Perth Day 1: It's raining, it's pouring

According to my Lonely Planet guide, one of the things Perth has to offer is “wonderful weather”. Right now, the weather is anything but wonderful. And it is not getting better during the next couple of days :(.

Today there was some sun. But there were also quite a few showers and a very strong wind. Ah well, even though the weather is just fair, I am not going to sit back and do nothing. I decided that a good way to explore Perth would be a walking tour. There was a nice walking tour in my Lonely Planet guide, of about 4.5 km. That tour gave me a good impression of Perth. I made quite a few detours (I don’t always have a good sense of direction, especially when I am still slightly jetlagged :D), so I think that I walked at least 6 km.

Perth is a wonderful, laidback city. Modern skylines and several older, historic buildings. Nice shopping streets stirring with activity. Lovely waterfront with the Swan Bell Tower. What I also liked was Jacob’s ladder. This “ladder” consists of quite a few stairs. But once you have climbed all of those stairs, you are provided with a great view of downtown Perth.

Wandered around King’s Park a bit, but then it started pouring rain. I hurried back to the city center on my excellent Timberland shoes (barely felt my feet). I did some grocery shopping and actually cooked my own meal. Pasta with some tomato sauce and a salad. For dessert I had some excellent strawberries. Also discovered a new brand of Ice Tea: Rooiboos with some sort of mystery fruit. It is delicious, don’t think we have this particular Ice Tea in the Netherlands.

About my jetlag, or I should actually say lack thereof. I feel fine. Slept excellent last night in my private room. After this good night rest, I had to say goodbye to this luxury. I moved to a Dorm Room, which I share with three other girls. It is a spacious, clean room. The showers and toilets also look nice. It doesn’t seem like any of my roommates likes being in Perth. They all look very cranky (or are they jetlagged??). Ah well, I am not cranky, I feel very privileged that I get the chance to visit Australia again :D. Since I was feeling so well, I decided that I could go to the gym (yes this hostel has a gym!) for a small workout. Just ten minutes on the crosstrainer, fifteen minutes on the treadmill and some weighttraining. That was enough for now. Might do a longer workout later in the week. Although I really don’t need a lengty workout, since I am also walking quite a lot.

Because the weather is not as I hoped it would be, I have had a hard time deciding what to do during the next couple of days. These are my plans, at least for now. The weahter forecasts for tomorrow are ok, not as much wind as today, so I am going to explore Fremantle (a town close to Perth). Tuesday, when a little bit of rain but also some sun is predicted, I will probably take the ferry to Rottnest Island. There I am going to rent a bike to explore the island (and hopefully to see a few quokkas).
I wanted to do a Day Tour to either Margaret River or the Pinnacles on Wednesday. But, so far, the weather forecasts for Wednesday are awful. So I might just stay in Perth for the day and take the hop-on hop-off bus to explore the city and its outskirts a little more.

PS. I made a mistake yesterday, by claiming that Hefty Smurf/Potige Smurf is accompanying me on my trip through Australia. It appears that I have brought the wrong smurf with me ;). Poor Hefty/Potige is still in Smurf Village, although in a sense Hefty/Potige IS here, since some people have been calling me by that name lately lol :P. The one I have now is just called “Smurf”, and excellent company as well ;). And he likes Perth too!!!