Shuffle Your Feet

Floundering. After arriving at Aberdeen backpackers, Perth, I went to unlock a few memories from 1994. Although cool to see the city again, I was still a little jaded being in the company of a majority Western populus.

I gave the job scene the once over but soon decided to go to Scarborough beach as Flea (from Koh Phangan) was in town for one last day. I met the guys and girls she'd met along the way and was introduced to Declan (AKA Decca, Hellfish) and Brad (AKA Lubedog, Bona) - 2 guys from the medical profession on holidays from Sydney. My easy afternoon on the beach turned into a warm welcome to Australia in the greatest of Ozzie traditions... a night at the pub.

The following day, Decca, Lubedog and Flea and myself ventured into Perth and Kings Park, along the way sampling the local brews. The weather quite different from Asia, was blue skies with a cool breeze. Lunchtime I got to indulge in one of my all-time favourite meals - BBQ spare ribs from Fast Eddies. They didn't disappoint, though with my pocket $30 lighter, I quickly realised I was gonna be spending more wonga now.

After waving Flea off, the 3 of us set to work in the Shed. I'd like to say it was an inner-city Agricultural project, but it was just a shack themed pub with a live band playing. Another great night had by all.

Day 3 in Oz, and while the Lubedog attended a Chairopractors conference during the day, Decca and I killed time playing pool and cruising the streets in search of cheap eateries. The day fizzled out with a cheap night in the hostel eating pizza and watching the world go by from the front balcony. The following morning we were planning a Big Day Out.

One of the biggest Australian music festivals was on just outside of the city, and with my addiction for Summer live music it was something I really didn't want to miss. However we couldn't get tickets at such late notice, the Australian law seems a lot tighter on touts that would normally supply an Englishman a ticket at a price. However we thought we'd check the site out to see if there was any way we could get in.

Security was tight, and there were no opportunities to get a ticket, so a little defeated, we headed off to the pub and watched as the Australian cricket team beat the South Africans in a one day match... and played some more pool (can you spot a recurring theme yet?). As daylight faded, we passed by the festival gates one last time. (note: Mum, you might want to stop reading now... just joking)

We spotted a chance and within a moment or two, the three of us had jumped a wall and were making our way across an unlit carpark. A wheely bin boost, a building scaled, and we were laying low to make it into the festival boundaries. As we passed over the corrugated roof, we came to our final hurdle. Over the lip of the roof, was a 12ft drop, and almost Bond style, a fabric canopy out-stretched over a picnic area. The canopy lowered us a few feet, then a ledge on the wall, a relatively small drop and we were running for cover of the crowd. Made it.

We got the chance to see a couple of Ozzie bands play, some of 'Franz Ferdinands' set, 'Iggy and the Stooges' and the main headliners 'The White Stripes'. When those guys had finished, one of my favourite dance acts were just starting the final set of the day - '2 Many DJs' pumped out the crowd pleasers as the end of the Sunday-long festival pulled to a close. Awesome.

After a staggered start, my introduction to Australia was over... and I think you can tell - I think I'm going to enjoy it here...