6 Months in Perth: Abridged. | 9th - 15th Jan 2012

9th Jan

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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10th Jan

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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11th Jan

• Another fantastical sleepless night.
• Up early for a morning beach run and swim, blow out some hatred towards my home.
• Evening brought a pleasant evening's stroll for 2 hours in and around Downtown Perth, taking in the sights and sounds of no one around

Day's Verdict: Ohh yes, that's nice.

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12th Jan

• Tried a new restaurant for me, called Banzai in Leederville, great cheap food with and authentic rude service twist.

Day's Verdict: Tasty.

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13th Jan

• Leaving drinks in the afternoon-stroke-evening-stroke-quite early morning
• Starting at the Royal in East Perth, we scooted along to a place called Queens an old converted rail station, only to finish up at another pub in, somewhereville, called Squires

Day's Verdict: I think it was fun.

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14th Jan

• A day of Cricket, all day long. All. Day.
• I didn't really understand what was going on, but what I did get, that it was, Australia vs India in a something, for something, to do with something.
• Hesitant at first because quite frankly, cricket is utterly boring, I really enjoyed myself, chilling on the grass watching the 35 degree day go by as people played in front of you, like some sort of primitive TV, whilst having a picnic!

Day's Verdict: How very civilised.

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15th Jan

• Having the bug from exploring, I took a 3 hour walk down and along the river. Inadvertently passing the best bit along the way Kings Park, but it was too late by then, so I just carried on avoiding it.
• I went on the most terrifying paddleboarding session I've ever had, with strong currents, winds, a very small board and fairly choppy waters, I was at high risk to falling in, which I really didn't want to do that day, why? Because there were swarms of jellyfish down there, hundreds of the buggers idly being all menacing looking.
• Turns out I had nothing to worry about, as they aren't poisonous, wasted energy it seems!
• Evening, had a heavy enjoyable Sunday session at the Garden (for a change!)

Day's Verdict: An awesome day.

6 Months in Perth: Abridged. | 2nd - 8th Jan 2012

2nd Jan

• The previous night the fly screen was broken and needed repairing, the best tool for the job at the time was the ignition key for the campervan, as you can probably see where this is going, it broke, in half, our only key leaving us with no key to start the car and no way of getting home and we had to get home.
• Doing what all great people do, we left it and got breakfast. Ignored the problem for a while, getting back to the car we tried all manner of things, screwdrivers, punching, hope, but all with no avail.
• We had one solution left. A locksmith but it was a public holiday and stuck in an area that only has one locksmith, we were riding all our hopes on that.
• He was on holiday.
• We booked a coach back to Perth leaving the key breaker to go down with the ship as he wasn't in a rush to get home, we decided to spend the last few hours in Margaret River, swimming in the river and reading magazines (not at the same time)
• We got on the coach and began our long long journey home...
• All the while another locksmith made himself known, who had to kindly drive an hour with his kit down to us to see if it was even possible to fix the key.
• It was possible!
• We hopped off the coach halfway and met with key-breaker to have a sundowner drink and carry on the the rest of the journey back to Perth the way we started it.

Day's Verdict: Mild Panic.

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3rd Jan

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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4th Jan

• Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to temporarily move out of my bed, room, house, home I have been living in since I arrived in Perth, to go to somewhere new and exciting.
• Tonight's entertainment was packing.

Day's Verdict: Packed.

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5th Jan

• Moving Day!
• I am with a... New key to a... New room with a... New mattress with a... nothing else, just a bed on a wooden floor

Day's Verdict: Awesome Hobo Chic.

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6th Jan

• My Night's Sleep:
• 21:45 - I head to bed for an early night at my new place so I can feel refreshed and positive in the morning.
• 21:55 - Sleeping is made difficult as it's more humid than a summer in Dubai.
• 22:30 - Landlord comes home with another housemate, they're both drunk and seem to be making the nosiest meal in the world.
• 23:15 - Mosquito enters the room and decides to dive-bomb my ear canals.
• 00:05 - With his window open, my next door neighbour decides to watch some Lucha Libre, loudly.
• 01:15 - After a long fought battle with the mosquito using a lonely bare bulb for lighting, I kill the offending mosquito.
• 03:00 - A housemate leaves the house for work using the tiny pitter-patter footsteps of Goliath.
• 04:50 - Radio alarm goes off at full blast and continues to play crappy hits with an annoyingly upbeat radio DJ, for 3 hours.
• 07:20 - My alarm goes off and I get the fuck out of the house and get to work as quickly as humanly possible.
• 08:05 - I'm tired, full of hate and I've never been happier to be at work - sickening.
• Thankfully the evening's entertainment brought some stark contrast to the night, through a leaving celebration.
• Chinese Banquet, set menu where everything was made in front of you, annoyingly the only thing they didn't do was chew for me.
• Afterwards, we head to a gay bar called The Court, with drag show performance going on, quite the eye-opener and surprisingly good fun.

