Souvenirs From Across the World (Part 1) // Meet Western Australia

The absolutely amazing Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane is currently hosting a feature called Souvenirs from Across the World which is the chance for us to talk about our hometowns and countries. For more information check out the post here. There’s a link up post which is open until the 26th of June. Marie also speaks about some hidden gems of France in said post, so even if you’re not linking up or participating still make sure to go read it anyway! I highly encourage everyone to participate though as I’d love to hear about where you’re from!

Since I am sadly extremely untravelled – I have never left my home state of Western Australia – I don’t feel like I can really talk too much about Australia because I’ve hardly experienced it myself. So this is just going to be a basic rundown about Western Australia and my current hometown.

---

I want to acknowledge the original land owners of Australia – the Aborigine tribes that existed thousands and thousands of years before white settlers invaded. Australia’s history with it’s original inhabitants hasn’t been the best, unfortunately. I truly am sorry for everything that happened. The Aboriginal culture is amazing and I love learning about it. I highly recommend reading up about all the Dreamtime stories, which is how Aboriginal people believed the world was created, because they’re amazing. Some of my favourites are Tiddalick the Frog and The Rainbow Serpent! Aborigine Art is stunning too.

Western Australia is the largest state in Australia, but the most sparsely populated. The capital city Perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world. It’s bordered by the Indian Ocean. If you ask anyone to say what they know about Australia or Western Australia they’d probably say: “their beaches” or mention Melbourne and Sydney since they’re two of our most iconic cities. I’m here to give the West Coast and Perth some love and attention though. Australia is obviously in the Southern Hemisphere so we’re currently experiencing winter. It doesn’t get too cold in WA, but I know over east in Sydney and Melbourne that it can get pretty intense. I feel like the east coast of Australia has an incredible city life (and amazing beaches) whereas WA is more strictly just all about the beaches and other ~ nature ~ things.

I feel like there’s a lot of myths about Australian wildlife, but then we are also a walking stereotype because kangaroos are literally almost everywhere out of the city. We don’t ride around on them though 😉 We also have 21 of the 25 most venomous snakes so that’s fun. On second thoughts maybe there aren’t many myths after all. I have to talk about some of my favourite Australian food which includes: Fairy Bread, Tim Tams, Milo and Vegemite. Every time I see people try Vegemite who aren’t Australian I want to yell. Whilst I am able to eat it straight from the jar the majority of people can’t – not even Australians. In fact a lot of Australians hate Vegemite. You do not spread it excessively on bread like you would peanut butter or Nutella. You put butter or margarine on the bread and toast and then a smidgen of vegemite spread across it. I’m sorry for the impromptu Vegemite lesson, bUT HONESTLY.

This photo was taken at Caversham Wildlife Park, which is in Perth, and it’s a really great place to get up close with Australian Wildlife. 

I was born in Perth, but moved to my current hometown Geraldton 13 years ago. Geraldton is 430kms (267 miles) north of Perth. I’m pretty sure most people only know it exists now because Triple J’s One Night Stand festival was held here this year (it was amazing, btw).

The population of my town is 35,000. Again it’s incredibly famous for its beaches. No matter where you live you’re pretty much in walking distance to a beach somewhere. It gets extremely hot where I live during summer. The summer just gone we had consecutive days of 47C (116F). It’s also SUPER WINDY to the point where the trees actually lean in some places because they’ve been pushed out of shape.

  
The 2nd and 3rd photos are the edge of Western Australia and it’s what I drive past every time I travel to Perth.

Geraldton is a coastal/beach town so there’s cafes everywhere. One of my favourites is an independent coffee shop called Quiet Life. They make the best chai lattes and brownies. If for some reason you ever decide to visit a town in the middle of nowhere in Western Australia then I definitely recommend you drop in! There’s also a Dome Cafe right on the beach. Not a bad view. Every Sunday my family and I normally visit the Platform Markets which are situated out an old train station that is no longer in use. Some other great places to eat are the Jaffle Shack (there’s two in town, but my favourite is an actual cute little shed right on the beach and I am obsessed with their iced chai lattes) and a catering company called Tarts & Co who make the best waffles that ever exist. We normally hit both of those places up on Sunday when we visit the markets. There’s also a lighthouse here that is featured in every photo of the town, ever.

