SATURDAY IN PERTH

SATURDAY 27th NOVEMBER

                                                The Goodearth Hotel, 195 Adelaide Terrace

  The cricket was all over by the time I arrived at the hotel yesterday, not good news - England all out for 260.  However today it all kicked off around 7.30am local time, and I watched several hours of superb English bowling but all to no avail.  I did notice that the Australian team were all sporting moustaches, apparently some sort of charity thing.  Well of course I could not be seen identifying with the Australian team, so the tache immediately came off.

  I was surpised when purchasing the dongle and the mobile phone SIM, the shops required photo ID before they would sell me the items.  In the end they accepted my UK driving license as that was all I had with me.  Any way when I phoned through to activate the dongle with Virgin, I was told that their system didn't recognise the reference number, and they told me to go back to Dick Smith with a number they gave me and get it exchanged for another one.  With the Australian duo batting imperiously and Anderson bowling superbly but with no luck, I went off and caught a bus into town.  I explained all at Dick Smith's and was told no problem.  Then they asked me for my ID, which of course I hadn't brought with me.  Nothing for it but to go all the way back to the hotel and collect the license, because without the number their till wouldn't process the exchange!  Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin were still going strong when I got back to the hotel, so I promptly left.  I got back to the shop and duly collected a replacement dongle.

  I returned to the hotel to discover that Australia were all out with Finn taking six wickets.  I watched the last tense 45 minutes with England batting through without losing a wicket by the close. I caught a bus back into the town centre.  After wandering around the shopping precincts and finding a couple of second hand book shops and a CD shop to explore, I carried on looking at the sights of Perth.

                                                  The Western Australia Supreme Court

                                              In font of the Supreme Court on St Georges

                                          The Bell Tower on Riverside Drive by the Swan River
  Down past the Tower Bell are all the Jetties on the Swan River along with restaurants and a pub, entitled the Lucky Shag.

  Although it was pretty packed, I managed to get a table and sat down to consume my pint of Swans sitting by the Swan River, remaining there until the sun started disappearing in the west. According to my thermometer App it was 33 degrees in Perth today.

  I had a toasted cheese and chicken "Como" with a cup of latte and made my way back to the hotel.  I contacted Virgin and enrolled my dongle with them, but decided I was too tired to try it out, so left that task for tomorrow.  I successfully contacted Jane and Nick in Sydney, which reminds me that I spoke to James and Shauna before leaving Durban, and Shauna wanted to know what Merry Christmas was in Polish, well it's Wesolych Swiat - pronounced approximately as "Vezowyck shviont".