Perth (the first post)

Well, what can I say? G'day!!!

I am fast falling in love with Australia. It is awesome, it seems that all the good things about home are the same but all the bad things are put right. The weather is perfect, and as I sit writing this it is 32 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and an oh so gentle breeze just so I don't over heat. The beaches are all fine white sand, the ocean is blue and warm!



I am staying in Perth, Western Australia at present. I am told that it is officially the most isolated city in the world because once you get outside there is nothing until Adelaide (which is over 3 days of driving away). I am extremely fortunate to be staying with friends of my family, Fiona and family, in a suburb of Perth named "Cottesloe". To anyone who has been to Perth before, they will know of Cottesloe very well as it is home to Cottesloe beach, one of the most well known beaches in WA.



Since getting here on Thursday I have managed to just about overcome the jetlag, which is surprising as I have been out every night frequenting the many pubs (no such thing as "bars" in oz, anywhere that serves alcohol is called the "pub"). Going out in Australia is amazing, instead of going to a club and hearing cheesy chart music there is a live band everywhere you go. They are all surprisingly good and play covers of popular tunes, all of which are from bands like Powderfinger, Motorace, Grinspoon, The White Stripes, INXS and The Living End (who are all awesome in their own right). The band we saw at the "Newport" in Freemantle ("freo" to the locals) on Saturday night were really good.

Within 4 hours of landing I had been to the two pubs that have reached legendary status in Perth. The Cottesloe Beach Hotel ("the cott" to the locals) and the Ocean Beach Hotel ("the obie" to the locals). This impressed even the locals! I was later challenged to an aussie beer tasting to see if I could guess the difference between the main local brews in the two pubs and after just two days here, passed with flying colors.

The next awesome thing is the fashion. I was out in a club last night in Claremont (another suburb of Perth) which would be the equivalent of somewhere like "Time" in the UK - wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a pair of "thongs' (not the women's underwear but sandles for you poms). Pretty much every Aussie girl seems to be gorgeous, almost too much choice. I am unsure I know where to start...

Also, everyone in Oz has a brilliant taste in music. The bands that I love, nobody has heard of in the UK. Over here everyone not only knows of them but has the album on their ipod. Its the first place I've ever been where everyone has heard of people like Ben Harper and the John Butler Trio.



In Australia one of their main days for drinking is a Sunday and they call it the "Sunday Session". The most famous of which is the Sunday Session at the Cott, if its good enough for Prince Harry then its good enough for me. Spent an hour and a half queuing to get in for it yesterday though which was a pain for all involved but it was a good laugh in the end, had more than a few pints of Tooheys and Swan and then moved on to the Sunday Session at the Obie, before hitting Claremont. Am feeling rather fragile right now for two reasons. First cos it was the second 8+ pint night out in so many days and also because I've had more sun in the last 4 days than I have had in the last 4 years in the UK (as you may be able to tell from one of the photos! However it is going brown now, so kiss my ass!). Staying with Luke is cool as we are both into the same music and both play guitar. So when we got back last night at 1am (having started at 5pm) we decided to take the guitars down the beach and have a jam. So there we were playing out to the beach, crashing ocean and the occasional drunkards that were walking past in our shorts and T-shirt at 1.30am, it was hilarious. See the photos.








This week I am going to see the John Butler Trio in concert three times (Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday night). Thursday is Australia Day and in Perth it is celebrated on the same level as Thanksgiving or New Years Eve. I also plan to spend some days doing the tourist thing this week and spend some major time in Fremantle, which is one of my favorite places so far.

Hope all is going well your end!