In which Dan returns to his roots (gets a job)

I haven't wrote a blog in a while and the main two reasons for this was that I was busy and that internet places like the hostel and the library were troublingly unavailable. So in this blog I will tell all about how I got the job, how I hated it so and why and also why I'll be quitting for better reasons the day I get paid. I went on gumtree and searched for jobs. This time of year there are no good jobs. This is something I found out while listening to triple J radio in my car (didn't think I'd be typing 'in my car'). I found this job handing out yellow pages. There really weren't that many jobs and the ones that were online you either need experience in something or you have to find jobs that are odd... like handing out yellow pages. So I applied for that one and then kept looking because that job didn't start until the 4^th of January and they wouldn't get back to me until later anyway. So I found this other job which was fruit picking, tomato picking. I saw the pay; 70c per kilo and as I hadn't worked on a farm before I assumed... don't do this!

So I rang the guy and noted that the job required no previous experience and no training and other potentially frightening things. I was like, it still pays money right? Well let's get to it then. So the man at the other end of the phone was a young Chinese man who spoke better than broken engrish so that was good. I organised a date to go to the farm and planned to start work that day, something he told me I didn't have to do. I got in my car on that day and headed up the road. It was funney because on the map it was straight up the road, the highway. I literally took two turns and then was on the highway and headed almost 40mins up the road, so I couldn't get lost. I was looking for a bridge but as I got to the area I realised that the dark colour on my phone map wasn't a river but bushland... so I felt silly but started looking for the right turning... to find I had stopped off on the one before it. A few moments later and I was heading on the right road. The farm isn't far from the highway but when you reach it you get very confused. I felt out of my depth and felt that everyone would know that. As I walked in I thought everyone was looking at me but instead no one said anything. I made it to the office and met the David in person. He showed me a place to find a car park.

After setting the car there I talked to a nice Korean lady about the job but it was hard to get every thing I wanted to know from her and mostly pay day eluded me. Then we got a lift on a quad bike into the fields. There were a bunch of people there and I should have picked up on how chinese men were driving the tractors and chinese women were picking the tomatoes. The only other people there were backpackers from France, Italy and the like (some UK too). So basically David showed me a bucket, a line of tomato vines and told me to pick the yellow ones up (so yellow, orange and red). I tried my hand and searched wildly for the hidden tomatoes. No matter how hard I tried I only got just over two boxes in five hours. Putting that in perspective each box is roughly $14 so we're looking at about $30 for five hours work with is $6 an hour... now considering the minimum wage is $15.50 I felt rather cheated. So did I go back?

Yes is the short answer. I had started and I found out that I only get paid on the 2^nd of Jan, so in order to get that $30 I had to come back anyway and with nothing better to do I decided to try and prove a point. I wanted to see how much I could bang out and assuming $14 (one box) was minimum wage I tried to bash out a box an hour. Now for the first four hours I didn't do this but then suddenly at 11 o'clock there were tomatoes everywhere on this one row. I could literally sit there for mintues plucking them off of one place. I also discovered that in bunches you could collect 4, 5 or 6 tomatoes on one go which improves your rate by like 600%... so you can see how you might make $14 an hour and get 10 boxes a day. But this work is hot and bothersome and I spend all day thinking about how I should be doing a geology job and using my mind more. I realised that the only way you could do this job is if you planned to do it all along without any other plans. It's like working in a supermarket as your life isn't going anywhere there either but it is money and you do have free time. I returned in order to waste time basically and even though I have to drive all that way up there its not like I'd be doing anything better here... working in 38 degree though, especially around christmas time when peps are all talking about how cold it is back home and what presents they get... its like I've been removed from the world and am looking in, not a good feel. I wanted the yellow pages job because at least then I'm not bending over and being dependant on tomatoes being there, houses don't hide behind vines! Picking fruit is hard work basically and unless it pays well its not a good idea because it's pay is hard to make and the heat and dust and dirt and heat and people who can't speak english... I have a problem in this country backpacking as my English is too good so people can't understand me, figure that one out o_O

In which Dan decides against breaking the law

So I got a car, no I didn't almost get stopped for speeding, it was Monday and I decided to look for jobs, this was always going to be my plan. I felt tired and I headed to the library and check emails and jobs. I did feel quite off today, not up for ringing people and going places to see people I don't know... but I did it anyway. I toned down the scope of what I got up to though. I needed lunch and hadn't had breakfast so I decided on something... I would search for this elusive spearmint flavoured milkshake... more on the taste later. I went to Woolworths on Hays but there were clean out. So then I had to go for some more walking in the heat and ended up on St Geogre's Terrace, looking in the Woolworths there for this milkshake. I was ready to give up when it wasn't in the snack area but a bit of wit and discipline to keep looking took me to the back of the store where I picked up the last one. Then I got stuck in this queue and when I got to the end of it I swiped the self serve, cash, no receipt... walked out no problem, oh the fun of it all. Anyway then I walked through the heat some more and headed to burger king and cashed on on this voucher for two whoppers. I went back to the cultural centre (library) and started noming. Problem is... I hadn't eaten in so long that it was hard to eat these burgers and muscling through two of them a real challenge... I mean who decided it was a good idea to put mayonnaise into a beef burger? The spearmint was interesting too. We're not talking about normal mint here... I think that would have really worked. But spearmint and milk... those two should not go together. I would have taken a picture of the green of it all but I had not camera on me.

