Cottlesloe Beach

We got up at four this morning to head into Sydney and catch our plane. Between the walk to the train station, two transfers and another 20 minute walk to the domestic terminal (so we could save $24 instead of getting off the train in the airport and paying the access fee), it took us just under two hours to get to the plane. The Sydney airport is both cool and weird. All of the check-in process, at least for domestic flights, is automated. You check-in and print your boarding pass, but then you’re in charge of stickering your luggage and putting it on the belt yourself as well. It was a little confusing for 7:30 in the morning, but we managed.

I was picked out for a security check when we went through security, so I had to step aside. All they did was wave a wand over me and my bags though, so much simpler than the US. By the time we walked down to our gate, the plane was already boarding, so we didn’t even have to sit down. It’s amazing how quickly things move when the process is automated and there aren’t any lines. I wonder if it’s the same situation later in the day too.

Our flight was pretty boring. It takes four and a half hours to get from Sydney to Perth, but there’s a two hour time difference (Perth is two hours behind Sydney, putting it 12 hours ahead of New York) so we made sure to get some sleep on the flight in order to prepare ourselves. Granted, with as early as we woke up, I’m not sure we helped much. Even though it was a domestic flight, we were still served an in-flight meal of cereal or eggs as well as a granola bar for a snack. I really love the service on international airlines.

Stepping off the plane, we managed to pull our bags off the carousel right away and headed to the bus stop outside. It took a few minutes to find, but that was okay because the buses here don’t run as frequently as Sydney and it only picks up about every half an hour from the airport. It’s nice though that our tickets only cost $4 each and allow us to transfer between other buses for two hours.

We ended up having to take three separate buses to get to the hostel we’re staying in—Ocean Beach Backpackers. Our first bus took us into the city where we transferred to the Cottlesloe/Fremantle line. The bus driver on our second bus was very helpful in directing us to a better place to get off so that we could transfer to a bus that would take us directly to our hostel. It all worked out and we were let out right outside. It took almost two hours though.

Our hostel is decent. We decided on getting a private room and we ended up with three beds in it—two twins and a double. I’m not sure why they gave us such a large room, but it’s probably all they had. The hostel is basically right on the water; all we have to do is cross the street. That’s not to say we have an ocean view though. Our room looks out into a courtyard that the hostel surrounds. They do charge a lot in deposits for things though. We had to pay a $20 key deposit and $15 each for towels. We’ll get it all back, but it still seems steep on top of the room charge.

We spent the rest of our afternoon walking along the shops on the oceanfront. There are a lot of fish and chips takeaways as well as a few nicer restaurants. We ended up getting sandwiches and chips (that’s fries in Aussie) from the convenience store/takeaway place. They were pretty good, although they squished the croissants our sandwiches were on when they toasted them. We went to the grocery store nearby too and picked up some Shapes—which are like a chip-like cracker in a variety of flavors--(to feed my mom’s new addiction), apples, and popcorn. Finally, we checked out the train station which will take us to Fremantle tomorrow.

Cottlesloe Beach

Cottlesloe Beach

The sun was starting to set, so we took some pictures along a boardwalk we found that juts out into the sea. It started to get chilly because of the wind though, so we grabbed sweatshirts before heading down to the beach and sticking our feet in the Indian Ocean. The sand was actually colder than the water, but it was really pretty with the sun setting.