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Girls Girls Girls
Perth, Western Australia
November, 2004
Perth is a cool place, but I wasn't so stoked when I first got there. Upon arriving at the Airport, I called the Ocean Beach Backpackers to see if they had availability. They did have a bed in the dorm so I said, iOK, Iill be there in about an hour.i I had read lots of good reviews on-line about the place. They were right on the beach, they rented bikes and surfboards, and the people that worked there were supposed to be really nice.
When I arrived, things weren't quite as I expected. They didn't hire surfboards and when I asked about the waves (which were flat) the guy stated rather rudely, "For waves you'll have to go 60km south or 100km north, you're about two months late to surf here.i Then I ask about bikes. "No one hires bikes in Cotteslow" he states. Then he shows me up to the dorm. There about 10 beds in the room and there are backpacks, clothes, beer bottles and crap all over the place. I was kind of surprised.
Oh well, I had to make the best of it, I put my things away (guitar and cameras in my locker) and went for a walk around town. On the way out there were about 10 guys loudly getting pissed (drinking) in the patio area and I figured those must be my room mates (it was only 4:00 PM). I figured on an interesting night.
The town and beach were really nice, but I couldn't believe the prices in the shops. Everything was at least twice as expensive as New Zealand. At the cheapest Grub spot I paid $6 for a grilled ham and cheese! Really too much. So what was I to do? I decided to buy some earplugs, have a few drinks and try to crash early (I was a bit tired after the long day of travel from Auckland through Sydney). Remarkably, there was no one in the room when I went to bed, and I didn't wake until the morning.
My problem the next day was that there was nothing to do. I got up a bit early, around 7:00AM, because of jetlag, and there was no surf, no bike, what the hell. I decided to walk into Fremantle, the next town down the coast, where I heard I could get a bike. It was a long way, about 10 KM, but it was so early I had lots of time to kill so I walked. The beach was really nice. White sand, not to rocky and the water was about 65. Towards the end of the beach I was a bit lost so I went up to a parking lot and asked and old guy how to get to Fremantle.
"Where you from, mate?" he replied. I told him I was from California. "I traveled there with the Misses last year! Look mate, I'm on my way into Freo, how about I give you a lift."
This guy was really cool. I told him where I was staying and then he explained to me my situation. "Cottesloe is like staying Beverly Hills!" he said. "Everything is really expensive. They say that is where all the beautiful people live. You should move into Freo, mate. You would like it much better."
I did notice while walking around Cottesloe the day before, that there was an incredible amount of pretty girls walking around the strip. It really was amazing. They were all tan, fit and quite stunning.
Next, I explained to John, my Chauffer, that I was looking to purchase a used bike. As we drove into town he pointed out everyplace I should try. They were all closed at the time, but it was really cool to get to lowdown. He then dropped me off in the center of Fremantle. I went to a cafe, got a coffee and a breakfast sandwich and read a used paper I found in the trash. Then I noticed the shops were opening so I walked back up the strip to find a bike.
I seemed not to be in luck. Each place I went only sold new bikes. I checked the thrift stores, no bikes. I went to one shop and they told me to go to "Cash Converters" the local pawn shop so I tried that. They had two bikes, one was really expensive and the other was for a 10 year old. I was running out of options. Only one place left, Bike Force. When I arrived I could tell there were no used bikes in the shop, but I decided to go in and ask if they had any suggestions. There was a guy in the shop, Graham, who owned another bike shop a few miles away and he said he had some used bikes. He said he could set me up for about $50AU and I said that was fine. We drove out to his shop and he set me up with a cool 10 speed. I turned the handle bars up and I was ready to go (see picture of iOld Redi in photos section).
Now I was happy. The ride back to Fremantle was a bike path along the Swan River which is as beautiful as any ride I have ever done. While I was in town I went around and checked all of the Hostels. I found one I really liked, the YHA, and booked a room for the following 5 nights. "Only one more night in Cottesloe!" I thought to myself, what a relief.
Back in Cottesloe I spent the day at the beach and it was really nice. I did some body surfing on the little waves and was really surprised by all of the pretty girls on the beach. They were everywhere. All the guys were getting pissed and were fairly annoying, but the girls, wow.
I actually had lots of fun on my last night at OB Backpackers. They had a pool tournament that I made it to the semis, and then I partied with all the Britts and even got out my guitar and played them some songs. But the following morning, I was still very happy to move to Fremantle.
I had too much stuff to carry on one trip so I rode first with my small pack and guitar, then I rode back for my big pack. 30KM by noon. It was fine though, almost the entire ride is along the coast and there wasn't much wind. I spent the rest of the day exploring Fremantle. It is a really great town, once known for all the hippies that lived there. There are street musicians on almost every corner and there is a great weekend market. Best of all, they have three maritime museums that are all really incredible. You must visit them al if you make it to Freo.
