12/27~1/2
Mike and Sharon were going to camping, so I couldn’t stay at their place. I had already bothered them for a long time and it’s time for me to find other place to stay. The first day I arrived in Perth, I went to the bank and the Tax administration, they had sent me some paper and my ATM card to me, actually to my friend 雅琪. I met 雅琪 and other Taiwanese friends in Perth the day before I moved out from Mike and Sharon’s place.
I asked my friends for suggestion that where should I stay after I moved out. I wanted to live in a clean and convenient place. After some discussing, I decided to move to another backpacker instead of the first one I stayed because that place is a mess. It is hard for me to leave from an accustomed place and people to move to another new environment. People are all afraid of change and unknown things. We will deliberate, ruminate, agonize, hesitate and eventually, we still stay in the same place. The biggest enemy of us is ourselves. Accurately saying, it is our minds that restrict us from explore other interesting thing. When I took the flight to Australia, I was not afraid because I got some friends accompanied me. But when I took the bus to Exmouth alone, it was the first time I felt so lonely and helpless. I didn’t know where was I and when would I arrived. I had no one to talk to and I didn’t even know when would I have the next meal. I didn’t know what and who was I going to meet in Exmouth and I also didn’t know where should I go after I arrived Exmouth. The only thing I knew was I couldn’t let myself knocked down by my mind.
What’s the meaning of traveling? Go to as many place as you can or meet as many people as you can? Eat the most delicious food or learn different culture from the local? Things that make people touched are different; there isn’t just one answer and I think there is no correct answer. There are always some things that will pull the string in your heart to make it sing. Everybody has their goal when they decided to come to Australia. I wanted to improve my English skills and my way is close to the local people. I look back to the life of my first month in Australia; I think I did a great job. I always ask the same question to myself: if I have to go back to Taiwan tomorrow, will I be regret of anything? Fortunately, until now, the answer is still being: No, I won’t regret. I hope I can have the same answer till the day I leave Australia.
I planed to go to work after New Year. I would have to stay in Perth for a whole week. Although Perth is a small city, there are still a lot of place for me to visit. The first day I moved into backpacker, I had nothing to do, so I brought the book which Nat gave me as a Christmas present and found a place to enjoy my leisure afternoon time. I walked toward south to the Swan River. On my way to Swan River, I found an attractive park. Between the tall palm trees are some short unknown trees from Hawaii and green grass place under the trees looks like green, soft carpet. The sunlight makes the grass even brighter. Behind the trees is the navy blue sky without any clouds. What a wonderful place, I talked to myself. I couldn’t help but walk toward it. I was hypnotized by the view and it kept telling me to come to her embrace. I choose a branch to sit and started reading my book. Whenever I got tired, I would raise my head and enjoy the view.
The next day I wondered around the city in order to find some job agencies. Unfortunately, most of the job agencies were all closed because of public holiday of New Year. There was only one job agency that told me there’s a job in Manjimup. I could work 8 hours a day and five days a week. The pay is 16.69 Australia dollars per hour. I took the information and think for a while. I didn’t even know where Manjimup is. On my way for lunch I passed a bookstore and I took one of the map to look for Manjimup. It is about 300 km southeast from Perth. I told the stuff in agency that I would confirm on Monday. I wanted to save money for buying a car and I also need money for traveling. That’s why I want to find a job as soon as possible. But the most important thing was I wanted to find something to do, no matter what it is. I don’t mind to work in the farm because I think that will be an experience that I won’t have when I stay in Taiwan. I don’t want to waste my time in finding the job after New Year.
So after an hour ‘quick’ thinking, I decided to go to Manjimup. Stacey, the girl who accompanied me wondering around the city, was shattered about my decision. She couldn’t understand why I could make my decision so quickly. She stayed in Perth for three months since she came to Australia. She stayed in the same backpacker for three months and she rarely went out for a trip. I thought I should change her mind and made her became braver. I asked her to go to Rottnest Island with me. Rottnest Island is a small island west form Perth. There are only shuttle buses on the island because the entire vehicles are prohibited. People can hire bicycle to cycle around the island but the most attractive thing to me are the beautiful beaches around the island. I had known information about this island back in Taiwan. The pictures of beaches on the Internet fascinated me.
