Toohey's Extra Dry
Forget what vibrating tourists who come back to England tell you. It is like England in many ways, which is no bad thing. The only difference that the weather is far better, they play a lot of sport, and Australians know that Fosters is shite and don't touch the stuff.
I have been here for two weeks now and staying with family in that time. This has been good as I've seen the cities of Perth and Fremantle from the perspective of a "normal" person and not a soap-dodger. I have been shown around, met my cousin's mates, been to their houses, etc. This has been really nice as it's felt more like a holiday. No messing around with crap showers in a hostel for me. No trying to converse with name-dropping hippies. No, sir. The hospitality has been great so far, with the only exception being the surly cow who took my money in a cafe yesterday. So yes, like England.
Very outdoorsy people though; very sporty. My cousin knows a lot of people and most of them are from sports teams. I'm not sure that there's anything to do here apart from go outside and run about though. The weather is frequently fine, in this part of Aus at least, so even I could get motivated to go outside and throw a ball about, or even a Frisbee. Now there's something strange for me: being motivated to do anything least of all sport. Whereas in the UK sport seems to be limited to footie (or "soccer" as we say here) and watching a lot on telly, over here they play as much as they watch. It is irremovable from their culture, woven in like fibre. Rugby Union, cricket, Aussie-rules footie (very big over here, more so that footie in the UK), even "Ultimate Frisbee". Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that's like net ball or American Football as it's played on a field and all you have to do if you are on attack is get your Frisbee to the other end. It's a Canadian invention I think though I'm probably wrong.
I saw my first Aussie rules game over the weekend. I watched the West Coast Eagles destroy the team from Sydney. It's quite a simple game to watch and the rules are simple. They run with the egg-shaped ball but have to bounce it, they kick the goals and kick long, and they punch the ball to each other at closer range - simple really. It was a good atmosphere at the ground though the Sydney supporters didn't really turn up as it was pouring with rain (yes, it rains here). The only problem with the game is that it's rather long. A game consists of quarters of about 25 mins each so each game is about 2.5 hours long with breaks. Sometimes if one of the teams is crap the game is pretty-much over by the start of the second half. No worse than some poor test-matches though.
Sport here is such a large part of life. They play it most of the time from a young age. Coaching is good even at junior levels and most of the sports are team games. You look at your average Aussie (good cheer, positive attitude, confident, will give anything or anyone a fair go) and it's easy to see where this comes from. They've played in a team for most of their lives and can rely on support from one another as well as have to confidence to slip into any situation easily. It's not like that in England, I think. We've built on our playing fields. On the 'plane circling Perth I counted about 30 playing fields that I recognised as such. You can't see that in London. I might be talking out of my backside, but I think that this is key to the Australian psyche and why they travel so well. I've got to be careful what I write here as my Auntie might be reading.
My onward journey is going to take me to Adelaide and Melbourne. I decided after about 10 seconds deliberation to do it on a motorbike. I've bought an old Kawasaki and am in the market for bungee ropes and life insurance. Should be fun. I'm going to post a photo of The Beast (or "Fanny Magnet", if you prefer) shortly. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit more of this vast country as because of its size the climate and people do vary a bit from state to state.
Just to picture how big it is I saw an outline of Australia with the UK superimposed over it. The UK looked like streak of bird-poo on a bus wind screen. 2500 km to Adelaide on an old bike. It'll be fine.
I have been here for two weeks now and staying with family in that time. This has been good as I've seen the cities of Perth and Fremantle from the perspective of a "normal" person and not a soap-dodger. I have been shown around, met my cousin's mates, been to their houses, etc. This has been really nice as it's felt more like a holiday. No messing around with crap showers in a hostel for me. No trying to converse with name-dropping hippies. No, sir. The hospitality has been great so far, with the only exception being the surly cow who took my money in a cafe yesterday. So yes, like England.
Very outdoorsy people though; very sporty. My cousin knows a lot of people and most of them are from sports teams. I'm not sure that there's anything to do here apart from go outside and run about though. The weather is frequently fine, in this part of Aus at least, so even I could get motivated to go outside and throw a ball about, or even a Frisbee. Now there's something strange for me: being motivated to do anything least of all sport. Whereas in the UK sport seems to be limited to footie (or "soccer" as we say here) and watching a lot on telly, over here they play as much as they watch. It is irremovable from their culture, woven in like fibre. Rugby Union, cricket, Aussie-rules footie (very big over here, more so that footie in the UK), even "Ultimate Frisbee". Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that's like net ball or American Football as it's played on a field and all you have to do if you are on attack is get your Frisbee to the other end. It's a Canadian invention I think though I'm probably wrong.
I saw my first Aussie rules game over the weekend. I watched the West Coast Eagles destroy the team from Sydney. It's quite a simple game to watch and the rules are simple. They run with the egg-shaped ball but have to bounce it, they kick the goals and kick long, and they punch the ball to each other at closer range - simple really. It was a good atmosphere at the ground though the Sydney supporters didn't really turn up as it was pouring with rain (yes, it rains here). The only problem with the game is that it's rather long. A game consists of quarters of about 25 mins each so each game is about 2.5 hours long with breaks. Sometimes if one of the teams is crap the game is pretty-much over by the start of the second half. No worse than some poor test-matches though.
Sport here is such a large part of life. They play it most of the time from a young age. Coaching is good even at junior levels and most of the sports are team games. You look at your average Aussie (good cheer, positive attitude, confident, will give anything or anyone a fair go) and it's easy to see where this comes from. They've played in a team for most of their lives and can rely on support from one another as well as have to confidence to slip into any situation easily. It's not like that in England, I think. We've built on our playing fields. On the 'plane circling Perth I counted about 30 playing fields that I recognised as such. You can't see that in London. I might be talking out of my backside, but I think that this is key to the Australian psyche and why they travel so well. I've got to be careful what I write here as my Auntie might be reading.
My onward journey is going to take me to Adelaide and Melbourne. I decided after about 10 seconds deliberation to do it on a motorbike. I've bought an old Kawasaki and am in the market for bungee ropes and life insurance. Should be fun. I'm going to post a photo of The Beast (or "Fanny Magnet", if you prefer) shortly. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit more of this vast country as because of its size the climate and people do vary a bit from state to state.
Just to picture how big it is I saw an outline of Australia with the UK superimposed over it. The UK looked like streak of bird-poo on a bus wind screen. 2500 km to Adelaide on an old bike. It'll be fine.