Now I was having fun. The YHA was great. I had a nice room with a double bed (only 28AU/night) the bathrooms and showers were clean and they had a big kitchen. I went to the grocery store, bought a bunch of food and really moved in. I ended up staying there for my remaining time in Perth.
The next day was Wednesday and it was still very flat, so I decided to ride my bike into Central Perth to check out Kings Park and the city. It was an awesome 26KM ride all along the Swan River to get there. No hills, so the ride was very easy and quite scenic. You passed the "Millionaire's Row", lots of really fancy mansions, and various parks that ran right along the water. And, there was a bike path the entire way.
King's park was great. It had an awesome view of the city skyline and lots of god bike paths. I was not impressed with the Botanical Gardens that looked to me like a bunch of brush, but everything else was great. Next I rode into the city. Perth has a fairly small downtown with a few mail promenades along Hay Street and down by the water. I took a few pictures, but was not that impressed, so I rode back home along the north side of the Swan which was not as impressive as the ride into Perth. I was tired from the night before so I spent the evening relaxing.
On Thursday I took the ferry to Rottnest Island which is about 19 KM from Fremantle. Visiting the Island is a must do while in Perth. I spent the entire day riding around the Island on Old Red. There were beautiful coves, cute little Kangaroo type animals called iQuokkasi, some great snorkeling on the reefs, and really great surf spots but I didnit have a board. I even saw a pod of Humpback whales when I was on the eastern tip of the Island. A really great day
On Friday, the swell picked up to a grand 2 feet so I rented a longboard and had some fun surfing just south of Cottleslow. That night I went out on the town and the place was pretty wild. The pubs were all packed and they had after hours clubs that were open until 6:00AM. And yes, tons of pretty girls, and do mean girls. I would say the average age of the people in the bars was around 19.
Saturday was pretty much the same, but Sunday was the big day. If you ever go to Perth you will hear about "The Sunday Sesh". Every Sunday starting at 4:00PM everyone crowds into the pubs at the beach. I decided I wanted to do a little documentary about the Sesh, so I grabbed my camera and went to the Cottesloe Beach Hotel, home to one of the most rageing Sunday Sesh's in the city.
I arrived at around 4:00 PM and it was already hopping. There were about 300 people in the outdoor patio area and about 100 inside. And, as expected, there was a multitude of pretty girls. I decided to grab a beer and play some pool and let the place completely fill up before I took my shots. Boy did it fill up. By sunset there must have been at least 1000 people in the club and I was definitely one of the oldest people there. I would say the average age was about 20. I met some of the guys from my dorm at the OB Backpackers and they were chatting with some cute girls. There was a fun cover band playing inside and the entire place was going wild, so I got out my video camera and started taking some footage.
I filmed the band, the outdoor scene, indoors and lot of great looking girls. After filming for about 15 minutes I got busted. A security guard approached me, said "Hold it right here," then got on his walkie-talkie and said, "I've got him right here; I'll take him to the front." He escorted me to the entrance of the Club and the Head Security Manager gave me the lowdown.
"You are not allowed to use video cameras in this bar. You have to erase all the footage you have taken or I will have to confiscate the tape in the camera." I was really bummed. I told him I had lots of other footage I wanted to keep and that I would rewind and record over all the footage from inside by pointing my camera at the ground. He agreed, so I rewinded to the beginning to where I was outside the club filming from the street. He said that that part was ok. Then the indoor stuff came on and I said, "OK look I will press record and point it at the floor."
I did this for about a minute and the guy was not paying attention to me, so while he wasn't looking I pressed rewind on the video screen so the tape went back to the stuff I had already recorded over. I then showed him the screen and said, "Look Mate, it's blank, I really didn't take that much footage."
He was still involved with another issue so just looked at me and said, "OK, you can go." I was really stoked and I bolted out of there with most of my footage intact. It really was a great "Sunday Sesh."
I have one day left in Perth, Monday, so I spent the day riding my bike around and that evening I played at the Open Mic at a little place called Mojo's. It was really cool. Most of the performers were girls playing drippy love songs but there were a couple really funny acts too. Two over 50 guys went up and played some punk techno, like Devo meets Paul Shaffer and that was funny but I could tell they played every week because the staff was kind of annoyed. Then a dreadlocked dude went up sang some songs in this really low Tom Waits voice and that was good too. When my turn came, I dedicated my set to George Bush and said "For the love of god, I hope he loses that damn election." Note: It was November 1st. I then busted into my song "The Fourth of July" and I got lots of smiles from the crowd. I played a couple more diddys and ended with Viva Las Vegas. It was really fun and the audience liked me.
Overall, it was a really fun time in Perth. My advice if you visit, stay in Fremantle (the YHA is great, but there are lots of regular hotels if you don't like hostels). My advice if you are a male between 18 and 25, get your butt to Perth!!!!!
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