From Cairns, I took a direct Jetstar flight across the Australian continent, to Perth on the western coast of Australia. I had a very nice moment on the plane waiting to taxi out to the runway in Cairns, one of those moments that gets stuck in your mind, and just makes you smile. The cabin crew had done all the safety demonstrations, and as i said we were just waiting to taxi out for take off. They had music playing in the cabin, i don't know whether it was a CD or just the radio, and a casual song came on with a catchy melody, but I didn't pay much attention, as I didn't know the song. Suddenly however, I noticed that half the people on the plane were either quietly singing, or humming along to the song! Since it was a happy tune, this created an extremely nice atmosphere in the plane and it made me listen to the lyrics. The chorus was like this:
"so please,
baby please
open your heart
and catch my disease."
(I checked later, and for anyone interested, the song is called "Catch my disease", by Ben Lee).
This little moment made me smile and think that Australians are a truly laid-back bunch, who really just enjoy life as it happens, with "no worries" and are seemingly always in a good mood.
I managed to successfully entertain myself without inflight entertainment on my 5 hr budget flight to Perth and after some waiting around and a conversation with a Japanese girl (in English), finally found the shuttle bus into town that dropped me at the YHA, where I was staying for the night.
I woke up early the next day to make the most of the day I had to explore Perth, before heading 2 hrs south to Leschenault, where my friends Gemma&Rob live.I started the day with a cafe latte and a muffin (always a nice way to start the day - although it's always better with company, because the muffin is always to big for 1 person alone). I went for a walking tour across the city centre, past government house and the waterfront (Perth lies on the Swan River) and up Kings Park for a panoramic view of the city. I then wanted to take a bus from there to the beaches, but no one knew where such a bus would leave from and sent me back to the city centre (Australians generally drive EVERYWHERE), from where I could get a train out to Cottesloe beach. The beaches in Perth, and Western Australia, are famous, and this one was certainly no exception. Miles and miles of white sand, green water...i think i am repeating myself...I put my big toe in the water, and quickly decided that I was just going to walk along the beach, although there were a few hardcore people in the water. So I walked along to Swanbourne beach, where the next stop on the trainline back to Perth also was.
Back in Perth ,I picked up my luggage and headed back to the train station to meet Rob. I got very nervous and excited, as I hadn't seen Rob&Gemma for almost 2 years and was wondering if Rob still looked the same. Fortunately, he does:-) and very healthy and happy too!
We quickly caught a train to Mandurah, which took about 45 min, and then Rob drove 1 hr to Leschenault, where the two of them have recently moved into a very nice house, with a large garden, which they shared with their cute dog Molly! As we approached Leschenault, I got even more excited to finally see Gemma again - and guess what, she is still the same and looks great too!
We caught up over a couple of cold beers and some dinner, after which I retreated to my lovely blue guest room to get some rest.
