Perth and Freo

I arrived in Perth late on a Wednesday night and was surprisingly not jet lagged after a weekend of late night lindy hop and blues.
The hostel was in a community called Northbridge, just north of Perth’s downtown core. Although I had heard it described as ‘a young, funky community with lots of pubs, bars and restaurants’ it is more accurately a fairly dodgy community full of bars, strip clubs and several varieties of meat on a stick.

The up side though is that it was just down the road from the weekly swing dance venue, which features a live band. The Perth lindy hoppers are great. Good dancers and generally awesome people. They’ve made me feel right at home.

On the weekend I headed down to Fremantle, or Freo, and much preferred the scenery down there. It’s a smaller community (separate city depending on who you are talking to) right on the harbour and full of really nice pubs and cafés.
The hostel was absolutely wonderful! When I first walked in the manager pointed me in the direction of a few places that are hiring and he even helped me do my online RSA test (Responsible Serving Alcohol). I had a dorm room to myself that had just one double bed and it was lovely. There was also a swimming pool in the backyard. The weather has been pretty dull and cool, but I did enjoy an afternoon with a book and my toes in the pool.

Freo is also home to one of the country’s best micro breweries; Little Creatures. The name is in reference to the yeast that turns malt into beer. I did apply for a job there (along with nearly every restaurant and café in freo) but since I wasn’t successful, I decided I might as well enjoy the beer there. We had a great night out, me and an Irishman, Englishman, Aussie and a Kiwi. As you can imagine, a fair amount of beer was consumed. I also tried Kangaroo and it was delicious, a lot like a nice rare steak.

Even though I really enjoyed hanging out in Fremantle, I decided to take a job up in Lancelin, about an hour and a half north of the city. It’s a small town that hosts the beginner surf camps, and their local pub was hiring. Perth is great, but it is just another nice city, so I thought I’d see what the countryside looks like. Any locals I talk to make it sound like it’s in the middle of nowhere, but I’m really looking forward to it.