To start, I'll apologize for the massive gap in postings for the last while. It gets a bit boring to sitting down and typing about any little exciting thing that happens sometimes, that I just can't help but be lazy.
In my last post I mentioned that my working holiday visa for Australia had cleared. It didn't nearly as long as I thought it would.
I had the pleasure of quitting work last week. It was particularly wonderful because I know this time that I won't be going back into teaching for a long, long while.
Sooooo, after a slight confrontation with immigration (I over stayed on my tourist visa for the second time) I ended up missing my ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. I was due to fly out from Macau to Singapore for a one night stop over before heading out from Singapore to Perth in western australia, but by the time I managed to fill in all of immigrations forms, pay a small fine and run down to just catch the ferry, I had almost no time at all to get to the airport and check in before final boarding call. I hadn't even cleared Hong Kong yet, and already my trip was falling to shit.
I ran off the ferry and had to wait ten minutes in line to clear Macau's immigration officers, ran outside, jumped in the first taxi I saw and told the fella to floor it to the airport. At first he seemed to understand that I was in a hurry but it didn't take him long to drop down to 40km/h leaving me muttering horrible things under my breath. We pulled up to the airport, I threw some cash at the driver and looked at my watch to see that I had exactly 2 minutes to find my check in desk, sort out my luggage and get on the plane before the doors closed. At this point I had pretty much stopped entertaining the idea of getting on my flight, but with such a delay between my connecting flight in Singapore, I was hopeful for a new connection later in the day.
This next bit is for anyone who thinks nothing directly beneficial can happen to you from a bit of fog and rain. MY FLIGHT WAS DELAYED!
I've never been so relieved (aside from when I didn't wet myself on that bus trip years ago). I was in such a hurry that morning sorting out a load of stuff with the post office, that I didn't even have time to sit down and have a meal all day. My flight's delay meant that I had enough time to breath....aaahhhhh...eat...mmmmmm.....and change some cash into Singapore dollars...$$$...PERFECT!
An hour later when I stepped onto the plane I had a big stupid smile on my face, a full stomach and a few dollars to call my friend, Lae, in Singapore when I touched down.
Singapore is a beautiful place from what I saw of it, which was very very little. Lae and I had a nice dinner of cheese pizza and tea at her huge amazing flat! before heading out to a quaint drinking area, thankfully away from the city, where we drank for a few hours before the bars closed. I met my good friend Lae in Hong Kong, so naturally we were both accustomed to drinking at anytime and anywhere. After the bar scene we went to a 24 hour grocer and tried to buy beer. The cashier looked at me a little funny when I placed four cans of Tiger beer on her counter. "I'm sorry sir, it's against the law to sell alcohol after one o'clock", "...oh, really?".
She gave us a second funny look when we put back the booze and came back with a pack of fresh raspberries.
In the morning Lae and I worked on a piece she was writing for school. She just started at NYU's newest campus, doing her graduate study in film and it's demanding from what she showed me.
We hugged, kissed cheeks and I hopped in a taxi.
Part 2: Ozzy ozzy oi oi!
A friend of mine in Hong Kong told me to head straight to southern Perth to a place called Fremantle. I made it out of the airport, got a shuttle bus to the city, grabbed a train to Freo and was exactly where I wanted to go, and I had no idea where I was.
I asked a friendly looking gal where the closest backpackers was and she actually walked me right to it. I must have looked pretty lost with my big bag and a guitar. The backpackers was full and the fella inside gave me directions to another. I gave him my thanks, walked out the door and promptly got lost. Then there was some crazy bloke running around swearing his head off waving a stick in the air and occasionally hitting the ground with it. He was obviously piss drunk and pissed off. Feeling love in the air me and my feet went in the exact opposite direction from where the angry fella was, which quickly turned into the middle of nothing. I hadn't slept much in the past.....summer or so...so, I was knackered at this point and was happily walking into nothing at all with the intention of putting up my tent in the first field I stepped into.
Magically, a car pulled up with a magical gal and her magical boyfriend. She and her bf saw me wandering about, dead lost, and then verbally accosted by a monkey with a stick. These magical people having just finished work, drove me around to full hostel after full hostel before finding a home for me at a place called the Old Fire Station. "Just in case" they said and gave me their phone number, offered a couch and tour guide services. I gave them hugs goodbye and an embarrassing amount of thanks before finally finding my face in a bed.
Freo is an awesome place and I highly recommend it to anyone thinking that Perth is just too far to head and couldn't possibly be worth the time. There's a great music scene, the people are international, friendly and helpful. And! They support busking!
Tomorrow is my first day of work. I was laying on my ass today when an announcement came on saying that there was some labouring work to be done. I went down to the office and got a job in about two minutes. Some local fella is redoing his back garden and needs some fella's to dig and move things for him. It pays 13 an hour, which I'm told isn't that great. But, it's good enough for me for sure. Pick up and drop off are included and the house owner is even throwing lunch into the mix. I should only be doing it for a few days and that's just fine by me. Then, I plan on heading to a lovely little spot called Rottness island before heading south to spend some time with big trees and wineries.
ho yeah!
brendan
