The Most Isolated City in the World

The night I arrived in Perth was very much like the night I arrived in Beijing: very, very cold after the heat of Hong Kong (or this time, Cairns), dark, quiet, and with a lot of water around. During the day, the two cities were of course nothing alike.

Mmm, Perth. I can't put my finger on what it is that makes me like the city so much, but it just feels right. The size, the weather, the people are great. There's just the right amount of buzzle in the CBD (Central Business District), there's not too much traffic, the distances are so short that you can comfortably walk anywhere. You can party in Northbridge (which is also a sort of redlight district - even the girls not on sale dress like prostitutes), or, just in the next block, feel intellectual in the cultural centre. There are old buildings amongst the skyscrapers, all an intriguing, contrasting mishmash. There's street art, parks, gardens, and waterways. It's big enough to attract random things I so love, like a "free-running" (a sport like parkour) group practising in front of the library, or street performers so good they attract an audience of a hundred people. I love it. Perth now tops my list of the nicest, most livable cities in Australia.

Perth is damn far from anywhere. It's closer to Indonesia than to East coast of Australia, and Indo is not close. Sydney is 3800 km and two timezones away. Perth is lonely even within its own state - in Western Australia, a state the size of Western Europe combined, there are only about 500 000 people living outside of Perth. There's one tiny village every 100 km on the coast, and in between nothing. I find it crazy.

I haven't been doing much in Perth, at least things worth telling about. Just the usual stuff: Internet at the (very nice) library, museums, walking around, a bit of hiking, shopping, reading, and of course taking pictures of anything that catches my eye. Out of needing something else to do, I've even watched several matches of the World Cup, and actually enjoyed it. Going out to watch the Australia vs Ghana game on an outdoor screen with a square full of Aussies (and one black couple supporting Ghana, they were pretty brave in my opinion) was certainly fun - especially as I find the atmosphere and collective reactions of the crowd more interesting than the game itself.

I've been feeling a bit lonely here. It's because there are some very nice people at the hostel. Sounds weird? Chatting to friendly strangers makes me realize how terribly much I miss my real friends. You would think being used to being away would ease that, but it doesn't.

I feel that the end of my trip is very near, even though I still have six weeks left. I've been thinking a lot about home, or what's home going to be when I return to Finland: seeing old friends again, going back to uni and work. I've even been looking for flats, with zero success though (having both a nice flat and a nice life is an expensive combination in Helsinki). I'm lucky to have something, a lot of things actually, to go back to. But until then, I have many things still to experience and adventures to look forward to!

The Southwest of Australia: Coasts and Forest-hopping

Early on a Monday morning our tour bus started towards the South from Perth. Funnily, the highway reminded me of Finland: the road was line by pine trees (planted in forestry purposes), and there even was a fence between the road and the edge of the forest. Back home we use those fences for keeping the moose and deer from jumping on the road, but I don't know what they are for here. Fending off wandering emus, perhaps?

Talking about flightless birds, our first stop was at a emu farm, where we got to meet the big male Bruce and his two cubs. The little ones were not so little anymore at a few months old. We fed them apples. I love the way emus move their head - their small head in the end of a long neck darts to any direction, so fast (blitzschnell I would say in German) and agile that they are like snakes.

Our tour guide Tammy was a nice girl. Have you seen the movie Juno? Tammy was exactly like that girl Juno: they looked the same, talked in the same way, were enthusiastic about uncommon things, and both were a bit nerdy and awkward. Tammy wasn't a teenager though but 30, and didn't look pregnant. But anytime she opened her mouth I saw Juno in front of me. I found it endearing.

Our second stop was in Busselton, to visit the longest jetty (almost 2km) in the Southern hemisphere (They seem to have their own measures for everything in the Southern hemisphere... No-one ever says something is the biggest or best thing in the Northern hemisphere). Not a very interesting place to be honest, especially as the jetty was closed for restoration. We had lunch there, and I set the pace of eating for the rest of the trip: as much as you can. Maybe it was all the cold, fresh air that made me so hungry, or not knowing exactly when the next meal time would be. It's very good that the tour only lasted three days, otherwise I would've gained several kilos stuffing my face like that, despite all the exercise we had. My only excuse is that I'm a backpacker and like food I don't have to pay for, haha.

