Day 61 Mon 06/11/2012
Leaving Kal
“7:15AM train back to Perth. Milan told me this morning over breakfast after he saw my note on the fridge that I did more in one month in Kalgoorlie than most in a lifetime & he thinks I have figured out how to live life. J This made me super happy to hear.
Claire walked me to the train station where Fran & Roel were waiting (they had just gotten off of work). Tonight is Roel’s last night of work. Poor Frank! Stay tough friend. I am really going to miss all of them. I hope to see them again. I would never in a million years think I could love the people I just met over such a short period of time as much as I love them. Damn good people. Amazing friends. DUTCH HARDCORE!
Leah is waiting at the East Perth train station. After a snack at her house I immediately fell asleep. Then fell asleep after dinner.”
Day 62 Tue 06/12/2012
Notes Fall Off
“It rained like hell all night. Leah had to work all night.
I think all I did was go to Wooly’s for milk. As I begin writing this again take note that the date is 06/29/2012. I have gotten behind in my book here and with my emails. I am sorry for this.”
Day 63 Wed 06/13/2012
More help from NZ
“Into the city. I saw on FaceBook where Britt from Dive Ski & Surf was short on players for the volleyball league they play in. I am game of course! Leah dropped me off in Scarborough Beach at the Indoor Beach volleyball arena. 6vs6. Nets everywhere. Kylie was one of the girls and Britt of course.
We lost, badly. Then had beers at Indi Bar. Asked the two random chix at the table next to us if it would be more appealing to them if I were an AMERICAN or a Canadian. Couldn’t get a definite answer but usually people love Canadians and have mixed emotions regarding Americans. Met Adam here at Indi as well. He is from Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Then back to Kylie’s house across the street where she cooked chicken parmas for Britt, herself, and I. YUM! Kylie gave us some money to go to the bottle-o and get some Southern Comfort.
We went to Ocean 1 Bar later. Free drinks from all of the guys there since I had all the girls with me. Some of the guys were making fun of my headband, but they continued to buy me drinks along with the girls. Well these two Kiwi’s were ready to kick the hell out of them for making fun of me. Rowdy! Crashed on Kylie’s couch after watching Bad Boys, the movie. I fast forwarded to the part where they go in and blow the hell out of Cuba.”
Nothing against Cuba, but that is just a badass part of the movie. My volleyball team was all girls and myself. We got smashed. I will talk about Adam another day, for now I will tell you all about the misunderstanding at Ocean 1 Bar. I had the volleyball team with me as we walked in. There were four or five English guys at the bar and they began chatting it up with Britt and the girls. They quickly offered to buy the girls drinks. Well I was gifted a beer as well since I was with the group, but I was not welcomed. These guys were trying to pick up and I was the goof ball of a friend that would probably block any moves they tried to pull.
The English blokes start giving me crap about me wearing a headband. I won’t lie I looked pretty stupid in it, but my hair was starting to get out of control so I had worn if for our game. I laughed off their jokes. If any of my friends had been there I would guarantee I would catch hell for it, so what was the difference? They were buying me beers. They could call me whatever they wanted for now.
Well these two muscled up and tattooed Kiwi’s come over and ask me if those guys are giving me crap. “Yea, but it’s all good. They are just messin,” I tell them. This was not good enough. These guys wanted to fight. They were looking for a reason. One of them pushes an Englishman.
“You making fun of his headband, mate?”
“No no no,” I say. “Trust me it’s all good.” Before it is all said and done the two New Zealanders have hauled the English guys outside and thrown them out. It happened so fast I am just standing there with my beer and the girls ask, “What the hell was that about?” I explained it to them the best I could.
The unofficial bouncers came back in and bought me another beer and said “We hate it when Cs like that make fun of people. Eff em mate!” Cheers as we klink more beers together.
Thanks for letting me play ladies. Hell of an after party too. Thanks for dinner Kylie!
