So this is my very last Australia post *sob*. You already know about most of what I got up to when I returned to Perth from Sydney, as the Sydney posts were rather delayed. So this post will just cover my last few days in Perth, most of which was spent at the beach. Despite my best efforts I didn't come away with a tan, I now just look normal and healthy instead of ghost-like and sickly. Sadly I had to say goodbye to Cait after our trip Down South, as she was flying over East to see her family for a coupla weeks, so my last few days were spent with Rach, Anna, and Andrew.
One of my favourite beaches in Western Australia is Brighton Beach, it's just next to Scarborough Beach but quieter and better for swimming. The sand is powder white and the ocean crystal clear and blue as the sky. The water's warm yet refreshing, the only bad thing is the sharks. Brighton and Scarborough beaches are notorious for sharks, however luckily this time the alarm didn't go off. You just have to stay in the shallows and follow the rule of thumb; never go further out than the person who's furthest out than everyone else. *nods* theory is they'll get eaten before you.
After Brighton Beach I drove over to Mt Claremont for a Bilby's burger. My old school is just round the corner from Bilby's, and we used to go there for dinner after school as a treat sometimes. They're the 'original' gourmet burger place in Perth, and they do the best burgers ever! If you go you have to have the King Pin. It's epic. And make sure you cover your chips in Chicken Salt. Yep, you heard right...Chicken. Salt.
That evening Rachael and I went to see Wolf Creek 2 at the movies, it was awful. I hate horror films, but I just felt like I had to see Wolf Creek 2 as I'd seen the first one. Well I spent most of my time sunken down in a fetal position sobbing, and when Rach decided to tap my shoulder I screamed and slapped her in the face. Like, fully slapped her so hard you could hear the skin on skin contact. Sorry!! If you don't handle horror films well, or are planning to backpack around Australia any time soon, do not watch this film. Just don't do it!
Anna and I went for lunch at another of my favourite places; Delish at Floreat Forum. They're a cafe in a very un-glamorous location (a shopping centre) serving fresh food (as in, you actually watch them make it), and they do the best Chicken & Avocado sandwich ever (I ate it so quickly there was no time for a photo). I did however get a pic of my Iced Chocolate. You know how I love an Iced C.
Then it was beach time again. This time another favourite of mine, South Cott/Mosman Beach. It's a bit of an effort because you have to walk down heaps of steps...and then back up them when you're all relaxed and boiling hot from the 37 degree weather. But anyway, this beach is without a doubt the best one for swimming. It's always really calm and hardly ever has any waves, and if it does they're just small ones that lap the beach. The water isn't as clear as Brighton but is still really blue and so refreshing!
My trip to Perth would never be complete without a walk down by the swan river. Sadly I didn't have the time to go out sailing, but a walk was better than nothing! We drove down to Point Walter and walked along the sandbank, before driving back up the coast and stopping off at the lookout at Bold Park.
On Friday I dropped off my hire car at Hertz and it was pretty disastrous. Basically everything was fine, they checked the car and it was fine, I paid and was about to leave, when they stopped me and were like 'we need to check it again'....they check it again and all of a sudden it has a scratch on it from another car reversing and scraping the back bumper. My guess is this happened on their forecourt, as it was scratch/scrape free when I parked it on the forecourt.
So they made me pay a huge $1500 for the scratch. Needless to say I was pissed off, upset, and felt completely scammed and taken advantage of. So what did I do? I called Anna and we went to Subiaco to drown my sorrows with cocktails. On the way to the bar we saw this, and thought it was hilarious that it was right outside KFC.
Later that evening Rach and I went into the city to meet her parents for dinner. We went to the Twilight Hawkers Market at Forrest Chase right in the centre, and it was awesome! It was packed with people, from families to businessmen and couples. There was a huge variety of foods, including Korean, Spanish, Argentinian, German, Italian etc etc. Rach and her mum went for Paella, her dad went for Chinese, and I had pizza. I felt really boring having pizza when I was surrounded by incredible foods from all over the world, but you know when you've been craving a food all day, and then you see it and a light goes on in your head that flashes the words 'GIMME NOW!', yep that happened. But it was really really good pizza, so I'm glad I got it.
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| My BBQ Chicken Pizza from Pizza Queens |
The next day was my very last day. It's weird but I felt ready to come home. I had a really amazing time, as I always do, but I was starting my new job on Monday (after landing on the Sunday...), and was so excited I just wanted to get home and start already. I always find it helps me beat the holiday blues if I have a lot to focus on when I get home, so I'm not sitting wallowing in my misery at being back in England.
I spent my last day with my aunty in the morning trying to sort out the Hertz dilemma, then I had lunch with Andrew at The Kiosk, before going for a drive along the coast in his new Jeep Wrangler with the roof off and music blaring, which was heaps of fun!
He then dropped me off at Rach's and we had a quiet afternoon watching movies and packing all my stuff up. Once I was all packed we drove to her parents so I could say my goodbyes, and watched the sunset at Cottesloe before getting pizza (yes, more pizza), from my favourite pizza place; Broadway.
Safe to say I love you, Perth. You beautiful beautiful place.
See you again next year!
