And so to the ends of the earth... Perth is, I think, the most remote city in the world. I rather suspect that explains alot, based on my immediate reaction. More of this later.
Four hour flight from Melbourne, during which I watched The Descendants, the George Clooney film set in Hawaii. Extremely good, very funny. Also watched most of My Night With Marilyn - all seemed a bit uninvolving somehow. Anyway, arrived in 33 degree heat, which was very pleasing, and then onto my final accomm's which was not. All I can say is that I will only be here for 3 nights, as I plan to get to the airport around midnight on the 19th, ever anxious to secure that Emergency Exit row seat for the long journey home. I have absolutely no intention of ever running a B&B, but if Rob and I did, it would be spotless, comfortable and professional. The guys running this place should, quite frankly, be ashamed of themselves. Imagine the scene - very hot weather, only a bit of a breeze, and you walk into the entrance area of a house. The first thing that hits you is the smell. It's as if they've been boiling their own dog-food! Everywhere is shabby, dusty to the point of dirt. My room is clean-ish, but shabby in a 1950s boarding house kind of way, but at least it has air-conditioning, although the presence of someone else's 'shorts', stuffed down between the night stand and the wall makes me feel not a little queasy! There's a garden out the back, chock-full of all manner of rubbish, broken VDUs, old paint cans, broken air-conditioning units and a mixture of perhaps clean and obviously dirty towels. The shared bathroom is shocking, dodgy shower head, the ceiling looks like a work-in-progress, started long ago and never finished. Breakfast this morning was in an untidy, over-stuffed dining room, more 'stuff' cluttered everywhere and also very dark. Let's just say I'll settle for toast and cereal from tomorrow - wasn't given a choice this morning, and being such a polite person, I hadn't the heart to decline what was presented. However, I do draw the line at tinned baked beans! There is a communal area to make tea and (instant) coffee - those who know me well know I am a self-confessed coffee snob - but to retrieve milk means opening a door into refridgerated food-related horrors the average paying guest really shouldn't be confronted with.
I have decided to find it all hilariously funny, and as I will be collecting a rental car shortly, will be doing everything in my power to remain out-and-about from early morning 'til late at night. I did look and see if I could find somewhere else to check into from today, but nothing doing, even on those late-booking sites. At least I can leave an honest review on Trip Advisor, to warn any other poor, unsuspecting traveller to avoid at all costs!
Am seeing Max Winkless this afternoon - Max and his co-driver John Keran had an extraordinary adventure in 1968. A potentially marathon-ending mechanical failure in their Team Volvo in Asia left them scrabbling for replacement parts and then a record-breaking sprint to get to Bombay before the ship sailed. Regardless of the huge amont of penalty points incurred, they resolved to continue onwards, and in Australia realised the privately entered and completely unprepared Volvo station wagon, crewed by four women (only two of whom had any competitive racing experience) could win the Women's Cup, as long it they made it to Sydney. The women were in real trouble in the Outback (illness, mechanical and structural problems, exhaustion), so Max and John basically escorted them across to Sydney, enabling them to take the women's prize ahead of at least two top-class female rally drivers (Rosemary Smith being one, plagued with mechanical trouble in her Lotus Cortina, but that's another story!). Very excited to meet Max as my last marathonier of the trip - 40 when he competed in 1968, he is now a spritely 84!
After that, the exploring begins! 4 more days to go... hellish B&B nothwithstanding, I aim to make the most of it.
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