So I went back to the library and searched for jobs on gumtree, while holding my stomach. I found some jobs, especially this tomato picking job but hopefully more on that later. I found this flier distribution job and was thinking this real good. You get paid for how much you do, you get to walk around and the rate was good. But with all things you try first and that seem fine it started heading down hill the moment I answered the phone. I mean I know we shouldn't judge people but sometimes it can save you trouble if you can avoid something before it happens. So the guy on the phone was old... nothing wrong with that you may say but in hindsight the question lies with why was he on the other end, what fliers was he handing out? So he tells me an address and I head off on the bus. I only had a number and a road name so I took the bus and followed the numbers to know when to get off. I started seeing the numbers ascend and thought this was good. It got to 907 and I needed 901 so I got off after Canning bridge. Now I don't know if you've ever been to Canning bridge but there aren't any buildings on it or close near it, we're talking a half mile to a mile in total. Here I was on the other side of it with 907 and started walking back, they were ascending remember, the way the road had come. I walked all the way over the bridge and then got massively lost... or rather I couldn't find any roads numbers. Then finally I found a number in the 400s and my mouth dropped. Feeling that the actual place I was looking for might have been right off the bus stop I headed back, feeling silly. I walked all the way back in the sun and felt very bothered. Guess where the place was? Right next to the bus stop, about ten metres. It turns out that before the bridge the numbers ascend from the city and after they ascend from the coast (Fremantle).

So this place. Unit 1 901 Canning Highway... a shady looking massage bar. I thought... what am I doing? But then I was like I'm looking for a job so this should work out for me... and I entered. Now before you get worried it wasn't a brothel. Not only was it not advertised as any female service like the others do but because a girl answered the door, there were no dark lights or creepy atmosphere and there were no secret rooms and importantly no suspicious noises, although I did feel incredibly out of place, not least because I saw shown to the back by a woman in lingerie... I'm not helping the image here am I? But in the spirit of 'YES' I followed along. And this is where I met Colin. At first I thought the person on the sofa was a sweaty fat bloke who wouldn't surprise me as a pimp but then I discovered that if I actually looked I could see that it was his wife and I calmed down. Basically the job was straight forward. He wanted to advertise but he couldn't head out fliers all on his own, or maybe at all because he was old so he was hiring hands. It seemed fair enough, I mean people hand out fliers all the time and he also said he had a police note saying that he didn't do any illegal sexual things in that place. So I was like sure, why not get the money... the problem arises when he insisted that the fliers are put on car windscreens and not through the door of a house. I think he didn't want the door because it had lingerie girls on it. But as I took the job I knew something was a miss so I took the bus back and the moment I returned I put my phone on charge and started on the internet. It took me a while but I was determined so I kept looking learned some things. Apparently it's not illegal to put fliers under car wipers in the UK, hmm... I found out the rules for new south wales but western australia? I kept looking and then bam I found it... it's considered littering and therefore would incure a $200 on the spot fine. I was also worried about being beaten up by people for messing with their car :I So I couldn't do the job, people in the hostel were like do it anyway, get some money, but I told them why should I risk a fine and break the law when I can just have an honest job? Plus its not illegal to post these through letter boxes so ?_? The next day I headed back to near Canning bridge (Appleby) and handed the fliers back and wanted nothing more than to get out of there because I thought he'd angry but he calmly let me out (it wasn't a mafia run brothel!)

In which Dan gets mobile.

So I've been here a while now (three weeks) and I haven't done anything but spend money, which isn't a very good reason to come out here in my opinion as I could have done that at home. So I wanted to get a job and I looked and I applied... but over here the weather is considered too hot and the social climate considered too christmasy, it's christmas next week if you didn't know, and so a lot of offices and the like close down around this period and there isn't a lot of specialized work for me. So I thought I would do odd jobs like Tom in order to waste time and get some monies in instead of always spending it! So I look and I applied... but they don't really give work unless you can be sure of getting there because the work doesn't tend to be in the city area. Although the trains run all night the buses don't and so working into the night is a no no as there is no security of getting back. So they all ask that you have a car... which lead me to a choice. I either waited her doing pretty much nothing and watching how much money I spend or I get a car and re try getting a job in order to waste time and get some monies in. I decided that I had, had enough of spending money without any coming in and I also didn't like the idea of running out of money days before starting work in geology . So I thought I'd get a car...

Getting a car here is easy. As long as you have a license you can drive... any car. I mean if you want to drive a truck or bus or bigger then you get a heavy goods license but for cars you can just jump in anything and run off into the distance like its a bike. As long as your friends have a license then they can drive your car and you can imagine. Having an automatic means you can just go like a go kart and in that way its rather worrying trusting the roads here.

