Perth

Wow, what an unoriginal title...sorry.  I got nothing.

Anyway, I thought I'd post before going away from the internet for a week as to make it less daunting on the flip side.  Hooray for internet holiday!  Funny how I am literally the most internet addicted person I know (except for maybe one person) and I am soo happy to not have the ability to log into anything for a whole 5 days.  It is a true addiction I guess.

I've spent three days in Perth and the surrounding area.  Perth is on the southwest coast of Australia.  It is having a population and resources BOOM.  Australia loves its mining.  Perth the city is very very beautiful.  Its small, only 2.4 million people...but its rising quickly.  they have the prettiest park I've ever sat in, Kings Park.  It sits on a hill and looks over the city sky line...so nice. 

I'm not actually staying in Perth,  rather a suburb called Cottesloe.  Its right now the beach, which would be nice except that its winter!  And despite what all you midwesterners say, its freaking cold.  And if you were here you'd be cold too.  I heard that there was frost on the car windows this morning!  But in general Cottesloe is really pretty.  2 things I learned is that the beach is called "Heath Ledger's beach" in the guide book.  I dont know if thats because he used it before he died, or if they're just making a cheap connection.  I know Ledger was from the Perth area, but I dont know if it was Cottesloe.  I kind of hope he wasn't from Cottesloe.  There is so much money here, it would totally change my opinion of him, lol!  The money here makes me sick, but then I realized that it was out of jealousy, cuz if I had the means to own a mansion a block from the beach here, I would snatch that up in a heartbeat.  I kind of reminds me of the money side of Evanston on the Lake.  Combined with the niceness of Beverly Hills, Florida where my grandparents lived.  Take what you would expect a mansion on the lake in Evanston to cost, add a few mil because its Australia and everything is expensive, then add a few more mil cuz its Perth.  Yea...kinda makes you sick.

I'm halfway between Perth and Fremantle (called Freo by the locals).  Fremantle is a destination spot.  Reminded me a lot of the Woodstock Square, but the whole city.  I was going to go to Rottsnest Island (Rotto by the locals) yesterday, but it was raining so I nixed it.  Rotto is a small island named by Dutch explorer because he saw a lot of rats on the island.  The rats are actully quokkas that are only found on the island.  And there's no cars allowed on the island, so everyone rents bikes and tours around, its only like 24km all around.  There are also a lot of shipwrecks in the area because of reefs and rocks.  So its a great place to snorkel...except its cold!  After I nixed Rotto on Wednesday, I decide to tour around Freo only to find out that the museums I wanted to go to were closed.  Ugh.  So I got home super early and read my book for a long while.  Today I went back to try Rotto again, and getting there at 11am, had missed the last ferry.  Grr.  So I went to the museums that were closed yesterday.  I liked Freo better today, even though it did hose me two days in a row. 

Tomorrow I leave at 6am to meet up with my tour in Perth city center.  Woooohoooo!  I was going to include pictures on this long rambly post, but the stupid computer at the hostel is not cooperating.  And its a mac.  Just sayin...