CHAPTER 6: PERTH & THE END
November 27, 2012. Flying from Sydney to Perth is like flying from New York to LA. It's a LONG 5 HOUR flight and I was nervous about traveling alone. Traveling to Perth felt a bit like the first time I came to Sydney, as I was going to an unknown place all by myself. However, and luckily, greeting me at the airport was a friendly familiar face...an old roommate from Jacks Place who had moved to Perth with his girlfriend after doing some traveling. The three of us grabbed dinner and caught up and then I was on my own.
I was once told to never book a huge block of time at a hostel because you never really know till you get there if you'll like it or not. So I only booked three days at the Emperor's Crown Hostel, which turned out to be really clean, quiet, and exactly what I was looking for. I checked into my room and eventually met my three male roommates...a Brit, a Frenchie, and an Italian. All three guys were in Perth hoping to find mining work (a common male labor job around these parts because of the high pay and chance to qualify for a second-year visa). They were all really nice and kept to ourselves, which was perfect because I'd come to Perth to keep to MYSELF, explore the city, eat good food, and read my 50 Shades of Grey in peace!
My first two days in Perth, I walked and walked and walked! I explored the Esplanade and St. George's Terrace, a Diagon Alley-like street with little shops and cool architecture. I strolled down King Street, Perth's own Rodeo Drive, and gave stank eyes to all the rich folks. I also spent a lot of time in Perth's Cultural Center, an area filled with
free museums and art galleries. On my second night, as I walked through the city, I came across Tony Roma's, a ribs, seafood, and steaks restaurant. Anyone who knows me knows I CANNOT refuse ribs! I must say, eating dinner alone is a bit depressing and awkward; I was constantly wondering about my waiter judging me thinking "who's this freak black girl in the middle of Perth eating by herself?" Anyways, $55 and about 100 pages of Fifty Shades later, I left the restaurant and headed to His Majesty's Theatre to catch the Western Australia Ballet Company perform a bizarre and awkward modern day version of The Nutcracker. I hated it, to say the very least, which is sad because I LOVE The Nutcracker!
Unfortunately, early the next day I had to check out of the Emperor's Crown because they
were fully booked and I couldn't extend :( As I walked up to my new hostel just down the road, a large group of hungover (or, I suspect, still drunk) Irish guys were seated in the courtyard making a ruckus. I'm clearly not in Kansas anymore. Plain and simple, this hostel was an absolute dump. It was HUGE! It had about 4 floors each with at least 80 rooms...the hallways just kept going and going. The carpeting was old and moldy and there was always some background noise going on. I dragged my stuff into my new room littered with guys stuff everywhere, including an opened porno magazine on the desk. Awesome!
Fortunately, I had a great day ahead, starting with McDonalds breakfast and some more 50 Shades of Grey! Then I spent the entire day at the beautiful Kings Park, which is apparently the largest urban park in the world even larger than NYC's Central Park. The weather was beautiful and the park offered breathtaking views of the ocean and the city. For dinner, I went to...you guessed it! Tony Roma's yet again! Afterwards I walked through the CBD and happened upon a large food festival. I sat in a cafe, sipped on some hot cocoa and did some people watching. I then walked through Northbridge, Perth's nightlife district, on what was a booming Friday night. But being the happy little loser that I am, I strolled into a little movie theatre and bought a ticket to see Celeste and Jesse, a funny little indie rom-com staring Rashida Jones.
Now this is when the night took a turn for the worse...
I got back to the hostel and that's when I meet one of my roommates--Rory, the sweaty, drunken, horny Irish man. Rory seemed nice enough at first...he asked the same usual questions...where you from, how long you been traveling, etc. and then he went out to smoke. When he came back Rory was HIGH and subsequently VERY creepy. As I was under the covers in bed and watching YouTube videos on my phone, he began to ask me all kinds of inappropriate questions too racy for this blog. He then declared he was into "colored girls," mumbled some more incoherent stuff his thick accent couldn't deliver, and then passed out asleep. Being alone in a room with a huge creep who was HIGH wasn't a pleasant experience and reminded me that hostels aren't all hunky dory and that traveling alone as a female does pose some risks.
