The Life in Western Australia: Perth

It's pouring outside, so I'm stuck inside getting things sorted out for next week to Adelaide! :) Just booked 1 week at Adelaide and then I will have to go to an agency to book a train ride from Perth to Adelaide for 2 nights 3 days. Fun fun funnn!

So far, I feel like the best part about this trip is figuring out my way around things as I go. Such that I landed in Sydney without knowing how to get to Bounce Sydney Hostel. Turns out the train station was under construction so there was a free shuttle to town. I landed in Perth at midnight and had nowhere to go because I can't check in until noon time and there's no bus running into town until 5 AM-ish, so I ended up sleeping at airport arrival area. Seems like it's a normal thing since a lot of other travelers were also doing the same; except they all chose a corner so they're not obstructing the arrival area while I chose a random pillar in the middle of the place so I can charge my electronics haha! The most scary part was that I landed in Terminal 1 and there's no bus that takes you to town. I looked around and started walking in every direction only to find highways after 30 minutes of walking. I Google Mapped my way and it told me that the bus is on the other side of the airport which is a 3 hour walk if I do decide to walk which is also not safe as there's only highways. I refused to take the taxi because the City Perth Backpackers Hostel website indicated that taking a taxi from the airport could cost up to 50AUD. Ain't nobody got money fo dat! There was nobody around the airport since it was early in the morning. It wasn't until I saw a flight attendant getting off work that I asked her how I can take a bus into the city. @_@ Apparently, there's a shuttle at Terminal 3 that goes to the city. There were no signs until I get to the free shuttle station that takes you to Terminal 3. The total cost to get to the city ended up being $4.50 ahahah... While on the bus, I met this couple from Spain that was also traveling around without things planned. They just left Indonesia and plan on going to New Zealand and South Africa after Australia. They were pretty intense though; more so than me. It didn't seem like they had a phone so they didn't have a clue how to get to the city at all. The guy Jeff even told me that they haven't booked a hostel yet. They're just going to wander around the city until they come to a cheap hostel where they can spend a few nights. I can't do that. I might not be a good planner, but I need to know that I have a roof for the night and not sleeping on the streets; be it at the airport or somewhere that I can feel safe while I'm asleep. I try to plan 2~3 days ahead of time in terms of how I will travel and where I'm going to stay. As for exploring, I do that along the way since I have my phone for guidance. And the best of all, this is a solo trip in a country where I don't know anyone!

Then my phone ended up dying. I got to my hostel at 9AM and the receptionist said I can't check in until noon. I went to a cafe and had breakfast. My phone said I have 15% battery left. I ignored it and it turned off itself at 10%. I tried turning it back on and it said it was out of battery. I started charging it with my battery pack and it would turn back on, but the screen just goes black. I can hold the power button and a prompt will show up to turn off my phone, but the screen is just black and no screen. I waited until I got back to the hostel, checked in, and started looking into it. Turns out this happens to Moto X phones quite common. The only way to fix it is to do a factory reset. Luckily, my pictures are auto-uploaded onto Dropbox. I was like, "If my phone dies here, I'm gonna have to travel without a phone or a GPS!" which is kind of scary to me even though I think getting lost is the fun part of traveling. I'm a princess, I can't sleep on the streets! Ahahah... I ended up spending about three hours and gave up and just did a factory reset. The rest of the day was spent going out to get groceries and cooking zzz...

Perth is quite beautiful at night! Especially the view from King's Park over viewing the small little city of Perth. King's Park is supposedly the 6th most beautiful park in the world beating New York's Central Park. The park is HUGE, so I only got to see a little bit of it which had a lot of plants from all over Australia. Australia is still in the Spring season, so most plants and flowers have not bloomed yet, so there was not much to see either.

Edit 10PM:
So I ended up going to at around 2:30 PM because the rain has slowed down a bit so it's just drizzling here and there. I ended up going to some of the free museums around the place; just like how there's free museums every where around Australia. One of the museum was Institute of Contemporary Arts... It got me starting to think... Art doesn't have to be something with perfection. As long as you can make some story up for the artwork, it can be something awesome! I saw some project that just blew my mind on how it can be some kind of special artwork. Strips of paper hanging from the ceiling with a fan blowing on them while projecting ocean waves? A picture of three teenagers facing away from the picture standing in a body of water? A room filled with transparent plexiglass with lights shining from different directions to create abstract reflections. It can't be any more simple. I mean, it's something anyone can do but just because they did it first, it's some special artwork? I'm not trying to bash on them, but it seems like art is all about expressing what you're aiming to get the audience to see; even if it's just one dot on a piece of blank paper. For all I know, from all the pictures that I've taken, one must be artistically awesome worthy of millions of dollar! But I gotta make a catchy phrase first.

On the topic of art... I fucked up my camera sensor. :( The other day, I was taking pictures and notice a huge dust on my picture. I took off the lens and tried to clean the sensor with my shirt LMAO! Since it's a mirrorless camera, there's nothing obstructing the sensor so it's there bare. I got annoyed and started wiping it with a micro fiber cloth! When I got back to the hostel, I used a Q-tip! I've done everything that could go wrong at cleaning a sensor... I didn't know until I YouTube'd it and people say NEVER touch the sensor! Just use a blower to blow the dust out. I don't want to spend $$$$ on getting it professionally cleaned, so I'll try to figure something out. It better be soon because it makes my picture look so ugly with all those dust on it now. I'm terrible. :(

I also bought tickets for a train from Perth to Adelaide! 349AUD with a YHA membership. It'll be a fun experience! As for now, I'm going to call it a night. I hope it's not going to rain for the next few days as weather forecast has indicated. I want to be outside and seeing things! Can't wait for Rottnest Island on Sunday though!

Until then, peace out!