My last days in Australia
As I'm sitting here on this Air New Zealand 767-300, (flight no. NZ114 1900 departure) blasting away from perth at 890km/h, watching the lights of the once tremendous skyline get smaller and smaller. I'm having a real hard time working out how I feel. On one hand I'm happy to be leaving because I know New Zealand will be a fantastic place and I'll (probably) enjoy whatever adventures I get upto there. I can't shake the feeling though that I'm really gonna miss Perth.
I'm sure its all the people I met and the friends I made that made me like the place so much. All of them combined with, the clean, safe city, favourable climate and overall the length of time I spent there, is really making my heart pang with regret as I'm watching the huge city skyline shrink into the orange glow of a million street lamps, with the darkness of the great Aussie bight below me.
Looking down on the city from this angle I can see all the places I went to, all the memories I have, all at once. In the distance, Rottnest Island's twin lighthouses flicker, Northbridge is a mass of criss-crossing lights, Fremantle, Cottesloe and Scarborough stop abruptly at the sea and Kings park sits high next to city, a dark tree covered oasis in the sea of light. Each one of these places is a memory and an experience I won't forget. As experiences go, just last night, after only a single bottle of vodka I found myself on my bed in between and Aussie, a German and a Canadian. Now in real life, how often does that happen?
Shortly after this, Kat (the Aussie - tall brunette) who swears she's never had any professional training, started giving Isobel (the Canadian - short brunette) a massage. Having had a massage from Kat the previous night (which I thoroughly enjoyed - I didn't think I could be any more relaxed) Fran (the German blonde) and I decided 'practice' on each other, surely neither of us could be as good as Kat? Taking my top off I lay there on her top bunk, Fran did an excellent job of finding my few stressed zones and easing them. After a while, we switched. After a couple of minutes of exploratory work, finding the places that made her go 'Mmmm' rather than 'aarrgh' I looked to my left to see Kat and Isobel had also swapped. I then looked down to see Fran's bare back (obviously she'd also taken her top off) and then to my right, where the door knocked and Claire gently pushed the door open...
"Um, Sorry to interrupt guys but... Did you know the blinds were wide open and everybody's watching you?!?" I turned and about 20 people gradually turned, smiled and waved, or gave me the thumbs up from where they were sitting by the pool...
Damn these ground floor rooms. Much stick was taken on my last day (mostly from Irish Ray) along the lines of "Anybody aching? Anyone stressed at all?!? Heres your man..."
We stopped shortly after when Chris came back in the room and started throwing things around because he wasn't getting one and felt left out. Alcohol affects different people in different ways, which is a shame.
Anyway with Chris calmed, we all went out to the usual places (see 'Saturday Night' on my list) Here's Chris and Fran in Paramount.
Perth has gone now and there's just darkness below me. They seem to be pretty up for keeping my glass of New Zealand red topped up which is nice. Hopefully I'll get some sleep on this 6 hr flight to Auckland, 'About Schmidt' is the film which I saw in Melbourne so that shouldn't distract me too much.
Maybe it isn't Perth I'll miss, maybe it's the people? If so? Why should I bother travelling if what makes the difference is who I meet? Surely the city itself can't make me feel this way. It must be the friends I'm leaving behind. What's the point of me doing all this if its the people that make my journey?
Uluru, Whale Sharks, the Outback, The 12 apostles, pole position at a Grand Prix circuit, 4x4s, abseiling, deer and kangaroo at my doorstep, AFL, a .44 magnum, stink beetles, the Rialto Towers, Toadfish, Box fish, sharks, snakes, indoor snowboarding, SCUBA diving, the Flinders Ranges, manta rays, waterfalls, the first lifeforms on Earth and every other cherished moment I haven't written down but will forever be in my head....
I know (and I said this last time) this wont be the last time I come to AUSTRALIA.
