A Solo Travellers Mind

On arrival to my hostel in Perth i was expecting bad things, as the hostel actually had very bad reviews, however i was pleasantly surprised by the fully working kitchen and the good showers. My room mates were nice and non of them snored (a success!).

The first day in Perth was actually spent away from the city with my room mate from my pervious hostel, Kayla. We headed north to a snorkel spot called Yunchep lagoon and we were not disappointed. Although the water could be cloudy at times there were easily over a hundred fish around me at one point. Something even cooler was the current in the lagoon, meaning you had to swim against this, as i swam surrounded by fish it was a really cool sensation to see us moving at the same speed against the current. We had a picnic there and played card games, before heading home after another full day of activities and pretty views!

My second day was a chill one, as it was a scotching 41 degrees! I headed into Fremantle to meet Larissa before she left to go back to work, and we explored the markets, where ice cream was eaten, the best fudge I’ve ever had purchased and some kangaroo was tried. Kayla met us later on with another friend Lesley and we spent the afternoon chilling in the shade under the trees, chatting about life as the world went by. The evening was spent in Perth centre, as we walked through John Oldham park, being greeted by cool little water falls and a huge kids slide (which of course was tried and tested a number of times). Then we headed through Kings park up to DNA tower to watch the sunset across the city. After another huge day it was home, dinner and bed, after averaging over 20,000 steps per day plus swimming my feet needed a chill!

My third day in Perth and my final day before my trip, was spent with the girls and my room mate Dylan, as we arose at 6am to head back to Omeo wreck to attempt to find an octopus which is said to be there in the mornings, unfortunately as it was Sunday, a lot of others were there too and no octopus was found. We headed to Woodman point jetty after to hurl ourselves off it, and i taught myself to back flip off into the water (fair to say this is now my new party trick, and a fun one at that!). The evening was spent packing and organising in prep for the next week camping and travelling around south west Australia!

On Return to Perth, after many trip its fair to say i was quite tired. Sunday was spent doing a much needed clothes wash and some general life admin, before meeting some friends at the beach in the afternoon. We all then headed home for an early night as we would be up at 5am the next day to head to Seal Island and Penguin Island!

Bright and early me and Kayla hopped on a train to Rockingham to meet Sean and the others from my trip! Sean had offered to take us all kayaking around the island and see the cool sights it had to offer. Everyone paired into pairs with 1 person requiring to be in a solo kayak (odd numbers problems). After some speculation I decided to attempt the solo kayak with the option to swap around if it was too difficult. Luckily i actually found it incredibly easy and cruised along side the rest of the group no dramas! First up we stopped at Seal Island where there were many seals perched on the island, as its a national reserve you can’t to onto the island but you can swim and snorkel around, so this is what some of us did, while also attempting to coax the seal into the water (this didn’t work, they just slept). Next we headed over to Penguin island, but again not before a another snorkel on a spot off the shore, this was a really cool spot worth lots of fish and some under water tunnels (which i later learnt were old tree trunks). However me and Laura both got stung by jelly fish, i acted as if id just been shot however on reflection it actually didn’t hurt that much and I was being a pussy (in my defence it stung my arm and then my face lol). Drama over, we headed to penguin island to walk the small board walk and chill, before kayaking back to the main land. This wasn’t before we spotted a penguin in the rocks! A very rare spot as only a couple hundred remain in the wild now, but it was very cool and definitely out lucky day! My luck ran out that night through, as I had to leave my lovely nice hostel to go to a different one for my final night as they didn’t have space! On arrival to my new hostel i was greeted by the smell of bleach and nail varnish remover all in one, and BED BUGS on the walls in my room… Now I’m no accomodation snob, and I’m petty willing to stay almost any where but bed bugs and poison smells is where i draw the line, so after kicking off i got a refund and retreated to the only hostel i found online that had space (which is a gamble because it could have also been a hell hole). Luckily for me it was okay, about a 5/10 but it was clean enough, didn’t have bugs and my room mates didn’t snore!

My final day in Perth was what could be described as a wasted day, however, the new Paul Mescal film “All of us strangers” was released and i was DESPERATE to witness its beauty, so i spent me afternoon munching on popcorn watching that in the cinema before heading to the airport for my late night flight. The weirdness of life didn’t stop here through, as i met a chap going through security who managed to get me into the business lounge! (The business lounge at Perth airport actually isn’t that special as most FIFO workers use this as a hub to shower and relax) however it made me feel great, so i had a shower, ate some free food and had a natter to some of the FIFO workers before heading to my flight. On the flight i asked to move to a window seat and was delighted to find the seat they moved me to was an empty isle, which made for comfortable flying!

On arrival to Sydney my holiday wasn’t quite over! After a 4hr flight and a 3 hour time difference it was fair to say that i was knackered by the time i landed, so I checked into my hostel and slept in till the late hours of the afternoon, when I arose to prep for my concert! I managed to get tickets to see Noah Kahan (my favourite artist and all time G) last year and the time was finally here! The concert was absolutely incredible, he has the voice of an angel and was worth every penny spent! A lovely end to a magical few weeks off work!