Stacey always wants to go to Rottnest Island but she had never been there in the past three months. She was always thinking but not activating. What kind of thought do you need when you are traveling? Some people need to make a meticulous or even complex plan. Some people don’t need any plan because they think they can deal with everything. To me, that will be 40% of preparing and 60% of always being in good mood no matter what happen to me. Corrine, Stacey and me we had a quick discussion about the ship timetable and what were we going to eat in Rottnest Island and that’s all we discussed about.
Rottnest Island is a famous spot. Most of the Taiwanese come to WA will go there. I saw several Taiwanese groups on the same ship of us. To my surprising, most of the Taiwanese who go to Rottnest Island are going to ride the bicycle. They skip the beaches or just take some pictures of it without go for swimming. We went to a beautiful bay for swimming and snorkeling but I didn’t see any Taiwanese there. Maybe that’s because traveling means different to everyone. To me, I won’t miss any beautiful beaches. I enforced Stacey and Corrine to go swimming with me. I taught Corrine how to swim. Because I stayed in Exmouth and went to beaches everyday, I became a good swimmer. Although I can’t swim for a long distance, I can float in very deep water and I am not afraid snorkeling in deep water.
Corrine can’t swim so I taught her how to float and lead her to see some fishes. She was very happy to see some tropic fishes. But I thought it is a little dangerous to teach somebody how to swim. They will become panic when them can’t tiptoe on the ground. They will grape everything they would see and pull you down. I had to be very calm to rescue her and sometimes I even drank some water. But I thought it is worth because I made her experience something she had never had before.
There was time limited for the rented bicycle. We stayed in the beach for about three hours so we had to ride bicycle very fast in order to reach the other spots. We took the short cut though the middle of the Island and returned to the visitor center around 4 o’clock. We still had plenty of time before the ship come to pick us. I thought there are still lots of places for me to visit so I don’t mind to come to Rottnest Island again. After Rottnest Island, I went to Kings Park, Supiaco, Fremantle and Cottslo Beach. I drag Corrine and Stacey to those places with me. We had a great time in those places.
In New Year’s Eve, we went to the shore of Swan River for the firework. This is the first time I have my New Year in a foreign country. Some of my friends go to Sydney to see the famous firework in the bridge and the Opera House. They phoned me after the end of the firework and tell me that’s the most beautiful firework they have even seen in their whole life. I didn’t expect that there would be a big firework in Perth and it was actually only a small firework in the other side of the city. That means that I didn’t see the whole view of the firework in Swan River.
In Taiwan, we always have concerns and firework in Taipei 101. After countdown, there will be lots of people trying to drive back home. The temperature will be very low as though the wind is like thousands of needles that sting into your bone. The traffic will be a mess just like everyone and every car has grown roots into the ground that make everything stick in the same place. Although I couldn’t see the beautiful firework, I was very happy that in Perth, the weather was worm and there weren’t so many people there.
On the way back to YHA, we saw two Asian girls taking pictures of the street view. Corrine asked them whether they want any help. We started chatting after took the pictures. One of the girls is from Malaysia and the other is from Indonesia but they all lived in Australia for more than 7 years. They told us they are going to casino and I asked them whether we could with them. Although I have been to several countries but I have never been to a casino before. I always want to go to casino and try my luck. The girls were willing to take us to the casino after I asked them. That was great!!
When I arrived the casino, I realized that I only have 15 dollars in my wallet. I exchanged ten dollars for the chips and played 輪盤. Unfortunately, I lose all of it in 10 minutes. I thought next time I go to casino; I will bring more than 50 dollars and play Black Jack. I always play it when it comes to Chinese New Year. I hope I can earn some extra money in the casino. I went to the job agent on Monday and tell them I would go to Manjimup. They told me I should take the train on Wednesday and I can work on Thursday. I hope I will have a good time in there.
