there's something about cathedrals that makes it seem even more special and closer to God. :) Anyway, I had a little map that showed places to go... there's not a whole lot to do in Perth, but it's a nice little city. They have some wonderful gardens for sure though! I was going to go up into the bell tower (the tall pointing thing you'll see in pics), which is sort of the focal monument of Perth, but it was $10 to go up and I didn't want to $10 enough. :P When I got up to The museum, which the art gallery is next to, the gallery was having a display outside. There were all these photographs up taken aerially that showed the word and told facts about the environment and about human usage of resources. It was really neat! I also went inside the gallery and looked at the art in there. After that I went into the museum but didn't look around too much… I've had a lot of museums in my life and at this point many of them seem the same. They had a little photography contest posted in the foyer there as well and so I looked at some of those... it really was a day at looking at photography. :P After that I took the CAT (the free city transport) to King's park and hiked up to the botanical gardens… beautiful! It's really neat because the gardens have a wonderful view over the city! After that I caught a late bus back to the hostel. Not a really eventful day, but nice and relaxing.