Western Australia: July 1999
Perth, Fremantle, Rottnest Island

Perth - Party city
We arrived at Perth and The Coolabah Lodge (194 Brisbane St. Northbridge) came to get us. They have a lovely quiet hostel in Northbridge, within walking distance of the city (just over a river). We had nice mattresses, nice duvees, and big kitchens to cook in plus a tv room. It would do. I went to see if Martin was around. He was staying at the Red Backpackers, a crazed party hostel teeming with people. I noticed a sign that said if people are playing football in the halls at 3 am to call the cell number of the manager. Ok. So he and I went out to a local Irish pub that Bono of U2 frequents when in town. I had run out of cash. Martin bought pitchers of beer and we talked til late. He was planning to get the next available flight home to England. He said men must hit on me all the time. He was very discouraged by the end of his trip. He was tired and things had just not gone his way for a while. He walked me home, kissed me on the cheek and I never saw him again. Turns out he later emailed me that he had caught the next flight home the next day. He is currently at college in Sheffield. But I'll never forget him.

D and I went exploring. We went to a museum and learned a lot about some of the Aboriginal past from this century. Man what an education I got. I had never heard of all this. Well there is no other term but ethnic genocide. The white people decided to wipe them out by stealing their children and putting the kids in internment camps. Some of these camps were horrible with a lot of abuse and the kids were basically being brainwashed to forget their culture and language. Gee, sounds like what American government did to the Native Americans a few years earlier! The Australians discovered the genes for Aboriginals are recessive and get bred out in 4 generations. The idea was to interbreed the Aboriginals out of existance. Whole families were torn apart for generations. It only was discontinued in the early 70s and the damage has been incalculable. Many of these children raised children without any parenting skills and a lot of these people now walk between the worlds, not black, not white. They are prone to drugs, alcohol, violence, prison, homelessness. It was a rude awakening and made me feel sick to be a white person. Our culture is so destructive and poisonous to everything it encounters that is native or near the earth. We worship money and technology while we poison, destroy, tear apart, and otherwise annihilate with our own vain rationals. Previously I had no idea about the Aboriginal people. I knew of them. I erroneously thought they were all one language, all one tribe. Part of the problem was they had different tribes with different boundaries and because of culture could not pull together to resist the whites or make treaties. The white world and the Aboriginal world are so different in every way in beliefs. Many aboriginals were imprisoned for crimes they did not understand. I visited the one in Fremantle and it makes our prisons look like country clubs. It's a huge complicated issue that I can't speak too long on since I am hardly an expert. But I encourage you to investigate for yourself. The future? Aboriginal people are getting more claims to sacred sites and land rights. They are reclaiming themselves from alcohol and drugs by returning to the bush. They are working hard to make the government recognize the past wrongs, make a sorry day, create reconciliation. It's a long process. I met a lot of white people who because of the media and the government really hate and despise aboriginal people, whom they have never met, don't understand. At least in the Northern Territory and Western Australia people seemed to be able to have formed some unspoken understanding of each other as human beings. The whole museum piece was well documented and I had a lot of thinking to do after I left.

