west coast

I got the shuttle bus from my hostel to the Darwin airport Sunday afternoon. When I got off I discovered that a giant grease stain had mysteriously appeared on the front of my shorts. NOt only was it somewhat embarrassing to walk through the airport but it also means that my one pair of shorts is now ruined and I still have no idea where the grease stain came from. When I checked into the airline the lasy asked me the standard question of if I wanted a window or an aisle seat. Then she asked me who I wanted to sit by. Did I want to sit next to a nice handsome man she asked? I laughed but she said the last guy she checked in wasn't bad and she would sit me next to him. When I got to Perth I got in trouble because a produce sniffing dog discovered that I had an apple in my bag that I had completely forgotten about. You are not allowed to bring fruits and vegetables across state lines. I got a small lecture about that but they seemed to believe that I was forgetful and wasn't deliberantly trying to sneak a lone apple into Western Australia from the Northern Territory.
I am staying in a suburb of Perth with Sarah (or Tiger) another camp friend. She is studying abroad here and has kindly offered me an air mattress and some floor space for as long as I would like. I would like to stay here a long time. She is about a 20 minute bus ride from the town of Fremantle, my favorite city so far in Australia. It is full of coffee shops, bookstores, Italian restaurants, and funky clothing stores. I want to move here. Our first night we went to a microbrewery called Little Creatures which according to my guidebook "offers the best beer in town and the trendiest set of Freo locals." It had some amazing ale and cider, great views of the harbor, and a very cool atmosphere. After that we moved to the Newport hotel for some delicious pizzas. We got back to Sarah's dorm room and decided to watch Finding Nemo. I have been wanting to watch this since Cairns so was very excited. However I ended up falling asleep after Nemo's mother gets eaten, basically 3 minutes in. I might try again tonight while Sarah's at the library.
Today I went back into Freo and walked around and fell more in love with the place. I had some fish and chips and sat in a coffee shop before going on a tour of the Fremantle prison. It was built by the convicts in the 1850's and closed down just 16 years ago. I saw where people were tortured and hung not too long ago. It was pretty interesting. Tonight after dinner I finally got to try the Tim Tam slam. Tim Tams are a delicous chocolate covered and filled cookie that is kind of like what Oreos are to America (although I think much better tasting.) For the Tim Tam slam yo ubite an edge of both ends of the cookie and then dip one end into a cup of coffee. YOu then suck on the other end and as soon as you feel liquid you drop the cookie into your mouth and it is all melted and mushy and wonderful. I also spent today starting to get my pictures online (yay!) It has been more difficult than I expected so I still don't have all of them online, but here are links to some of them!
Sydney http://colby.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018864&l=fa2e8&id=15400598
Brisbane and the Whitsundays http://colby.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018867&l=327ce&id=15400598
Queensland http://colby.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018895&l=f5301&id=15400598

I will post pics of the Outback and the Top End as soon as possible!