Tag: Perth

Ready to Thwack !

Two weeks into the Australian Adventure and it has been a sweet ride so far.

Last Saturday I was invited to join my roommate and his team on a sail race on the Swan River. That was an offer I could not refuse. For someone who never went sailing before in his life it was bound to be an interesting adventure. My part of the team work was being ballast and switch from the one side of the boat to the other whenever the sailboat turned without getting decapitated by the swinging mast. This is called tacking in proper terms.

Because this was a very short race tacking happened quite often and in the tacking process you only have a couple seconds to get to the other side before the boat turns the other way or you’re in trouble.

I missed that moment nearly once.

Thinking the race was over (because we celebrated with beers) but we were only halfway. Didn’t get the memo until the captain yelled : Ready to tack.

I was still enjoying my beer and was trying to make it to the other side with only one hand and a late warning. I got stuck halfway my journey and held on for dear life
 with a beer in my hand. What a funny sight it must have been.

So sailing is pretty popular in Perth.

Another popular thing to do is taking a stroll through Kings Park. This beautiful landmark gives you a magnificent view over the city. People meet there for picnics, family walks and it also is the perfect workout to for runners to make it up the hill.

And of course you have to check out the beautiful white sandy beaches when you are there. Scarborough Beach is a great example for that. You can even have a barbie there before dipping your feet in the Indian Ocean while watching the sunset.

You won’t be disappointed.

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All Clichés Explored

One week in Australia and I feel like I’ve dipped my toes into the Aussie lifestyle quite a bit.

Australian Wildlife

Everyone knows that Australia has the most deadly wildlife on this planet. In the waters you have sharks, jellyfish and crocodiles while on land you have to be careful of snakes and spiders. The latter one welcomed me when I just arrived at my friend’s place two hours after my arrival in Australia. The redback spider, tiny but pretty poisonous, was sitting in the mailbox waiting for some good news. We took a look at her before losing her at our doorstep. One of these days she’ll be saying g’day again.

on Monday I saw a couple jellyfishes in Freo (Fremantle – South Perth) who seem to leave a nasty sting behind.

But don’t let these two small encounters withhold you from visiting Australia. There are no reported deaths from the redback spider since the creation of the anti venom somewhere in the 50’s.

To the Left

Getting in the car on the wrong side, looking in the wrong direction when crossing the street, passing people on the wrong side and quite often almost bumping into them. As I was not clumsy enough yet…

The Accent 

Absolutely a fan of the accent. It’s so chill. The coolest couple of words I’ve encountered is that guys DO say ‘mate’ most of the time and Mc Donald’s is called ‘Macca’s’ over here, even in the commercials.

The Barbie

Another great word is the ‘Barbie’ (without the shrimp though since they are called prawns here anyway). Barbie on the beach? No problem. Over here they have barbecues installed at the beach ready to use. Don’t worry about carrying the whole BBQ set to the beach, the Aussies have it all figured out how to have a perfect Sunday lunch at the beach. Last Sunday my roommate and a couple of his friends invited me for a barbie at Scarborough Beach.

Wear Sunscreen 

Yesterday I went downtown Perth to look for a job. I find it always a good idea to create a visual map of the area before you start applying for jobs. This way you know where everything is located. The neighbourhoods, the bus station, what is around.

What was supposed to be a short walk through the main streets of Downtown Perth ended up in crossing the entire city…twice. It was a beautiful sunny day with a perfect temperature of 24°C. Perth does have the winning numbers when it comes to the place with the most hours of sunshine in the entire country.

I definitely didn’t hold a lottery ticket for that since I got quite sunburned yesterday.

So always wear a good amount of sunscreen.

Let if fly 

The most unexpected part of this is the amount of flies that stick around and the incredible weird and loud sound the crows make. The sound of the crows woke me up on my first morning here and I had no idea what animal it could be. Now I know better. They also seem to attack you and steal your food from time to time.

The Journey Down Under

Howdy friends !

If you are reading this it means I finally made it to Australia !

I started this blog in the airport of Singapore where I was waiting for my connecting flight to Perth.

During my flight from Frankfurt to Singapore I have been treated with a 13 hours cheesy foot smell from my lovely neighbour, lady ’36J’ and have exhausted myself with a movie marathon until my eyes felt like they caught fire. Sleep was hard to find.

Then I still had a five hour flight ahead of me before I arrived at my final destination. The flight from Singapore to Perth was pretty fast as I almost slept through the entire second half of the flight.

Getting into Australia was super quick, even with getting my visa activated. They just link your passport to your visa application on their system and give you a passport stamp and you are all good to go !

In Perth, my friend Tim picked me up from the airport and the new adventure could really start.

I will explore Perth for the entire month of November where I will be staying with Tim.

When we arrived at my new home I got a great introduction to the wildlife of Australia as there was a female redback spider sitting in the mailbox. Better be careful where you put your hands here.

After dinner I was totally done and had to give in to my little sleep deprivation.

This morning around 5 AM I woke up from noises outside. It’s a great thing to hear all animals sounds you’ve never heard before. Some of them I have no idea what they could be. The most mysterious one is a ‘Gollum’ sounding cat that is annoyed. Also the birds sing their songs differently here.

This weekend there is a wine tour planned for Tim’s friend birthday and a party afterwards. I feel my first Australian Hangover coming my way.

Cheers !