Perth is a modern city with a few high rises. They have a great big street mall in the center and D and I spent a lot of time there shopping since we had been in the bush so long we were starving for civilization. I bought a pair of Australian hiking boots that took a week to break in my poor aching feet and ankles. But I love those boots now. We found internet for $1 AUD an hour in town. I had to go to the burbs to get a refund on my parks pass. Perth has pretty good bus system around town. A lovely river flows through the downtown. It is a well-ordered city and great nightlife let me tell you. Martin and I hung out at The Bog in Northbridge. It is where Bono of U2 heads when he is in town. They have a good bar and a few tables, a good size dance floor and this place doesn't heat up til about midnite. Irish bars are the best pubs in Australia. They rock. All the backpackers frequent them. I think the only night of the week that is slow around here is Monday nite. The hostels have the scoop on what nightclub or bar is rocking out that night attracting backpackers with free sausage sizzles and drink specials. I went one night to the Hip-E Club about 1 km west of Northbridge. A London Doubledecker bus came to pick us up and to other hostels in the area. That's where I met Rein. He's a Dutch national who is touring Australia by car. My first impression of him was not that great. He was slightly balding, tall, thin, not super good looking, had a gap in his front teeth. He seemed to be hitting on the cute blond chicks on the bus (he was staying at Coolabah too) and I was like "oh gross". Of course the irony is not lost on me. I mean I started this trip happily a non-partier up the partycoast of Queensland and now here I am in Perth going out every nite til all hours partying my brains out. So I didn't know anyone at the club and we were all standing around milling and of course he and I started talking. Then some acquaintance of his a Swiss German (good looking tho on the short side but full of good humor. His English was a bit rough but Rein could translate for all three of us). I was in full evil mode and played the two of them off each other all night long. I was in heaven. As the evening wore on we danced and I took turns with both of them. Rein was definitely the more clumsy of the two but had a certain boyish charm I liked. I was very mentally challenging and they would take turns trying to catch me but I would flitter away from each attempt. This went on til way into the early hours. I was loving it. Rein tried to kiss me, I brushed away. Then the Swiss guy tried to kiss me, I turned away. They both would mutter sorry at their failed attempt. I danced and discoed and had the undivided attention of two Euros all evening. So I went home very happy. Rein sort of won the battle eventually since I just got tired and wanted to go home so he happily obliged to walk me home. I made fun of his saying "nay" all the time (that is Dutch for "no"). I teased him. Our company together devolved into pushing hitting punching and general 3rd greade behavior. Like most men he is on the insecure side and his attempt to be affectionate meant putting me in aheadlock and dragging me down the street. Help! We went to The Bog to dance and drink some more. He was getting really obnoxious and people were giving him nasty looks but I found it amusing. We ended up outside our quiet hostel whispering, making out on the side of his car parked out front. He wanted to drive off with me. But I declined that invitation. I like a little adventure but that would just be foolhardy. We went inside and made out on the couch but finally he had to go to sleep and so then I hung out with some very drunk Irishmen who were forlornly celebrating their mates return the next morn to Ireland. They raided the fridge to eat other people's food (a definite no-no in the etiquette of hosteling). They offered me a piece of his birthday cake. It had mold on it! Eew. A very interesting evening. I finally crawled into my bunk and Deirdre woke me the next day to get our stuff ready to go to Rottnest Island. Rein was sleeping so I left a note saying we would be back on Friday if he was still around.

Fremantle
This is a great little town by the ocean which was rehabilitated when Australia won the America's Cup and had a challenge for it here. It has a lovely train station that is a short hop from the skyline of Perth. A cafe-bustling street with people sitting drinking coffee on the sidewalk or strolling by street performers on their way to the famous Fremantle Market a huge city block of small vendors of every type of ware. Deirdre picked up some diamond earrings very reasonable and we bought a ton of little opal cabachons for $10AUD each --what a steal. We were staying at the hostel in town. The poor owners were beside themselves leaving nasty messages about "clean up after your dishes or else!" One hostel owner I heard finally broke down and bought a dish washer. My bed was near a drafty window but we were most excited for evening when we were off to see Fremantle Prison by Candlelight tour. My feet were killing me in the new shoes I bought in Perth and I was in tears and very cranky trying to hobble around on foot everywhere. Deirdre in typical form bought me some cute funny bumperstickers and tried to cheer me up. She's the best! Fremantle Prison Tour by Candlelight
So we wound our way up to the fortress of limestone and had to wait around til they had a quorum and we were handed tiny flashlights and formed a line with a guide. The prison,built in the 1850s) was last used in the early 1990's after a big prison riot in which the inmates tried to burn the place down and after we saw the conditions we were glad we live in America where prison's seem like condo's compared to the state people were housed in here. The prison was originally built only as holding cells for prisoner's coming over from England in the nineteenth century. The prisoner's for a while were farmed out as laborers but public opinion started to see this as a form of slavery so prisoners were confined to tiny cells with no running water, heat or air conditioning for 23 hours a day. Scary. We saw the solitary confinement cells and the gallows where prisoners were hung. We saw the exercise yard and they had actors come around and be prisoners and tell their tale. I asked one inmate what are you in for and he said "Come here and I will show you." Yikes! All the kids were screaming throughout which added to the fun. We saw all the exquisite art work prisoners had done on their cell walls from the classical to Aboriginal designs. They had different cells set up in different time periods. We saw the chapel made of yarra wood (huge beams crossed the roof). The prison is a massive structure and very formidable. It was built by convict labor of limestone and the energy there is very heavy from the years of people who lived there unhappily. The Australian government finally built a new facility. Fremantle gets two thumbs up in my book. A must-visit town. We woke up early to try and find our way around this largely industrial container port area to the ferry.

