Hello everybody. My mom came up with the idea of keeping a journal for my trip and stay in Perth, Western Australia. I figured an actual journal is a little too old school for today's world so I decided what would be easier than creating a blog and posting what was going on with me half way across the world. So this is ultimately for my Mom and Dad but I also hope to keep all my friends, other family, or others informed with what's happening 14 time zones away if you feel inclined.
There is no easy way to sugarcoat the trip over here to Perth, so I'll just go ahead and sum it up with one word...AWFUL. It took a total of 25 hours of actual time spent in the air to finally get here. Included was 15 hours from LAX to Melbourne and even 4 more just to get from Melbourne to Perth. Also included along the way was a 10 hour layover in LA. So, pretty much horrible. I'm still overcoming the effects of jet lag as well.
Once arriving to Perth I was greeted with 39 degrees Celsius of heat, which I was told would be 100 + F (still struggling with the metric system as well). It hasn't been quite as hot since that day but it's still in the mid 30's.
The first full day here Jason (the other male import from Canada, will speak of him later) and I had to practice.....since I am here to be a professional basketball player this will be fairly important for my stay here, but it was still tough to practice still being so tired and weary. All in all tho, it went well I thought. The other members of the team did a great job of helping us get accustomed to what was going on (they've already been practicing for two weeks) and seem like a really good group of guys. I know I'm going to enjoy playing and getting to know them this season.
I'm staying with a young couple here a little bit outside of Perth named Clint and Bec. They also are very friendly and I'm going to enjoy staying with them. After a couple days of just doing some paperwork and gym things, I finally got to see a little bit of the city. Clint and Bec took me for a little sight seeing Saturday. Basically, that included the beach and downtown Perth. But there was a lot to see in just those two spots. The beaches are incredible. Crystal clear blue water and very little waves where we were. It seriously was almost like glass. However, I was told that there gets to be some pretty serious waves where all the surfers go at different spots up and down the coast in the area. We went to a beach area called Cottosloe, or something like that, that has restaurants or pubs and an assortment of other things right on the beach. I'll probably be spending a lot of time there when I get a chance. We also went through a port town about 15 minutes away called Freemantle or "Freo" as the people call it, that also has even more shops and restaurants that is apparently where everybody goes on the weekend. Perth is actually inland maybe 10 miles up the Swan River and Freo is the town right at the mouth of the river. Also, got to go to King's Park which sits atop a mountain overlooking the middle of Perth and the river surrounding it. Pretty spectacular view. I got pictures of all this so I hope I can eventually put them up here for everybody to see.
I probably could go on and on in a little more detail about all that has been going on, but frankly I'm tired of writing for the moment. I hope to be able to update this maybe a couple times a week, but we'll see how it goes. But "no worries mate", check in soon.
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