Tour of Perth, Fremantle, and Cottesloe

Today I went on a tour put on by the International Exchange Office. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9:30. A group of us walked to the meeting place together. We sat in the back of the bus because that was where there were seats left. I actually thought to myself "we are sitting near the bathroom, but it should be ok because we are only on the bus for 20 minutes between each drop off location." We hadn't even left and a kid stumbled back there made the comment "I'm so hungover" to us and then puked in the toilet. Came out and told us that he felt much better. We left at 9:30 am. At about 9:45am the same kid came back and puked 3 more times! Yuck!

Our first stop was downtown Perth. I hung out with Anna and Mark, both are from Canada. We perused various shops and ended up at a travel place called Peterpan's Adventure Travel. I grabbed some brochures for when Matt comes to visit. I also looked at opal jewelry since that is what mom requested I buy. Turns out there are a lot of options for opal. There is white opal or colored opal. Different quality levels and different plating options, such as gold or silver. I have needed a tote bag since I got here for various things. I keep borrowing my roommate Suzie's bag. So I walked by a souvenir shop and found a nice black one with white outlines of all of the animals in Australia. There was a sign outside the shop that said $5 and was surrounded by bags. I went to pay for the bag and it turns out the price was $12.95! Only the crummy plain white bag that said PERTH on it was $5. I went ahead and bought the pretty bag. We got back on the bus at the designated time and surprise, the puke smell was gone! Once everyone was loaded on the bus the driver announced that the toilet on the bus could not be used on this trip and that there were plenty of public restrooms where we could do our business. That poor bus driver had to clean out the bathroom on the bus.

We then went to downtown Fremantle. Perth to Fremantle is like going from West Lafayette to Lafayette. Anyways I discovered a very cute little shop. The owner was and author of a children's book series about an emu baby named Stripey. In case you didn't know it, when emus hatch they are actually black and white striped. So I bought the book for the second grade class that I volunteered at over my winter break. I also bought some art work. I got the laminated prints instead of the real art work because they were much cheaper and could fit in my suitcase when I go back home. Then we moseyed on down and found another souvenir shop. This time there was a white version of my brand new bag and the outlines of the animals were in all different colors and it was only $4!!!! I hate it when that happens!

After Fremantle we went to Cottesloe Beach. This was different than the beach I went to before. I have no idea of the name of the first beach I visited. This one was amazing!!! There was a breeze, not sand blasting wind. Also there was a pier. The rock formation that sticks out into the water. After swimming and exploring the pier one of the organizers of this event started a game of beach Cricket.

If you click on the picture it gets bigger. So there are two small sets of yellow poles about 2 feet tall. The pitcher stands at one, and the batter and catcher stand at the other. The pitch is aimed between the ground and the batter's knees. Once the batter hits the ball he runs to the other set of short yellow poles. Everyone else in the picture then tries to catch the ball (an automatic out, similar to baseball) or chase the ball grab it and throw it at either set of the short yellow poles. There is a tall yellow pole in the back of the picture. There are actually 4 tall yellow poles, those mark the bounds of the game. If the ball is hit passed them then it is a home run. Also there are a lot more people in the out fields, I just didn't get them in this shot. Ryan is the person in the orange shirt. He is the batter. When the ball hits the poles the runner is out, unless they made it to the poles prior. If the batter makes it, he scores a point. Then the batter goes back and repeats until they strike out, or get taken out. I'm sure there is more to an official cricket game, but this is how we played today.

Me on the side of the pier looking at the other side of the beach.

Anna and I are at the end of the pier looking out towards Africa. No we can not see it. It is just in that direction.