Take #2

A problem with the paperwork between the rental firm and the bike dealer meant no bike yesterday. Apparently it's all sorted out now and another trek into the suburbs of Perth is required. Fingers crossed...

The pool run came crashing to an end last night too. Bah!

Edit: I have a bike at last, hurrah! And for the pleasure my hands are now aching from all the clutching in downtown Perth. Can someone at UBS do a !whine for me please? Ta :)

Two wheels good, four wheels bad

Today is bike day, woo! Not quite sure what the luggage situation is on this thing but I'm praying I can strap my rucksack onto the sucker somehow...

Think I'll do a little bit of touring around the west coast of Oz before attempting the Nullarbor Plain (bonus points to the latin heads who can translate that to English) as it's basically 1000km with about 3 tiny stopovers in between. It's a busy highway along there anyway but I'd rather know roughly how many mpg's this thing can do before attempting it.

And yes, more pictures will be forthcoming. I have a shortlist, just need to upload them at a convenient time (and 12.36am isn't the time...)

I think I now have a motorbike... In the end I opted to rent the bike as it saves a fair amount of faffing around with registration requirements and trying to sell the thing at the end of the trip.
Hopefully I should get confirmation tomorrow and may have my mitts on it next weekend (or maybe sooner).

I haven't done much in Perth so far, unless you can count being ill as an activity, in which case I've been very busy! I've played a bit of footy with the guys at the hostel (and kept quiet I'm a Leeds supporter) and had a front row seat when two guys failed to head the ball and ended up nutting each other with a resounding 'thunk', swiftly followed by one of the guys being covered in blood due to a cut above his eye from the impact - lovely! 5 stitches and a beer or two later Marcel seems happy enough though. I also cycled down to Cottesloe beach last week - I had been aiming for 'City beach' but the signs dried up and next thing I knew I was at Cottesloe.

There's a bar directly under the hostel that has a free pool table on Thursdays, so I've played a game or 2 as you do. Undefeated so far! A couple of Aussies tried to stir things up by claiming all sorts of weird rules but a long double on the 8 ball kept them quiet for a bit ;-)

Looking forward to finally getting some wheels!

Bl**dy vodafone

For the second month in a row, Vodafone UK have cut me off... Happy happy, joy joy!

+61 415 622349 is now the number to use going forward!

Eagle-eyed readers may note the aussie number has changed... long story involving an inept backpacker thief (let's just say he ended up paying for the replacement)!

Hello Australia!

Hello Australia! First time here so looking forward to see what this little island has to offer.

Took me a while to get into Perth town centre from the airport. Apparently you need to jump into the middle of the road to make the airbus bus actually stop to pick you up - something the information displays failed to mention (grrr).

After 4 days of cool temperatures and cloud in Hong Kong, I'm back to 30c+ and sunny skies once more. Bliss! Perth seems like a nice place so far. Just done some wandering around the main town and down to Kings Park around sunset time so far. The lawns are very impressive there - if this was the UK someone would have pinched the turf there in a flash...

Feeling rather knackered at the moment. Has the jet lag (from a month ago) finally caught up with me? I'm sure a good helping of KFC will help realign the body clock ;-)

G'bye and G'day

It's my last day in Hong Kong today and will be jetting off to Perth later on. The bags already checked in so I don't have to lug it around for several more hours, thank [insert deity here]! (the flight's at 11.30pm...)

Had a fab time here, in no small part to Sel being around - a friendly face is always a welcome sight :-). Next time I'll have to make a trip over to Macau. I was planning on going today but the forecast is for rain and knowing me I'll probably miss the last return ferry and miss my plane.

I did all the touristy things: went on the Star Ferries a few times, saw the Temple St. night market and the 'Ladies' night market (basically a clothes market), the big buddha on Lantau island (when I visited there the cloud level was so low I could only see the outline), travelled on the 800m of escalators that run up to mid-level and traipsed along Lan Kwai Fong enjoying the throng of expats boozing it up. Oh, and I also went up to Peak Tower to see the non-view (it was misty/smoggy again) - the funicular tram ride up there is veeerryyyy steep, you can really feel yourself being pushed backwards into the seat.

I think I got loads of good piccies but until I can find somewhere to upload them you'll have to take my word for it. Why did I think it would be easy to find internet cafes here??

Staying in Mirador Mansion was an experience to say the least. The shower-toilet-sink combo is an interesting idea. I even got a hot shower on one of the mornings! Luckily, I didn't have a window as the view into the central area was, erm, interesting (think junkyard/rubbish dump).

P.S. Miracles upon miracles, Leeds win! And where's Rhys when you need to gloat over Wales being beaten by Italy?

Fancy meeting you here

I've arrived in Hong Kong, hurrah! Just a short sojourn until the big trip in Oz begins.

Luckily for me, Sel is in town wining, dining and generally schmoozing the socks off her clients over here. As I'd already found somewhere to eat in expat central (and LOUD expats at that), Sel met up with me there where we had a couple of drinks and caught up with all the latest gossip. In between we gate crashed a couple of private gallery viewings pretending we were supposed to be there (I think my clothes gave me away to be honest but noone booted us out). Who'd have thought a 10ftx10ft bright pink portrait could work, not me for one!

For those of you worried I've been living the high life too much, you'll be pleased to know I'm in proper backpacker digs now (Mirador Mansion, next door to the more infamous Chungking Mansion). God knows why I thought HK would be cheaper than London but as you can guess it ain't. Dividing by 15 to convert to UK prices is doing my head in too! :)

LUFC RIP

Davyma, it's half time and looking bad already. So if you had some witty taunt prepared, don't bother :)

Wilma, how much do I owe you? I may as well pay up now while we're still in the Championship! Ay carumba!

Well it amused me anyway

Passed this while bombing around the island.
Reminded me of the old Monty Python argument sketch :-)

Biggest trauma of the trip so far: have moved from a place with a hammock, to a place without hammock. Poor old me.