Hey, everyone! After months of anticipation, I was finally able to see Björk perform at Perth Festival in Langley Park. How surreal, to finally have the moment culminate. I also went to Rottnest Island for the (perhaps?) final time.

Rottnest Island Farewell

Ahead of my final day at work, I booked one last ticket to Rottnest Island, knowing the staff discount would run out after my last day.

I have truly loved visiting Rottnest Island since arriving in Perth. I think I must have gone… six times, maybe? As I’ve mentioned before – it can be an expensive trip, so taking advantage of my staff discount was a perk that was hard to pass up.

The boat ride over was lovely, but I couldn’t help but think about how it would perhaps be my last voyage along the Swan River – a place I had gone up and down a countless number of times during my last five months in Perth. I was also able to see my coworker Jamie working on the Rottnest boat which was such a treat. She and I had many a conversation about wanting to work on the Rottnest boats, so to finally see her get her wish was such a joy.

Upon arriving at Rottnest, I began my walk to Little Parakeet Bay, a snorkeling spot I hadn’t visited since my first time at the island. I originally wanted to visit Little Salmon Bay as it was perhaps my favorite spot, but with the wind direction, it didn’t seem like the best option for the day.

The visibility was so nice and the water didn’t feel that cold, despite the temperature at Rotto being much lower than in Perth. I think in Perth it was about 36 Celsius that day, which is 96.8 F. In Rotto, it must have been about 80 F? Not that that’s cold compared to Chicago at the moment hahahaha.

I spent most of the day at Little Parakeet Bay, snorkeling and laying out at the beach. I saw a massive cobbler fish again – way bigger than I’d seen before. I also saw the cutest little neon yellow/blue fish. I had seen it before, but they have always been very shy, retreating into little holes in the limestone any time I’ve seen them. I was able to observe it for quite some time, which was so cute.

I think my favorite sighting at Little Parakeet Bay was what I learned through my snorkeling group is a harlequin fish. It was hiding in the shadows, at the edge of the limestone formation. It stayed in place and didn’t move locations – perhaps protecting some eggs? I must have watched it for five or ten minutes, hoping to watch it swim around at some point, but it didn’t leave its spot. The image I took isn’t great because it was obscured in shadow, but its body was very dark, with these magnificent bright blue etchings along its body.

Since Little Parakeet Bay is about an hour from the jetty, I decided to walk over to Fay’s Bay to be closer once it was time to head back home. I had heard great things about Fay’s Bay, but had never gone snorkeling there, so I’m glad I made it.

The beach was practically deserted compared to the other beaches along the island I’d been to. It was only me, a couple, and two other solo beachgoers. No one was snorkeling, but this time it didn’t deter me. Perhaps it should have!

I was pleased to see some fairy terns hanging out at Fay’s Bay. I remember there was a sanctuary for their nesting grounds along the Point Walter sandbar, but I had never seen them so up close before.

I’m really glad I switched locations from Little Parakeet Bay to Fay’s Bay, because I was lucky enough to see… nudibranches!

I had never heard of nudibranches until I joined the Perth snorkeling group on Facebook, but they are these otherworldly… sea slugs! They can be incredibly vibrant colors, and have really interesting markings and plumes along their bodies. They are sort of like Birds of Paradise, but the sea slug version. They are so cool!

Apparently, there are about 3,000 different types of nudibranches across the world, with 700 in Australia. Very cool. I saw the Western Australian nudibranch – which was quite apt, considering I’ve been living in Western Australia for the past six months at this point!

After my second snorkel session at Fay’s Bay, a helicopter flew quite near with a siren going off. I started making my way back to shore, thinking that must be something bad. As I got closer to the surface, I heard two people talking and one of them said “shark.” As I got out of the water, I asked, “Did you say shark?” They said that they’re thinking that’s why the helicopter made the siren. A few minutes later, the woman told me that the shark app was updated to say they were tracking a 3 meter long tiger shark that was swimming past Fay’s Bay about 400 meters from shore. That’s pretty far out, but still! Crazy.

Before long, I had to make my way back to the jetty to leave Rottnest. I said goodbye to the quokkas – such an integral part of Rottnest Island, and hopped back on the boat. It was a lovely day, but was certainly bittersweet to be leaving.

Perhaps I will come back to Rottnest one day in the future, but I think this will be my last visit for a while.

I also wanted to mention that when I was hanging out with my coworkers last week, they told me Rottnest is actually a huge burial ground, with remains of hundreds of Aboriginal people that died during the colonization of Australia. A sad piece of history, to be sure.

Björk at Perth Festival

And now, what we’ve all been waiting for… and I have no pictures to show! Björk had requested that no pictures or videos be taken during the show, as it is distracting to her performance. That said, PLEASE look up her Cornucopia tour photos… you’ll find it online. Her outfits and the visuals are incredible!

The venue was huge. It looked large from the outside, but man were a lot of bodies in there that night.

Before the show started, sounds of strange birds from her Utopia album were playing on the loudspeakers, hyping the crowd up for what was to come.

I got there quite early – about 7.15pm, when the show began at 8pm. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was in the 10th row. I didn’t remember where exactly my seats were and I had thought I was pretty far back, but I had such a solid spot!

