Perth, Party and Watermelons (again)

Having arrived in Perth, we treated ourselves to a nice Airbnb for one night. It was wonderful to sleep in a real bed again. The house had "central cooling," which means air conditioning that kept the whole house cool. For the first time since I've been in Australia, I felt like I was in a beautiful old German house in the summer. After a good night's sleep, we explored the city and what had changed since we were last here. The museum in Northbridge, across from the hostel where I used to live, was finally completed. We went inside and saw a grand exhibition about the history of the local Aboriginals, learned about inventions and inventors from (Western) Australian history, and the time between colonization and World War II. After a visit to the cinema in the evening, we were standing around a bit clueless, having forgotten to find accommodation. Fortunately, the Aberdeen Lodge, our old hostel, still had a cheap room available for us (a six-bed room as a double room for only 30 dollars). In the morning, we went into town to do some shopping for breakfast. After breakfast and checking out, we visited a brewery (with amazing toilets) and then set off for the long-planned "Bush Doof," a party in the bush that was scheduled for several days. We reached the party in the late afternoon, at the same time as a thousand other people. Nevertheless, things went surprisingly quickly and we set up our camp. While looking for people we knew, we met another German couple, Lynn and Philipp, with whom we had a nice chat. Later it turned out that they were camping with our other friends. We spent the whole night with them, moving between the camp and the dance floor, and had a lot of fun. Around seven o'clock in the morning, we finally went to bed, but only for two hours. We got up a little refreshed and wondered why the music, which had stopped just before going to bed, was still off. Shortly afterwards, Lynn informed us that someone had died on the dance floor and the police were there. Not long after, an ambulance passed by and everyone realized that the party was over. Two hours later, the organizer, accompanied by the police, went around and told everyone to leave the party. So we packed everything up again and decided to go to Black Diamond Lake with Lynn and Philipp and camp there for another two days. After about an hour and a half drive, we reached the campsite and set up, made ourselves comfortable, had extended conversations as a couple for the first time in Australia, played games, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. In the morning, we made the 300m journey to the lake, spread out our picnic blanket, went for a swim, and relaxed. The next day, it was time to say goodbye. Lynn and Philipp had to go back to their job at Wave Rock in the northeast, and our path led us west to the coast. We had found a job again in watermelon harvesting. It was supposed to start on January 5th, so we had one more day to explore the area. In the evening, we finally reached Bunbury, a coastal town about two hours south of Perth. We took a walk and treated ourselves to a delicious fish & chips dinner. Finding accommodation in the area turned out to be a bit more difficult, as there were no free camps and everything else was quite expensive. But we got lucky. A small macadamia farm, fifteen minutes outside of town, offered camping for only 20 dollars per car. It was beautiful and peaceful out there, and we slept like babies. In the morning, we went to Bunbury to do our first week's shopping for the farm. After a more extensive city tour, various purchases, and a visit to the local art gallery, we finally set off to our new job. The farm was quite small and family-like, and after we got our paperwork, there was a little tour of the kitchen, bathroom, and communal barn. It was quite nice, even though the barn didn't give the most trustworthy impression. We had opted for the camping option, as a double room would have cost an extra 35 dollars per person. We set up our tent at the edge of the camp, set up our awning, and already had a premium accommodation, better than the actual rooms (just without air conditioning, but you don't really need it here anyway). We started the next morning with weeding. There weren't too many melons ripe yet, so most people were busy with other things besides harvesting. After lunch, Isaac, our supervisor, came and took me to join the harvesting team. One of the pickers had had enough and ran away after only a few hours in the field. Clara continued to weed until the second picking team was opened after about a week and a half. Isaac asked various girls if they knew how to drive a tractor, but after the third one declined, I decided to suggest Clara. Isaac was satisfied, Clara was more or less indifferent, and I was happy that she could now spare her back a bit. - And now she drives a Lamborghini professionally! After our first two weeks on the farm, we went back to Perth for the first time. On the way, we stopped in Mandurah and visited the Three Rivers Brewery. Everything is still done by hand here, brewing with converted milk tanks. The brewer was British and the beers refreshingly different from the usual Australian stuff, very tasty. Unfortunately, the brewer himself was not there, but we had a good conversation with his wife, who showed us around the facility, and with the coolest brewery tour guide you can imagine. We packed six beers to take with us and continued on to Perth. Not long on the highway, we noticed a thick black cloud of smoke and the highway was closed further ahead. Luckily, we noticed it in time and were able to avoid it. A huge bushfire had broken out and was spreading rapidly. Eventually, we reached Perth, settled into a nice Airbnb, and went into the city to get something to eat and watch a movie again.

