Southwest Oz

Sunset over Bunbury. Somewhere across that ocean, Jason and Ryan anxiously await more Robert Jordan books.

Margaret River beach. I walked along the coast for over 4 1/2 hours and didn't see a single person.

The fallen centipede and a worthy opponent. Craziest thing, at this point, although torn in half, he still wasn't dead, as I would find out seconds later while trying to flick him out of the room. Make sure to zoom in on this one to get his full ferocity.

Even though alone, I knew it would be a rare day before I again got the chance to protect two oceans simoutaneously. The English fellow I was with was wondering what the hell I was doing, hence a major problem with England.

I finished my time off in Perth while doing brickwork for the rest of the week with ole Charlie. Friday night I was offered another quick job to be the doorman for some millionaire's party. The woman who organized it got me a suit to wear and basically I just had to stand outside this guy's penthouse and bring guests into the party. The host of the party was a guy named Tony Smash (not sure if that's his real name...but I doubt it) and he's one of the biggest club owners in Australia, he also owns a number of gold and copper mines throughout Western Australia. Once a year, Tony flies out to Perth, reopens up his penthouse here (which apparently his wife has no idea he owns) and throws this huge party for all the other club owners in Australia and some of his buddies. I kept wondering through the night why a party hosted by a club owner and attended by dozens of other club owners couldn't get a real doorman to do this work, but it seems I was able to pull the act off. Tony pulled up to his own party about an hour late wearing a white suit, in a brand new silver Ferrari with license plates that read "TONY", what an entrance, even I was swooning. The next few hours I basically just stood outside and marked everyone off the guest list as these 60 year old millionaires showed up with 20 something beauties hanging off their arms. The closest thing I had to do to security was turn back a drunken group of Aboriginies who tried to get in around midnight. Shortly after that, Tony came down and told me to come upstairs and enjoy the open bar. I took full advantage of that situation and throughout the night (after everyone thinking I really was a professional doorman) was offered 4 jobs at rival clubs throughout Oz, including a bartending job at the biggest club in Sydney, which I regretfully had to decline.

The following morning I hopped on a train out of Perth towards Bunbury to finally see some of Western Australia. Stayed a night in Bunbury before heading south along a kangaroo corpse ridden road to Margaret River. This being the centre of the area that produces Australia's finest wines, I obviously insisted on sampling the local produce. Margaret River is also known as the site of some of the best surfing waves in the world and is home to one of the biggest surfing competitions in the world. Heading down to the beach it was easy to see why, the waves rolling in over the Indian Ocean were enormous and some of the riders out there were equally awesome.

It was in Margaret River that I had probably the closest brush to death I've ever experienced. After another very late night thanks to the World Cup (Australia being tearfully beaten by the dirty Italian team...), I woke up the next morning to find a companion sleeping next to me, a 6-7 inch centipede. He was sleeping peacefully on top of my bag which was laid next to the bed. My first reaction to call out for Jason (who usually handles these types of situations) was stemmed by the fact that he's in Africa. I would have to do this myself. At first I thought it may actually be one of those plastic ones that you see for sale in toy stores, that's how big this sucker was. I slowly got out of bed and proceeded to throw my shoes at the beast. He was sent off the bag and across the room where he landed next to my footwear, which he quickly slithered into. Grabbing a 2x4 I then had an on and off engagement with the monster that lasted over 40 minutes. Can't believe how tough this thing was, I hit him so many times yet he wouldnt relent. Instead he would respond by latching onto the end of the board with his pincers and attempting to fight back. I finally won the match and threw him out of the room to be eaten by the cockatoos outside. Many a pint of ale were downed in celebration as I described the heroic tale to my roommates who had been out surfing at the time.

The next day I was off to Augusta (on a school bus...), the point at where the Southern and Indian Oceans collide as well as where the humpback whales come to hang out after it gets too chilly farther south. Another one street town, with not much to offer aside from the awesome beach views. After waiting patiently on the beach I was finally able to spot 4 or 5 of the whales flicking their tails up and doing some rolls in the water about 150 metres offshore. Very cool to watch. Many a pint of ale were downed in celebration as I described the whales to my english roommate who had been out riding his bike at the time.

Now after my little sojourn south, I'm back in Perth awaiting to fly out tomorrow to Kenya and trying to take full advantage of my last hours of western culture and food! Plan to catch the Argentina/Germany game in the Kuala Lumpur airport in one of my monstrous layovers tomorrow. Later Australia, it's been great!