Day 64 Thur 06/14/2012
Night Photo Shoot
“I woke up early to catch a ride with Britt as she went to work. The ride lasted 20 feet because I realized she was going to opposite direction and was not going out of her way to take me to Leah’s. Walking in the rain. Brekkie at a nice little joint. Leonard Cohan playing inside. “Left my woman from TN,” as the name of the song. I told the owner I was from TN, and he loved it. I ate an amazing croissant (ham, cheese, and sprouts) and a fresh OJ to drink.
I walked past an IKEA on the way to the bus station, where I met jes on the bus. She was a rockin chick from Adelaide and was moving to Darwin. We almost missed our stop chatting, & in the rush to get off of the bus somehow my camera fell out of my bag and onto the floor. I left it on the bus unknowingly. After a few phone calls and am awesome bus driver I picked up the camera at the bus station. Wow, lucky I know!
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| One of Leah's favorites during our Night Photography Class |
I was very lucky to have gotten my camera back. Somehow it had fallen under my seat while talking to Jes and I hadn’t noticed. As we jumped from our seat to not miss the Dianella stop I didn’t realize that I had lost it. Once back at Leah’s I realized what had happened. I had it slung over my shoulder and while sitting on the bus I sat it next to me because I was leaning back on it. How could I have not seen it? I always look back at my seat or wherever I had just gotten settled to ensure a wallet or cell phone hasn’t slipped out. It had to have fallen under the seat.
Leah helps me find the correct number and we get in touch with the bus company. They radio the driver and at his next stop he stops to go take a look for it. They call me back telling me the driver found it and I can pick it up after his shift later in the afternoon. Unreal! I think I hugged the lady who brought me my camera and it was very awkward. She did not want any hugs.
Getting the camera back was crucial because tonight Leah had booked us for a Night Photo Shoot in the city. This was a photography class where we would go to great night time photo op areas and be shown how to take pictures at night. The class was fun, but very basic. I had actually already been to a few of the places where we took the pictures. While wandering through the city one sunny day I had found the alleys where they had let artists come in and paint up a storm.
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| For some reason I remember the photo being scarier than this... |
The best part for me was taking stupid long exposure pictures later after the class with Leah. There is one where she is standing in front of a park bench and I stood in the frame for half the exposure and make a ghostly face and seem to be ready to grab her. Leah really liked some of the paintings in the alley of the zombie looking children and family. Zombie might not be the correct description. Adams Familyish? Thanks for the photo shoot Leah.
Day 65 Fri 06/15/2012
Dinner at Sharareh’s
“I headed into the city of Perth again this morning. I was way too early for AU Jobs but I was able to talk to Dad while he was driving back to Texas after the trip with Mom, Daniel, & Chelsea. Aussie Jobs to say HEY & check in. Jobshop. Found sweet travel sized guitar at Noise Pollution (local music center) in Northbridge near the Jobshop. I didn’t buy it.
Tonight we went to Sharareh’s house to eat with her family. Her mom, Shiva, is hilarious. Food was excellent as well. Leah, Sharare, Shiva, Ilnaz, and her Grandma. Her brother popped in shortly. Electro therapy with her Grandma was funny. Haha her English is so bad. “Yessss, yessss, thank you,” is about all she knows.
Next Laurence & I met Adam at the Indi Bar. Made friends with the band playing. Got kicked out of some hotel rooms. We really were not making any noise in the second room. We ended up in the street in front of Indi Bar. Foo Fighters with Ben aka Jesus. Then more good times jamming at Belle and Laurence’s place.”
The hospitality of Sharareh’s family is outstanding. The amount of food cooked for just a few of us is unreal. There is no way we could have eaten everything Shiva had prepared. They are so funny. Shiva is a riot talking about how she has “relocated” some things from the hospital. Thanks for all the delicious food.