The next morning, I lied in bed awake on my phone. I heard Rory ask our fellow roommate who was awake getting dressed, "Is princess awake?" I gave the guy a death glare and like a clueless idiot he replied to Rory, "Yup she's awake!" I continued to lie in bed facing the wall until I heard Rory get up and leave the room presumably to go eat breakfast. That's when I hopped out of bed, quickly dressed, and ran out of the room like a bat out of hell!
That day, I took the train to Fremantle, a picturesque port city south of the CBD. The city was so cute, filled with little shops, restaurants, and markets. I walked along the boardwalk and read my book in a little park. I then went on a tour of the Fremantle Prison--a former prison with ALOT of history to spare about Australia's convict past. Afterwards, I went to a little restaurant along the water called Sweet Lips, serving the best fish and chips I'd eaten in Australia. I then hopped on the train back to the city and went back to the same little movie theatre to see a French film called The Intouchables. As I arrived at the theatre...
Ticket guy: You again? I think it's time you got a life!
After the film, I made the dreaded walk back to the hostel and am greeted in the room by none other than Rory (where the hell are my other roommates always hiding?!). He was creepy YET again, but I did a better job deflecting him this time, even at one time telling him to go brush his teeth and take a shower because he stunk (which he did...the whole room smelled)!
The next morning, my two days in the hostel were up so I booked it out of there as fast as possible and ran to my new hostel--a small, clean hostel up the road where I FINALLY shared a room with 2 girls. After checking in, I met up with my friend (her boyfriend
returned to work on the mines) and she and I made plans to go to Sets on the Beach Music Festival at Scarsborough Beach. The weather was perfect and I was so excited! The problem was....we had no tickets. However, we heard through the grapevine that if we got to the festival early enough, we could still buy last minute tickets. Being us, of course, by the time we got there, all the tickets were gone. The two of us walked up and down the line looking for scalpers but there were more people like us trying to BUY tickets then people actually selling tickets. Desperate, we start asking the security guards about sneaking us in. Nope, that didn't work either.
But just as we were getting restless, head of security, a large Maori-looking guy, coyly walks by us and whispers "Still looking for tickets?" YES! "Ok, $70 each." Seeing as the tickets were being sold for $60, he was offering us a pretty good deal. YES! Minutes later, he returned with 2 wristbands, we slid $150 in his hand, and we were in! The festival was so much fun! We got amazing views of the beach, danced to great music, and there was even a silent disco...a dance party where everyone wears headphones blasting different music!
On my last day in Perth, I booked a ferry ticket to Rottnest Island, a beautiful island right off the coast of the city. While there, I booked a bus ticket and traveled around the quiet little island, exploring its different bays, laying out, and doing some swimming. At Stark Bay, I was the only person on the beach and I seriously felt like I was in paradise. Then things got weird again...
At Parakeet Bay, I met this friendly, older German man who was also traveling alone. He was nice and friendly at first, but then HE WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE! On the ferry ride back to Fremantle, he sat next to me. I pretended to sleep, as to avoid speaking. He then asked me what I was up to next. I had already planned in my head to go to the fish and chips shop; he asked me if he could tag along. Urgggh! We went to the restaurant and he paid, which was REALLY nice (I'll admit). We chit chatted for a bit and then he wondered "What should WE do next?" That's when I had to bring an end to this. I thanked him for dinner and wished him well on his journey, but told him I ALONE would be going to catch a movie and enjoy my last day ALONE. Thanks but no thanks buddy! He wasn't creepy like the sweaty Irish man, but I'd spent my entire week in Perth enjoying my alone time, and that was only going to change if he was a male model of some sort....which he wasn't. So sorry!
I went to my THIRD movie alone (ahhhh living the life!) and saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was actually better than the book. I then rushed on the train back to the city, where I quickly grabbed my things and then my friend took me to the airport. A sad goodbye and another 5 hour flight later and I was back in good ol' room 3 of Jack's Place and this time it was MY turn to sleep on the air mattress on the floor.