The lights dimmed, and a choir came out as the opening act. They sang some very interesting tribal-esque tunes, but before long… it was Björk time. How fitting, to see Björk on the six month anniversary of being in Australia.

I had never seen Björk before. I wouldn’t say I’m a superfan or anything, but ahead of my trip to Iceland back in 2017, I started listening to her music and WOW does she have some incredible songs. I also think she is just an absolute musical genius, much like David Bowie. Always experimenting with new sounds, new concepts and visuals.

As soon as Björk’s first song started playing, I got tingles on my arms and started to feel quite emotional. I almost started tearing up a little, listening to Björk’s voice and the orchestral music vibrate throughout the stadium. And then there she was! Adorned in a psychedelic James Merry mask and platform shoes.

Her voice was incredible. At times, I thought “she must be lip-syncing.” It was just too perfect. But then I would heard the cadence of the voice, and knew that it was legitimate. She was talented.

Paired with Björk herself was a backup choir, a team of flautists, and some amazingly trippy visuals projected onto the screens. The visuals were so impressive – with images of people morphing into flowers, back into people. There were visuals of Björk singing, with her mouth transforming into an orchid, etc. It was very, very cool.

Throughout the night, I was hoping she might play my favorite song, Virus. It is an incredible song – one of my top five songs ever in life. A perfectly tragic love song. If not that, then perhaps she would play Hyperballad. Unfortunately, no such luck. Then again, most of my favorite musicians never seem to play my favorite songs when I go see them live. Oh, well. She played mostly songs from her most recent two albums, but regardless, it was an incredible show and I’m so glad I stuck around to see it. I may never get the chance to see her again, knowing that her tickets sell out so quickly in the states. What. A. Show!

Once the show was up, the crowd demanded an encore. Before she came back out, a video was projected on screen of Greta Thunberg, talking about our planet and its future. It was very powerful and I was in awe that Björk used her platform to give a voice to Greta. We have to save our beautiful planet!

Art of the Week

It was my friend/former coworker Jamie’s birthday today, and she had asked me if I would mock up a tattoo idea for her. She sent me some inspiration, and seeing that two of the images she sent along were centipedes, I decided… sure – time to draw my most LOATHED creature in life. A giant centipede! She also likes eyes a lot, so I incorporated some eyes along the centipede’s back, if you look closely.

It was actually really fun to draw and I’m so happy with how it turned out. She’s happy with it, too, and ensured me that she would definitely be getting it tattooed at some point. I hope she does – I’d love to see it! I’ve had someone get one of my pieces tattooed before, and it’s so cool to see my artwork on someone’s skin.

Reflections

I met up with my former boss for coffee the other day since she was out of town during my last week at work and I wanted to say goodbye. I’m so glad I did! We didn’t interact that much at work since she was always bopping around the offices, but I wanted to thank her in person for hiring me and for the experience I had as a deckhand. We had a really, really lovely conversation. She told me about her life, how she grew up in Belgium, lived in Indonesia for 20 years, lived on a sailboat with her family for a while, and has been in Australia since 2008. She told me about different jobs she’s had, and we talked about lots of other things such as the harnessing our energy, and some spiritual/hippy stuff like that haha. What an incredible woman she is! We hugged and parted ways, and she told me that I’m a really wonderful person (or something along those lines) and I said she was as well. Such a great interaction and wonderful conversation.

It briefly rained the other day. I didn’t notice it, just a slight drizzle, but I remember stepping out of the apartment and the smell just hit me. It has been so long since it has rained here. I do love the rain, and listen to rain sounds throughout the night as I sleep. I look forward to a day where it rains all day long. Preferably when I don’t have any adventurous activities planned!

One of the ONLY things Björk said to the fans throughout the night was “thank you for tonight!”

Today was my friend Jamie’s birthday (the one I did the centipede drawing for) and she invited me and our other work buddy Jade to Gage Roads down in Fremantle to hang out. Jamie’s family and friends were there, but she still took the time to hang out and chat with Jade and me. Jade and Jamie were my BUDDIES at work – I love them both so much. I’m really glad I got to spend some more time with them before leaving Perth. After staying for a couple of hours, I wanted to head back to the city and the two of them walked me out, giving one another multiple hugs as we said our goodbyes. It was weird and sad and sweet. I hope we are able to meet again one day but even if not, I’m forever thankful to have known them and to have had them in my life. They are both young. Jamie just turned 19 and Jade is in her early 20s. I have always bonded with older people, finding people my age and younger often to be too immature. Yet, somehow despite a 10ish year age difference, the three of us got along so well and certainly bonded. I will certainly miss them!

Tomorrow (well, today, as it’s 1am), I head down to Albany and then Margaret River for a few days. I’ll be back in Perth on the 8th, and then leaving Perth for Coral Bay on the 13th. It is starting to feel very weird, knowing my time in Perth is coming to a close. I know I mentioned that before. I can be very sentimental and emotional, and it is definitely hitting me now that this chapter is ending and another one is soon beginning. I am anxious for what the future has in store, but at the same time, I know everything is going to work out.

Until next time. Sending my love to you all!