Perth Western Australia
We are in Perth, Western Australia….an Australian, after 11 years absence I am in culture shock. As we slowly cycled border to border, country to country from London, more or less South East, the differences were gradual or when not gradual they were somewhat expected.
To arrive at Perth International Airport, and be greeted “g’day….ow ya goin?”. I was amused…..and very much delighted. I am certainly not the Aussie I once was. I hear the Aussie twang everywhere and it is as exciting as listening to the multiple languages of our past year of travel. I’ve forgotten how to use my bank card in stores, forgotten how to order a beer….midi, schooner, pot…..pint? I speak the same tongue, but I feel foreign, I feel as visible as times when kids chased us screaming ‘tourist tourist’ in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan! Well, no matter…you don’t cycle half way across the world and be bothered by feeling different. Perth is a place I have only visited, I have never lived in the most isolated city in the world.
Being back in Oz is like being a child again, learning, listening, new, new, new, everything is new and alluring and I love it. We’ve seen kangaroos, cockatoos, galahas, magpies and funny sounding crows, the bush, sunsets and magnificent white beaches….for me it’s all pleasant deja-vu.
We are taking 3 weeks off cycling, reuniting with long missed friends and family, reuniting with our camping gear, reuniting with the hum drum of sorting visas, banking and replacing very worn clothes. I am behind in my blogging and may find time to recap on Thailand and the amazing welcomes we received cycling the west coast of Malaysia. And next..we head south…..1000km off road on a path through the forest…the Munda Biddi bike trail.
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