ESL Blogs

First of all, happy new year. It's been a while since I write and post any blog in here. I was struck with laziness virus. LOL. Anyway, in this blog, I want to share with you my Australian Diary. It will be a series of blogs, and I hope you will enjoy reading it as I was enjoying my journey through Perth.

I went to Perth, Western Australia from 29th December 2013 and 4th January 2014, well, technically maybe until 3rd January 2014.

Day One - 29th December 2013

My flight was scheduled at 9.30 am. I had agreed to pick my friend up from her office where she would park her car at about 7.00 am. So that would leave us ample time to check in and clear the immigration. As usual, I seldom could sleep too deep before going anywhere. Maybe because adrenalin rush or maybe because I was just too excited. Anyway, I set my alarm at 4.30 am and I guessed I should not bother. I woke up well ahead.  

Though my friend was a bit late, we managed to clear the check in and immigration process in no time at all. Since we had enough time to enjoy our breakfast, we decided to take our coffee and eat some muffin at Starbucks cafe. 

Our flight was on time, and took about five and a half hour to reach Perth. We were lucky because we were seated at the back of the flight and most of the seats were empty. After the breakfast being served by the flight attendants, I spent my time reading an e-book in my iPad; "The Lighting Thief by Rick Riordan". There was nothing much you can do during a flight; either reading, watching in-flight entertainments (which I don't fancy much) or just sleeping. 

After some hour, I decided to take a nap. At first, I was napping at my seat, but let me tell you, flight seat was not a good place to nap. It's literally a pain in the neck. Since there were a lot of empty seats at the back, I decided to occupy the middle seats where there were three empty seats in a row. I flipped back the arm rest of the seats, voila, I got one long and nice bed/seat.

I spent my time between napping and reading the e-book. Once in a while the Captain would make some announcement, but all in all, it was a pretty smooth and boring flight. After some time, the Captain announced that we were going to reach Perth and the flight would start to descend and ask everyone to be back at their seats. From the window of the flight I could see some brown/yellowish view. I guess we were flying somewhere above the Australian desert. It looked very desolate. 

Out of the blue, the plane hit one air pocket after another. There some audible groan from somewhere, and a few babies started crying. Since I was seating at the back of the plane, the impact of those hits were more pronounced. After like the longest few minutes, the plane started its descend. The landing was smooth. Thank God.

Finally, I reached Australia. Well, not yet, but I was getting there. After like the longest Immigration ever, over there it's called Customs and Border Protection Services, we finally able to take a taxi to the City of Perth. I had been fortunate enough to be able to travel to a few countries, be it in the surrounding regions, or Europe, but I never encountered the longest Customs and Immigration ever as compared over here. I hope it's not a sign of things to come.

Our taxi driver was a nice old man from New Zealand. He told us that most people from Perth were away that was why the hotel prices were a bit cheaper. But he warned us that Perth was an expensive city to live in. After about twenty minutes, we reached our hotel. After checking in our room, my friend and I decided to venture out to the City of Perth. We tried to call our friends who had arrived to Perth one day earlier and staying in the same hotel, but they were not around.

After checking the route from the hotel reception, we started to walk. The City was indeed very quite and empty. It reminded me of my visit to the City of Belfast, a few years back when the City seemed to be abandoned. The walk was pleasant. It was warm but the wind made it a bit chilly. We reached the business centre at Hay Street. Unfortunately, at that time, it was about 5.00 pm and all shops were closed except a few food and beverages shops. 

We felt a bit lost because there was nothing much we could do. But we decided to continue on our walk and bought some fish and chips. From the city centre we decided to walk along the Swan River. By this time, the City of Perth was awashed with golden colour. The sun was setting down, and the view was magnificent. We stopped and just sit at the bench and watch our first sun set in Perth. The temperature was getting chilled, but we just ignore it. 

We don't talk much, just watched and enjoyed the view. After some time, our friends gave us a call and asking where we were. They decided to join us, so there we were, four ladies, eating some fish and chips and laughing though shivering, and spent our first day together in Perth.

To be continued in My Perth Diary : Day Two 30th December 2013.