Posted 3:38 AM by MelanieandSteve
We're still here: We've had a few road blocks and found ourselves a little bit stuck in pergatory Perth. We took a calculated risk and the risks turned into realities. We bought "Chester", a super cute, super old, super cheap clunker of a 1977 Nissan van. We knew there was a risk that Chester would require lots of mechanical help, and decided it was worth the risk since the price was right. Well, even though our first mechanic looked over it and worked on it and told us it was in fine condition and would be quite ready to start our epoc journey across this vast country, it wasn't. The same day, we took the van in for the mandatory safety inspection in order to get it registered. We failed pretty miserably and headed straight for a different mechanic who is still working on it. Good thing we like Perth. But we're ready to go as soon as we are unleashed.

Some highlights:
-We took a ferry to the Island of Rottnest, 18 KM offshore for a day of bike riding and beaching. Rottnest is an 11 by 5 KM island with about five lakes in the middle which prides itself on it's ecological approach to supporting it's tourist popularity, and on it's environmental diversity with lots of bird variety and it's large population of Quakkas which are small wallaby creatures that hop around relatively unconcerned about us gawking humans. We saw one hopping around on bouncy back legs, and it looked to us like a small Kangaroo perhaps with a little rodent mixed in. The name of the island, Rottnest, comes from the Dutch Explorers who mistook these Quakkas for huge rats and named the island Rat Nest. This was a good day.
-Caught a couple movies at the nearby very old, cheap and cute theater thats full of ambiance and only runs second run movies. Steve's mom, who recently helped set up decor and props for a theater show with a setting in an old fashioned theater could have used this as a model. We laughed at "Bruce Almighty" and then laughed at the fact we'd just paid $3.50 to see our governor's (Arnie's) naked behind at "Terminator 3."
-The Rugby World Cup is going on right now here and throughout Australia. This is big time sports here. Because of it, the hostels are full (we don't have a place to stay tomorrow night, and we're hoping the hostel gets some cancelations), but it's fun to join the crowds to watch some of the games. The strongest fans seem to be the hoards of English tourists here - probably because their team along with New Zealand is favored to win. The real die hards pay big bucks to actually go to the games. The not-so-diehards as well as us mere curious lookers-on join together in the main room of the hostel and watch the games. It made little sense at first, but we've received some pointers and insights from fellow watchers that has made the game more interesting.
--A fun Rugby Occurrance: We were sharing a hostel dorm with two English guys, here separately, but both here for the Rugby. One of them came back to the hostel one afternoon so excited he couldn't stand still because he had gone to the beach that day and coincidentally the English Rugby team was there too. Didn't mean a great lot to us, but we were thrilled if only by osmosis from his humongous excitement. The next day, one of our roommies showed Melanie the red and white jersey that the English team wears. He also mentioned that the team had been working out at a local gym. Melanie remembered that two days before at the gym, she had been working out right next to a whole group of huge males wearing just that shirt. She even got in their way as they were working on the same equipment. (Of course, Melanie's weights were heavier than theirs.) She had known that it was some team working out near her, but never even thought that it had to do with Rugby. Melanie enjoyed the green-with-envy look on our roommies' faces when she told them.
-Joined in some social events sponsored by the hostel: Wednesday nights are pizza night, we never miss that and it's cheap. We joined in a trivia night hoping to win a free night's stay, but lost. And One night we caught the party bus to the psychadelically decorated Hippie Bar for some crowded dancing, pounding beat, and free BarBQ and Drinks. We, however skipped the weenies since we fell in love with an awesome restaurant across the street for dinner.
-Steve has spent a few days enjoying himself at Bergewood, Perth's Casino. His winnings are still larger than his losses, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.

Other notes:
-We watch the news every day over breakfast: we hardly know we've even left America. We've seen President Bush's face on the TV about 20 times more often than we've even heard Australian Prime Minister John Howard's name. The news here covers American supreme court cases, California gubernatorial elections, ... you name it. No wonder travellers from other countries perceive Americans as so ill-informed about the world: they all have a headstart on us on knowing what's going on elsewhere. Even travelling to a different hemisphere, we haven't been able to get out of the American scoop and into the world scoop. Though we do enjoy following up on what's going on at home.
-Some of Melanie's friends at the gyms in Colorado and California have said they want to know how gym work outs are across the world. Melanie has found that work outs in America are more agressive and powerful. In Europe, we both found that gym classes were very weak and almost useless. Here in Australia, Melanie has found some work outs that she really loves (namely Pilates and a barbell lifting) but after each class, she always feels like she wants to supplement the group work out with a little extra working out on her own. To Melanie's friends at the kick boxing gyms in America, be glad you are there. Melanie took a kickboxing class here and it didn't even compare, however there is apparently one very good boxing class that requires high supplemental fees to join. So, for the low budget work outs, Melanie says, enjoy where you are.

Happy Birthdays to Andy and Ruthie