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!
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