Back in beautiful Oz, job hunting and enjoying Perth!

APRIL 27 - MAY 3

Alice and I caught the overnight flight back to Australia together -- to Perth. April 27 is a public holiday Monday (ANZAC day, which is like Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day). Once in Perth, we went our separate ways -- Alice driving south to her town of Kojonup and me onto Perth itself. Western Australia (WA) is on the west coast of Oz and less populated than the east. Perth is definitely slower in pace and people are extremely friendly. I was surprised at how very multicultural it is here too. It's great, I love Perth! The weather is beautiful, sunny, warm, bright open blue skies, abundant parks within walking distance, etc.

Perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world. It is so remote that Singapore and Indonesia are closer than Sydney or Melbourne! Once outside of Perth, there is vast emptiness and desert. There are towns scattered about this big state of Western Australia (WA takes up almost half of the continent), but they are far apart from each other.

The hostel I'm staying at is north of the city in the district of Leederville. There is a free bus that goes from the hostel to the CBD (Central Business District). The first 3 nights, I was in a triple room (3 beds) and I didn't have any roomates. I had a tv though! I had booked a 5-bed room but since there are so many unemployed backpackers, people are just staying and rooms are quite rare. So I was bumped up....not complaining. Then I extended my stay for 1 more week and all I could get was a 2-bed. That's ok...I now have 1 roomate from Italy and there is a tv (even though reception sucks).

On Tuesday (April 28), I went to the job placement agency to look for a country pub job. There are a lot of people looking and they had us put our names down on a list. Most people are looking for work in the city or farm jobs such as fruit picking. I'm interested in being a barmaid at a pub in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

I have been running in the park and eating quite well (and less). It feels good to be active again. I've also been walking a lot by going into the city and King's Park (which is larger than NYC's Central Park). King's Park is like walking into a forest and being surrounded by exotic birds chirping...plus, there are not too many people. Peth is awesome for it's perfect mix of real nature and city.

Two days later on Thursday (April 30), I got a call at 4:50pm from the job agency. There was a vacancy at a pub in northern WA which was 2 hrs away by plane. The town is Wiluna and it is literally in the outback....in the desert....isolated middle of nowhere. I ran to the office to find out more and talked to the owner on the phone. He wanted someone to stay 4 months but I could only promise 2 months at this time. He said he'd get back to us but he never did. That is fine with me because I am not too keen on this place anyhow.

On Saturday (May 2), I took the train to Fremantle. This is a town 30 min south of Perth and they have markets on the weekends. It was an ok market....I preferred Salamanca Market in Hobart (Tasmania). This market was smaller and it didn't have much handmade local stuff. There was also a lot of chinese merchants selling asian knick knacks. I'm not interested in that...I go to markets to buy local items!!!

On Sunday (May 3), I met up with Allison K. for brekkie! She arrived the night before and will be here for a few days. I wwoofed at her place in NSW when I first got to Oz. It was so nice to have a visitor and to catch up! It was nice to have an aussie breakfast again. I've been staying away from chinese food ever since I came back from Hong Kong.