Had one of the worst nights ever, but i guess if youre traveling you have to do it at least once.
We arrived in Perth at 2:05am on friday night. We didn't have accomodation, all we knew was we wanted to go to 'Billabong Backpackers Resort' because that's where Chris was staying. In the airport we found the hostel/hotel board, and proceeded to dail the Billabong. Oblivious to the fact that they may not even have vacancy my first question when they answered was if they have a shuttle that picks up from the airport. No. Then i asked if they had vacancy for three. No. Uh oh. Mabye we should have booked it before we left. We decided we'd just spend the night at another hostel and try again the next morning. We called every hostel on the board, even some hotels. No vacancy anywhere. We agreed that we'd get a cab to take us to the part of the city where most of the hostels are. We drove around for awhile, jumping out at different hostels to see if anywhere had room for us. No dice.
We found a nice quiet alley just off Lake Street. We layed down our things, and tried to get as comfortable as possible. After about an hour we decided this was not the place we wanted to stay. Drew got out the map book and found a near by park. Bingo. Again, we set up camp. I climbed on the slide, and the other two layed against their bags.
I woke up to some guy saying, "Wow, theres like fifty of them." Half asleep and confused, i watched him walk off and i closed my eyes again. Aparently he was drunk and looking for someone. When morning arrived, Drew again opened the book to find out how close we were to Billabong. It was about fifty steps away, across the street, two buildings down. He went and looked to see if they had any spots open. When he returned he informed us they had 2 spots available, and that if we came back at 10, they would see if anyone else was checking out.Drew and I played football, practicing field goal kicks over the soccer net. Matt slept on the grass. Finally 10 o'clock hit and they walked over to see if any spots had opened up. Victory. Not only had another bed opened up, but the three of us would all be in the same room.
Best Nap Ever.
The weather here is fantastic. The sun is much hotter here than in Cairns, but there's no humidity, in the shade its actually cool, when you get out of the shower, youre not automatically sticky again. Its great. At night, as we had found out the first night, it cools down quite nicely.
I went out that night with a kiwi we had met at the hostel. It reminded me exactly of downtown Vancouver, without the homeless. Lineups, intoxicated people, and clubs everywhere. Even the streets in Perth remind me of Vancouver. Small shops, restraunts, and large sidewalks.
Chris is working 12hrs a day as a labourer, he has wednesday and friday off, so we'll go out on tuesday and thursday with him. Since he's a working man, he offered to pay for the goon tomorrow night. What a guy.
I'm glad to be out of Cairns, but i will miss one friend we met. The last few days we were there, we had a visitor come into our room quite often. A small bird, just small enough to squeeze under our door. A very brave little guy, would walk around the room like he owned it, hopping on beds and bags. He also spent lots of time in the kitchen waiting for crumbs to drop.
What does the cow say? Thats right! Meep, Meep.