left athens to fly (to doha) to perth. couldn't really believe that it was finally time to get to australia. made it through immigration without the questioning like with the uk which was unexpected. i did have to see 3 different people but that was because they were having a hard time scanning my older-no chip passport and apparently not because of any visa related issue.
even made it through the baggage collection and quarantine process. i got shuffled into the line with the sniffing dog rather than the scanner and actually didn't need to take off my giant backpack for the dog. the guys at the conference had told me i wouldn't need to declare the random tylenol medicine i had so i didn't tick yes to any of the questions which i'm sure got me at least partly into the dog lane as opposed to the others.
adrian and son were there to collect me and drove me to the hostel. after finding it and dropping me off, i checked in to the weird looking hostel and didn't really know what to do. i was reading the notice boards when another backpacker asked if i was a new arrival. clearly he could tell from my assuredly dazed and confused look. since i had no other plan than to walk somewhere to get a little something to eat we went out for the walk together. having arrived the friday before, he knew his way around - which was nice and was friendly and talkative. we walked through downtown in search of something other than the mcdonalds and kfc we passed but there wasn't much. also downtown is incredibly small and apparently perth's size is made up from its massive amount of suburbs. there are some free buses in the town other than the city ones and the trains and underground we passed as well. thought we had found a deal at a pub ($20 for pizza and a pint - which sounded awfully high to my uk 5 pound ears) but it was the wrong day so we kept walking. ended up back in east perth, in apparently an asian area of town, and had some chinese. we walked a pretty big ambling loop in the end which at least took care of how i was going to spend the evening before going to bed at a time that would hopefully not hurt the jetlag.
still, as in greece, i was awake for the early hours of the morning without any explanation. unfortunately.
tuesday 1 august
shortly past 930, there was a guy from curtin who came to the hostel and got me. not used to driving in the rain, he was somewhat awkward but took me to see two places (and to drive by a third).
as this would be my first full day in perth, i've decided to make a new blog to represent the switch to phase two of my phd in australia. so to continue the adventure, here's the link:
http://phdphasetwo.blogspot.com
even made it through the baggage collection and quarantine process. i got shuffled into the line with the sniffing dog rather than the scanner and actually didn't need to take off my giant backpack for the dog. the guys at the conference had told me i wouldn't need to declare the random tylenol medicine i had so i didn't tick yes to any of the questions which i'm sure got me at least partly into the dog lane as opposed to the others.
adrian and son were there to collect me and drove me to the hostel. after finding it and dropping me off, i checked in to the weird looking hostel and didn't really know what to do. i was reading the notice boards when another backpacker asked if i was a new arrival. clearly he could tell from my assuredly dazed and confused look. since i had no other plan than to walk somewhere to get a little something to eat we went out for the walk together. having arrived the friday before, he knew his way around - which was nice and was friendly and talkative. we walked through downtown in search of something other than the mcdonalds and kfc we passed but there wasn't much. also downtown is incredibly small and apparently perth's size is made up from its massive amount of suburbs. there are some free buses in the town other than the city ones and the trains and underground we passed as well. thought we had found a deal at a pub ($20 for pizza and a pint - which sounded awfully high to my uk 5 pound ears) but it was the wrong day so we kept walking. ended up back in east perth, in apparently an asian area of town, and had some chinese. we walked a pretty big ambling loop in the end which at least took care of how i was going to spend the evening before going to bed at a time that would hopefully not hurt the jetlag.
still, as in greece, i was awake for the early hours of the morning without any explanation. unfortunately.
tuesday 1 august
shortly past 930, there was a guy from curtin who came to the hostel and got me. not used to driving in the rain, he was somewhat awkward but took me to see two places (and to drive by a third).
as this would be my first full day in perth, i've decided to make a new blog to represent the switch to phase two of my phd in australia. so to continue the adventure, here's the link:
http://phdphasetwo.blogspot.com
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