My search for a car begins this Monday (today is Thursday) when I go online and check my emails in the morning. I haven't had internet all weekend and so I've been off the grid. I felt like the forever alone meme as I only had two notifications after a whole weekend but I don't mind at all. So I go on gumtree.com.au which is a site we have back in the UK but over here it is bigger. The ads are free and its a good way to find something you're looking for, as long as you keep it vague. I looked for cars and scanned through things like $2,500 for a car 'that is fine but I have to move to New Zealand' and these are job things to go after... the only issue is that you need to make sure you know what you're doing and what you're looking for. So on day one I did nothing... I looked but I guess I had other things to do (like breath I assume). The next day I went back, puffing out my chest more and with a more assertive determination I sat down... and stared at a computer screen. It was this time that I was also trying to sort out something with my bank so maybe that distracted me too. I saw some interesting ads and realised that the good ads disappeared fast. After posting an advert for a fully functioning car under $1,000 you can be reasonably sure it'll be gone the next day, or in two days as people like to phone in before buying and arrange pick up the next day but more on this later.

I got out my little blue book of notes and in professional like organisation I wrote a few ads down, numbering them ^_^ and writing the car colour (this actually mattered on one phone call) the car name and make, the price, where the ad was from and the number of the person. This was so that I didn't lose track of what I was going to look for and lovingly I did this on fresh pages and getting three to a page, * ahem *. Then I walked outside and knew that after walking the walk I had to talk the talk... so I phoned Tom. I was nervous about phoning random people so I phoned Tom to remind me that people on the other end of the phone are going to be fine and you'll be able to get things sorted doing that. He was moving into an apartment and said he would phone me back when he had moved in... he didn't >.< So then I phoned the first person... and at two in the afternoon I got an answer machine. I thought nothing of it (good mindset) and moved on to the next of my four numbers. The second person's mail was full (car was that good?), the third person answered... and didn't say anything (one of those phone calls) and the fourth... I don't remember, but nothing came of it. Later that day I got a phone call from the first guy but as I didn't have the money on me (I couldn't pay by cheque or card) and he already had a deal I decided not to pursue. I just realised that this happened all on Monday... it was Tuesday that I did nothing. It's my blog so bear with me said the deer. I decided not to do anything until I had $1,000 which took me to Wednesday. I saw some more ads and phoned some more people and this time I ended up on a train. The transport here in Perth is great as you move between zones (circles) and when you cross one your fare will go up, moving inside a zone costs the zone amount. To pay you can either buy a ticket taking you somewhere or get a card to beep on and off things (buses, trains and ferries (ferry to the zoo)). There is credit on the card which is deduced when you tag off. I'm sure too that when going one direction you pay but the return from there is free ?_? Anyway I got to Maddington (South Perth) and immediately got lost. I was excited and so I suddenly needed the toilet but had to hold it in. I looked around the place, twice and headed for an auto dealer for him to tell me he wasn't what I was looking for. I thought I saw the car outside which didn't help his woes. Then I phoned the man again and he directed me in.

I saw another 'horseland' and found 'our car' which is a run down scary looking place... the kind of place from Matilda but luckily no one is like that in real life. The man gave me a test drive but I didn't know where he meant so after messing with the gear stick, which was terrible, I rolled forwards, turned around and rolled back, all in first gear. I asked about the gears and he was like 'they work fine'. Let me tell you what the steering and gear stick were like. The gear stick was like the bit at the top wasn't connected to the bottom. It was like there was a snap somewhere and you could just twirl it and nothing would happen. The steering was like you were trying to open a can of food that just didn't want to be eaten, possible to open (as food doesn't have feelings) but also quite difficult. I felt like if I was in a serious quick thinking moment there was no way I could move that wheel. So although the car was fine it was just not going to cut it. I told him I had other cars to see before I made my decision (true) and that I would be back if nothing else worked out.

Day 4

I went to the library. It was this day that I found, to my discomfort, nothing of interesting news in my emails. I guess this is something I just have to accept from now on but it felt like going there was a waste of time... until. I started looking on gumtree and didn't like what I saw. All the cars seemed to have faults, even if that included a lack of a picture. I wanted more hope but all I got were some dodgy sounding ads. I had really hoped for this one ad for a really good sounding deal but the guy never replied to my message. I wrote down a note for a volvo ad without a picture and an ad for a mazda (old, dark green) and knew that I probably wouldn't get anywhere today. I phoned the mazda ad first and to my surprise this went through. I said I would meet up as soon as I could (an hour from then) and that he said $900 was what he couldn't go lower than (the ad said $1,000). So in order to make it there in the hour I went to the train station and got the Jondoolburg or something fishy line up north. I love some of the lines here as they ride right down the middle of the freeway, adding to the sights you can see. When I got off I had to wander through sandy cycle paths up through a nice looking neighbourhood where I did not once pass another person on a stroll (the whole way – thirty minutes) thats when you know you're not in Britain. I saw a giant yellow sign for Roos but saw none. Then I found a sand path and while fighting off the swarm of flies who just loved my shades for some reason, I appeared in a neighbourhood where they had given up with paths all together and I walked along the road to the house (perfectly an hour after phoning BTW).