Next we visited Ngilgi Caves, a fabulous place deep under the ground. When I first heard that people get married there, I wonder what kind of cave people want to get married in a cold, dark place. But actually the cave was lit up very beautifully, had a stable, warm year-round temperature, and I could feel the magic that those people must have seen there. The cave was pretty long: it took an hour to walk to the end of it and to climb back. The formations of the stalactites and stalacmites (why are those two words always paired in that order? 'Tites and 'mites would work too, I reckon) were gorgeous. It's crazy how so big structures can hang from the ceiling and defy gravity. By the way, if you want your own titemite cave in your backyard, it's easy: just put heaps of limestone there and wait for 500 000 years.

That day we also visited several spots on the West and South coasts, admiring the scenery and the rock formations. It's really beautiful there.

We kept an eye out for whales, as it's their migrating season now, but didn't see any during our whole trip. I'd love to go on a whale-watching cruise sometime. Anyway, I was very humbled by the vastness of the ocean. Go that way a couple of thousand kilometres, and the next stop is Africa! And that way for Antarctica!

We retired to a hostel in Augusta for the night. As usual, there was no heating. As all the doors had been open all day, it was as cold indoors as it was outdoors, +5! I find it ridiculous that Australias can't be bothered to build proper houses to keep the warmth in and don't heat them either. Granted, it's hot most of the year, but still, I wouldn't want to freeze 3-5 months of the year come wintertime.

All throughout our trip we visited several magnificent, tall forests of Karri or Tuart trees. Some of the forests were so peaceful in the golden light that you expected a bunch of elves from Lord of the Rings to show up any moment.

In one national park we got the chance to climb the 62 or 75 m (don't know which one is correct, have heard both) high Bicentennial tree. Only me and an American guy were up for it, but I must say the others seriously missed out: the climb wasn't that difficult, and at the top, the views over the canopy covered in morning mist were amazing.

In this picture I'm about one-third of the way up. The dots on the ground are people.

We also visited the Tree-Top Walk, a pathway 40 m up from the forest floor in the canopy of these really tall Karri trees. Then we enjoyed a walk among their feet in the Valley of the Giants. The trees were so big and hollow that our whole group could stand inside some of them.

The highlight of our last day was a hike up Mt Trio in the Stirling Ranges. I'd say the track was quite badly chosen, as it was really really steep and full of loose rocks - in my opinion way too tough for a group of inexperienced hikers, most of whom weren't wearing proper shoes. I was also prooved not to be top fit as the climb was wreaking havoc on my legs, and on the way down I almost fell over several times because of the terrain. It is true though that the views at the top were breathtaking, absolutely gorgeous. However, there must have been an easier path somewhere on the Ranges with equally great scenery.

All in all, the Southwest was very beautiful. In many places the nature was completely unspoiled. The coastal parts reminded me of Finnish Lapland, that's how harsh the vegetation was. It was also an empty land: the distances between towns were long, and even the isolated regional hubs didn't have more than 35 000 residents. Maybe that is way the nature has remained so rich.

Reef & Rainforest: Kissing Butts and Hating Greyhound

Before coming to Cairns, I had a feeling that I would hate the town. Fortunately I was wrong. I didn't quite love it, and encountered many annoying things, but also had a very good time and experienced surges of happiness. Let's start with the annoyances and continue with the good things so that we can finish on a positive note.

Bad things

I've been craving for some peace and quiet. It's been three weeks since I've slept a whole night without having to wear earplugs. Wearing earplugs hurts because my ears are too small, so that doesn't make me very happy. I've come to realize that about half of the backpackers (based on those I've met during the last three months) don't have any manners at all, when it comes to respecting other people's sleep. They don't give a shit if someone in their room is trying to sleep (at night, in the morning, during the day - any time), but keep on having loud conversations, shuffle through their stuff, and flick the lights on. This absolutely pisses me off. I've noticed most people just lie in their beds miserable and wait for the noisy people go tired. Now, I'm a pretty calm person and don't like conflicts, but this is an issue I do speak up about. I just can't take it anymore, so I do get up and half-politely ask the people to be quiet or move somewhere else. So far I've only been called bitch once...

