April 28, 2009
The great escape
Finally I have made up my mind where to head next and the destination is Broome and then further on the Darwin. I am starting my trip on Saturday, so I am hanging around in Perth a bit longer than I anticipated. Nevertheless I really like it here. The hostel is a real good place to stay.
Yesterday two English and me went to Fremantle to visit the Prison there. It was quite interesting given the fact that the whole prison was built by the convicts and prisoners doing there time there and that is closed in 1992. Our tourguide was quite entertaining and since we weren´t allowed to ask him any prviate questions, we assume that either he was a ward there or that he was doing time there. I assume it was the first. Anyways, lucky me, I got chosen as a demonstration dummy - that always happens to me somehow - for the body searches. Well, he didn´t do one - TG - I just had to stand at the line and he explained stuff and made some fun. The gallows were the creepiest part of the whole tour. Imagine people actually dying in there. They also offer tours called The Great Escape - on which you can follow some of the most specatcular escapes out of the prison - and the other one is the Torchlight Tour - done by night with only torchlight.... that would be creepy.
Afterwards we had some lunch in a local pub and went to the Fremantle Roundhouse, which was the actual prison before they built the other one. There they also had a gallow and I am not sure what it is, but I was asked by the volunteer there, if I´d like to try it. Yeah, right, so they can lock me in there and I would have to stay here in the end?! Sound not so bad... ;-)
Yesterday two English and me went to Fremantle to visit the Prison there. It was quite interesting given the fact that the whole prison was built by the convicts and prisoners doing there time there and that is closed in 1992. Our tourguide was quite entertaining and since we weren´t allowed to ask him any prviate questions, we assume that either he was a ward there or that he was doing time there. I assume it was the first. Anyways, lucky me, I got chosen as a demonstration dummy - that always happens to me somehow - for the body searches. Well, he didn´t do one - TG - I just had to stand at the line and he explained stuff and made some fun. The gallows were the creepiest part of the whole tour. Imagine people actually dying in there. They also offer tours called The Great Escape - on which you can follow some of the most specatcular escapes out of the prison - and the other one is the Torchlight Tour - done by night with only torchlight.... that would be creepy.
Afterwards we had some lunch in a local pub and went to the Fremantle Roundhouse, which was the actual prison before they built the other one. There they also had a gallow and I am not sure what it is, but I was asked by the volunteer there, if I´d like to try it. Yeah, right, so they can lock me in there and I would have to stay here in the end?! Sound not so bad... ;-)
April 25, 2009
Rottnest Island
Today we decided to go to Rottnest Island, which is a tiny island (11 km long and 4,5 km wide) about 35 minutes by ferry away from Perth. It´s like the holiday getway from the city. So, we caught the ferry from Perth jetty up a long the Swan River along villas and yacht clubs. In the years past these mansion were one of the top priced houses in WA, nowadays obviously not, but to me they didn´t look it. After a short stop in Fremantle and a quick flat white, we went on with another bigger ferry out into the Indian Ocean and on towards the island. What a bumpy ferry ride that was. Poor little girl next to us suddenly turned white and then green. We did alright though. The day started out partly clouding but as soon as we hopped on the rented bikes - it´s a car free environment - it started to drizzle. No worries, it´ll stop soon. Well, actually after we almost got drenched, it stopped and the sun came out, so it dried up really quick. We did a 2 hour bike tour along the island with a lunch break at a tiny café for some traditional fish´n chips - brilliant.
The island is not only known for it´s crystal clear turqouise waters, where you can snorkel in from the beach, but also for it´s quoakkas... These little creatures look like a kangaroo-meets-a-rat in small! Sersiously. The jump around on their back feet and have the face of a kangaroo, but the tail of a rat. They are pretty tame and clever, because even despite the fact that you aren´t allowed to feed them, people do and therefore they see people eating and ...puuufff they´re there begging for food. One was really cheeky and as soon as I left the table to get me some tomato sauce, it jumped up on the table to get to my chips. It was shooed away though. It kept sneaking around our table, but then lost interest as it wasn´t getting anything from us. Fortunately they aren´t like the seagulls which just attack you and never leave you alone.
After our bike trip on the island we got back to Perth just in time for the BBQ at our hostel. That was a really nice get together. We chatted until midnight out in the back yard. Today´s ANZAC day and since it´s a holiday nothing is open, so we went for another day on the beach.
This place here is pretty relaxed and you meet a lot of people, like in the morning when everyone crawls out of their dorms, we sit out back and decided what to do today. Tennis has been big the last few days with a group of people, mostly from the UK. So, today we were like five going to the beach and just hanging out there.
Right now, I am trying to get on a tour up north to Darwin. I try to do the hop on hop off thingy so I could spend some days at Coral Bay and finally get my PADI diving license and then stay a few nights in Broome and then on to Darwin via the Kimbererly (most known as the scenery of the movie Australia by Buz Luhrmann). So there´s a lot to come like camping under the stars in the Outback, sandboarding in the dunes, bush walking, swimming with the doplihns and if I am lucky with the famous whale sharks, which are out at the reef this time of year. Keep your fingers crossed.
pcitures by _B, views of Rottnest Island and its crystal clear turquoise waters
The island is not only known for it´s crystal clear turqouise waters, where you can snorkel in from the beach, but also for it´s quoakkas... These little creatures look like a kangaroo-meets-a-rat in small! Sersiously. The jump around on their back feet and have the face of a kangaroo, but the tail of a rat. They are pretty tame and clever, because even despite the fact that you aren´t allowed to feed them, people do and therefore they see people eating and ...puuufff they´re there begging for food. One was really cheeky and as soon as I left the table to get me some tomato sauce, it jumped up on the table to get to my chips. It was shooed away though. It kept sneaking around our table, but then lost interest as it wasn´t getting anything from us. Fortunately they aren´t like the seagulls which just attack you and never leave you alone.
After our bike trip on the island we got back to Perth just in time for the BBQ at our hostel. That was a really nice get together. We chatted until midnight out in the back yard. Today´s ANZAC day and since it´s a holiday nothing is open, so we went for another day on the beach.
This place here is pretty relaxed and you meet a lot of people, like in the morning when everyone crawls out of their dorms, we sit out back and decided what to do today. Tennis has been big the last few days with a group of people, mostly from the UK. So, today we were like five going to the beach and just hanging out there.
Right now, I am trying to get on a tour up north to Darwin. I try to do the hop on hop off thingy so I could spend some days at Coral Bay and finally get my PADI diving license and then stay a few nights in Broome and then on to Darwin via the Kimbererly (most known as the scenery of the movie Australia by Buz Luhrmann). So there´s a lot to come like camping under the stars in the Outback, sandboarding in the dunes, bush walking, swimming with the doplihns and if I am lucky with the famous whale sharks, which are out at the reef this time of year. Keep your fingers crossed.
pcitures by _B, views of Rottnest Island and its crystal clear turquoise waters
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