Day's Verdict: Zombie.

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7th Jan

• Leaving the house early (a common theme not to spend anytime in there whatsoever) I head to Greens & Co. coffee shop for a relaxed morning of eating fruit toast and reading the paper, like a right ol' chap that I am.
• The day brought nothing much and the evening was drinks at the Garden and further drinks at my old home.

Day's Verdict: Somewhat chilled, what what!.

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8th Jan

• Leaving the house early (a common theme not to spend anytime in there whatsoever) I head to Greens & Co. coffee shop for a relaxed morning of eating fruit toast and reading the paper, like a right ol' local that I am.
• The day brought a windy beach trip to Scarborough and some afternoon seafood delight before watching an amazing film '50/50'

Day's Verdict: Sunday, bloody Sunday!

6 Months in Perth: Abridged. | 26th Dec 2011 - 1st Jan 2012

26th Dec

• Boxing Day
• Morning walk on the beach with a borrowed dog.
• Watched the sun go down on Perth City from Kings park whilst enjoying picnic.

Day's Verdict: Waggy Tail.

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27th Dec

• Sunday drive around the suburbs of Perth south of the river down to Coogee, passing Point Walter (A family orientated area along the river) along the river down to East Fremantle (Barracks and bars) in Coogee at John Graham Recreation Reserve (a pleasant clean beach, filled with energetic families)

Day's Verdict: Vroom Vroom.

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28th Dec

• Ill.

Day's Verdict: Urgh.

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29th Dec

• Headed up north to Hillarys, which sounds more upper class than it actually is, boat harbour is a great place filled with a bit of beach, many restaurants with a lively atmosphere, grabbing a leisurely lunch at some trendy place.
• Evening, rental film night many chips and cola watching the incredible B-movie 'Hobo with a Shotgun'

Day's Verdict: Grand.

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30th Dec

• Day at the beach enjoying a bit of body surfing.
• Evening, spent relaxing before a weekend away...

Day's Verdict: Calm.

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31st Dec

• New Year's Eve
• Picked up a camper van and drove down to Margaret River, saw my first ever Kangaroo (dead on the side of the road.)
• 3 and half hours later arrived into Margaret River and check into the campsite, grabbed some late lunch at Corners (Standard pub on a corner.)
• Driving around Margaret river going to Edwards vineyard for a few tasters of their red wine.
• Evening party celebrations saw us at the fairly-sleazy venue, Settlers, as was said, sleazy and cheesy.
• Successfully missed out on the New Year's countdown when the band was so into singing a shit rendition of Mr. Brightside by The Killers that, at 00:05 they counted down from 3, with much lacklustre said "Happy New Year!" and went into an equally shit rendition of some shitty Abba song.
• Thankfully this sour note did last the rest of the night as we returned to the campsite and everyone passed out, I got to having a few drinks with this travelling couple, and have been all around the globe and listening to their stories brought me back from a fairly average night.

Day's Verdict: Yeah... Nah... Yeah.

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1st Dec

• New Year's Day.
• The world, it's brother and extended family had the same idea to go out for breakfast, the long long wait was worth it when my shabby breakfast burrito was plonked down in front of me, too hungry to care.
• Drove around the area, through these impressive some impressive forests and down into Hamelin Bay a quiet calm beach with stingrays coming up to the water's edge for feeding and interesting rock formations within the cliffs, my highlight.
• Next was a blitz down to Augustus lighthouse, it was a lighthouse.
• Driving back north to Prevlin Bay being awed by the fire damage the area endured a few weeks back, bare exposed rocks where forests once existed, further inland burnt out trees with fresh bright pink foliage coming through was an amazing sight.
• Evening drinks games followed by food, where we waited for ages for take away to be ready (the world, it's brother and extended family had the same idea) I grabbed a drink with a German couple that were fanatic about kitesurfing.

Day's Verdict: Visual treat.

6 Months in Perth: Abridged. | 19th - 25th Dec 2011

19th Dec

• Wandered around Leederville highstreet; small, sweet and eclectic.
• Bookstore, many restaurants from around the world, cafes, nightclubs, bars and a subway, essentially make it up. Overwhelmed, I hole myself in Greens and Co. and watch the world go by.

Day's Verdict: Just A Day.

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20th Dec

• Awesome, Zambrero, Burrito!
• and... watched Notting Hill, seeing as it was nearing Christmas and all.