I've been sleeping badly, and it makes me irritable, annoyed and exhausted. I hate to be pissed off all the time. In Cairns I stayed in a 14-bed-dorm (didn't know that at the time of booking, otherwise wouldn't have done it) and had to tell people to shut up almost every fucking night. Ooh how I dream about having an apartment of my own again. How can I feel too old for the backpacker scene when I'm only 22?

Talking about unpleasant noise... I spent seven nights in the same room with a Dutch girl, who must have the ugliest voice on the planet. Any time she opens her mouth, I feel my jaw tighten and anger bubble inside me. I want to shout her to SHUT UP!!! and beg my other roomies not to talk to her. I've tried wearing earplugs when she's in the room, but they didn't help - her shriek could break through any defense. She sounds like a screeching pig that someone is trying to kill. Had she stayed for a while longer, I would have volunteered as the butcher.

Having a lot of time in my hands, I decided to work on my West coast itinerary. I had trouble booking the sectors of my bus pass online, so I dropped in on a Greyhound office for help. They also couldn't make the system work - some of my destinations didn't show up. After some phone calls, the helpful man at the desk found out that there was no service to Kalbarri, Denham or Monkey Mia anymore, because a third-party shuttle service had closed business, for good. He made some more phone calls, trying to help me find alternative ways to get to these places, only to find out there was absolutely no public transport to these towns anymore. This change had only occurred a week earlier, which was after I had already bought my ticket. They had apparently posted a small notice somewhere on their website, but didn't bother to notify those people who had already bought a ticket. What about those people who had already started their travels and were now stuck in Kalbarri or Denham? Neither had Greyhound changed their promotion materials: all posters, magazine ads, etc. still had those towns on their route map. As I had just witnessed, even their staff weren't really aware of the change. Hello Greyhound, you're doing a shitty job! I was obviously very much pissed off. What's the use of having a bus pass when the bus doesn't go to two out of the three major destinations anymore?! The kind man at the service desk helped me to fill out a refund application, but cautioned me that the processing time was very long and that I would have to wait 6-8 weeks to get my money back. All fellow travellers, be warned: Greyhound sucks!!!

Upset, I marched into a travel agency and booked a tour to cover the way from Perth to Exmouth. Then, to cut down the costs, I booked a bus from Exmouth to Broome (Greyhound as they are the only operator there - no wonder they can do whatever they want! I only realize now that there might have been some flight between Exmouth and Broome... Whatever, too late). This seriously wrecked my budget, as I ended up having to pay $900 instead of the original $400 (in addition to having to wait forever before I actually get that money)! The tour will certainly be about 100 times better, more convenient and more fun than the bus would've been, so at least something good comes out of this.

Good things

Apart from the troubles, I had a good time in Cairns. I had many a lovely stroll along the waterfront that I found beautiful even though it wasn't a beach but a mud flat. Except for two tours, I didn't do much. Every day I went to one of the travel agencies to use the veeeeery slow but free internet, and had some very crappy but free dinner at the Woolshed, a pub famous for its classy events such as Wet T-Shirt Wednesdays. I liked the town much more than I had expected, thanks to the lovely weather (at 26-28 degrees and sunny, it was just perfect to me) and the laidback atmosphere.

The first one of my tours was to the World Heritage listed rainforests up North. Our tour guide was a chatty man full of fun facts to share. Did you know that about half of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are caused my the cattle and sheep? More specifically, from the methane emitted when the animals fart. (I'm childish enough to find that hilarious.) So how are the clever Australians planning to cut their national emissions? Well, some scientists have discovered that when kangaroos fart no methane is emitted, because there is some bacteria in their gut that chops up that gas. Now, the scientists are trying to figure out how to isolate this bacteria and plant it to all sheep and cattle as well. And voil`a, the ozone layer is saved! (If I hadn't heard about this methane problem before, I would've been sure that the guide was bullshitting us...)