I nice young man greeted me who had a bush for a hair cut... jks but as the flies were using my head as a bush I wondered how he must be feeling with them around. I stepped into the cool (late twenty something) heat (relative cool). We went for a test drive and immediately I knew that there was no reason why I should hold back buying this car. He suggested sweetening the deal as someone else had offered $900 but as I only had $50 notes I had to pay $950 (but I got a glass of tap water thrown in for free). We filled out the paperwork and he talked of addresses, taboo amongst backpackers but I think it'll work out. Then I drove away... after first petting the cute and very friendly cat called Toby (Lucy I think of you. I would have got a picture but I didn't want to carry that as well through all this heat. I also think the guy may have found it odd but I would have done it anyway :P ).

So then I drove home, and in my now famous routine I got massively lost. I was supposed to follow the freeway down to Ledderville but as I was going I thought I had missed it as it might not have been called Ledderville. It said something about tunnel (which would have been too far) and the junction I approached was for Vincent Street which I recognised so I got off there... the next thing I knew I was in East Perth where once I had been in West Perth :S After some trouble getting off the highway (a mess to get off) I started turning around and ended up in the city centre... but then it was relatively smooth getting to Northbridge from there but the traffic lights here take so long to change and there are so many of them! I drove on to a neighbourhood I researched before which had no parking limitations on it and then walked back to the hostel, twenty minutes, a quick shower and I changed my top and then literally ran to town to meet the girl from my course only five minutes late... at which point I apologised for being massively confused with myself.

In which Dan is fed pre Jamie Oliver food craps

So I thought I would talk about the noms in this country. The main reason for this is that I've just sat down to finish off eating the horrible crisps I bought ages ago which have gone further into being disgusting. I sat down and brought before me the cheap orange juice that I had just bought. I probably should have been alerted to the suspiciousness of it all when this 'orange juice' was picked up by me. I must admit that this was one of those cases where we take for granted our food know how in a supermarket, how we can pick up foods and we know what we're getting just from glancing at the packaging. Don't get me wrong becauase this orange juice tastes really nice and it tastes better than the 'from concentrate' stuff that I don't like mostly because it doesn't taste of oranges. But what should have started getting my attention was the fact that this stuff costs slightly less than the basic range (Cole's - the name of the supermarket) which is orange, mango and other fruit plus this orange juice is called Orange C... now what the flip do we need that C on the end for? Back home I would have just assumed it was a packaging joke and name and so I would have bought it to try, which is what I did here... only after starting to drink it I realised that this thing only has 25% orange juice! I was like what then... what then is in it? So I read the ingredients... wondering why orange juice should have ingredients, and read; water, sugar, orange juice... and I'm thinking... the reason that it is so cheap is that instead of filling this orange juice with oranges they've filled it with water and sugar -_-

So I started thinking and then I realised that I should have picked up on how the makers of this drink also make one of the two largest producers of cardboard tasting milkshakes (I name this so because not only do they come in a cardboard carton which you are likely to taste but also because they have a rough after taste but refreshing artifical cooling initial taste). But yeah, if they're making milkshakes then they're probably not the best people to be making normal orange juice. This got me thinking about how sunny D is no longer in the UK (the original stuff) and how during Jamie Oliver's inspiration that people should stop drinking and eating rubbish that we have a lot less of this bad stuff on our selves.

Something else that I've mentioned is how they have these two mikshake companies which produce the same thing but are obviously competing. One of them is called 'Chill' and the other 'Brownes'. The thing about these is that being as it is hot here in AUS people will turn to these drinks for refreshment and its the most perfect market. I haven't seen any adverts yet but I see no reason for this not to be as big as coke here (jks, no one is as big as coke) but every fridge you see in newsagents, hostels and cafes has one of these drinks in. When you first get here I thought that these milkshakes were a novelty people just drank because it tastes nice and is cold without realising that they're sheep to the marketing... but you quickly get sucked in (like coke vanilla... which they have here but the vanilla is not as strong).

Something different now... and I'll try and speed up. Corn chips. When you take a walk down the snack aisle you have to be careful here not to buy things that aren't what you want. Back home you know you're buying potato snack which, apart from being salty, are kind of good for you because of the potato... but here I do wonder what goodness you can get out of fried corn. They also have rice craker crisps. I managed to accidently buy some yesterday because I thought they were crackers for cheese.

Also... the main meat here, the cheap one which you can get most places is kangaroo. Now I haven't tried it yet but at some point (maybe Sunday) I will buy a steak and cook it. I really want to try it but what was putting me off was how readily available it is. I felt like a hunter... like how I should find it difficult to get a hold of and that way I would enjoy it more... but to be honest I haven't been to the beach yet either so maybe I'm just being lazy and distractable and getting up too late. I had an early dinner today and afterwards I wondered around the library cultural area. There I passed a place selling crocidile, kangaroo, emu and shark burgers... I know where I'm eating out next Friday (it's only on during the 9th and 16th).