Rottnest Island
A quokka
These little marsupials inhabit the island in great numbers. In fact it is how the island got it's name. Rottnest means Rats Nest from the first Dutch explorers who came here. Quokka's frequently approach people for fresh water and tidbits. They eat lawns to manicured perfection after dusk. They are very tame and their fur is quite soft. We were told not to feed them since it gives them upset tummies. The ferry ride over was pretty rough. There is onlyh one town. It was school holidays so a lot of people were on vacation with their children. We walked up to the hostel, in a former army barracks. We got a bus pas to get us around the island. Frequent rain squalls washed over the island every few hours and my feet were still killing me. I made the mistake of taking my shoes off to walk on the sandpaper like road surface. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Not fun. The rough craggy shores with coral reefs were intersperced with turquoise sea and a little wind roughed the waves to a frothy rolling boil. We passed surfers catching a few waves, and a huge osprey nest built on a craggy ledge just offshore, piled high with brush the bird sat a lonely egg vigil. Kids ride their bikes all over and a solitary lighthouse sits high on a hill far from town to warn ships of the islands long history of wrecks along the hidden reef lining the island. As it was school holiday the islanders had a town ghost story telling night so we went along to hear the locals tell the local legends of ghosts and unexplained happenings. That was fun. The organizers led us from the town square to various buildings where people dressed in period costumes told us of the ghosts who frequent the town. There are some aboriginal people's ghosts who bother the lighthouse keepers from time to time. But that itself is a sad reminder of the days when the island was a penal colony for them and the one's who died here perhaps are coming to find a way home. They never bother anyone, these ghosts, they just seem to follow the white people around as if they need answers. I think a full spirit cleansing is needed here. The island has very little fresh water. The ponds were dredged for stone to pave the roads which caused salt water to filter into the groundwater. The town uses a bore and desalinates the water for drinking. The quokkas do ok until the summer when it doesn't rain much and they get dehydrated and many die. But it is the natural way to control the population with no predators on the island. The ferry back to Fremantle was rough going. The seas had huge swells and seasick bags were passed out. I met two 10 year old Australia children and we talked of America and schools there and here. Once back we got a ride back to town with the shuttle driver and since we were the only ones he gave us a tour of Perth and the surrounding interesting features for a treat. See, these Australians really are wonderful people.

Back in Perth
Well we got back to Perth and checked our email which by now was becoming somewhat of an obsession since it was one of our few ways to keep in touch with home and family and get news. Rein was still there at Coolibah tho he said it wasn't just the idea of seeing me again that delayed his trip north. He had been driving around the south exploring some of the region. He really loved it. He had been through the long Nullabor desert over a week ago and he said it was his favorite part. I felt strangely shy around him like Ok what do we do now. So Deirdre was sensible she went to do laundry and hang out with the hostelers and I went out on the town again. I really didn't have as good a time this time. Well after the events of the Hip-E club that would be hard to recreate. So we just walked around, went to a bar for a drink. Hung out. Walked around Northbridge. I was a bit hyper. He kissed me against a brick wall. Later another one of those squalls came up and it began to rain. He said he wished I would come with him north. I think he had some other woman traveling companion. We fooled around on the couch late at nite. We had to be careful coz the hostel is so quiet and make sure no one else was coming in. I didn't want to saw goodbye but I had a flight to catch at 5 am and he was tired so he hugged me and I never saw him again and it is unlikely I ever will. So bittersweet to meet all these great guys on the road but only have these little interludes and a great memory but all too soon I am alone again. Sigh. But as Deirdre said "A man in every port" was how this trip was shaping up for me.
On to Alice Springs and the Red Center
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This page updated February 21, 2000.