Our first stop of the day was to a wildlife park. Apart from the usual kangaroos, koalas and emus, they had a bunch of ridiculous-looking birds (I loved them), and the main reason why I chose the only tour that visits the park: a cassowary. Cassowaries are huge, flightless birds distantly related to emus. They have very ugly, red-and-blue heads and are able to kill (and have done it as well) humans by clawing with their feet. A few decades ago these birds where thought to be extinct, but actually nowadays there are still one or two thousand of them roaming around Australia's Northeastern jungles. We were also lucky enough to spot a wild one in the forest later that day!

After visiting the park we continued to drive north, stopping on the way at a field to steal some sugarcane which we had for dessert after lunch (it was quite nice - tasted like sugar obviously). Our next stop was Alexandra Lookout with a nice view to the sea and the place where Steve Irwin got killed by a stingray (yep, one of those mates I snorkelled with at Magnetic Island). The reason why I remember this place wasn't he view though, but the local population of green ants. For the Aborigines, these ants are like walking candy. I felt up for some experimentation, so I picked up an ant, close my lips around its behind and gave a suck. And sure it did taste like lime! Then I realized I had just licked some ass to get candy.

Somebody had brought along their didgeridoo (don't ask me why), that's an Aboriginal instrument, so the guide decided to show off his skills by playin it. He was pretty good, and could play any modern songs in a recognizable way. We managed to dare him to try playing it while driving the car simultaneously. He managed it! Who said that men can't do two things at the same time?

Upon arrival in Cape Tribulation we discovered a bunch of 3-4 buildings, and that was the whole village. Truly a place to get away from it all! We took a stroll in the forest and practised boomerang throwing on the beach. I did the best, which isn't much to say as we all sucked at it. We also took some stupid photos.

My shoe didn't like all the movement. One of the metal buckles holding the straps together broke into two pieces. I was gutted, as I had just had the shoe fixed two days earlier, when another part of it had been broken. But no worries! I had a bulb light up above my head, and asked for a paper clip. A couple of twists and turns and voil`a! The straps of the shoe were firmly fixed into place. (Unfortunately, the following day another one of those metal thingies broke, and I finally had to admit that the life of these shoes had come to an end and throw them away. My late travel companion Inka would've been happy, as she hated them. She doesn't know I bought a new pair a week later and they are even less stylish...) I was renamed "Mrs MacGyver" then.

We drove up in the middle of the forest and hiked for a while to reach a river called Emmagen Creek. It was a gorgeous, peaceful place. We went for a swim in the cold water, and the guide tried to take some mermaid-style pictures of me (I hope they are never going to see the daylight). I was scared of crocodiles, and it didn't comfort me whatsoever when the guide told us it had been over a year since he had seen one there. (I was right to be alert actually - some other people from our group had spotted a saltwater crocodile on the same beach we had been on an hour earlier!) Perhaps inspired my the New Moon movie, I took up the offer to try cliffdiving. Up on the cliff I remember why I never dared to jump from the 5-meter platform to the pool when I was a kid - it's damn high! However, I took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, and jumped. After a huge splash (I have a video of my jump, it looks like some elephant just fell over from the cliff) I resurfaced, giggling from the thrill.

Then it was time to drive back to Cairns. I had enclosed myself in a happy bubble, reminiscing on the great day I had. The guide apparently had been impressed, as he asked if I wanted to come out for a second tour the following day. I was taken by surprise and hadn't even answered before he had immersed in another conversation. Later that night he texted me to congratulate me on the "sexy swimming pictures" (if drowning is sexy to you...) and asked me out for a drink. I really couldn't be bothered.

My other big day out from Cairns was a boat trip to the outer reef. I had chosen to cruise with Ocean Spirit because they were one of the cheapest options, but I got definitely very good value for the money. I snorkelled on two different reef sites, and was super-impressed by all the stunning colours of the fish and coral I saw. It was so beautiful I didn't want to leave the water before a staff member drove around in a boat telling people it was time to leave. I also had a good time laying on the top deck sunbathing - I, the queen of almost-albinos, managed to get a tan! I had bought a underwater case for my smaller camera, so I naturally took heaps of pictures. Since most of you have already seen them on Facebook, I'll only post these two:

Since you're reading this, obviously I haven't been eaten by sharks yet. I left Cairns on 9th June and flew over to Perth in Western Australia. Next entry will be about the wild west!

