Perth; a view from King's Park |
I can’t help constantly looking over my shoulder in
bewilderment as my ears and brain strain with the constant understanding. Behind me is a group of people in their early
twenties talking quickly with excitement over their Saturday dinner. Waiters
rush past our table whilst serving food.
My presence seems alien. I feel
as though I don’t belong. I haven’t been
in a place where everybody was white and speaks English since home. On my table were Tony, Marilyn, Steve (Mum’s
cousin) and Jess (Steve’s partner). I
hadn’t seen Steve since he was on holiday with his parent in the UK many years
ago. My eyelids are extraordinarily
heavy and my mind struggling to process the easiest of things due to sleep
exhaustion.
At five o’clock this morning I walked through into the
arrivals hall, dazed and my tired eyes straining with the bright lights. I look around for Tony and Marilyn, my Mum’s
Uncle and Auntie, with slight guilt as they’ve come to pick me up so early as
they had very kindly offered to let me stay at their house for a while. I see them sitting over by the window and I
go over to them. I have only seen them a
handful of times before and I was surprised that I recognised them.
The automatic doors open into the dark wilderness of
Australia and to my surprise, and a certain amount of relief, cold air rushed
past me causing my muscles to shudder. I
was in Australia and it felt strange.
Flying cheats the feeling of distance and doesn’t allow your mind time
to adjust to the subtle changes between countries and climates. Over the last twelve hours I have been on two
aircraft, in three countries and in three airports. For what took me months of travel could have
taken me 20 hours to fly. It doesn’t
feel right. I feel cheated. I can’t help but think of that marvellous
land that passed 40,000 feet beneath me as I tried my hardest to sleep whilst
the bathroom door behind me was slammed shut over and over again.
Following our meal and my first Australian beer, my family
took me on a drive through the bush but my eyelids gave way to the movement of
the car and all I remember is a variety of moments where the bumps on the dirt
road woke me. The little trip culminated
at King’s Park, sitting high above the city of Perth overlooking the Central
Business District. The cold July air
raced through my nostrils giving me a second burst of energy. I realised that this was an iconic moment of
my Epic Voyage around the world. Phase
II, The Awesome Australian Adventure begins in a new city, hopefully a job and
in a couple of weeks my friend Mike will be flying out to join me down
under. I was also in the Southern
Hemisphere where people walk upside down and take a Kangaroo taxi to work. To
my surprise, this turned out to be a falsity.
Over the next few days I met Tony and Marilyn’s oldest son,
Dave and his soon to be wife, Stacey and their three children who live close by. Then we took a drive out to York where I met
the remainder of the family, Jill, Sean, Casseda and newly born Ebony. My arrival in Australia was apparently
unfortunate timing with the new baby and Tony and Marilyn were heading over to
Europe for a few months. It was wonderful
to finally meet the entire of my elusive Australian relatives as I had only, as
far as my memory goes, met Tony, Marilyn and Steve during their holidays to the
UK.
The Bell Tower, Perth's Esplanade |
Despite a couple of trips to Aussie Jobs, I got nothing and
actually didn’t want anything from them.
I was also in a situation where I needed to wait for a couple of weeks
until Mike turns up. To be honest with
everyone here, I have never had the inclination to travel Australia. There’s no central reason to it, there are
just other places in the world that I want to visit first. Just like the United States, doesn’t
currently appeal to me. My preconception
is that travel through these countries is relatively simple and there are no
real challenges plus western cultures are too similar to each other for real
interest.
For a week I wandered Perth visiting countless agencies, searching
shop and café windows and souring the internet for jobs. Nothing came up and my determined mood turned
downtrodden. I decided that I was going
to take some time to rest and postpone my hunt for a few days until Mike
arrives as Tony and Marilyn will be leaving on their trip over the other side
soon too. Lesmurdie was nearly a two
hour round journey on the bus so once Tony and Marilyn left on their trip, I
was going to head down to Perth and stay in a hostel which would make it easier
to look for a job. Mike had already
booked a room in The Billabong which was a hostel on the outskirts of Perth and
so I checked in to that same one on the day he was scheduled to arrive. My mind creaked as I walked through the blue
doors leading into my new home. I had
grown comfortable and attached to the wonderfully soft double bed and warm surroundings
up in Lesmurdie, that the thought of going back into a dorm room caused great
anguish running through my body. I had
heard stories about Australian hostels and preconceptions were duly created in
my mind of dirty, cramp and unfriendly places who charge an incredible amount
of money for nothing. I shook of the
feeling and forced positive thoughts through my mind. The concrete floor felt hard to walk on and
as I placed my luggage on the floor, I felt as though I was standing at the
reception of a cheap gymnasium rather than a hostel. I reluctantly handed over the twenty-eight
dollars plus another twenty for a deposit and made my way up the stairs to find
my room. I had chosen to pay an extra
two dollars to stay in a four person dorm instead of a six and I’m glad I
did.
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