Perth

As stated in the last post, we were hoping to swim with dolphins in Monkey Mia (Mia being ‘home’ in Aboriginal language). We didn’t get to swim with them, but we were surrounded by about ten of them, only a few centimeters away from us in the water. It was an amazing experience! The water was so clear and we could see so many of them hanging around, jumping in the distance and swimming closer to give us a nice glance at their babies. It was beautiful. There weren’t as many tourists, because it was the off-season, which made the experience even better. Five dolphins were fed four fish each and five girls choose a different volunteer each time to feed a fish to a dolphin. The girls liked David so much they choose him twice, which a couple of German tourists disliked very much! He only went to feed a dolphin once though, to give others a chance as well. The bay we saw the dolphins in is called Shark Bay. You can imagine how the bay got its name. We didn’t stick around long enough to spot the sharks, but apparently Shark Bay is the place to see hammerheads and great whites. The waters are unbelievably clear but also quite cool. Seeing the dolphins was definitely worth the 300km detour.

From Monkey Mia we drove south to Geraldton, the town we originally thought to settle down in for a few months. Unfortunately we weren’t too charmed by the place and since it is only 400 km south from Perth, we decided to push on. We stopped not too far from Geraldton right on the beach. We got there through a narrow four wheel drive track and had the whole place to ourselves. At such moments we really appreciate having a four wheel drive! We had some wine, cheese and biscuits (hooray being back in Australia) and watched the sun go down. The next morning, via a suddenly very busy highway (unlike anything we we’d seen in the past week) and the lovely vineyards of the Swan Valley we arrived in Perth. We settled in a caravan park close by the beach and got invited around to a friend’s place that night.

On the four day boat trip from Lombok to Flores in Indonesia, we met a lot of nice people, including one guy from Namibia. We kept in touch over the next few months and that night, two weeks ago, we met him at his friend’s house in Perth. It was great to catch up and suddenly we found ourselves at a party with him, his friend and his two cousins (all from Namibia). We met a lot of nice people and had great night with lots of drinks, which made us like Perth instantly. This, together with the beautiful temperature (30 degrees, but dry heat, a lot different from the Top End), made us think about staying in Perth for a bit longer than the initial three months. The next morning we met up with the Namibians again to go to this beautiful, very windy beach in Lancelin, a kite surfer’s paradise.

(Getting stuck in de dunes)

(Some people travel around in interesting vehicles. Jenny is adding her personal touch to the van here)

The next week consisted of getting to know the city, job searching and finding a place to stay. Through someone we met at the party we got to know someone who was looking for housemates. A week later, we moved into this place on a hill, about eight km from the city centre, with beautiful views of the city at night. It’s also only a five minute drive from the beach and right next to a huge shopping centre, very convenient.

(view from our balcony)

Jenny found work for now and she is starting tomorrow, while David is still looking for a job. We would like to stay in Perth for a year or longer, but it all depends on our work situation and our tenants in Melbourne. At this stage we’re still a bit uncertain but we definitely like Perth. The city is not too busy, has beautiful beaches with the clearest waters and great pizza!

The shopping centers are actually closed on Sunday and the supermarket doesn’t open until eight o’clock on weekends. It is very windy in Perth, ideal conditions for kite surfing, which is hugely popular here. David has bought himself kite surfing equipment and Jenny will get a lesson next week.

We’ll keep you updated on how things are going with work, kite surfing and general beach bumming. Hopefully we can bring some positive news on our work situation soon!