Day 108 - Sydney

Whew, haven't written in a while, been busybusy.

On Tuesday I went to visit Mike and Ayako, uncle Mike's brother-in-law and his wife. They were very nice and fed me sushi - yum. It's always fun to meet new people - Gran said she would give me the address of one of her old friends, who lives in NZ, so I can visit him and his family while I'm there.

My last day in Perth I went to Fremantle, a town near the sea (really a kind of suburb of Perth) and explored, sat next to the harbour, drank lots of coffee etc. Then I hung around the hostel in the evening with some of the people I had met, watched some naff movies and tried to use up my food (omlette-on-toast, niice). At about 11 I got a lift to the airport then caught my Virgin Blue flight to Sydney. It was a bloomin' 4 1/2 hour flight, which got me in about 7.30 (time difference)... so another night of no sleep!

Yesterday I mainly slept and wondered around Redfern, the area that my hostel is in. Not very exciting. Today I got the train to Central Quay to get a look at the Sydney opera house. Must say it was a bit dissapointing - smaller than I imagined. I had more fun watching the entertainers lined up along the harbour. One guy was inexplicably dressed up as a donkey, and just stood there doing nothing. He didn't move except to fidget in the half hour I sat there eating my lunch, so I couldn't work out what he was meant to be doing - maybe just a crazy person. I also explored the rocks area - which is across the cove from the opera house and the location of Sydney's first European settlement. Once a home of prostitutes, convicts, whalers and street gangs, now it's a very clean, historical area with cobbled streets, old colonial buildings and lots of naff shops and cafes. So, ooh-ing and aah-ing over with, now I'm going to go to Darlington Harbour and Chinatown and have a look around there...

Day 104 - Perth

Perth... after a good deal of walking around the city on sunday, I realised what it reminded me of... Milton Keynes!! The simularity is remarkable (bar the temperature). It really feels like I'm back in the UK, albiet with a freak heat wave and lots of people sounding like crocodile dundee/the cast of neighbours (it's even about the same size!).

Yesterday I visited the perfect white sands of Cottesloe beach and got my back perfectly burned (you can even see the bow where I tied my bikini), had some disasterous experiments in the kitchen (I haven't cooked for a while, ok?) and then got on a bus with a bunch of people from the hostel and dropped off at a bar with free beer all night.
So... feeling a little tender today.

Today or tomorrow I am hopefully going to visit my uncle's brother-in-law & family which will be nice. And then I fly on to Sydney on Wednesday night!

Day 102 - Perth

Perth, bright sunshine, 30°C out (no humidity, thank heaven). It's all good.

On the last day in Ho Chi Minh I had a bit of a whizz round the city on the back of several motorcycles. I also spent time organising and booking stuff on t'internet. Think I pretty much did Ho Chi Minh to death. Favourite parts? The free cinema on top of Bobby Brewers cafe, The Rex hotel swimming pool and the Cu Chi tunnels were pretty cool (just so that I don't come across as totally idle).

And yesterday? Yesterday I spent aaall the day (and night) travelling - yaaawn. Left Viet Nam at 8.30am yest, arrived here last night about 1am after several flights and tedious hours hanging around at Singapore airport. After my flight arrived I stretched out on some of the chairs in the Departures hall, piled my stuff around me and fell asleep. Not the most comfortable nights sleep ever - but I saved 1 nights accom and a taxi fare so feel very virtuous. The next morning I caught an early shuttle bus to my hostel and crawled into bed and slept.

So, that was my last few days - all thrilling stuff. I'm going to go get the orientation talk from the guys in reception, then go ride the free cat buses around the city... should be fuuun.