I'm on the West Coast of Australia!

Hello from Perth! I arrived yesterday after a TWO DAY train ride. I'm staying with three fun couchsurfers named Matt, Steve and Amy. Tomorrow my friend Antonia (who I met in Sydney) is also coming to stay for a couple days at the same house with her friends from Germany and Sweden. It'll be a fun, full house! Right after I got into town yesterday, the roommates said they were going to the beach. I needed to sleep but I wanted to go to the beach more so I went with them. We went to Trigg Beach and it was so beautiful! The sand was white and the water was warm. Apparently there are sharks sometimes and jellyfish often but we didn't see any yesterday and the jellyfish they have here aren't deadly anyway -- they just sting a little. The footy (AFL) season just started and this morning I watched the Essendon Bombers ("my" team) vs. Western Bulldogs. Essendon dominated: the final score was 113-58! 

When I get back to Melbourne in a couple weeks, I'm going to go see Essendon play St. Kilda with my buddy Matt. I can't wait! After the footy game this morning, my couchsurfing host (another Matt) took me to a spot called Jacob's Ladder. It's a very tall stairway (250 steps) near King's Park just outside the city center. I did 6 sets which I figured out is equal to 68 stories! We're going back on Tuesday after Matt gets off work, when it hopefully won't be quite as hot (it was 34 degrees = 93 F this afternoon). :)

I've been meaning to write about the rest of my time in Adelaide. Tony, my first host, ended up being the worst couchsurfing host I've had. I can't say for sure what caused the change in his personality from the first night to the following morning, but after I got back to his house in the afternoon and he came home from work, he was extremely rude and awkward. He seemed like he was going out of his way to make me feel uncomfortable -- and it worked. Every conversation was weird and he was antagonistic for no reason. For example, I asked him if he wanted some of the pumpkin I was going to cook for dinner (even though he had brought home lots of food for himself and hadn't offered me anything or even suggested a good place for me to get some dinner. Fortunately I had already bought myself a delicious pumpkin to cook ...) and he said, "No. What, are you just going to boil it? I've had roasted pumpkin before and that was okay but boiled is just so boring." Uh ... okay. Then he said he was running out to go buy himself a beer ("a little ritual") and I could either come with him and buy myself some alcohol or I could plan on having "a sober night." I guess he was just (rudely) letting me know he wouldn't be supplying my alcohol. I was so glad I only had one more night with him. After I finished my pumpkin, I changed into my PJs and he said he was going to go chill out in his room, which was perfect because I just wanted to go to sleep and then leave first thing in the morning. The next day I packed up and left Rude Tony's house and went to meet my next Adelaide couchsurfing host, Frazer. I walked about 2 miles to find a Westpac ATM, got some money, and then took the train to Eden Hills where Frazer lives. I started walking to his house but I thought I was going the wrong way so I called him and he came to meet me on his bike. It turned out I was only about 200 yards from his house when I called but he didn't mind coming to fetch me. He took me back to his house where we talked and ate popcorn from a giant bag that he had found dumpster diving behind the movie theatre downtown. Bin popcorn! 

And I ate it! :) Then we went for a walk in the bush behind his house (he lives right on the edge of a wilderness reserve). That evening we went to his friends' house where he was recording a meditation for his friend Airlie's float tank and massage practice, called The Float Room. Frazer's friend James set up his recording equipment and Frazer led us (me, Airlie, Ant, James, Michelle and Poppy) in a series of meditations and positivity exercises that he was recording for later use while clients are floating in the float tank. 

It was very relaxing and lots of fun. Airlie had made two different kinds of delicious vegan soup which we ate with bread and, of course, more bin popcorn. We stayed for five or six hours, talking, meditating, eating, and laughing. We didn't go in the float tank but Airlie said when I come back to Adelaide next weekend I can come over and float! :) The next day Frazer and I had planned to walk into the city and borrow bikes and ride around the city all day. When we woke up it was pouring rain so the bikes were out but we decided to go into the city anyway. We walked through the bush and along the railroad tracks to the train station.

We were already soaked because it was windy and the rain was practically falling sideways, and when we were about 50 yards from the train station, we saw the train go past. The next one wasn't for half an hour so we kept walking to the bus stop. We were drenched anyway so we figured we might as well. We finally caught a bus to the city and walked around finding fun stuff to do everywhere. We ended up in front of the Haigh's chocolate store 

and I bought lots of dark chocolate for us (surprisingly lots of their dark chocolate was vegan) and then as we walked along eating delicious chocolates, we stumbled onto a tent where a company was giving out free hand massages -- and grapes! Score! My massage girl was delighted to find out I live in California and she talked about the Kardashians the whole time she was massaging my hands; they're her "style icons!" haha! We went to the Adelaide University career fair and talked to an Australian secret service agent for a long time. She actually wasn't allowed to tell us that she worked for the agency so she made sure to tell us she could be from a recruiting company. I kept asking her questions that she was not allowed to answer. It was a very interesting conversation. I also got some free pens from a few of the companies, which was sweet because I only had one pen and I was thinking about buying another one but I didn't really want to. It's festival season in Adelaide (and South Australia is "The Festival State") so someone had placed pianos all over the city that said, "Play me, I'm Yours!" and we stopped at every piano we saw and played "Heart and Soul" and whatever else we could (sort of) figure out how to play. 