On January 30th, we had a day off, so together with Julia, we drove to Perth early in the morning. We visited a cute little weekly market with a vegan breakfast offering and a bakery that actually had a nice dark bread in stock. Julia then took the train to Fremantle to her old hostel, and Matze and I decided to take advantage of the rare windless day in Perth and visit the nude beach. We had just passed the sign separating the bathing areas when Matze noticed a nearby naked couple. He was dark-skinned, she was fair, that's all we could see at first glance, but Matze was sure: we had met them on the beach in Lancelin. He immediately approached them, and they confirmed it was true. It was a crazy coincidence, Perth is not a small town, and the nude beach is a rather special place. We had a nice chat, had some beer, and enjoyed the sun - of course with plenty of sunscreen. Karen and Dee invited us to visit them at their house in Coogee, south of Perth, when we had the opportunity. The four of us made for an interesting picture, age-wise they could be our parents. It's always nice to talk to people other than backpackers. In the evening, we went out for burgers before getting ready for the night out (well, me, Matze is always ready for a night out ^^). To avoid having to move our car at night, we left it at a car park cafe and ordered an Uber to the party. The venue was great, with two floors (not usual for parties in industrial halls) and a variety of music playing. I particularly liked the 80s-inspired techno. Around 4:30 am, we were exhausted and walked back to the park where we simply laid two blankets and a sleeping mat on a piece of grass slightly off the path and snuggled up. Not that we couldn't afford a hostel or Airbnb... but why spend money when you can't even get a decent amount of sleep? We slept surprisingly well after an initial mosquito plague and chilly 8 degrees - thanks to bug spray and blankets... Until I heard a rather authoritarian-sounding voice and saw a pair of shoes in front of my face through half-closed eyelids. I hastily sat up, the man who addressed me was a ranger, a kind of park warden. These people are notorious for occasionally imposing fines on backpackers who sleep somewhere they shouldn't. So I tried to appear as sober and cooperative as possible and explained that we hadn't planned to sleep in the park, but the hostel where we had originally intended to stay was too noisy, and we had to be fit for our demanding job on a watermelon farm (of course, I also gave him the address without hesitation, I wanted to appear credible). It got a bit tense for a moment when he asked which hostel we were actually staying at, but luckily Matze quickly replied, and it seemed like the interrogation was over. We got a warning and of course hoped he wouldn't do any further investigations. The park, where only a garbage man and an clearly mentally disturbed jogger had been when we fell asleep, was now full of people at 9:30 am. When I reached for my shoes, I discovered a folded 50 dollar bill. I was briefly puzzled, then embarrassed, and finally touched. Someone had a big heart for us supposedly homeless backpackers. We packed up our bed, made coffee, and enjoyed a relaxed Sunday morning. Later, we visited a few galleries and picked up Julia at her hostel. I'm sure I'll remember this weekend as an old grandma! The workweek was monotonous, but on the weekend we drove back to Perth. On Saturday evening, we spent a relaxed movie night at Karen and Dee's place with food delivery. Their cozy rental house had a guest room where we slept incredibly calmly and deeply. The last few nights in the tent had been disturbed by the noise of the fluttering fabric, so it was a welcome change. On Sunday morning, I had a photoshoot after being made up by a makeup artist for one of her exams. After that, I had a really eye-catching makeup, but it's okay to stand out sometimes! Since we arrived in Australia, I've let my face be in its natural state 99% of the time. We were just having brunch, and I went to a coffee stand to get my caffeine fix when the barista asked me if I had heard the news. I answered no, and immediately a bad feeling spread in my stomach. She didn't look particularly enthusiastic, and my feeling hadn't deceived me: we would be in lockdown starting at 6 pm. There had been a case of coronavirus. A security guard had contracted it at a quarantine hotel under as yet unknown circumstances. Now it may sound like an extreme measure to declare a lockdown just because of that, but there haven't been any free-roaming clusters of infection here