Weds 19th and Thurs 20th Oct – On Wednesday I took the bus to the Comfort Hostel to pick up my very heavy backpack and afterwards met up with Mikenna from my Darwin to Broome tour. She was in Perth this week so it was nice to catch up and walked around Kings Park for the afternoon. It felt weird to be back in Perth and see the shopping centre, Kings Park and Saigon Vietnamese restaurant again, only without Rens and Luca. On Thursday I had a very chilled day today and walked around town with a girl I met in my hostel, followed by an early night.
Fri 21st Oct – Today I’d booked a dive trip to Rottnest Island. I was looking forward to this as apparently divers often see sharks and whales when they dive at Rottnest. On the way there, the boat slowed down as the skipper saw humpback whales who were migrating south. They were amazing, and came quite close to the boat. A calf was doing flips, making noise and kept poking its head out of the water as well as spraying water out of its blowhole. It was an amazing sight to see so close. Apparently it was 3-4 metres long, and the mother who was nearby was much larger than that. When the boat started up again, I started to feel seasick. This got worse when the boat anchored ready for the divers, because it kept swaying due to the wind. I felt really really seasick I couldn’t focus. I started to perspire and felt really hot in my wetsuit, which was a full-length one. I hadn’t worn one of these in a while as the water was warm in the last few dives I’d done. I was told I’d feel better once I got in the cold water and I did to some extent, but I didn’t enjoy the dive that much. We went to a site called Southern Railway, aptly named because there happens to be a large train wheel inexplicably on the seabed floor. I wasn’t that impressed with the coral or marine life, as I’d seen better in Bali and Ningaloo Reef. Other things that prevented me from enjoying my dive was that my mask kept filling with water, I had trouble equalising, my fins were too loose I ended up losing my right fin at one point and I couldn’t get my buoyancy right. On top of that, I had a slight dizzy feeling and thought I would throw up underwater. Not nice. I decided I wouldn’t go in for my second dive, but then people convinced me to at least give it a go as we were going to a really nice site, and I had paid for 2 dives. The boat moved to the Crystal Palace site whilst we ate lunch and I started to feel better, but then the boat anchored and started swaying, and I felt sick again. This time I was really dizzy and people had to help me with my gear. Once I got in the water, I still couldn’t see straight, I dove under to the bottom, still feeling really dizzy and questioned whether it was safe for me to be diving in this condition. After I lost my left fin, I knew I wasn’t in the right state of mind and came straight back up. I decided I just didn’t feel well enough to go in again, so I climbed back onto the boat and had a hot shower. Apparently due to the coldness it happens to a lot of people, plus the swell could really be felt down there, so at least one person on each boat changes their mind about diving there. From what I remember, the coral wasn’t much better than the last site. Some people saw sharks and a couple of people saw a sea lion turning in the water above them, so I was envious of that.
After we got back to shore I killed some time in Freo before meeting a girl from my hostel to do the Fremantle Prison torchlight tour. It was good, and some bits made me jump as they had actors who would appear unexpectedly. Afterwards, we went for a night out. Mikenna was staying in Freo now and I’d arranged to meet her, but I had no battery on my phone, and although we saw each other briefly for a few minutes, we couldn’t find each other again as I had no way to contact her.
Sat 22nd Oct – I had a lazy day of looking around shops, and really liked this little shopping arcade they called “London Court” – it was really pretty and had an English tea room inside – (serving scones with whipped cream instead of clotted cream so not authentic!) I developed my underwater camera photos from Ningaloo Reef and had a look around a Diwali festival that was taking place by the river. I met with Mikenna and her friend Paul in the evening to celebrate Mikenna’s last night in Australia after months of travelling.
Sun 23rd Oct – I was thinking about going to rottnest one day this week after Mikenna raved about it but there was a shark attack there the day before! A 32 year old American diver was killed by a great white shark. I met Mikenna and Paul for lunch then hung out in Northbridge Piazza. There is a permanent big screen there and today the New Zealand vs France Rugby World Cup Final game was on.
I said goodbye to Mikenna and took a train to Cottlesloe to meet a friend from Bundaberg, Chara. We hung out at her hostel for a bit, and sunddenly Hanna, the Dutch girl I met in Karijini sat next to me! She said she was staying here, and that Vicky and Ryan were here too! Vicky then came down the stairs and it was such a surprise to see her! It’s funny how we keep bumping into each other! We all went out to Ocean Beach Hotel and had a fun night! It closed at 10, so Vicky walked me back to the train station as I didn’t know the way. I’d just missed the train by 10 seconds as the barrier closed in front of me and wouldn’t let me through so I had a half an hour wait until the next train! It made me miss the regular service of the London tube!
Mon 24th and Tues 25th Oct – I spent these 2 days in the library catching up on emails and abusing the free internet. I got lots done so it wasn’t time wasted. I met Vicky on Monday evening after her first day at a new job. We went for a coffee and it was good to have a proper catch up.
Weds 26th Oct – After checking out of my hostel, I took a train and bus to the Aquarium of Western Australia, AQWA. It was advertised as the largest aquarium in Western Australia with the largest underwater viewing tunnels in Australia. It was a really good aquarium and had a 98 metre underwater tunnel. I saw lots of sharks here, and they had lovely coral reef exhibits.
I’d originally thought about diving there, as I’d heard that you can dive with the sharks there, but after looking around and seeing other divers in the aquarium, it didn’t look that great. I’d much rather see sharks in their natural habitat than in an aquarium, so I’m glad I didn’t pay to do that. After the aquarium I had a quick look around the shops at Sorrento Quay and then headed back to the city. I booked my travel to Margaret River for the day after I get back from Brisbane, so at least I know I’m sorted. I lugged my big bags (total of 35 kilos now!) to the airport and watched “The Aviator” to kill time before my night flight to Brisbane where I would meet my parents and sister.
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