My last places: Gold Coast, Rottnest Island and Perth

On Friday, July 28th, I left my host family. After that, I spent 4 more days in Gold Coast. One, to properly say goodbye to my favorite city, which has become my second home. Second, on Saturday, I had my last shift at the stadium. Even during my time as an au pair in Brisbane, I occasionally worked in the football and rugby stadiums on weekends. I also had the opportunity to work at two exciting sports events at the stadium in Brisbane. One was 'States of Origin', which is a huge sports event in Australia, for which you have to be quick to get tickets. Rugby teams from the respective states compete against each other. The second event was a boxing match, where I was even able to watch the last rounds as a spectator in the stadium. I always had a great time working at the stadium. Nice colleagues, very very very good pay, and above all, super kind and friendly guests. It always showed what polite people Australians are.

On Monday, July 31st, it was time to finally say goodbye to beautiful Gold Coast. After a 6-hour flight, I landed in Perth shortly before midnight local time, which was 2 hours behind. I stayed in Perth for one night. The next day, I went directly to the port city of Fremantle, which is a half-hour train ride from Perth. Unfortunately, this alternative-style town was not very worth seeing in winter. It was definitely too cold for me (and for the locals!) to sit outside in a café or stroll through the streets with 15 degrees. In general, there were few people on the streets. In my hostel room, I met a Canadian girl who spontaneously joined me for a tour of Rottnest Island on Wednesday. So we took a ferry from Fremantle to Rottnest Island, which took 30 minutes. We rented bicycles there, which we had booked online for $30 each. We could have saved the money because the bikes were randomly distributed to every visitor without a deposit. We started riding the bikes without a destination or orientation. But in the end, we discovered some beautiful spots on the island. After 6 kilometers of uphill and downhill cycling, I had absolutely no desire to ride the bike any further (I hate cycling and will always hate it ;-)). We got on a hop on, hop off bus at a bus station (where there were lots of cute quokkas, by the way), and it even took us to the final stop free of charge. The bikes can be left somewhere on the island and they will be collected in the evening. Back at the final stop, we finally wanted to eat something as it was already 2:30 pm. But we were very unlucky. The first café had almost nothing left in the display case, the second restaurant had already closed the kitchen, the third take-away restaurant was also closed, just like Subway. So we went back to the first café with growling stomachs and luckily, they had just restocked pies in the display case. Happy that we finally had something to eat, we bought them and sat down at one of the tables in front of the café. Suddenly, a crow and a few seagulls were sitting next to us, watching us and our food. My companion Vanessa asked me if the birds could attack us. 'They definitely can,' I replied. 10 seconds after I said that, the crow swooped down on my pie, followed by a huge screaming flock of seagulls. I jumped to the side and thought, that's it, my food is gone. But my fighting spirit was awakened by my hunger. So I fearlessly plunged into the flock of birds, waving my arms wildly, grabbed the pie, and ran into the café. There, I removed the top layer of pastry where the birds had been pecking. There was no free space in the café, so we decided to find a quiet spot outside, but far away from the birds. I swear, two steps after we left the café, the birds attacked us again. But this time, Vanessa got attacked more because she was walking in front of me. I still can't stop laughing when I think about how a seagull fluttered wildly on her neck ;-D. We escaped back into the café and stayed there until we had finished the last bite.

Afterwards, we took a walk along the coast, past the lighthouse and some quokkas that are just everywhere on the island.

The colors of the sea on Rottnest Island are simply fascinating! This island is definitely worth a day trip.

After another night in Fremantle, I moved back to Perth. As I only found out on site and realized for myself, the city of Perth is not really a hit in winter. At least the day on Rottnest Island was beautifully sunny, but all the following days were cloudy and sometimes a bit rainy. Winter here is considered the 'rainy season'. The city seems a bit dreary, probably because not many people are out and about. On Thursday, I met Vanessa for a drink in the evening. It was difficult to find a place where at least a few people were sitting inside, as the places were deserted. Unfortunately, I also made a complete mistake with my hostel, 'Wickham Retreat Backpackers'. I have stayed in many hostels during the past 8 months, but I think I can say that my last hostel in Australia was the worst. It is more like accommodation for homeless people. Unfortunately, at the end of my trip, I was very naive and booked and paid for 5 nights in advance. So now I am enduring my last days in Australia in a terrible accommodation and a city with hardly any activities, hoping that the time until my departure to Bali on August 8th will pass quickly. The anticipation for Bali is even greater, although I am a bit skeptical about what to expect in such a completely different and foreign culture. I will spend 4 weeks on the Indonesian island. After three quarters of a year on tour, I will start my journey back home to Germany from Bali on the evening of September 6th.