Perth, Photo by Nathan Hurst on Unsplash
The arrival
With more than 24 hours of travel in the paws, and very uncertain weather in Perth, the first afternoon was quiet. The hostel I chose is friendly and well laid out, I spent my afternoon on the patio to avoid succumbing to sleep.
At first, I felt like a pie, alone with my phone in my little corner. I passed people, I addressed them with a shy “Hi”, but I had trouble hanging on.
Doubt
I was overwhelmed with doubt, “Do I have a good enough level of English? “, ” Won’t the shyness come back? “, ” Aren’t I too old for a trip to a hostel? “…
To try to counter these little negative thoughts, I went shopping, and yes, that’s not all, but you have to eat well! Ouch ouch ouch ouch … The prices in supermarkets are crazy ! I don’t even talk about cheese (I couldn’t help but take a look at it, we’re French or we’re not !) .
The supermarket
I wandered unconvincingly from aisle to aisle in the small supermarket. Everything seemed either overpriced (I hadn’t yet realized the exchange rate, in the end the prices were equivalent to those in Paris …), or really infamous.
A priori Australians are not the pros of gastronomy, well, at first glance in their supermarket. I left with some tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, tuna and sardines… Nothing very exciting, but it was already that.
I searched in vain for the beers, then I understood later that alcohol is only sold in liquor stores. All the more excuse to get out of my uncomfortable little Mymy situation in the hostel…
Perth City Center
With all this, I’ve been able to discover the center of Perth. It’s pretty small, but there’s no shortage of nice bars, small restaurants and Asian restaurants. The architecture outside the buildings of the business district is quite cute and looks a bit like Disney Land, or cowboy movies.
After all my wonderful shopping, I took back my little seat on my bench with a beer to give me courage…
Wine and Cheese Evening
The bench started to fill up, an English, then a German, then an American started to talk to me, and then the evening started, my doubts and even my tiredness disappeared!
A small cheese and wine evening was organized, wouldn’t it be a nice sign of welcome for the little French girl that I am? A few glasses of wine, some cheese not so bad, and I was asked to go out. Come on, we only have one life!
Going Out
We’re dating two German girls and a depressed English guy in his 30s. The first bar is full of Germans, dancing to psychedelic music that’s too violent for my taste, but the cocktails are 3 euros, so we stay there for a while. My little team decides to leave, for my part, my tiredness has completely dissipated and I feel like going on.
I meet two French people, with whom I end the evening in a bar with commercial music and then in a gay club… Not so gay, where a wrestling contest in a kind of gel is organized.
I confess I thought about participating ^^ After a good late evening, and a night in unknown territory, I was north of Perth, I had to go back.
With no cash in my pocket, I couldn’t take the bus. So I searched for the nearest ATM… 45 minutes walk, terrible blisters on my feet, and a thirst impossible to quench… I discovered the row suburbs of Perth. Actually, I say suburbs, but Perth is where I was.
The return the next day
If the city centre is small enough, the suburban, commercial and industrial areas extend for miles! I finally found an ATM and was able to catch my bus.
I got back to the hostel at about 11am. The weather was gloomy, I was exhausted, but I had to hold on, not to sleep to take a normal rhythm.
Wrestling all day long
My Swiss-German roommate suggested that we go for a ride downtown together. We’ll go for a few hours to talk, have lunch and do some shopping. She’s only 20 years old, but we get along well. She compliments me on my English, which reassures me a little. We’ll be home before 4:00.
I’ll finish my day chatting with my new Italian buddies and trying to get my RSA online. RS what? It’s a certificate to work in places where they serve alcohol… It’s disconcertingly easy but it’s long… 117 questions…
This time there’s no question of going out, even if once again my tiredness evaporates, I go to bed at 10pm.
Tomorrow is another day, it will be sunny and hopefully productive.
2 replies on “Discovery of Australia… And Perth…”
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