in Western Australia for ages, and they wanted to keep it that way, of course. Now I also discovered that Melissa, the wife of the farm boss, had already sent us several messages, urging us to return to the farm as soon as possible. We naturally went to do our weekly shopping first; we didn't want to rush to the expensive and probably heavily depleted offerings at the local market. The atmosphere in the supermarket was a bit tense, some people were already starting to hoard again, although initially the lockdown was only supposed to last for one week to identify and test contacts. When we arrived at the farm at dusk, Melissa was at the gate with her car to question the returnees. We knew she didn't want to let anyone in who had come from Perth, even though the likelihood that we had come into contact with the virus was extremely low. Officially, we had spent the weekend in Bunbury. It certainly wasn't easy to lie, but we didn't want to lose our jobs. Melissa let us through. The week went by just like any other, as we never went anywhere after work anyway. Matze unexpectedly got a job upgrade, he was now allowed to drive the small tractor and joined my team. This meant we had the same break times again (since we were more than 45 people, all teams ate lunch at staggered times), but it also meant we had less to talk about after work. Seeing Matze's face regularly, however, reliably put a smile on my own. After one week, when the lockdown was over, the farm ordered us to go to Waroona for another trip to get essentials. The workdays crept by, but I was motivated by the fact that I had almost completed my total of 176 days on the farm, which would allow me to stay in Australia for a third year. Our supervisor, Isaac, trusted my tractor driving skills and knowledge of the work routine much more than in the beginning. I communicated with him via mobile phone and contacted him in case of problems. Especially considering the temperatures, which were creeping towards 40 degrees, I was happy to sit under a roof. On February 13th, a Saturday, two weeks after our weekend in Perth, Matze got to work with the other guys, and I and many others had the day off. I really would have liked to work, but the previous weekend only us girls had worked, so it was only fair. I used the free time to read, and then Cecilia, a Taiwanese backpacker, taught Nicolina, Douglas, and me a card game. Later, under Nicolinas guidance, we made friendship bracelets, and when the workers returned and some went to the nearby lake, I joined them. The next day, Valentine's Day, was the perfect occasion for couple activities. We went for a walk in Mandurah, had burgers for lunch, and strolled through some second-hand shops. For the rest of the week, we faced another long working week with tons of watermelons, including mini watermelons for the first time. They were delicious and definitely practical if you don't want to spend several days eating just one melon. On February 20th, almost all the farm residents went to the Beer and Cider Fest in Bunbury after work. After checking the hostel and hotel prices, we decided to book a campsite, where we could check ourselves in at night. The festival area was quite small, and there were long queues at the stands, but it was interesting to observe so many people while waiting in line. The beers from a local brewery tasted the best to us, unfortunately, they didn't have their own bar at the brewery, which is why we didn't visit them. When we ordered something at one of the food stalls, we met another German, Lisa from Leipzig. And to top off this coincidence, she would join us on the farm in 1-2 weeks. Then there would be 5 Germans, 4 from Saxony and 1 from Berlin! The next morning, we visited a small market, where we found some flea market goods as well as delicious honey and homemade items. We had been considering getting fabric masks since our work on the cattle farm in Boulia, and we found two very beautiful and individual ones at the market. In the afternoon, we enjoyed the pleasant coolness of a dam and the absence of other backpackers. Not that they bother us, but our Italian farmmates tend to talk as if they were in different rooms. But even at the dam, we had to fight pesky pests: horse flies kept appearing out of nowhere, and we must have killed at least 8 during the 2.5 hours we spent there. As soon as we caught one after some imprecise attempts, a new one would appear a few minutes later. Yes, my friends, appearances can be deceiving, but it must be said that horse flies are certainly not the threat you have in mind when you think of Australia.