Biltongboer Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 I’ve had some requests from my English-speaking friends & fans. They want me to write about my experiences in English, so that they could also follow the story. I’ll try my best, mate.I have been thinking about starting an English blog, specifically in reference to my Perth/Australian experience. I will draw up something soon, and I’ll dump all my English versions of the same boring tales over there. I am doing things in duplicate, however, as certain stories are just better told to Afrikaans-speaking people in their native language. Bear with me please.Well, here goes:I’ll start this story with the trip to Perth.The date was 17 September 2008. We stayed over at my brother-in-law’s place in Cape town, and early that morning started packing his bakkie (ute, as they are called down under). We booked in with Singapore airlines, and had our final greeting session with the family. All our baggage was glad-wrapped in the good old South African tradition – you don’t want Sipho opening your zips and sending off your shampoo bottles to his mother in Zimbabwe...Singapore airlines is great. You have your own TV screen in front of you, and enough movies to keep you busy for the whole trip. We flew 11 hours to Singapore, then stayed over for 4 hours, and finally embarked on the last stretch of a long, looooong trip from Windhoek to Perth. We took off at 12h00, and landed at 05h50 Singapore time. This was, however, around 24h00 SA time. I couldn’t sleep on the flight, and watched two movies about American football. I recently read John Grisham’s “Playing for pizzaâ€, which is also about American football, and now I know what the game is about. Great sport, I just wouldn’t want to play it myself. It seems that the quarterback is the Main Man in this sport, and he is the guy who has to be protected by the big forwards, nearly like a fly-half in rugby. Only difference is that if your team doesn’t protect you well enough, you will get spear-tackled and murdered easily without anyone getting a yellow card…Anyway, we landed at Singapore airport 11 hours later. When you disembark, you walk directly onto a little hallway – looks like a hotel when you walk out of the plane’s door. No stairways down to the tarmac like we’re used to.The airport itself is amazing – like one large shopping mall. There are free internet Terminals, you can access them for 15 minutes at a time. We found a little playground area, and the children broke down the place.There is a thing called a Skytrain that takes you to Terminal 3. You land at Terminal 1, and you take off at Terminal 3 – don’t forget that trick. You wont make it if you realise this 15 minutes before take-off.The Singapore Airline hostesses are great-looking in every sense of the word. They wear sexy pajamas and have the nicest, slimmest bodies you can imagine. You feel guilty when they smile at you – feels as if you’re in some naughty place. (Not that I would know, of course!)Landing at Perth was something that escaped my memory slightly. I can’t remember really feeling all whoopy-whoo or dancing on the ceilings. We were so tired after more than 20 hours of flight, that I couldn’t really take everything in. We had to stand in long queues, and our baggae took a while for us to locate. With three kids, it takes quite an orchestration to get 6 large bags together, and finally enter the line for customs. This last point of entry before you finally enter Australia, is specially made to be a difficult experience – just for old time’s sake. The rows are long, and these guys thoroughly check everything. This is the first country I’ve entered, where they scan your baggage and hand luggage when you enter the country. When the lady finally said “Welcome to Australiaâ€, after crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s, that was music to my ears.When we finally exited customs with all our baggage, my friend Dewald was there with my new boss Dennis, ready to take us to our temporary home at Mounts Bay Waters. It was great to see a familiar face. We took some pictures, and then took off to the city.We landed on a Thursday. Thursday nights are late-night shopping nights, and Dewald grabbed me and my dead body into the streets of Perth to do some shopping. We walked around a place called “London courtâ€, and there was just too many things to see and consume all at once.We bought hamburgers at Hungry Jacks, and I nearly fainted when I made the currency exchange calculations for the cost of 4 hamburgers, cool drinks, and a small portion of chips. My credit card couldn’t be used here, and I had to borrow money from Dewald. We also went to Woolworths and bought some groceries. Here, I had no problem with the credit card, and the $40 was swiped through. Many shops here let you swipe you own card – they don’t grab your card and disappear into the back room while you’re stressing about your card.When I went to sleep on the avo of 18 September, I wondered what the hell I was doing in this place, thousands of kilometres away from the land of my birth. I was tired, bewildered and thoroughly in shock. The next day this all faded away quickly, and I‘ve never had that sinking feeling since then.To be continued... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Thanks Biltongboer!! Much appreciate the English version!Cheers....Your FanEva Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen-in-Brisbane Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Yes - Thanks for the english version... Keep the posts coming!!! We thrive on hearing from those of you have made it......Well done!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcK Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Hey Biltongboer....Cant wait for Chapter 2......beats watching Home & Away on DSTV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biltongboer Posted September 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Hey Biltongboer....Cant wait for Chapter 2......beats watching Home & Away on DSTV Maybe I should start asking money for this. Seems there's a good market out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 (edited) Thank you so much for the English version.I do try to follow your tales in Afrikaans but get a mega brain freeze after a paragraph or two......Can't wait to hear more.Oh and if you get the chance get the missus and kids on the ferry across the river and on to the zoo, that is a really nice day out, we were lucky enough to see dolphins playing in the river.Good luck on your discovery of Perth.AndreaLp.s. I have just seen your other post "ons het a huis" and see you have already been to the zoo-hope it was a good day, I will have to get my sister-in -law to translate the rest for me. Edited September 26, 2008 by AndreaL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost there Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 When the lady finally said “Welcome to Australiaâ€, after crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s, that was music to my ears.We leave 12 weeks today ... I can't wait to hear those words, already brought tears to my ears nevermind music to my ears!Thank you for sharing your story with us, especially those of us heading that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 HI BB,thanks for the english version, try to read the afrikaans, but the mind boggles after a while.Cant wait for chapter 2.Enjoy Perth.Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 Hi BB,I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your accounts in both English and Afrikaans. I completely agree with your comment that some things just sound better in Afrikaans. Your story about the in-law watching the TV was most entertaining - especially the part about wringing the neck of a wild boar! And I'm sure that, after reading this your latest chapter, Singapore airlines will be booked solid for a couple of months.....Please keep writing - you have a real talent. Ek wag vir die volgende hoofstuk van hierdie storie!Tex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 Thanks BB, I am sure this must take huge effort on your part... but believe me... you have may fans enjoying your journals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.