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I had just 10 days left in Sydney and I was freaking out! It was finally becoming real that in just mere days I'd be back in Jersey, back to the life I escaped, and oh, that's right! I STILL have to get my life together and figure out my future. My last weekend in Sydney, just so happened to also be my 23rd birthday weekend!
On my birthday, some friends and I took the ferry to Manly and ate at Manly Grill where I had one of the BEST rack of ribs EVER! Afterwards, we had some drinks at Manly Wharf Bar accompanied by some gnarly people watching (the men at Manly Wharf are pretty scrumptious, if I must say so). Then most of my friends left (work in the morning), but a few of us continued the party at the Steyne Hotel for reggae night where we got our dance on! That night we also met some rather interesting characters...
There was a really nice guy from Belgium who made us laugh...
Belgian: How long have you been in Sydney?
Me: About 10 months, since February.
Friend: Since April. And how about you?
Belgian: Uhh...since Thursday.
Then there were these two hippie Aussies we spent the better part of the night with talking about EVERYTHING! These guys were hilarious! The blonde guy was in a band and was OBSESSED with America (which I never thought could be possible) and talked endlessly about moving there. We talked about religion and God and blondie declared how he couldn't wait to go to America and go to a Baptist church to see all the people singing and clapping and the, and I quote, "black mamas wiping their sweat." He then also gave us an in depth look into his greater life plan...
He would play music and record exactly one album. He would then "die tragically" at a young age and subsequently the sales of that album would go crazy because he would have died a legend. However, he wouldn't actually be dead! He'd actually be off in Costa Rica raising baby sloths. But if that didn't work out, he'd sell oranges. And if that ALSO didn't work, he'd move to India and become a personal musician to a prince.
After a pretty random, but epic, birthday, for my last few days in Sydney, I just wanted to soak up as much of the city as I could. My room 3 bestie and I ate Burgerlicious for the last
time, went to Pancakes on the Rocks for our 1,000th time, and sat by the Opera House watching the sunset beneath the bridge and the ferries coming and going into the harbor. I also met up with the nice Belgian guy from my birthday, as it was his first days in Sydney and my last and we both just wanted to explore, explore, explore! I walked the CBD for the last time, got Dominos and ate it down in Rushcutters Bay for the last time, and did the Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach coastal walk for the very last time.
On my last night in Sydney, some friends and I went to the ever-classy Ivy Bar for one last dance. As much as I tried to smile and have a good time, it was quite hard to mask the SEVERE DEPRESSION I was feeling knowing that in just hours I would be leaving.
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That night, I barely got any sleep and the next morning, as my roomie left for work, I gave an embarrassingly tearful goodbye to a girl I shared the smallest room in Jacks Place with for an entire month...a girl who also happens to be one of the most beautiful and sweetest girls in the world and one of my new best friends :)
Later, as my taxicab pulled up, a friend helped me load my bags into the car. I turned to give her a hug and just then, two brand new Jack's Place people I'd never even met were coming out through the front door.
New girl: "Oh no, you're leaving?! Well have a safe flight!"
And then she and her friend turned up the road and went on their merry way. As the new girl embarked on her exciting new life in a new city, I looked up at Jack's Place, the place I'd called home all year, and it was almost completely unrecognizable now. The hoards of new people and the ghosts of friends past were letting me know my time had run out and it was time to go.
In the cab ride on my way to the airport, I posted this Facebook status which couldn't better describe the greatest 10 months of my life...
As I leave Australia, I'm thinking how proud of myself I am for deciding to put a career aside in order to spend a year traveling and living the life I wanted to live.
I failed twice to get a job at an ice cream shop, I somehow afforded $1000+/month rent all on my own, I lived in a van with 2 people for 6 weeks, I got cursed out my a crackhead prostitute, I cleaned toilets and filthy rooms at a hostel, I got and lost 2 jobs in the span of a month, I developed a jewelry business out of my bedroom, I made lifelong friends from all over the world... I had a dreamlike experience I could not have gained anywhere else. If I had to do it all over again, I'd choose Burgerlicious over corporate America anyday.
