Final week in Perth, then Singapore - days 97 - 103

It’s December! Perths summer is here. And man, it’s getting hot (30 degrees+ for the last week – hot for me anyway!). My final week is pretty low key – I’ve done most things I want to do, and I’m also resisting spending all my cash unnecessarily, esp as I’ve booked a trip to San Fran for New Year.

Most of the final week, I lay round the pool, sit in the garden in the sun reading, and try out practically every local pub that’s within walking distance! Weds (day #99) I head into Perth for the evening to see The Misfits @ Amplifier. I’ve not seen them for a while, and the last time wasn’t the best (the Misfits/Black Flag tour with Robo on drums). But I’m a sucker for those songs, so stump up $60 so I can get another gig in!

First port of call though, is the Generous Squire next door for some James Squire beers. Only found out about this place in the last week, so was looking forward to going to a proper James Squire pub. Same awesome selection of beers, and decent food. It wasn’t too busy on the weds, and I happily sat out on the veranda having a drink and reading my book. However, on Friday it seemed to turn into Tiger Tiger from Croydon. Majorly disappointed!

Amplifier is a cool venue – the bar area is half inside/half outside, had some decent beers and wasn’t too pricey. The venue part of Amp is behind the bar and is a third of the size, with a huge corner stage. Capacity can’t be more than 250 people at the very most! The gig is ace – Misfits manage to play a relatively coherent set, and for the most part I enjoy it, and am happily shouting along with the rest of the aussie punk dudes. However, the venue is SO LOUD! Far too loud for the size – which I guess is kinda cool, but the band sound a bit of a mess in places, and some of the song are difficult to make out. Get home at a decent hour, grabbing a cab immediately on exiting the venue. However, am a little hungover the next day due to all the Fat Yaks I’ve had!

Day #99 is my last Friday, and before I head back to Perth to meet Kelly and Alex, I finally make it to Perth Zoo. The weather today is sweltering, so most of the animals are hiding or asleep. It’s a tad disappointing, but it’s a cheap zoo, and I’m round it in a couple hours. Grab the cross river ferry into Perth (rather than getting the bus), which makes a nice change, and is really relaxing, then head to Durty Nellys to meet K&A.

Durty Nellys is a typical irish bar, but it does decent beer, the food is good, and its not too pricey again. Meet up with K&A (and a couple of the chaps I met at the Grim Fandango gig a few weeks ago), and get boozey for my last night. It’s a great evening, and its not even spoilt when some drunk twat outside the pub starts punching passers by and then gets dragged off by 4 police dudes on bikes!

Next stop is Amplifier again to finally see OFF! Who I have ben desperate to see since I started this trip in August. I’ve managed to miss every gig they done in a city I’m at by about a week, so was well happy when this date got announced. And man, they don’t disappoint! Loud, fast, angry, they deliver 17 songs in less than half an hour. And for an encore they start the set again and re-play the first few songs. Its exhilarating stuff, and I’ve not seen a band as full on as this since The Bronx show at The Peel in August.

It’s a great way to finish my last week in Perth. After the show, I hang out with the guys for a bit, then catch a cab back home. It had been brilliant seeing Kelly and Alex again, and thanks to them had done some fab stuff over the last 6 weeks. I look forward to seeing them again sometime next year.

My penultimate day was spent back at Tanyas, who was having a pool party/BBQ for my last day. Drank lots, swam lots, ate lots, but took the opportunity for an early night, as I had a early flight on Sunday. Again, was fab to catch up with everyone again for a last time, esp the kids.

Day #103, and I’m dropped off at the airport early by Mark, and I’m on a Quantas flight to Singapore. Must admit, they weren’t as good as my flight from Sydney. They managed to run out of food by the time they got to me, flippin ridiculous.

Got to Singapore, got through customs easily (nice friendly immigration dude), and grabbed a cab to my hotel. Cost of the cab was joke money (so cheap), and I was so happy when I checked in at the hotel (the Regis Park). It was awesome! So posh! It even had one of those weird frosted glass wall/mirrored bathrooms! Really glad I stumped the cash for my last hotel of the holiday!

It was pissing with rain at this point, but was still red hot, so once I unpacked, I headed over to Clarke Quay, which luckily was more or less opposite the hotel. Within minutes I’d managed to sniff out the Singapore Hooters! AMAZING!!! Nothing different than a normal Hooters, except none of the girls were blonde (all Asian!), did Tiger beer and nothing else, and worst of all, didn’t have Hooters hot sauce!!! Was still great though, and I had my usual wings and chips, and it was ridiculously cheap.

Spent the rest of the evening mooching around the area, popping into different bars, and having a Tiger or a Heineken. Bit gutted I’m back to drinking crap beer again, but whatever. Singapore was making my head spin. It was like Times Square, but on a much larger scale! I must say, I can’t wait to see it in the day so I can get my bearings, and am really looking forward to spending some time in this city.