I met Laza down at the Indi Hotel to catch the live music and there we ran into Adam again. The three of us were heading home when we ran into the band outside after the show and ended up back in the hotel upstairs at Adam’s room until security came and told us to leave. It was funny because Adam and I were upstairs with the band when Laza came into the lobby. Security was meeting up in the lobby to come up and follow up on a noise complaint from the bands room which was the room we were all in. After leaving this room we went back to Adam’s room for just a minute before security came there to tell us to leave. We took it to the streets.
Day 66 Sat 06/16/2012
Daniel leaves for FBI
“Had a relaxed day. Went to Indi again for dinner with Belle & Laurence and then went back to their place for the rest of the evening. Talked with many friends and family back home. Daniel is leaving for FBI Training later today. So proud and pumped for him. Met a girl named Meagan from CAN at Indi as well.”
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| Laurence & Belle's place after the Indi Bar |
Day 67 Sun 06/17/2012
Gardening
“Leah came to pick me up early from Laurence’s. I took a nap, then woke up to help Chris and Jes in the garden. Then I watched Star Wars.”
Day 68 Mon 06/18/2012
House Inspection
“More cleaning today before house inspection here at Leah’s house. Rainy day.”
House inspections are pretty serious here in Australia. There is a high demand for nice rental homes so the land lords are super strict about these inspections. If they find spider webs up in the corner of the ceilings outside the house points are deducted according to Leah. So the place had to be spotless. Leah keeps a pretty clean house anyways but for the inspections it had to be sparkling. As far as I could tell we passed easily.
Day 69 Tue 06/19/2012
Jobs in Darwin
“Job hunting at Uni today. Calling Exmouth and Darwin for jobs. Evidentaly there are jobs in Darwin. I almost bought a ticket. I am looking for a ride up there. Frank & Roel left Kal heading north just a few days ago, Monday I think. Catch a ride?”
According to the farm Leah spoke with they had work for backpackers now. They will not give you much information over the phone though. You need to be there in person to get job placement. I didn’t like the sound of this, but it was my best option at the moment.
Day 70 Wed 06/20/2012
Geoff in Perth
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| Geoff catching hid bus from Dianella Plaza back into Perth |
“This was a crazy day. I took my bike to the bike shop to get a new rear cassette put on and have them box it up for me to fly. I went to Uni & bought a $400 plane ticket to Darwin. I am flying out tomorrow morning. I went into the city to meet Geoff from Kalgoorlie Backpackers. Got a haircut. Beers at the Moon Bar with Geoff. Then the Brass monkey. Geoff is one of the many awesome people I met in Kal. I hope to see him many more times. We took the bus to Leah’s. From there Leah drove us to the bike shop. My bike once again will not fit in Leah’s car in a box. It is raining and I don’t know what to do. A super nice lady in her Toyota Landcruiser loaded up my bike and followed us home. Thank you so much!
Leah cooked a wicked dinner for Robyn, Geoff, & I. Huge chicken parma’s and tiramisu. It was very good. Robyn even loved it and she hates tiramisu. Drank some wine and hung out with Geoff after Robyn left. I walked him to the proper bus stop. Last minute packing all alone after Leah left for work. Lonely and scared, but also excited. I still have a ton of baggage. Oh man back to it and missing everyone so much you have no idea.”
So much was crammed into one day here. I met Geoff who was in town visiting his family. As we were walking to find a place to eat lunch I spotted a barber shop where I went in for a cut. The Irish kid in here really did a number on me. I had told him I was growing my hair out long so just trim it up a little bit. By the time he was done I had very little hair left. Oh well. I had to tell him I like what he had done. He was trying his best.
Geoff & I ate at Moon Something there in the city. Somehow I decided I was heading to Darwin with hopes of work there. When I had met Jes on the bus a few days ago she had told me stories of the pearl diving boats there and had even given me a few phone numbers of her old bosses. I was hopeful something would work out.
(Next - Heading to Darwin, NT)
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