I encourage everyone to work to live, don't live to work. Life is an amazing journey and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. YOLO!
November 27, 2012. Flying from Sydney to Perth is like flying from New York to LA. It's a LONG 5 HOUR flight and I was nervous about traveling alone. Traveling to Perth felt a bit like the first time I came to Sydney, as I was going to an unknown place all by myself. However, and luckily, greeting me at the airport was a friendly familiar face...an old roommate from Jacks Place who had moved to Perth with his girlfriend after doing some traveling. The three of us grabbed dinner and caught up and then I was on my own.
I was once told to never book a huge block of time at a hostel because you never really know till you get there if you'll like it or not. So I only booked three days at the Emperor's Crown Hostel, which turned out to be really clean, quiet, and exactly what I was looking for. I checked into my room and eventually met my three male roommates...a Brit, a Frenchie, and an Italian. All three guys were in Perth hoping to find mining work (a common male labor job around these parts because of the high pay and chance to qualify for a second-year visa). They were all really nice and kept to ourselves, which was perfect because I'd come to Perth to keep to MYSELF, explore the city, eat good food, and read my 50 Shades of Grey in peace!
My first two days in Perth, I walked and walked and walked! I explored the Esplanade and St. George's Terrace, a Diagon Alley-like street with little shops and cool architecture. I strolled down King Street, Perth's own Rodeo Drive, and gave stank eyes to all the rich folks. I also spent a lot of time in Perth's Cultural Center, an area filled with
free museums and art galleries. On my second night, as I walked through the city, I came across Tony Roma's, a ribs, seafood, and steaks restaurant. Anyone who knows me knows I CANNOT refuse ribs! I must say, eating dinner alone is a bit depressing and awkward; I was constantly wondering about my waiter judging me thinking "who's this freak black girl in the middle of Perth eating by herself?" Anyways, $55 and about 100 pages of Fifty Shades later, I left the restaurant and headed to His Majesty's Theatre to catch the Western Australia Ballet Company perform a bizarre and awkward modern day version of The Nutcracker. I hated it, to say the very least, which is sad because I LOVE The Nutcracker!Unfortunately, early the next day I had to check out of the Emperor's Crown because they
were fully booked and I couldn't extend :( As I walked up to my new hostel just down the road, a large group of hungover (or, I suspect, still drunk) Irish guys were seated in the courtyard making a ruckus. I'm clearly not in Kansas anymore. Plain and simple, this hostel was an absolute dump. It was HUGE! It had about 4 floors each with at least 80 rooms...the hallways just kept going and going. The carpeting was old and moldy and there was always some background noise going on. I dragged my stuff into my new room littered with guys stuff everywhere, including an opened porno magazine on the desk. Awesome!
Now this is when the night took a turn for the worse...
I got back to the hostel and that's when I meet one of my roommates--Rory, the sweaty, drunken, horny Irish man. Rory seemed nice enough at first...he asked the same usual questions...where you from, how long you been traveling, etc. and then he went out to smoke. When he came back Rory was HIGH and subsequently VERY creepy. As I was under the covers in bed and watching YouTube videos on my phone, he began to ask me all kinds of inappropriate questions too racy for this blog. He then declared he was into "colored girls," mumbled some more incoherent stuff his thick accent couldn't deliver, and then passed out asleep. Being alone in a room with a huge creep who was HIGH wasn't a pleasant experience and reminded me that hostels aren't all hunky dory and that traveling alone as a female does pose some risks.
The next morning, I lied in bed awake on my phone. I heard Rory ask our fellow roommate who was awake getting dressed, "Is princess awake?" I gave the guy a death glare and like a clueless idiot he replied to Rory, "Yup she's awake!" I continued to lie in bed facing the wall until I heard Rory get up and leave the room presumably to go eat breakfast. That's when I hopped out of bed, quickly dressed, and ran out of the room like a bat out of hell!