Mission Beach & Dunk Island

I arrived at Mission Beach 17:30 in the afternoon. The 3,5-hour bus ride felt relatively short for Australian distances. On arrival I was informed that, it being Saturday, the only supermarket had closed at five and wouldn't be open on Sunday either. Great. I checked the menu of a local restaurant, but since in my budget a suitable price for a meal is $2-3, I didn't want to pay $20 for an Indian meal, when I don't even like Indian food that much. I found a tiny gas station that was open, and bought toast, strawberry jam and crisps. Luckily there was a free BBQ at the hostel that night, but otherwise my weekend diet had do consist of whatever I'd brought with me (not much) or bought in the gas station. I had toast with jam (which really disgusted me as I hate anything sweet with bread), potato crisps for lunch, and pasta with ketchup for dinner. Pretty miserable. On Monday, as soon as I woke up I run to the supermarket and bought a huge pile of fresh, nice food.

On Sunday I hopped (or really, paddled through the waves) on a water taxi for a quick ride to visit Dunk Island just offshore from Mission Beach. According to Lonely Planet, the island boasts a mighty population of 55 people, so it was just what I wanted after all the crowded tourist haunts of the East coast. There were some other tourists but not too many, so I found plenty of nice moments of peace and quiet there. I still haven't grown tired of rainforests, so I decided to have a nice hike to the highest point of the island through them. I love it when I'm walking alone in the forest and all my senses are alert. I hear every crack and see every tiny lizards escaping under the ferns. The light is just stunning on a sunny weather, and I have to stop all the time to just look at the curious plants. I've never been one to care much about scents as my nose isn't very sensitive, but I've found that the rainforest smells lovely. Like damp earth and everything green. I take in very deep breaths to enjoy it.



Besides the hills, I also hiked up to a small beach called Muggy Muggy. I had heard that it was the best place on the island for snorkeling, and I had brought a pack of gear with me that was included in the price of the water taxi. There were only a few people on the beach, and part of the time I had it to myself. I donned on the gear, and put a stinger suit on even though I saw no one else was wearing one. I don't care about looking silly - even though it's quite unlikely to encounter a jellyfish so late into the season, I'd just met one two days ago, and knowing my luck would probably manage to bump into another one if I wasn't well protected.

I walked to the water and stopped ankle-deep to adjust my mask. Just then I saw something big swim in front of me in the shallow water, just one meter from me. SHARK!!! I froze, and watched it glide past me along the shore in knee-deep water. I followed it, walking on the beach, until it dived between two cliffs away from my sight.

I sat on the beach for about an hour, freaking out. I'm absolutely terrified of sharks. This one was only about 1,3 meters long and thus too small to rip my body parts off (except for my toes and fingers, but there wouldn't be much to eat in them so no point doing it). I had read that reef sharks are not aggressive unless provoked, and humans are too big for them anyway to be considered food. I eventually went back to the water and snorkeled for half an hour. I still wasn't relaxed, but lifted my head up every once in a while to keep an eye on any approaching fins above the surface. I didn't dare to swim out to the reef, which maybe was irrational - swimming close to the shore was obviously not any safer, as I had just encountered the object of my fear right where I was.

Later, I managed to think it was pretty cool to see a shark in the wild. However, I would be very, very grateful if this would be the first and last time I ever saw one.

Apart from the island trip I didn't do much on Mission Beach. I found some great books in the hostel's bookshelf and was well entertained with those. I updated my blog at the local travel agency, which didn't go as smooth as I hoped... The lady working there had the loudest voice I've ever heard: I literally flinched any time she opened her mouth, which was way too often. After 2 hours there I had a headache, and wouldn't have been surprised if my eyes had been bleeding.

I also went to the beach one afternoon to watch skydivers landing. I was sooo jealous of them that it made me cringe. I would love to skydive too, but felt that it wasn't the right time. I don't want to do it alone, and wouldn't have any room in my budget anyway...

I went to Mission Beach to see something new and kill a few days, and for that purpose it was a very pleasant place. There would have been more stuff to do, like ocean kayaking and rainforest walks, but I felt lazy and decided just to relax. No regrets!