A few days in Fremantle

After a 6 hour wait back in Kuala Lumpur, I was on a flight to Perth. Aside from being the cheapest place in Australia to fly to from KL, I also wanted to spend some time over in Western Australia, as I hadn't the last time I was here. This was the original plan anyway.

So, I landed in Perth at 5.30am, along with a plane load of Malaysians. The queue at Immigration was really long, but I patiently waited my turn, shuffling gradually towards the front.

I had my visa details and passport in my hand, and stepped up to the counter. Quick and easy, the woman stamped my passport and I walked through to collect my backpack. Immediately as I walked through I was approached by a woman not much older than me. She asked if this was my first or second working holiday visa. I answered that it was my second. Then came 101 questions. She took me aside and asked me things like, 'what sort of work did you do?' 'where did you work?' 'what dates were you working?' 'where did you stay?' and so on. She even asked me to name the river in the local town at the second place I did my 'agricultural work'. Although I knew all the answers to these questions, I was tired and not thinking straight. I was answering but stuttering and hesitating. She told me to take a seat and so I did. I waited and waited, telling myself to act natural, and then wondering what to do in order to act natural! It was ridiculous....these people really know how to make you feel nervous! After about 15 minutes of sitting there by myself, exhausted and frustrated, she came back and said she'd called one of the companies I'd worked for and they'd confirmed my employment. I was free to go! What a relief! I had no idea that after my visa had been granted back in July, I'd be subjected to interrogation upon arrival into the country. The woman then explained that so many backpackers enter the country with someone elses employment details, and that regularly (3 or 4 times a week) they cancel visas and send people on the first flight home! If that had happened to me I'd have asked if they could maybe send me back to Bali instead! My advice now is that I would NEVER recommend anyone even attempt to come into Australia on a false visa. I know that people do it all the time, but I've since been told that Immigration is getting really strict.

So anyway, I took the shuttle the 45 minutes to Fremantle. I'd had friends recommend that I spend time here. It's the beach town of Perth, similar to Melbourne's St Kilda or Sydney's Bondi. I got to the Backpackers Inn at about 7.30am to see that it was closed! Argh... after the nightmare I'd just had, all I wanted to do was check in and sleep for a few hours. I waited and waited, and eventually by 9am I was checked in and tucked up in bed!

After my nap, I had a quick wander round this small town, then settled in the communal area back at the hostel. Here I met loads of other backpackers, and by that evening we were all sitting in the courtyard outside drinking beer and getting to know eachother. This became the routine over the next few days.

Before I'd arrived, Perth had been having fantastic weather considering the time of year, and was much warmer than the East coast. Typically, now this wasn't the case. The weather really turned, so much so that I was sitting around in jeans and a hoody. What's worse is that after 12 days in Bali/ KL, my body was used to hot weather, so of course now I caught a cold.

With the weather like this, there's not much to do in a beachside town. Therefore we spent most days sitting around, wrapped up in warm clothes, playing cards and drinking beer. Part of me felt bad considering I was only here for 4 or 5 days, so I should be doing something, but at the same time I was really enjoying myself! It felt good to be a backpacker again. The only time we left the hostel was to go to the supermarket for supplies (beer).

On my third or fourth day, I woke up to sunshine! Not wanting to waste a second, I grabbed Louise, a girl from Manchester I'd met, and we took the free bus down to South beach. It wasn't quite nice enough to sit at the beach and sunbathe, but I couldn't leave this town without stepping foot on sand. We then walked the long way back, rather than get back on the bus, so that we could get to see the sights of Fremantle. The market was on, so we wandered round there. And we even came across a road called Essex Street! Which, might I add, was one of the best streets in Freo! There were loads of bars and lovely restaurants, nice buildings etc.

Back at the hostel after our 'day trip', it was the usual story, back in the courtyard with everyone else, beer in hand and a game of cards on the go.

My friend Chris, one of the Frankston boys, had recently moved to Perth for work. So he, along with 2 friends, came and met me at the hostel where we had a few beers before we hit the town. We went to a bar that had a great live motown band. And then onto another bar that also had a live band. The atmosphere in Freo is great, and is full of backpackers! I think the locals are a minority here. We ended the night in a local club where, as well as showing our ID, we had to have our finger prints scanned! I've never seen anything like it.

Thankfully, earlier that evening, I'd decided to pack my bags. I staggered home at around 4am and got straight in bed, only to wake up to the sound of my alarm clock, reminding me that I had to check out in half an hour.

Usually, at 10am, no one at the hostel is up and about yet. But today, after I'd checked out and was about to nap on the sofas for a couple of hours, I saw a few of the people I'd been out with the night before. Now don't ask why, considering my lack of sleep and my massive headache, but it seemed like a good idea to start the day with an ice cold beer! And so that's what we did. We sat in the courtyard, the sun was really strong (typical as it was the day I was leaving), and we played cards whilst drinking a few beers. A great way to spend the day! And after a while, I couldn't tell anymore if I was hungover or a bit tipsy!!

Later on, Chris came and picked me up and took me back to his house closer to the airport, to save me the $33 shuttle cost. Back at Chris's, the boys were getting ready for a night out and were drinking rum and coke, so of course I joined them. What possessed me I have no idea! Because I had to leave at 9 to head for the airport.

Once I got there, I had a massive struggle to try and check in for my flight. I was quiet tipsy by now, and getting easily confused! So much so, that after I'd tried to check in for a Qantas flight (I was flying Jetstar) I eventually checked in, went through to have my hand luggage scanned (and searched - I must have one of those faces)... I then went up the escalator to departures. Not quite with it at all, I then followed a couple and ended up in baggage reclaim. I'd basically walked into the airport and then straight out again! And so, red faced, I queued up to have my hand luggage scanned, again, and then went up to the escalator and stayed there!

At 11pm, I boarded my flight to Sydney and fell into a much needed deep sleep!