Day 1: From Bali to Perth
After a fantastic last day in Bali (surfing in Ulu, a new board for Johannes, and packing up – to the gram, without any arguments), we headed to the airport in the evening. At 9:30 PM, we finally took off for Australia. We weren’t allowed to bring any water on board, which was a bit odd, but apparently, Australia is very strict. After a 3-hour flight in the “kids’ section,” filled with crying and vomiting children, we landed in Perth at 1:30 AM.
Upon arrival, we had to fill out a form with many questions and then were allowed to just walk through. I had imagined it to be much stricter, thinking they would search everything and bombard us with questions. But the officer was super friendly and let us through without any hassle. We then tried to sleep for 4 hours at the airport, or at least attempted to.
After that, we took the train to our Airbnb accommodation. The one-kilometer walk was quite a challenge with almost 100 kg of luggage, but fortunately, we made it. After a short morning nap to be a bit more refreshed, we quickly got ready and headed to pick up our rental car. We grabbed a quick coffee at “La Veen Coffee” in the city center, and when we arrived at the car rental place, we realized we were at the wrong one. Fortunately, everything still worked out, and we got a nice Kia. Johannes still needs to get used to driving and sitting on the wrong side, haha.
Then we went straight to our first bus viewing – a Mercedes Sprinter. After that, we grabbed a snack and headed to the beach – finally some bread. At Scarborough Beach, we had a dinner picnic and watched the sunset. The sea had a bit of a mix of Portugal, America, and Denmark.
We haven’t seen much yet, but what we have seen so far we really like. It’s so spacious, not cramped, green, and the air is fresh. Johannes said, “Perth feels like you can set your own limits,” and I think that’s exactly how it feels.
Despite our fatigue, the day was very nice and somehow relaxing. The weather was also great: cool in the morning and then really warm with the sun.
You could say it was a long but great first day!
Day 2: Round And Round We Go
After a much-too-short night, we headed straight to Fremantle in the morning for our first bus viewing. But before that, we had a coffee at “Amante & Co Coffee” – a really cozy place to sit in the morning sun and enjoy our coffee. During this, we tried to sort out our bank account, phone number, tax number, etc. It turned out to be much more complicated than we thought. After a long back-and-forth, we managed to at least get a phone number.
Then we moved on to the first bus. Well, it had quite a few miles on the clock, and unfortunately, we both couldn’t stand up straight inside it. Also, the bed was quite short (about 170 cm), which isn’t ideal.
After a quick snack break in the parking lot, we went straight to the next bus. This one was a really old Mazda (with the engine under the passenger seat), quite narrow, and so low that we couldn’t even sit up straight. Then we had a quick coffee somewhere in a shopping mall, and then it was off to Bus No. 3. It was a completely empty Ford and actually quite cool. The size would be great, but 1. it’s expensive, and 2. we really need to think about whether we want to take on the task of converting a bus by ourselves. Without experience, space, and equipment?
With that, the mandatory program for the day was done. We also checked out two surf shops, just to see if we might need something, haha, and then visited a yarn store. Of course, I couldn’t resist and stocked up on new yarn for two new projects. I haven’t spent this much money on yarn in a long time.
In the evening, we went back to the beach. Today, we visited Cottesloe Beach, had a picnic, and then took a walk. So many beautiful shells on the beach and bleached algae – we had never seen that before.
Through all the driving around today, we (or at least it felt like) got a bit of an impression of Perth, and we both really like it. It’s a modern city, but still very “down-to-earth” and somehow unpretentious. Super green and spacious.
Oh, and so far, we haven’t had a single argument, even though we were both extremely tired, hungry, and a bit stressed/excited. I can hardly believe it myself and must have said at least three times today: “I’m so proud of us.”
Now I’m so tired that I’m about to fall asleep with my eyes open while sitting because I’m too tired to lie down and close my eyes. LOL
Day 3: Surfing, Bus Viewing, Bus Viewing, and More Bus Viewing
Today we got up early again to head straight to Yanchep so Johannes could try out his new wetsuit. But first, we made a coffee and croissant stop at “Humblebee Coffee.”
While Johannes was in the water, I knitted with my new yarn and enjoyed the sunshine. A Sunday morning couldn’t be better. If it’s always like this, I might just want to stay here after all.
The rest of the day turned out to be pretty stressful. We drove from A to B and checked out four different buses. Only one of them is really a contender because we’ve decided that we want to be able to stand upright inside to make it truly comfortable.
In between, we stopped at a bookstore to pick up a travel guide, a road map, and two puzzle books. You have to be well-equipped, after all.
In the evening, we finally had something warm to eat: Margherita pizza, oven-roasted vegetables, and tiramisu (thankfully it was cold). We went to “Two Mad Tuscans,” and it was really, really good.
Other than that, there isn’t much to say about today, except that we’ll be really happy when the bus search is finally over. Tomorrow we have another viewing scheduled and are hoping to find the right bus soon!
