Arrival in Perth - Night 139

I landed in Melbourne at 5am local time and had exactly 40 minutes before my next flight to Perth left. As one would expect, I had to change Terminals which meant going through a security checkpoint again and walking about a mile but I made it just in time to board. I began to wonder how my luggage was going to make this similar journey. Part of me was hoping that they would lose my sleeping bag, that dirty, rarely used ‘necessity’ that I brought along for the volunteer portion of my trip. I would send it home but it is not worth the postage it would cost, yet I can’t bring myself to just conveniently leave it somewhere. I figured that best plan was to not label it and hope the airline would lose it. Collecting my bags in Perth at 8am only my large backpack came through so, for a minute, I imagined my devious plan had worked. I was called to the Virgin Blue office where a nice lady explained to me that it would be on the next flight from Melbourne and that they would deliver it to my address. Damn.

After this brief disappointment, I called up Sue, the ex-foreign exchange student of my mother’s family 30 years ago who I was

My Foster Home

staying with, for a ride. She graciously picked me up and invited me into her home as if I was a long lost son. I was even given my own room, with a dresser and fan. Quite an upgrade from the smelly, rotting eight bed dorm I stayed at in Darwin. I took a much needed nap and then enjoyed lunch with Sue. We went over her scrapbooks from her time at my grandparent’s place as well as some of the old Bonduel High School yearbooks. Just crazy seeing many of my friend’s parents back in their formative years.

I spent the better part of the afternoon reading on the pack porch, in the shade of course as the temperatures approached the upper nineties. In the evening the rest of the family came home, Simon from his second day at Curtin University, Jemma from high school, and Den from a day at the golf course. Along with the neighbor boy, Max, we had a nice family dinner on the porch discussing the differences between American Football (gridiron as they call it) and Australian Rules Football (Footy). Simon, Max and I went to shoot some pool and have a few drinks at the neighborhood bar.

What I Learned Today: You know you are from a small town when you are looking at a high school yearbook from twenty years before you graduated and all the last names are the same as those of the kids in your class.

written by

exumenius on February 26, 2008 from Perth, Australia

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

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