The fruit here doesn't taste as nice but they do have some odd things, like pomgreat with dragonfruit... must try at some point. They also have this drink that is pressurised to keep in flavour and they have flavours like granny smith apple and pink lady but the flavours aren't very strong and they don't taste as nice as juice from Cyprus.

Thats all for now but I will think on more for now

In which I Finnish looking at a park

It's an ironic pun... I started looking at the park and I mean to go back there. I'm going to upload some images of this trip too and I should link you guys up, although you may just see them anyway, I dunno. So what are we talking about? Well on Monday of this week I went to town. Basically the day before a girl from Finland had moved into our room and we got talking. I found out she was from Finland... which is really rare because not only are there only five million peolple in Finland but out here it's what you might call on odd location for them to aim for. So she was here doing university... or actually she had just finished and was heading home but doing so via a few places. She had been in Newcastle (a town above Sydney) and now she had come to Perth for two nights and the next day she would be heading to Singapore for two days and then Thailand.

So here we were waiting at the bus stop in order to get the free bus into town, which we did. Ami (I think thats how you spell it (I only heard it once ?_?)) is from the third largest city in Finland which has a population of something like 300,000 and seeing as Gloucester had a population of 100,000 when I was in year 8 or so you realise the scale of things. She wanted to know what there was to do in Perth and I thought that I would help her out and mostly I was interested by her keeness to look around, seeing as I had so far had a held back approach.

I wasn't sure what to show her but she was going to the information desk anyway. We went there and were told all about these odd places we could go to and things we could see. I will take this moment to tell you all about how hot it was this day. The forecast said it was going to be 34C but let me tell you what it felt like. If you'd just walked into town you couldn't stop in the sun. Your body is relying on the little trickle of wind pushing against you when you're walking to cool down and your body is more relaxed when walking than it is when stopped. I'm not sure why but you can walk in the heat fine but when you stop moving its like someone has just set you on fire and you have to wobble around and pivot when waiting for street lights, which take the biscuit here because they take ages to change. Standing in the shade is little better. You may be out of the blinding rays but the temperature is only a little lower than out in the sun because of the humidity. Anyway, anyway... we were told about a bus to the park called King's park and we decided to do that, but not after she got an ice cream and we had seen some of the cast metal statues that are around here. I joked that I would print off a black and white map and record all the places you find them about the city and let me tell you it is quite a lot. You start to wonder if they just get bored and do this. My favorite is the one with five guys who all look exactly the same except the clothes they wear walking towards an office block.

So we got on the bus and headed out to the park. This is a day in which I was obsessed with drinking. I needed to have some juice or some water during the entire day. I would fill up then instantly want another drink. I felt like I could put my head under the tap for the whole time I was awake, not such a good feeling. We walked past the monuments and tributes and other cool things and headed up to the visitor centre. We looked at some books and objects and I found this book on Aus myths and legends and the first page I turned to told me about convicts... it just would wouldn't it? This is where the girl decided that we should go on the walk tour of the flower gardens and so we did. We were with a few other people, two girls from Germany who were in Perth catching a break from their volunteering job on the east coast. We walked off into the heat and found an oak tree... this was funneh. Basically if they stop watering more than the natural surroundings then it would die. That also went for a lot of the plants around here. The woman kept referring to wonderful nature but I kind of felt that if they didn't do that they would die, which is why you don't see anything else but anyway. We saw some very odd plants and some funny ones. We also saw a statue to the women of the colonies who... were women? Anyway this is what we saw. We learnt about plants and trees they had here and crossed a random bridge, that gave us good views of the bay area and of the park... I have some pictures. I will upload them to my profile on faceboke after this I hope. It was very hot so I kept trying to duck out of the sun and find a drinking fountain. We got mistaken for a couple, which I thought was rich because the only thing we'd done was turn up and I wondered if some people can't help but assume girls and guys can't just be friends but anyway. Then after an hour in the sun I guzzled a lot of water and sighed deeply. We headed back to the bus dtop and the turned up always right away, which is perfect timing considering they come very half an hour.

Back on St Geogre's terrace (yes the one who fought the dragon) we went in search of the cast metal kangaroos drinking from a little water feature and I had some more water from a fountain. Then the day winded down as we walked to the supermarket Coles and back to the hostel... I was very hot and tired by this point but not drained as I never seem to be here, how rare. This is all I can think to say but the pictures should tell you more.

In which I form links and cross bridges with people

So here I am in Perth after a week. I have seen a lot of things but I know there is plenty more to see. In this entry I will discuss some people I met over the time here and some of the things I did. I went to the bar round the corner on Sunday. We talked through the rather timid heat compared to the days previous. What is great about Australia, is the randomness of it all. Because the country is relatively young and with western influences being the most dominant, being being much closer to asia... you never quite know what you're going to discover round the bend. So first thing first I finally was about to see an RX-7 FD in real life, it was black and had a body kit but I was so impressed I stopped on the pavement and went, hell yeah (come to think of it I did see a blue one in Cyprus but meh). So we kept walking and outside the bar, on the other side of the road, was a Lancia Stratos. Now, surprise is the limited word for what I felt. I could not have predicted that I would have seen this car there... I might have expected so many other random things but not this... so I was quite surprised. I won't bore you with all the details of how I felt, but you should understand.