That day, I took the train to Fremantle, a picturesque port city south of the CBD. The city was so cute, filled with little shops, restaurants, and markets. I walked along the boardwalk and read my book in a little park. I then went on a tour of the Fremantle Prison--a former prison with ALOT of history to spare about Australia's convict past. Afterwards, I went to a little restaurant along the water called Sweet Lips, serving the best fish and chips I'd eaten in Australia. I then hopped on the train back to the city and went back to the same little movie theatre to see a French film called The Intouchables. As I arrived at the theatre... Ticket guy: You again? I think it's time you got a life!
After the film, I made the dreaded walk back to the hostel and am greeted in the room by none other than Rory (where the hell are my other roommates always hiding?!). He was creepy YET again, but I did a better job deflecting him this time, even at one time telling him to go brush his teeth and take a shower because he stunk (which he did...the whole room smelled)!
The next morning, my two days in the hostel were up so I booked it out of there as fast as possible and ran to my new hostel--a small, clean hostel up the road where I FINALLY shared a room with 2 girls. After checking in, I met up with my friend (her boyfriend
returned to work on the mines) and she and I made plans to go to Sets on the Beach Music Festival at Scarsborough Beach. The weather was perfect and I was so excited! The problem was....we had no tickets. However, we heard through the grapevine that if we got to the festival early enough, we could still buy last minute tickets. Being us, of course, by the time we got there, all the tickets were gone. The two of us walked up and down the line looking for scalpers but there were more people like us trying to BUY tickets then people actually selling tickets. Desperate, we start asking the security guards about sneaking us in. Nope, that didn't work either. 
But just as we were getting restless, head of security, a large Maori-looking guy, coyly walks by us and whispers "Still looking for tickets?" YES! "Ok, $70 each." Seeing as the tickets were being sold for $60, he was offering us a pretty good deal. YES! Minutes later, he returned with 2 wristbands, we slid $150 in his hand, and we were in! The festival was so much fun! We got amazing views of the beach, danced to great music, and there was even a silent disco...a dance party where everyone wears headphones blasting different music!
On my last day in Perth, I booked a ferry ticket to Rottnest Island, a beautiful island right off the coast of the city. While there, I booked a bus ticket and traveled around the quiet little island, exploring its different bays, laying out, and doing some swimming. At Stark Bay, I was the only person on the beach and I seriously felt like I was in paradise. Then things got weird again... At Parakeet Bay, I met this friendly, older German man who was also traveling alone. He was nice and friendly at first, but then HE WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE! On the ferry ride back to Fremantle, he sat next to me. I pretended to sleep, as to avoid speaking. He then asked me what I was up to next. I had already planned in my head to go to the fish and chips shop; he asked me if he could tag along. Urgggh! We went to the restaurant and he paid, which was REALLY nice (I'll admit). We chit chatted for a bit and then he wondered "What should WE do next?" That's when I had to bring an end to this. I thanked him for dinner and wished him well on his journey, but told him I ALONE would be going to catch a movie and enjoy my last day ALONE. Thanks but no thanks buddy! He wasn't creepy like the sweaty Irish man, but I'd spent my entire week in Perth enjoying my alone time, and that was only going to change if he was a male model of some sort....which he wasn't. So sorry!
I went to my THIRD movie alone (ahhhh living the life!) and saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was actually better than the book. I then rushed on the train back to the city, where I quickly grabbed my things and then my friend took me to the airport. A sad goodbye and another 5 hour flight later and I was back in good ol' room 3 of Jack's Place and this time it was MY turn to sleep on the air mattress on the floor.
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I had just 10 days left in Sydney and I was freaking out! It was finally becoming real that in just mere days I'd be back in Jersey, back to the life I escaped, and oh, that's right! I STILL have to get my life together and figure out my future. My last weekend in Sydney, just so happened to also be my 23rd birthday weekend!
On my birthday, some friends and I took the ferry to Manly and ate at Manly Grill where I had one of the BEST rack of ribs EVER! Afterwards, we had some drinks at Manly Wharf Bar accompanied by some gnarly people watching (the men at Manly Wharf are pretty scrumptious, if I must say so). Then most of my friends left (work in the morning), but a few of us continued the party at the Steyne Hotel for reggae night where we got our dance on! That night we also met some rather interesting characters...
