I'm not a hat person

Cottisloe Beach and a face of joy

Perth from Kings Park

Leppard's dream restaurant

This man hated Fremantle. A lot.

Every day is a struggle

Anyone feeling Christmassy yet? I see Christmas trees everywhere and I hear carols but it all just seems a bit surreal when it's so sunny. (Haha) Where's the snow and cold? Or is it more like where's the constant rain and tornadoes these days? (Haha again). 

We got to our hostel in Perth at about 2am last Sunday and both got next to no sleep that night. However, Monday is backpackers and students night at a big pub/club called The Deen, at which our hostel is given something like a $200 bar tab which means a lot of free beer for everyone! So I more or less had the cheapest night out of my whole life. At one point there were about 15 jugs of beer on the table beside me. Waaaaheeeey... 

The most difficult thing I've had to do so far is buy a damned hat. My head is too big for most hats and then when I do find one that fits, like 99.5% of all hats, makes me look ridiculous. Nick will vouch for this. I could see the look on his face that said 'just hurry up and buy a hat or I am going to tear my own arm off so i have something to beat you with'. 

Yesterday we got our train tickets on the Indian Pacific to Melbourne (via Adelaide) sorted. We had planned to drive it on a cheap campervan deal but once we did the maths on the deal we did find, it was far too costly for our meagre means. But just to give you an idea of the 3-day train journey we are about to make, it's roughly the width of America or at least 3x Lands End to John O Groats. And yes, we had planned to drive it in about 5 days. 

We've already got ourselves two authentic Aussie guides to Melbourne, one being a girl called Kate who will be there for Christmas and the other being a guy called Justin, an electro-music fiend who promises to take us to some clubs that will play proper "sleazy-electro". Score. Went to a club on Friday that brings new meaning to the word grimy. It smelt of a thousand split pints and as many cigarette ends stubbed out into the floor. However, the band that was on did play No One Knows so I naturally jumped about like I had a pogo stick up my arse. 

 Today we went to a town south of Perth called Fremantle, or Freo in the traditional Aussie vein of shortening any words they can. I thought Perth was a laid back city until we went to Freo, but Freo has that small town relaxed atmosphere about it that even Perth can't manage. We sampled some of the best beer I have ever had in a brewery/bar called Little Creatures and went to an old prison called the roundhouse which featured a series of increasingly pissed-off letters from a sea captain who had been sent to Fremantle about 110 yrs ago (see above picture for the final letter in which he cracks). 

 Ho hum, that's it for now I think. I'll probably be out of touch for several days as we undertake our marathon train journey. Did I mention that we don't have beds or owt, just reclining Aeroplane style seats? Why do we do this? Because we are men, men who laugh in the face of adversity and drink cheap supermarket rip offs of brand-name spirits out of a hipflask. Yes, I brought my hipflask with me. I probably look, to some, like an alcoholic. This week: Old Kentucky.... mmm