Inside the pub we order two pints... and there is a good reason they get more orders for half pints here... the change we got from a twenty was one dollar.... argh! So, as I tried not to think about, and also tried to imagine that this was the nicest beer I'd ever tasted, I started talking to the lad from Liverpool. He is here backpacking and had done some welding work... but mostly he was saying about how much he wanted out... to go back home and see his family. We talked about Formula one and football, and about how he was going to Melbourne next year to catch the first race here before heading home (me = jelly). We guessed the barmaid's nationality and got it wrong.

I met a guy staying in my room called Matt, we went to Julia Ross (rossjuliaross) and got some paper work for a job. In order to get to the reception you need to walk into the door and get into a lift... this was a new experience and was very odd. When we got out we approached an interesting looking girl who had a very white fake face (those words ←). She had a 60s line trim black hair and too much black eye stuff (it was just very black) anyway she was no help, but the man loitering in the corridor came in and introduced himself. Now I don't know if you've ever played the game Modern Warfare 2 but on the campaign, imagine this with me, there is a bit when you walk into Moscow airport... anyway to cut a story short this guy standing in front of us was no other than Macarof. If not him, then a super villain nonetheless. This guy... well anway it was hard not to see him as a scary individual, but we talked and he handed us some paper work and asked us questions about working for an agency and signing your life away, ok it wasn't that bad but with this guy I dared to imagine.

We left and walked around town. We visited some comic shops and I found the amateur section where you can sell your own work (so it was true....) and things to be looking really good. Later this week I visited the other shops and oh my god some of the things in there are awesome. Anime can be soooo cute, but hey... I remembered I had no money so I stayed my hand but oh deer because I really wanted to buy some things (so things for me, some things for friends, some things for Lucy and some things for Lucy and I) :I We also saw something interesting in another comic store, it was called 'the big book of pussy' and on the front was a picture of a woman's private area (luckily the front cover had pants on it), things to note... the book was big and thick (worried) oh and before you're wondering too much all the books in that shop have covers around them. We went down to the water front (this was not the beach) and we watched some interesting people do some odd things like playing football with a floater, while tied to another person by the leg :/ We found a drinking fountain and talked about girls and shit then headed back.

Other people I met. I went to Quality Comics and was able to meet Emily Smith who is someone who wrote a comic that I read on Saturday. She told me it was an old thing and that he mostly does western style (which made it seem as though manga can be drawn at short notice whenever she feels like it). We is like twenty something (so older than me) and she told me that she isn't the best in Perth (I didn't bring this up) but it reminded me of that Simpsons episode when Homer tried to be an inventor and goes to Thomas Edison's museum and seeing that he was just trying to compete with someone else. So she was talking about how she completed her work but I really needed to know more like see it done... but hey. Well I got an email so we'll have to see what I can learn. She was telling me about the scene here in Perth and how there is a lot of it. There are a lot of groups for drawing and art work and a convention soon to show it all off.

In which I visit some anime peps and learn about the 'anime crowd' here in Perth.