Day's Verdict: Loving.

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21st Dec

• Bad mood day.
• Super-tasty home-made ribs (cooked in water for 3 hours) and much beer.

Day's Verdict: Bad to Good.

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22nd Dec

• An evening of drinking games, err... not sure on the rules now.

Day's Verdict: err...

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23rd Dec

• 25 mile bike ride on my BMX from Leederville, to City Beach, down to Cottesloe, through to Claremont (rich people's area where everyone has a yacht) along the river into Perth city and back to Leederville.
• An evening of gambling with some casual poker.

Day's Verdict: Knackering

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24th Dec

• Christmas Eve.
• Spent the night at a friend's house having festive beer and pizza

Day's Verdict: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

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25th Dec

• Christmas Day
• Head across city to a friend's house to have a traditional Christmas meal with their family where so much ham was consumed.
• Afternoon with the family pool volleyball contest, our team won.
• Much booze and fun ensued and somehow finished the night in a drug den... not sure how that happened

Day's Verdict: ...Jingle all the way!

6 Months in Perth: Abridged. | 12th - 18th Dec 2011

12th Dec

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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13th Dec

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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14th Dec

• A friend does dance and was involved in a 'doing it for the fun of it' type of show, heavily involving (around 100%) burlesque dancing, "reluctantly" going along for moral support, turned out to be a great night of girls wearing very little dancing on stage, who would've thought.
• It was amusing, cheesy and tasteful.

Day's Verdict: Corset.

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15th Dec

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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16th Dec

• Work drinks to blow out some steam and there was a lot of steam to be blown out. Thankfully, sambuca and tequila helped with that tremendously.

Day's Verdict: No... you're drink!

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17th Dec

• Paddleboarding, amazing amazing times to be had, as always.

Day's Verdict: Not wet.

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18th Dec

• Day at City Beach doing beach-like relaxing and swimming
• Evening, went to the cinema to watch The Inbetweeners Movie

Day's Verdict: Was OK.

6 Months in Perth: Abridged. | 5th - 11th Dec 2011

5th Dec

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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6th Dec

• Amazing thunderstorm crawled over Perth, with as much vicious force as the apocalypse, giant flashes of lightning would rip through my blinds, instantly waking me up. I'd run to the window to watch these low lying murky clouds carrying hell towards me, as lashings of golf ball sized rain drops pelt the roof, I spent the next 45 minutes (was about 3AM) being awed by nature.

Day's Verdict: BOOM!

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7th Dec

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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8th Dec

• Low key Champagne Thursday, Greek themed with small dishes of this-and-that scattered everywhere for people to gulp.

Day's Verdict: Hic.

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9th Dec

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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10th Dec

• Paddleboarding! First time I've been paddleboard since Vancouver and I'd missed it a lot.
• In Perth paddleboarding is different, Instead of sea, you have a river. Instead of seals you have fish. Instead of boats, you have windsurfers. Instead of mountains you have open sky. Instead of a high concentration of a 100 or so skyscrapers, you have 3... very far away.
• Evening brought a christmas houseparty, typical affair of drinking, chatting, kitchen mingling, drinking, yada, yada, yada.

Day's Verdict: Great then good.

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11th Dec

• Cleaned the entire house after the party and went out Christmas shopping

Day's Verdict: Standard

6 Months in Perth: Abridged. | 28th Nov - 4th Dec 2011

28th Nov

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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29th Nov

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.

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30th Nov

• Take away from Zambrero, an amazing Mexican restaurant, it's not authentic but it's fresh, healthy and... fucking tasty. Every one of their burritos gets better than the last and I could quite happily give up on all other foods if I could have one of these every day, forever.

Day's Verdict: Awesome.

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1st Dec

• Start of a new occasional morning routine, a quick trip to City Beach for a run along the sand and a swim in the ocean, all the meanwhile avoiding playful dogs and friendly passer-bys wishing you a good morning.
• Evening, having a Champagne Thursday, fine dining at Clancy's fishbar, enjoying delicious seafood platter and champagne (of course) topped off with a rich dessert, all the while watching the sunset.

Day's Verdict: Ahhh!

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2nd Dec

• Happy hour cocktails at Havana's in East Perth before going home for some freshly cooked home-made fajitas.

Day's Verdict: Foreign.

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3rd Dec

• First Aussie BBQ Party at someone's house to celebrate some significant event with the host's lives, main thing was the BBQ, and the beer on tap, and the BBQ, also the swimming pool.
• A massive zucchini was also being thrown around like an American football.

Day's Verdict: Fun.

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4th Dec

• R and R.

Day's Verdict: Nothing of interest happened.