I leave for the UK tonight, leaving Anne in Perth. We checked out of our double room this morning (once I'd stopped getting stressed about not being able to pack my rucksack) and Anne checked into a single room. It's lucky we're in Perth and in this hostel, since we've not been in any other hostels which had a significant number of single rooms, and ridiculously it'll cost her less than half the price of a double.
I'm going to miss the little monkey, though at least I'll be having fun with friends and family back home (and will be frantically writing my best man's speech in order to embarrass the groom to maximum effect). Anne will be entertaining herself. Hope she's OK. It's been weird spending all day every day with each other, though we've had surprising few rows. This'll be the furthest we've ever been from each other! First time we've been in different hemisphere! I bet she'll have a whale of a time.
Perth's good, and Anne should find plenty to do here. Before we arrived here I got in touch with Lisa, another girl with whom I worked at The Economist. She's from Perth, and following extensive travelling has returned here with an enthusiastic appreciation of home. Lisa picked us up in her car on Sunday morning and took us on a tour of Perth. We saw great views of the Swan River, and some nice properties. We saw the beach, and dropped into the market at Freemantle ("Freo") for lunch. We ended up in a bar in Subiaco ("Subi") for some beers with Lisa's flatmate and a couple of her pals. It was great. Good to be shown round by a local, and great to have a drink with non-travellers! We realised how much we've missed going out for drinks with friends at home. Travelling in a couple, I suppose we've been a bit anti-social - we've chatted to travellers, but not for any length of time, and people are less inclined to chat to a couple.
Today (Monday) we're going to look at more of the city (in the rain!) and then I'll pop off to the airport.