So Saturday was an important day. After setting up everything I needed to job wise, apart from signing up to an agency, I was read to do just that. But it was Saturday, and I knew that there were some anime gatherings on Saturday. So me and a guy that moved into my six bed room in the hostel went into town to go to the information desk and find some job agencies. We found the name of one and then time was getting on because we left late. Then something strange happened that I must say only seems to happen when you're doing something completely new and unstructured like this though. We bumped into Matt's dad. The guy I was walking around with was called Matt. So of all the people this could have been that was shaking my hand saying 'hi Matt' haven't sen you in a while, yes those two things, I thought it could not have been his dad because why was he letting his son live in a hostel? But then I thought about things like marriage seperation and things and just went with it. I was heading off anyway so I said goodbye and headed to the bus station. I caught a bus from St Geogre's street off into south Perth, the bus didn't leave from the station, and it was free. In south Perth I got off the bus too early and walked to find where I was looking for.
When I got to the community centre I was surprised and not surprised to find the room full of thirty year old or something and fat gamers. I could not have set up a stereotype better than this I thought. Luckily they didn't get many wild cards like me so they weren't afraid to talk. I was introduced to play on Halo... the anniversary edition which is the first one re-done. To be honest I don't find halo that fun but there I was anyway. Then I surrendered my seat to someone else to have a go and perched myself by some other gamers, completely engrossed in their laptops, PSPs and Dss. Someone was handing out cheese and ham yaki balls (like takoyaki) which could barely be described as food and then she switched to nutella yaki oh and they were too hot as well. Then it was coming up to screening time and I'd have to pay to stay so I wondered about the other place I had read about in Tactics. As I hadn't had anything much to eat this day I wondered to a guy who wasn't doing anything and I asked about the society I was at. It was more of a screening and gaming soc and so not so much drawing with comic aspirations. I headed out for that reason and traevlled back to Perth, where I discovered to my horror that the bus service was only free inside the city and not... well where I was. Anyway I got back into town feeling silly and just wanted to go back to the hostel. But then I rallied myself and knew what I had to do so I maned up and got some chicken. Then I tried to find the place and trust me it is one of the hardest places I've ever had to find but with perseverance and wit I managed to find the door, which had bars across, and the woman seeing someone who appeared to be the last customer out. Then I asked her about the anime group that was supposed to be meeting there and she told me they were running it downstairs and she invited me down.
So this is where the fun begins. After basically crashing this place I showed off my things and got on really well with the girl (I say girl... I don't know her age). So I got on really well with the people there and we talked about things and I did some drawing. It was really refreshing to be around people so far from home that draw manga have a passion for it. So.. we talked about the convention in January, theres a convention in January, win! They plan to do draw characters from popular anime and sell them for a small profit at the con, good idea I thought, so I was instantly on board and by the end I suggested doing some, but I'm humble about it because its such a level up. I read some little manga on the table by con goers who have sold their things, and they're very good. I feel like I'm stepping into that half way place I had believed didn't exist. The level above Britain that I was surrounded by where I hadn't met anyone who had drawn manga and the other side where doujin artists parade amazing and impossible things. Here in Oz there is middle ground where story writers draw storyboards and sell it at the conventions but its not as good as professional artists.
I met everyone there and we played an unintentional but very fun game of anime trivia. Someone starts describing an anime they're thinking of but can't remember the name and we have to figure out the name before they remember. As they all knew each other and I was friendly we all got along and I had some sweets, oh how did the sweets mention get in there, ahem. I also found out that you can approach three different comic selling shops in the city and they will sell your comic if you bring it to them to sell, they have a rack. I was like wahhhh this is an amazing find.
Then I discovered something else that sent me reeling back to the dark corners. Something a group of art students had done either at school or at uni, but I think school, it was an amazing colourful fan book and looked so damn amazing you would have no problem believing it was professional. These guys are good, not just good but professional level, basically the potential best... and these are the guys you're competing against... O_O but hey, this is a point where you don't go 'crap, forget it' you go... 'what a tower to topple' and you aim for their level. The other great thing about having good artists in the city is that they are meetable. At the con and made also in a soc or gathering. Talking to them about what they've done and how is invaluable. I intend to go next week too and by then hopefully I can have some drawings to show off ohoho. So in all a productive day :D

In which I spend a couple of days there

What happened during the first few days.

So you will have read that after I arrived I was able to drive a car down to the local convenience store. Well it was rather hot when I arrived, like 30 something, and the sleep was awkward. It was too hot to leave my duvet on and I slept surrounded by my belongings because I didn't have a lock for the lockers. It wasn't cramped because I don't move around much at night anyway. I started reading Katie Price's (it wasn't just her that wrote it) Crystal, before you think anything I did it for the ironic comedy. It's quite Katie Price like and not at all smart or clever, anyway you probably expected that. The characters resemble her... so slutty and thing they're right I walked down to the shop in the heat and wondered what I could buy, but seeing as everything here is really expensive I just didn't get that much. I bought some soup I thought was cheap but have just found out its condensed, what is condensed soup anyway?

This Thursday I walked further than the shop, I kept going until I found the library and looked in there. The air conditioning was an amazing feeling. They have water fountains around the place although the water near the library doesn't taste very nice, water elsewhere is better... if you can imagine such a thing. The library in the art area of the city and there is the museum and other buildings here, and a it is just a nice place in general. The water here is also warm which isn't nice. I walked down a street opposite the art area and found many a food shop and restaurant. I brought something but it wasn't very nice and after using the Library's wireless, that was a hassle to set up, I returned back to the convenience store and then headed back. In this heat it is better to get a good cold shower in after walking around in this heat which I do.

A little about the hostel I'm staying in... other things will be mentioned but I don't want to scare anyone... not that news would scare anyone ¬_¬ there are three showers, on in the toilets that is always being used by someone and two in a seperate room where one is always free. The thing about the showers in this roo is though... one door doesn't lock and the other door... doesn't exist. The shower where there is a door has a very dark moth with a spot on each wing watching you everytime I've been in there as it sits on the ceiling.... just watching you....

I slept in the heat again, this is not a fun thing. When sleeping in the heat, if you get to sleep at all, will be broken into times with a gap in between, this gap is a break where you go to the toilet and drink some water, these are things you have to do.

The next day I got into town, via free bus (there is a free bus in the city area which extends up to my hostel). I was trying to find this Tele something company and I wasted half a day trying to find it, they give the best coverage and their rates aren't too bad. I walked around the main city area twice trying to find the phone shop and instead I found 5 vodaphones and 6 or 7 flight centres, literally that company, not 6 or 7 travel agents, but that many flight centres. In rage quit fashion I went into a flight centre and asked the girl there if there was a shop tele something, she said yes, I asked where was it, she said town. Anyway I lefted and went to Vodaphone. I bought a smart phone for $99 and bought $30 credit on pay as you go which, because of a deal they have, gave me $450 phone credit with infinite texts and free faceboke and gmail. So I was quite pleased with that. I then went back along St Geogre's terrace, the place with all the high rise buildings in Perth, and found the HSBC I was looking for and opened a bank account. I also went to the medicare place but as I didn't know where my address would be in 4 weeks time. Then I returned to the library and booked a computer and was on there for 40 or so minutes, enough time to apply for a tax file number, and then the library was closing at an odd time. I left there and returned to the hostel.