    
The very first photo is the beach that I can see from my house.

We have a wildlife park and historical settlements half an hour out of town. The historical settlement was settled in the 1800s and is where I do the majority of my paranormal investigating. There’s extremely popular beaches between Geraldton and Perth such as: Jurien Bay and Cervantes. There’s The Pinnacles which is basically just an area of endless giant rocks, but it’s pretty cool. Off the coast of Geraldton is the Abrholos Islands which is where the Batavia shipwrecked in 1629 and where the whole mutiny/massacre thing took place. Geraldton is also really close to Kalbarri, Monkey Mia and Shark Bay which are – surprise – great places if you’re into the beach. You can also get really up close with dolphins at Monkey Mia and hand feed them.

We only have one independent bookshop in my town and the prices are insane so unfortunately I don’t go there much, but we do have quite a few awesome used bookstores around and just out of town.

     

My favourite thing about Australia is probably one of our most popular national sports: Australian Football League. The team I support is the West Coast Eagles. There’s 18 teams in the AFL and Western Australia’s other team is the Fremantle Dockers aka The Enemy 😂. I’m not even sure how to describe AFL because it’s one of the most confusing sports ever. It’s like a weird hybrid of soccer and rugby, but then at the same time nothing like it. There’s four giant sticks at each end of an oval and the aim is to get the weird shaped ball through the big middle ones. I am the least sport-y person in the world and honestly this is like one of the only few sports I enjoy watching, but I am OBSESSED with it. I’m not even exaggerating. I’m beyond invested. If you follow me on Twitter then you’ve definitely seen how annoying I am.

   

If you’re heading to Perth and aren’t into the beaches then we have a rad Art Gallery in the city. There’s an old jail and Arts centre in the city of Fremantle too which are both supposed to be haunted. You can do night tours at the jail where you go underground into a tunnel system. We also have an amazing Zoo that has one of the best breeding programs ever. I’m sure there are so many other amazing places, but like I said I’m extremely untravelled and haven’t had the chance to explore a great deal. There is no Starbucks in Western Australia. I have never been to one in my entire 26 years of life. Do you feel sorry for me? We have a ridiculously shaped Arena. Off the coast of Perth is Rottnest Island, it’s full of these adorable little marsupials called Quokkas.

South of Perth is extremely popular for tourists because of the beaches. Some of the popular places down south are: Bunbury, Margaret River and Albany. Up North is more for people who are into “adventure” activities because it’s the Kimberly region. Some of the popular places are: Exmouth (or the Ningaloo Reef) and Broome. Broome is famous for it’s camel rides on the beaches. Of course there’s amazing beaches there too and people go snorkeling a lot. In case you didn’t get the message Western Australia is Beaches Central™.

Fun Fact: The horror movie Wolf Creek was filmed in Western Australia

       

Oh yeah. We also have a Pink Lake which is probably one of the coolest things ever. Be jealous 😎

So there’s a quick little rundown of my home state and town! Unfortunately, I haven’t visited many of the places I talked about here but I definitely hope to get the chance one day! Western Australia isn’t the most exciting place in the world and whilst I’m not the biggest fan of the town I live in now I will always love and call Perth home.

Photo Credit: My Instagram, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

---

I know a lot of you are from Australia already, but if you’re not I’d love to hear about whether you’ve ever visited or want to visit! If you have a Souvenir post then leave the link down below so I can drop by.

Tomorrow I’ll have a post about all my favourite Australian books! I’m sure you can already guess one that’ll be on the list 😉

Hope you’re all having a lovely day! xx