Still in Perth

One of the hidden little bays of Rottnest Island.

Half Kangaroo, half rat, and completely useless.

Pretending to know what I'm doing.

Life in Perth has become a pleasant but somewhat boring monotony. I figure that after traveling so rapidly since leaving home, it just doesn't feel quite right to stay somewhere for too long. To counter this I've essentially explored every part of the city and the surrounding area, including Rottnest Island, which is just off the coast.

Rottnest is only about 9km long and is the only home to the mini kangaroo known as a Quokka. They're basically giant rats with little kangaroo feet, that hop around the island and turn into furry little balls when scared. Even though Rottnest is the only place they live, they sure live there in abundance. The bloody things are everywhere. People have to install mini fences and boards around their houses to keep them from getting in, I almost hit 5 or 6 on my bike as I puttered around the island. The main town on Rottnest (uniquely named "The Settlement") is something of a dream land, where these giant rats hop around and peacocks wander freely through convenience stores and down the paths. Strange place, but awesome, managed to see a huge group of dolphins doing flips for about an hour as they play in the huge waves coming across the Indian Ocean.

Luckily there's a good crowd now at the hostel and most of my free time is spent having a few beers at the pub with them and watching the world cup. Had a big night out on Saturday with a logger from Nelson BC named James and four Irish guys. We visited Black Bettys (aptly named Blackout Bettys by the locals due to its all you can drink happy hour special), and apparently things got a little out of hand as James and I pledged our souls to kicking the English out of Northern Ireland. Pretty sure we joined the IRA, so I'm not sure what that will mean for my future. Woke up at 5am with the world cup blaring and a didgeridoo on my lap (which I can play now and am actually getting quite skilled at if I don't say so myself).

Other news from around Western Australia...I booked my flight to Africa and was unfortunately unable to make it to Mauritius for a week in between, so now I'll be going all over the southern hemisphere in my attempts to finally land in Kenya sometime on July 1st. Was also pleased to hear that the majority of the 1st, the same day as our country's glorious and sacred birth, will be spent sitting in an airport in Qatar, unable to go outside due to visa restrictions and roaming bands of al-Qaida.

Since I figured I would be here for a while and after suffering the massive hit to my bank account courtesy of the plane ticket, I decided to do something with my unemployed life and finally get a job, breaking over 8 months of not lifting a finger. It's really just a string of odd jobs organized by some lady. Last week I painted some old woman's ceiling and did some landscaping work for another. All this week I'm the assistant for Charlie, a 74 year old Italian bricklayer who basically just rambles on about breasts and randomly farts, he's a good egg though and keeps telling me to stop working so hard. Once in a while his wife shows up, who's english is far worse than his (even though they've both lived here for 51 years). Yesterday after Charlie left, she had a seat next to me and gave me hell (literally) about not being Catholic. "You nice boy, you hard work, but you go to hell". I contemplated throwing her in the cellar that I was digging out and burying her. Luckily Charlie returned after an hour and told me he wasn't a Catholic either. When I asked him why she wasn't bugging him, he said, "cause I just tell her I am so that she'll shut up for once in 50 years".

Unfortunately work and the World Cup schedule don't coincide very nicely, as the games go all night and each day I show up for work a little bit more tired than the last, all in good fun though. In an effort to actually do some traveling, I think I may actually be leaving Perth this Saturday to venture south for 5 days or so, before returning here to fly to Africa!

Also, was quite disheartened to see that the Oilers lost. Me and a guy from Saskatchewan had made plans to actually get up and watch the game from an all day pub, but were unable to due to conflicting work schedules...bahh.