In Perth - Day 43
Hi all!Notice the many many days between this post and the last? I've been prevented from posting as a result of two things:
- Since moving to the new place in the Perth city area, the Vodafone 3G internet has been totally horrible and unreliable. I wasn't really able to sustain a good connection, until I finally got some proper phone line type ADSL
- Work life means waking up, going to work, coming home, eat, go to sleep. Rinse, repeat. Whenever I had free time, I had to sort out the new place, and make sure it is in living condition.
So in essence, I've just described the majority of my life for the past, err, however many days.
Get ready for a long one.
Back in Fremantle
In order to get to work in time, I need to take the 6:50AM bus (825) from Fremantle down to the corner of Rockingham Road and Mason Road, then somehow hitchhike from that corner over to the refinery proper. Fun! Hitchhiking! Every Day! To get to work!
Great thing about it though is that you get to see great sunrises:
And at night, you get some great scenery with the moon over the Indian Ocean, and the old historic buildings on the shore.
However, I couldn't really sustain that for long, so I moved out to stay with my eventual housemates at Mounts Bay, which is closer to the city, and the train station, so I could take the train down instead and either get a lift from the station or take my bike from the station to the refinery.
Mounts Bay
Not much to say here, except that it was certainly different living with people rather than living on your own. For starters, I can no longer pile up the dishes like I do and wash it all in one go. It's not that hard to do, but it's fine.
The New House
So to the new place. We decided that the most ideal location for us is a place just to the north of Northbridge, built on the site of an old brewery. Quite a fantastic place, complete with 3 sizable bedrooms (well, one of them is pretty small, but that one is the storage/guest room :p). A nice kitchen with Gas stove (very important), and good living areas, of which becomes this house's best asset.
To the rear of the townhouse is a rectangular living area that is a perfect shape and size for a home theatre system. This got my creative Large TV juices going, and I went out and bought myself a 52" Samsung Series 8 LCD TV to be the showpiece of the room. My housemates love it, I love it, and was a great investment for a non-disclosed price :p
Notice the Guitar Hero :) that isn't mine :PAnyhow, that's a 7:2 surround sound system that also isn't mine :P
On Cooking
Cooking is easier than everyone (i.e. my mother) makes it out to be. I have now cooked mince. Lots of mince. My creation is as follows - spaghetti bolognese:
I will venture into bigger and better things as time goes on, but for now let's stick to the basics.On Shopping
Speaking of cooking, you need to get ingredients from somewhere, and Perth is somewhere that is very hard to do so, considering that the shops close reasonably early inside the city. It's often a very big rush to buy things before Woolworths closes at 7PM. Hence, most of my shopping is done on Saturday, when I actually have a day off. And let me tell you, it is VERY busy, since everyone is trying to do the same thing. Talk about dysfunctional.
On Trains
On the other hand, the trains are NOT dysfunctional. I dare say, down the middle of the Kwinana Freeway, the trains on the Mandurah line will reach speeds of 130-140kph, easily passing every car on the freeway heading in the same direction (in clear traffic) - even those hoons - the train leaves them in their dust. The key to achieving these speeds are:
- Straight tracks, and;
- Stations being spread far apart
People in the intermediate areas between stations can either take a feeder bus to their station, or they can drive. Carparks along the Mandurah line are clogged to the rafters! Which is very good to see.
This is what the Doncaster line should be modelled upon, if ever it is built.
On Church
The fact that I have to spend my weekends running errands, shopping, and cleaning, I've found that, in the first month or so of my being in Perth, I've been unable to attend church. The lack of a car is also a problem, since the church I want to check out (South Perth Church of Christ, thanks Nicole =) ) is very hard to get to by walking...
When I return from Melbourne, I suspect I will be more able to attend on Sunday, be it SPCC, or some other church that I can get to easily without a car, provided I don't have one, or something to that extent.
On randomness
I found a meme of sorts on Audrey's blog, where you type in "
- Jonathan needs:
- a one or two parent family that will set guidelines and be consistent in sticking to those standards
- an experienced, skilled family
- to draw up a business plan
- a haircut
- real women with real sound systems
- milk
- to stop sending drinks now
- your vote
- to hurry up and have a kid
- to undergo his third lung surgery this year before October
- a new shift key
On Women
- _ -
On Melbourne
Regardless of how much I wanted to get out of Melbourne, I still miss the place a lot. I miss family, I miss friends, I miss late night supermarkets, I miss Connex. Though I didn't miss the bushfires - a very terrible tragedy, of which you've heard heaps of before. I hope, and I know, that the brave people who lived out there will rebuild quickly and tenaciously.
I miss trams. I miss trams a lot. I miss good cheap dumpling places. I miss DonDons (though Taka's here in Perth kind of makes up for it). I miss having a train station only 3 minutes away from my house. I do miss university, as strange as that sounds. I miss good tasting water.
On Soil
I miss soil. Yes, I miss soil. All that nice brown loam...there's none of it here in Perth. Dig below the surface and what you'll find is Sand. Nothing But Sand. Indeed, if you took away all of the grass, the roads, the footpaths, the houses - what you're left with is a desert!! I guess that's why they have a desalination plant here...just like all the desert oases around the world. It's also the reason why they call themselves Sandgropers over here....eww.
On Returning
Therefore, since I miss the soil so much, I'm coming back to Melbourne for a while - nine days to be precise - to dig a bit of soil up. It actually arises out of a coincidence - the "About BP" training course for graduates just happens to be held in Melbourne. Hence, I'm coming back
from the 14th to the 22nd of March
On Concerts
Lastly, I miss out on a few concerts I want to go to. I get back in Melbourne in time for the Bushfire Relief concert - but it's sold out. Then Jackson Browne is playing on the 14th in Perth! NO! oh well.
I must make sure I see
- Phantom of the Opera - before the 29th March
- Air Supply (with WASO!)
That's all from me. I best be off to bed. Work again tomorrow!
Take care all.
posted by Celestial Vision @ 11:17 pm
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