In which the trip is taken to get there

Sit down child and I will tell you the grand tale of how I lost a day of my life.

So, I wake up on tuesday morning at five. It was one of those rude awakenings you get when you turn your alarm off while still dreaming and only come to when its off, feels like you've stopped the world or something and then reality smashes you in the face. Anyway, anyway. So I had a lovely breakfast of sausage, bacon and egg to get our morning started and we faff around putting the last things together like what we're taking in the car and if there is anything I've forgotten, like have I cleaned my teeth? Then we finally set out and its mildly cold in the car so I use a blanket and try to get some sleep. I managed to nod off and pass a lot of the time, like an hour and a half. Then we hit some traffic and there were some delays on the junctions approaching the airport. We got off the motorway and got to Heathrow where I believed I would be traveling on Boeing with two engines. I got to the check in desk for Qunatas and was wondering if this was the right desk because I had got very muddled. Then I went up some stairs and headed straight for the security and passed that, no problem. I managed to find a water bottle for free because the telegraph was doing a deal where if you spend £1.20 on their paper then they will give you a £1.75 drink for free. So I was happy and then I went and got some noms from Eat. It was nice although there was something like water chesnuts in it that really stood out when it was being eaten yet they were not mentioned on the menu name of it.

Then I headed to my gate. I found then that it wasn't a two engined plane but the Airbus A380 which is the one that I really wanted to fly on :3 So I boarded that after a while and realised that the plane is amazing! The boarding is done by row so you don't have to queue, you just sit there and wait and then go in quite leisurely and find your seat. Luckily I found my seat was in the aisle so I wouldn't have to worry about asking people to move in order for me to use the toilet. Then, as the plane is filling up, I realise that its not full at all. There are loads of seats and most importantly there was a seat free next to me so I was able to put some things there. The entertainment screens were awesome, there were loads of films and you could watch any film at any time you liked for the whole journey. There were games but they weren't very good... but there were games!

I watched a bunch of films. I watched Captain America, Up, Transformers 3, Senna and maybe something else, I will get back to you :) The food was nom, I had lamb, and we got random bits of snacks every so often like a twix ice cream and cheese and biscuits... the cheese and biscuits were especially nice :P Then it went really dark and you could see this because they left a screen with the tail spy cam on, oh yeah the plane had a tail spy cam, and all you could see was the lights flashing on the outside of the plane. Everyone started to go to sleep and this is where I lost a day because instead of sleeping I just watched films and wrote nanowrimo ¬_¬ Anyway then we were coming into land after such a long time, but it didn't feel like such a long time which was the weirdest thing. I must have hyped up the length of it so much that I had expected it not to end.

I left the plane and headed across to the next gate... seeing none of Singapore because the gates were almost right next to each other. Then I boarded but found there was just a little bit more of security before this plane so I had to surrender my free bottle of water which I had not drank halfway yet., grrr. Then I boarded this plane which was basically like a smaller version of the plane I was just on because it had the same entertainment system but the plane seats were worse and well everything was slightly worse. Oh and I watched the hangover II on the first flight, that was the other film. On this plane I sat alone for a while, and then the girl behind me found herself in the wrong seat and then I found her sitting by me. I started talking to her, I had no company on the plane before, and I found out her name was Bridget... which I think it awesome because I've not met someone named that before. She had a lot to say and we had no problems talking about what each other was doing on that plane to Perth. She told me she was returning home to New Zealand after a successful two years working in London at various jobs... and I found myself feeling I was in the reverse of her shoes, but she did give me inspiration. She is also coming to Perth in two months so I hope to met her again and have another friend here at the end of the earth!

Then I walked out into the sun.... boom! Massive heat attack. Apparently it is hotter today than normal and will be hotter tomorrrow and then more cool so... not sure what to think of that. At the hostel I learned about many things, like how things can be so bad but still quite livable. I also found out that in Australia you don't need to be insured to legally drive a car... all you need is a drivers licence... driving an automatic is hard... I'll leave it at that. We were at the shops and everything in there seems like they're just taking the mic. On my to the gate at Heathrow I saw a tiny box of celebrations chocolates cost £12 and I thought that was bad, but here there are loads more things like that, and thats just how it is!! I know each dollar isn't a pound but some things just don't add up to be that expensive. I will give more details later. Right thats all I can think of writing for now, there is a suspicious lack of internet here, amongst other things ¬_¬ but I will either go to the library (I don't know where it is) or an internet cafe (I don't know where one is) but the important thing is that there is a free bus service to city centre :P