I spent last weekend in Perth. On the Saturday I hung out with my friend Kim. We met online a while ago when we were having a little Twitter chat with one of our favourite bands, The Griswolds. It was basically because of them that we met!

Kim came to Sydney in 2013 and we had such a good time going to several gigs and just generally hanging out. Admittedly she is the bigger fan of The Griswolds than I am, having gotten a tattoo of a lyric from one of their songs. I sort of leered more towards Hey Geronimo, another one of our favourite bands. 😆 We have talked a little and a lot over the years, but me coming to Perth gave us a much-needed reunion.

In the morning, I spilled chai down my shirt 😱

I had a late night the night before, so I got up, showered and wolfed down a banana cake that I got on the plane on the way to Perth (yes, it kept well), as I walked to the jetty to meet Kim. She was running a little late and the wind was getting to me so I bought a chai latte from a cafe nearby. The man who served me/owned the shop was really nice and friendly, we ended up talking about Perth and travelling because I mentioned that I was visiting for the weekend. Unfortunately the lid on my cup was not on properly, so when I walked off with my drink and took a sip, the lid fell off and I spilled a good lot of it down my nice white shirt. 😪 I walked back to ask for some napkins and the man gave me a good bunch, but then he gave me a damp cloth to wipe my shirt down and get the spill out pretty quickly. He even went back to rinse it out and wet the cloth again. And then of course get me a new lid for my cup.

I found that the public toilets were amusing… they gave you a time limit of ten minutes and some loud classical music played once the doors automatically shut. The toilet basically welcomed you and said you had ten minutes. So bizarre. I gave my top a rinse and walked around with a wet top for some time. No big deal haha, at least I got the drink out so that it wouldn’t leave a stain.

Visiting Freo (Fremantle)

Once Kim arrived, we caught a ferry to Fremantle, which is a short distance away from Perth. Perhaps about forty minutes on the road, but was a little over an hour by ferry. It immediately started pouring rain when we got on the ferry, but it was good to get away from the bad weather for the morning. I also learned a few interesting things about Perth. That’s the thing about those city cruises – sometimes you learn a lot more about your own city than you know. At least that’s how it was for me in Sydney. 😆

I enjoyed Fremantle! It felt like such a chilled-out, relaxed city. Similar to Perth itself. It was really quirky in some ways. We explored Fremantle Markets, which was more or less like any market, but I enjoy exploring anyway. There is something about markets that I really enjoy.

We had lunch at Joe’s Fish Shack and I had some mackerel and chips. I didn’t finish as the serving was really big, but it tasted amazing. Lilian told me that she heard the fish and chips was great in Perth, so I definitely wanted to make sure I tried some. 😊 The view in the restaurant was lovely, too.

Kim had some issues with her credit card but got them sorted, so we went back to the markets to buy a cute costume for one of her dogs! We spotted some tea and rambled on about tea – that’s something else I didn’t realise we had in common because we hadn’t really spoken about it. ☺️ Of course, knowing that I had an insane amount of tea back at home, I did not buy any.

We walked around more stores in Fremantle. There were many fairy shops: shops dedicated to kids interested in fairy costumes, wings, wands, rocks and the like. I felt like a kid in that store! I had never seen anything like it. There was also a gothic inspired store with peasant dresses and robes. It reminded me that I really, really, really want a gothic Lolita dress and have for quite some time now… it is probably a remnant and a shadow of my old punk image that has not worn off.

We visited some clothing stores and record stores. I really wanted to buy some vintage tops, but they were a bit on the pricey side. We did go into a store called Cheep, though, and the prices were affordable and, well, cheap. I really liked the look of some of their clothes and socks. I bought a thin, long-sleeved top with bell sleeves (it’s a little see-through though, not to mention is cropped, so I’ll need to put some thought into how to wear that appropriately), as well as some cute socks. I kinda wish I bought more socks. 😜

We also went to some stores with gems and crystals and rocks. 💎 I bought three rock crystals, already wired up with a pendant loop. I have been wearing them with necklace chains that I already have. They only cost $7-10 a pop, so not so bad. Beats buying a whole new necklace. 😄

Back in Perth

After a fiasco with me having way too many coins for the ticket machine, we caught a train back to Perth. It was a beautiful sunny day, even though the wind was completely insane. The whole time I was in Perth, it was exceptionally windy, but the sun was still hot (and I ended up with some sunburn on my shoulders). I was pretty damn glad I brought a warm enough jacket.

There was a lights festival for Deepavali, which was down by the quay, so we grabbed some hot drinks and then walked around the festival stalls. We were too full from lunch to eat, but we did some people-watching.

Last time we hung out and Kim was in Sydney, we went to a festival and we painted plaster models. She still has the skull she painted back then, awww. 😍 So this time, she wanted to paint an umbrella because they had an umbrella-painting activity. It was only $5 but I wasn’t sure what I would do with my umbrella if I painted one. So I just helped her paint hers green and she painted cacti on it. 🌵

We were both so tired, and we had talked a lot that day about already feeling old and not the party animals we used to be, so we parted ways later that evening. But hopefully we’ll see each other again soon! Thank you so much for showing me around your hometown, Kim. We’ll have to hang out again next time we cross paths! 💖

I was going to include a recount of my Sunday in Perth but I’ll save that for another post instead. 🙃