We saw Parliament House and the festival grounds and lots of other cool things. Frazer took me on an illegal "joy ride" up a glass elevator downtown.

Later, we went dumpster diving!! Frazer found a box in one dumpster and we filled it with fruit from another dumpster. And again, I have to tell you that I actually ate some!! We had been lurking at one end of the alley when a guy came out of the store and dumped three bins of fruit into the dumpster, and we took what was on top, so it was relatively clean, and of course we washed it before we ate it. I know my parents are soooo proud right now. :) 

Our friend Poppy was downtown at dinner with her parents and they picked us up and drove us to Poppy's house. She made us dal with tomatoes and potatoes (from the bin!) and lentil beans. Yum. In the morning she made us the most amazing vegan pancakes (with bananas instead of eggs). She also let me borrow her copy of Kerouac's "Dharma Bums." Yay! I'm reading it (and loving it) right now, and I'm going to give it back to her when I return to Adelaide.

After two lovely days with Frazer and his sweet friends, it was time for me to go check out Perth. I was so bummed when I got to my seat and there was a girl in the seat next to me. As usual, I had been hoping for a solo seat. But we started talking and the girl, Shae, was so awesome! She was moving to Perth and her car was on the back of the train, packed full of all her stuff. We had so much fun talking for two days, exploring the towns of Cook and Kalgoorlie, dealing with "train time" (we had to set our clocks back 2 1/2 hours so the journey took even longer than we thought it would) and "train brain" (our own explanation for why we were a little out of it and sometimes couldn't form full sentences), and eating the delicious food that she had brought. 

When we stopped in Cook, a little ghost town between Adelaide and Kalgoorlie, we were all terrorized by swarms of flies the entire 45 minutes or so that we were there, but Shae and I managed to have fun, taking pictures of all the weird stuff in Cook and running and leaping to stretch our legs.

That night we made it to Kalgoorlie (about 11 hours from Perth) at 7:00 pm, where we had a three hour stop! It didn't seem safe, letting a bunch of dazed tourists wander around a little mining town in the dark, but Shae and I cruised around the main street for about an hour, thankful for the opportunity to walk after so many hours sitting in our seats. We thought about going into one of the pubs for a beer but neither of us wanted to spend the money and it seemed like we could be asking for trouble (according to the train staff, there's a 9:1 ratio of men to women in Kalgoorlie) so we just walked back to the train station and laid down on a wooden cart.

Walking was nice but being horizontal (since the seats recline but not all the way) was even better. We didn't fall asleep but we had a nice rest and got on the train at 10:00 ready to pass out. We woke up around 5:30 am, with less than four hours to go. Yay! Our epic journey across the Outback was almost finished. =)

Oh, and I befriended the train staff and they gave me lots of free chocolate and hot water for tea. I only spent $3.50 the whole time, on a bowl of cereal the first morning. It was a great trip. When we arrived at the East Perth station, I said goodbye to my new friend and walked to the suburban train platforms. I only had a $5 bill and $1 change ... unfortunately the station didn't have anyone working there -- just a machine that only took coins, and my trip (to Oats Street station) was $2.50. As I was trying to figure out what to do, a train approached and I jumped on, even though I hadn't bought a ticket and I wasn't sure it was going in the right direction. As I looked up at the railway map and realized that I was (not surprisingly) heading in the wrong direction, I noticed two train policemen coming down the aisle, checking everyone's tickets. Great. One guy came up to me and asked to see my ticket. I told him I didn't have one because I hadn't had time to buy it at the last station before the train. He said, "You do know that's a $100 fine, right?" I said I didn't know that; I lied and said I had just arrived in Australia. Thankfully he didn't enforce the charge on this dumb tourist, and I got off at the next station, and traded a guy my $5 note for all his change ... $3.80. Bummer, but at least I didn't get hit with a $100 fine! :) I finally got to my station and Matt picked me up and I've had a wonderful time in Perth so far. When I leave the city I'll find my way back to Matt's house where we'll watch some more footy. Yay! Beach again tomorrow, I think. :)


p.s. I finally added pics to my last few blogs so check 'em out!