The nicest city in Australia (Perth)

After just 3 hours and 20 minutes I arrived at the Perth Airport. I had the option of taking the city bus 37 to the city or the connect airport shuttle bus. The first option was the cheapest one, but because I arrived quiet late there was no public bus running so I waited for the shuttle bus.

 

 

The driver asked me where I want to get dropped off, after explaining to him that I would be staying in Leederville, outside the city, I asked him to drop me off wherever a cab would be in the city. Instead he was so nice and actually dropped me off directly in front of the apartment where I would stay during my time in Perth. He was actually not allowed to do this but since there was only one other passenger he had the time to do it anyway, for no extra cost. So you can guess that my first impression of Perth was amazing.

This time around I decided to go with couchsurfing since all the hostel prices were horrendous. Mark offered me to stay at his place while visiting Perth and I was happy to accept the offer. I was totally amazed when he told me that he would be away but I could stay anyway and all that without even knowing me. Seems like there are still people in this world that believe in good people and I was happy about that. You will not find that very often.

The neighbour greeted me with the keys and I entered the apartment, a small cosy place with everything that you need. The house even had a swimming pool, which unfortunately I haven’t had time to use very much. Reading through the notes he left me I thought it is so nice that he even bought a snack for me since all the shops around the area are closed. That was the second impression I had. The nicest things ever happened to me from strangers in an unknown city. He even left me his Smartrider card for the Busses and trains and a detailed explanation on how to get around. If he ever visits Europe, I will make sure there is a place for him to stay. THANK YOU MARK!

Since it was quiet late I went to bed pretty soon. The next morning was an early one for me. Two girls that I met in Darwin came to Perth and after confirming with Mark, they were allowed to stay as well. So actually he’s done 3 little travellers a huge favour and let us stay, this means a lot to us. I picked them up from the bus stop and we made our way back to Leederville. After a bit of shopping we enjoyed together a beautiful lunch cooked by our mama Keira.

This was followed by an exploring tour through the city. And here is another funny story. The girl I met in Darwin is the sister of a girl I met in Alice Springs and now both of them were in the city. We met her during our city tour and all four of us enjoyed a relaxed stroll through the city. Perth is not huge, so we pretty much seen the main Landmarks within a few hours.

I met a few other friends in Fremantle later that day and had a little walk through this part of Perth. The girls joined us later for dinner at a restaurant called ‘the little creatures’, a little brewery opposite the Esplanade in Freo. Nice cider and great food, what else could you possibly want.

After the dinner me and Keira decided to take a round in the big wheel to see the sunset, amazing view and it was totally fun.

We ended the evening with a drink in a pub. Totally tired we headed home for some sleep.

The next day was planned with a visit to the zoo, a short Ferry ride over to the other side of the river and we were at the zoo already. Originally we had planned to visit Rottnest Island, however the cheapest tickets we could find were 60 $ Return which none of us was willing to pay for a 20 minute ferry ride. There is no public Ferry over to that Island and there are actually locals here wondering why not many tourists come over to that Island for a day, with that price I would definitely not wonder.

The zoo was amazing and had a lot to offer and was way bigger that it looked from the outside, totally value for money.

After we spend a few hours in the zoo we headed back to the apartment and prepared a picnic. We headed to Kings Park. Of course we didn’t know the exact way and just walked into the direction we knew the park would be. As soon as we saw the stairs we thought that must be the way up, little did we know that we would interrupt a competition on the 242 steps stairs. Totally exhausted and out of breath we managed to get up there and a short walk later we arrived at the look out and watched the sunset, amazing view and so romantic up there. I wouldn’t mind a date with some bubble up here…

After we finished our picnic we headed towards home. After all the walking all of us were really exhausted, of course the ice cream we had on the way back made things even better.

After breakfast the next day we decided to have a nice beachday, so we got our stuff together and took the train to the Cottesloe beach. At first we wanted to go for some surfing lessons, however after ringing pretty much all surf schools in the Perth Beach areas we knew that we should have booked in advance. Nevertheless we enjoyed our time at the beach.

A few hours and a lunch later, the two girls headed to the city while I was going back to the apartment to get ready for the next day.

Now let me tell you why I think Perth is the nicest city out of all the ones I visited, not only because of the awesome people I met, but because I also felt welcome as backpacker/foreigner, everyone was friendly and helpful wherever we went, everyone had a smile to offer and I didn’t feel for one minute in the wrong place. Of course everyone is looking for something different, everyone IS different with their expectations, this is just my own personal opinion.

My Australian adventure is now officially over and I am leaving Australia tomorrow on Australia day, very early in the morning. I am not looking forward to get up at 2 am in the morning to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur.
 

I had an amazing time in Australia and maybe I come back one day to visit all the nice people I met during my travels. I have to thank so many people for the things they have done for me, their generosity and hospitality. I will never forget it and everyone is more than welcome to visit me wherever I am next :)

There are so many more things I could say and tell, so many little funny stories that made my day over and over again. 

I do wish I would have done more and see more places, but since Australia is sooooooo huge I just haven’t had the time neither the money. But as I found out recently, if it is meant to be it will happen, no matter what. So many coincidences we had within the last couple of days I truly believe that everything that happens to me happens for a reason.

Again, a BIG THANK YOU to my new and old friends, to my family, to my hosts, to the hostel workers, to the stewardesses from Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin, to Greyhound, to the many online communities I used while traveling, without those people it wouldn’t have been the same. Thank you everyone that read my blog and didn’t fall asleep and supported me in my low times and always believed in me.

I will now travel a little bit more in Asia before heading finally back to Europe. I made some more plans for the future, my travels are long not over and I will continue to update this blog, even though it was originally only planned for my year in Australia. I decided that it will be worth it to write about my travels around the Globe and maybe here and there some private stories to share with the world, maybe I even manage to motivate some people out there to get up and out, to get to know the world, to open their eyes for the beauty of the countries, to always think positive and make the best out of the life they have.

Until then and happy travels :)