Perth and Cottesloe

What a busy day! I woke up early this morning - my body is still a little unsure of when or where it is (feel like that is a line from Lost) – had breakfast, and then went into the city of Perth. It’s about a 5-10 minute bus ride from where I am staying. It was a nice drive as we drove along the Swan River. Apparently, Dolphins are sometimes seen playing there so I will be keeping an eye out for them. Also, I hear they set aside parts of the river for water sports (wakeboarding, parasailing, kite boarding) so that’s another thing to look out for. So finally arrived to Perth and enjoyed it very much. It’s a pretty (looks wise) and pretty (size wise) small city - nothing distinguishingly Australian about it (that I’ve noticed yet). Very clean and friendly place. Basically there are two main streets with shops and cafes. It is a nice layout, and sure it will be fun to explore more – though I do feel as if one can cover most of it in about a day … which I did. 

There are a lot of Asian restaurants so I’m sure I’ll be going in a bunch. Found a Target in the city, but it was a kind of dinky one. Somehow just didn’t have the same Target magic that the stores in the States do. They also seemed to be missing lots of random things (surge protectors, hampers, hooks for hanging, etc) Come on Target, step your game up. Side note: when I finally found a surge protector in another store it cost 140 dollars! What!? Decided to pass. Found a nice bookstore and bought a book on Australian fish, which got me excited for diving! Although, all the Australians I have spoken to have made it sound like I am going to have to wait to swim since it is the middle of their winter here. I was getting a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get in the water for a while from the way they were talking. But with not a single cloud in the sky and the sun blazing, I decided to go check out the beach and see how cold it really was. I couldn’t tell if they were discouraging me from swimming because of the “coldness” or because of all the friendly creatures that want to eat me. We got on the bus around 2:15 and by 2:45 we were at Cottesloe beach. Still a little unsure of my decision to swim, I asked the bus driver, “So besides it probably being a little bit cold, is it safe to go swimming now? There aren’t any jellies right?” (They have really nasty jelly fish here that can kill you or just cause excruciating pain. Wasn’t really in the mood for either one today) To which the driver replied, “Nah mate, should be fine. The sharks ate all the jellies.” I think there was a wink in there and was 90% sure it was a joke… I returned to my seat. Thinking this over I determined sharks don’t eat jellies, which meant that either a). There were still jellies (since they weren’t eaten) b). There were sharks and jellies or c). it was perfectly safe to go swimming and the driver was just joking around. I decided to go with C. It was exciting because the bus has to go up this hill and just as it reaches the top you get this great view of the water. 

By the time we got to the beach it was 70 degrees outside, not bad for the middle of winter. The water and the beach were beautiful. 

There was a rock jetty that you could walk out on and listen to waves breaking and behind the beach were several cafes. 

At one point this old man was walking down the beach and this swarm of seagulls just kept following him. It was pretty funny (and bizarre) to watch, as they just hovered over him and went where he did.

 After sitting on the rocks for a while, it was time for a swim, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the water about the same temperature as Martha’s Vineyard. Definitely a little chilly, but very do-able. 

Felt so great getting in the water and getting my first swim in Australia. 

The water seemed saltier… I’ll have to look up whether the Indian Ocean is in fact saltier. I could believe it. Lying down after my swim, things seemed pretty good.

 Imagining coming here after a long day of classes or just for the day on a weekend made my decision to come to Australia seem like a pretty damn good one. A day well spent.