Troy Archie – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Well here I am in Fremantle Western Australia right now, which is just outside of Perth. I arrived from Sydney about 5PM Wednesday and I’ve been pretty busy. My last day in Sydney I spent pretty much most of the day in the Sydney Botanical Gardens which is right next to the Opera House. It’s an incredibly beautiful place and I could have spent at least another day there just walking around and hanging out.

The weather was amazing holding out in the upper 20’s the entire time I was there with a great breeze coming off of the harbour.

I took this one at a place called the “Rocks” which is next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I thought it was a funny scene to come across.

A view from the gardens.

There are plenty of cool animals in the gardens ranging from bats to lizards to macaws.

I just about stepped on this guy.

That night Mike, Susan and I went out for dinner at this little Thai diner right around the corner from his place. It was the first time I had ever had Thai food or any “real” Asian food for that matter so it was a good experience. Sydney is a damn big city and little unnerving and it’s easily the biggest city I’ve ever been in. The mass transit is enormous and you can get anywhere in town using it with little hassle, it was a little expensive though but I’m sure I’m saying that without realizing just how far I had gone.

The next day was spent getting to Perth and finding my way to Fremantle. Fremantle is a nice little suburb just south-west of Perth of about 20 000 people in Western Australia. It’s a pretty cool town and I mean that in a couple ways. It’s got a lot of really old buildings that are very European with tonnes of history as it was one of the first ports on the west coast.

It’s also got a massive shipyard.

I had a whole slew of pictures that I took but for some reason they all got deleted past this point. I’ll try to retake them as best I can and post them. You can also go here for all of my pictures that I have taken so far.

That and it’s kinda cold here compared to Sydney. When I left Sydney it was probably about 25 at about 9 in the morning so it was going to be a scorcher the day that I left. When I got here it was probably about 18 above with a really cool wind coming off of the ocean, I ended up going out the next day and buying a long sleeved shirt. That said the weather got better during the day and is holding around the low to mid 20’s with an amazing breeze coming off of the ocean. This town and weather is how I’d imagine summer in the Maritimes would be like back home.

It was pretty long day and when I first got to the hostel I was a little intimidated but after I had a workout, went down to the kitchen for some diner and started talking to other people I settled right in and had a good time. I went out with a group of people to a couple different bars for some drinks and had a good time. It was very welcoming and the people I met were super friendly and I managed to get a lot of information from them.

Unfortunately all the cool people left and I found myself being pretty much the only person left in the hostel without dreadlocks (damn hippies). The place was pretty noisy too and very “quaint” and I mean that in the dirty and inconvenient way. I don’t mind a dirty place but it was the people that got to me. I guess most of the them had been living there for a couple months and were planning on staying there for an other couple months so there was a definite “in crowd” which consisted of a lot of pretty sketchy people who weren’t really doing much save sit around and drink at the hostel. After a couple nights there I switched hostels just this morning to a place around the corner that was is an YHA member. I was thinking that I would avoid membership places like this while travelling but after just checking in and going into the hostel for half an hour, I realized it was much better.

My true first day in town I just did some boring errands and got thinking about what I want to do next. The third day was a busy ass day. I started off with a workout on the beach which ended off with a jump in the ocean. If I spend the rest of my day’s starting each morning like that I could die a happy man. The water was amazing and it was a lot more suited to swimming than in Sydney as there wasn’t much of a current. The salt water still took me off guard and I have to remember to close my mouth.

I spent the rest of the day hoofing around town going to the Fremantle Market.

It was a pretty nice little market with lots of CHEAP fresh fruit and veggies. Ahh, always thinking with my stomach.

After that I went down to the beach and watched the sun set. I had never seen anything like that ever before in my life. I was amazing and all I can say is that we don’t get them like that on the prairies.

Later that night I went out on a late night tour of the Fremantle Prison. It was made back in the early 1800’s and used all the way up until 1991 as a maximum security prison. They had no running water and the prisoners had to use the “Bucket System” even up to ’91. They don’t treat their prisoners too good that’s for sure. Again I had pictures of this place but I seem to have lost them. Maybe it was because of the ghosts that I was warned about…

It was a long ass day and I think in the last week I have walked more kilometres than I have in the last year. That said I am having a good time and planning on spending the day on the beach just relaxing. I keep say that I’m going to do that but each day I hear about something or see something that I want to do or check out.

Tomorrow I’m off to Rottenest Island which is just off of the coast. From what I hear it’s an amazing place to see. From there I’m planning to start heading up north up to Broome but I’m told that it’s starting to get really really hot up there so there isn’t that many people going north right now. That said I really want to head north for a bit as per Jesse’s recommendations. I’m looking to get a Hop-on Hop-off bus pass and spend a couple weeks making my way up there, stopping at the little towns along the way and from there try to hook up with someone with a vehicle that’s heading the opposite direction or just bus it back. I’ve also been thinking about buying my own vehicle and start driving. Throwing a fishing rod into the back and sticking to the coast could be a lot of fun I figure but I’ll see what happens.

Now to needlessly worry my mother:
I think I’m getting too much sun. I took off my sunglasses and noticed I had a bit of a sunglass tan. I also can’t find my wallet. Oh well I’m sure it’ll show up.

Love you all.
Troy

Go here to see some more of my pictures:
http://www.ballofdirt.com/entries/9302/91269.html

Tags: Australia

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