Bird’s Nest Bevarage – 25% bird’s nest

Finally at my new hostel in Cottelsoe. Is brilliant. The Ocean Backpackers. Very sociable, clean, have a bathroom in the dorm room, a real change from the Globe backpackers in Perth (awful!). Sat outside in the courtyard making new friends and having a few beers – until a cockroach ran across my foot. Screams ensued. Great way to meet new people.

Cockroaches – 3
Andrew – 0

Need to change tactics.

Today i decided to head to Kings Park in Perth with a new found friend. Is a really amazing park set on top of a set of cliffs (the steps up to the park are not fun, was not impressed to get to the top and find a bus parked right in front of me).

The views over Perth were worth the climb though. One really gets a feel for the vibe of the city…its clearly sleek and modern with many towering skyscrapers, yet it’s also really shaped (spatially and culturally….who would have thought i could get my Masters thesis into this blog?!) by its location next to both the Indian Ocean and the Swan River.

Anyway, the park is set in the middle of four square km of native bushland. Went on some of the walks around the area (trying to avoid the signs that had information on the spiders in the region) including one that takes you on a bridge high up into the canopy where you can glance down and look at the water gardens below.

The wildlife is great, saw some cockatoos and parrots (never seen either in the wild so that was a first for me, especially being used to such exotic birds as the sparrow and the blackbird in England!).

Eventually sat down and had a spot of lunch in the cafe which overlooks the city and the river. Some weird birds flying around the cafe! They had a call that sounded exactly like a baby crying. My initial worries (which involved a careless mother and some remarkable acrobatics) gave way when more than one of the birds started calling and i quickly realised how absurd it would be for more than one crying baby to be stuck up a tree!

Back to sanity…Throughout the park were numerous and quite obvious war memorials remembering the dead of the two World Wars. However, hidden away were clear signs that the park and memorial areas were once important areas for native aborigines; the juxtaposition highlighted a relationship I expected but which only really hit me today. 

It’s raining as i write this. Homesickness has thus disappeared.

Tomorrow i head off on a four day tour of the Margaret River, Albany and rest of the South West region.

Update on the Cockroach wars.... Cockroaches - 2 Andrew - 0 I was sitting writing emails when i saw one right near my foot. The screams did not go down well in the internet cafe. Nor did my frantic foot stamping.

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You read that right.....The Toilet-Roll Game! Coming soon.

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