Week 8 (Aug 23 to Aug 30)

I know people say that "all good things must come to an end," but that doesn't mean that i have to be happy about it. As I write this (for the second time because my piece of shit iPad just froze and deleted an hour of typing), I am somewhere over the pacific, about 4 hours away from Vancouver.

As this was out last week in Perth, we all made a pact that we would go out every night. That started monday with a "chili mussel challenge". Emma had seen a sign at a pub in Freo during our first week that offered a free pint to anyone who could eat their largest spiciest bowl of mussels. From then on she was determined to do it. Unfortunately it ended last week, so we were forced to create our own challenge. Sarah found a place in Northbridge that served good chili mussels and the challenge was basically to eat as many as you could as spicy as you could. Emma and i did large and hot, but Sarah and our friend Kristen did extra large, extra spicy. I wasn't even sure how much i liked mussels, so when my huge large showed up, i was a little scared; not only for myself but for the two who ordered extra large. It was massive. Turns out the mussels were really good and i had no problem finishing. Kristen was the clear champion though; she cleaned her plate (and the liters of sauce in the bottom) in record time without much difficulty. Sarah deserves an honorable mention for finishing hers.....although it looked like she might explode at some points, she finished her mussels and sauce. Afterwards we went dancing to work off the food. Overall, a good start to the week.

I woke up feeling ok on Tuesday (which was unexpected given the mass quantities of mussels and alcohol consumed the night before). A good surprise though, because the plan for Tuesday was backpackers night at the "hip-e" bar in leederville. Since we had heard it was a real mix of people who attend this backpackers night, we all decided to come up with backstories about who we were and why we were in Perth. I was a Canadian Olympic silver medal winner in curling, taking a break after the olympics. Emma was Robbie fowlers mistress, Jeff was a NY state lottery winner, Brandy (who is from Arkansas) was Bill Clinton's illegitimate daughter, with BJ as her secret service and Sarah was a former child commercial star (think polly pockets and littlest pet shop) who still has enough money to travel, but not in great luxury. Of course, none of us actually used these aliases. While at the bar we met someone who told us he was an ex footy player for the west coast eagles. I thought he was just more gutsy than us and used his alias more easy, but the next day when we googles him it turned out he was actually a WCE player and played 150 games before having to retire with a shoulder injury. Overall it was a fun night. Lots of dancing which is always good.

Wednesday was a more low key day because we were all a little rough on wednesday. Emma and i had a drink after work before we met up with Jeff, BJ and Brandy for dinner at a place called the greenhouse. Hard to describe but very unique. Think walls made of potted plants, plywood counters, wicker lamp shades, and a bar where all the liquor bottles hang from the ceiling. After dinner we went to my favourite, Helvetica, for one last time. We had a drink there before calling it an early night at midnight.

Thursday was my last day at work for 4 months. It's an awesome feeling knowing that you don't have to go back to work until the new year. I cleaned up my sections, went for lunch with my team and called it at about 4. The partners took us for a nice dinner for our last night as a group in Perth. It was a really good dinner and lots of wine flew.

Since it was Thursday we decided to hit up Claremont again, because that's the place to be apparently. I took a taxi with Jeff, brandy and Emma, and it may have been one of the funniest cab rides of my life. The middle aged cab driver was just tearing into poor Jeff for no reason. "What are you 3 beautiful young ladies doing hanging out with this old man"? Jeff could not convince the cabbie he was only 26. The driver kept saying "late thirties, at least 36" and kept telling us girls that we were being lied to. He also asked Jeff why he "has to wear those glasses at night".

We went to the Claremont hotel and then clubba. Emma and i had a minor breakdown on the dance floor at the Claremont hotel when we realized it was out last night together in Perth. Clubba was fun again, because we were drunk enough to enjoy it. We danced a lot. It was a good last night out in Perth. I wasn't asleep until 3:30 or 4.

Friday i felt like death, but managed to make it to the airport for my afternoon flight to Sydney. It was hard leaving Perth. I have such good memories. I was able to take some comfort in the fact that most of the other secondees were going to sydney too. I got in to sydney at 10pm after an uneventful flight and a 45 minute wait for my luggage. I was exhausted so i just grabbed dinner and packed it in early.

Saturday morning i had a nice breakfast overlooking sydney harbor before taking the ferry to Manly. At $6 each way, it's such a good deal. It goes right by the opera house and the bridge and the scenery is gorgeous. It's about 30 minutes each way. In manly I did a bit of shopping at the roxy store and got a killer deal on a bikini. I then spent about an hour walking along the beach taking pictures. I took the ferry back and met up with my old uni roommate Lucy who is from Sydney. I haven't seen her in 3 years so we had a nice afternoon catching up; shopping at the rocks.

For dinner i met up with sarah and Brandy who had arrived earlier that day. Their significant others, Matt and Erik had arrived that day too, so after hearing 2 months of stories i finally got to meet them. They were both really nice and we had a fun night; dinner and drinks. Matt is very tall. He is 7 feet. You cannot really comprehend how tall that is until you see him. Emma and BJ came and met up at midnight. They took an evening flight in and had some confusion with their hotel, but they made it. We went to a place called Jackson's which had really random music, but was quite fun. BJ was pretty happy when they played the venga boys. After a struggle trying to get a jackass cab driver to take me back to my hostel, it was 3:30 before i was home.

I felt a little rough Sunday, but Emma and i made it over to bondi to meet Matt and Sarah. We did lunch before doing the sunday market. We really liked it. Lots of good deals and interesting things. I got an eel skin wallet and some jewelry. We walked back along the beach which was nice. My memories of 2003 all came back pretty quick. We spent about a week at Bondi on a rugby tour.

We met Jeff and his parents for dinner. They had all just arrived that morning. We went to a cook your own meet place and it was pretty good. I was on my best behavior as i did not want to be hungover for my flight today. Luckily it was a low key night. After dinner we went to "Sydney's oldest pub" and then to a bar close to the quays. No one got too trashed. There was a lot of reminiscing; looking though pictures and remembering the best parts. It got pretty emotional when i left. Lots of tears and sad faces. Really really really tough. Most of the others are there until Wednesday, so they have 2 more days together.

We are getting close to Vancouver. I guess I'm excited to get home and see Craig and my friends, but it's hard to not to be sad that Australia is over. It was honestly the experience of a lifetime. I made, what i hope, are some lifelong friends and had an absolutely amazing time while doing so.

I'm sure i will see everyone again soon, it's just hard to go from seeing people everyday, to living half way around the world from them. I have Asia coming up and I will get excited about that, but right now, all i can think about is the experience and people that I'm leaving behind.

Emma, Ashely, Jeff, BJ, Sarah and Brandy: if any of you happen to read this , I miss you all already. Thank you for making this the amazing experience it was.

My next blog post will be from china!!!! But for now, this ends my Australia blog.

Cheers mate,

- Siobhan

Location:Perth and Sydney