There was a really nice guy from Belgium who made us laugh...
Belgian: How long have you been in Sydney?
Me: About 10 months, since February.
Friend: Since April. And how about you?
Belgian: Uhh...since Thursday.
Then there were these two hippie Aussies we spent the better part of the night with talking about EVERYTHING! These guys were hilarious! The blonde guy was in a band and was OBSESSED with America (which I never thought could be possible) and talked endlessly about moving there. We talked about religion and God and blondie declared how he couldn't wait to go to America and go to a Baptist church to see all the people singing and clapping and the, and I quote, "black mamas wiping their sweat." He then also gave us an in depth look into his greater life plan...
He would play music and record exactly one album. He would then "die tragically" at a young age and subsequently the sales of that album would go crazy because he would have died a legend. However, he wouldn't actually be dead! He'd actually be off in Costa Rica raising baby sloths. But if that didn't work out, he'd sell oranges. And if that ALSO didn't work, he'd move to India and become a personal musician to a prince.
After a pretty random, but epic, birthday, for my last few days in Sydney, I just wanted to soak up as much of the city as I could. My room 3 bestie and I ate Burgerlicious for the last
time, went to Pancakes on the Rocks for our 1,000th time, and sat by the Opera House watching the sunset beneath the bridge and the ferries coming and going into the harbor. I also met up with the nice Belgian guy from my birthday, as it was his first days in Sydney and my last and we both just wanted to explore, explore, explore! I walked the CBD for the last time, got Dominos and ate it down in Rushcutters Bay for the last time, and did the Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach coastal walk for the very last time.On my last night in Sydney, some friends and I went to the ever-classy Ivy Bar for one last dance. As much as I tried to smile and have a good time, it was quite hard to mask the SEVERE DEPRESSION I was feeling knowing that in just hours I would be leaving.
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That night, I barely got any sleep and the next morning, as my roomie left for work, I gave an embarrassingly tearful goodbye to a girl I shared the smallest room in Jacks Place with for an entire month...a girl who also happens to be one of the most beautiful and sweetest girls in the world and one of my new best friends :)Later, as my taxicab pulled up, a friend helped me load my bags into the car. I turned to give her a hug and just then, two brand new Jack's Place people I'd never even met were coming out through the front door.
New girl: "Oh no, you're leaving?! Well have a safe flight!"
And then she and her friend turned up the road and went on their merry way. As the new girl embarked on her exciting new life in a new city, I looked up at Jack's Place, the place I'd called home all year, and it was almost completely unrecognizable now. The hoards of new people and the ghosts of friends past were letting me know my time had run out and it was time to go.
In the cab ride on my way to the airport, I posted this Facebook status which couldn't better describe the greatest 10 months of my life...
As I leave Australia, I'm thinking how proud of myself I am for deciding to put a career aside in order to spend a year traveling and living the life I wanted to live.
I failed twice to get a job at an ice cream shop, I somehow afforded $1000+/month rent all on my own, I lived in a van with 2 people for 6 weeks, I got cursed out my a crackhead prostitute, I cleaned toilets and filthy rooms at a hostel, I got and lost 2 jobs in the span of a month, I developed a jewelry business out of my bedroom, I made lifelong friends from all over the world... I had a dreamlike experience I could not have gained anywhere else. If I had to do it all over again, I'd choose Burgerlicious over corporate America anyday.
I encourage everyone to work to live, don't live to work. Life is an amazing journey and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. YOLO!
Hi, i just literally read through almost all of your blog and would really be interested in talking to you. I'm a 21 year old black female from the NJ area as well and have been seriously wanderlusting for forever but taking it more seriously as of lately. I just have alot of questions about traveling and such but don't know anybody with first hand experience to ask, So if it's not too much to ask if you ever have the time my email is briamonet5@gmail.com and the only social network i use is tumblr so you could message me there as well, briaamonett.tumblr.com i would greatly appreciate it. Love your blog!
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