Rhod and Anna's World Adventure

Today we set ourselves Challenge Number 2: Arrive in a new place separately and see if you find each other. The idea came to us from a book called 'Experimental Tourism' bought for us by our friend Gary, who found the prospect of us attempting this particular experiment highly amusing.

We didn't quite arrive separately. We had to drop a hire car off then get a bus into the city centre and from a bench by the station, we went our separate ways. We had 3 hours to find each other and failing that we would meet back at the very same bench. Rhod assures me that he waited 10 minutes after I'd gone and didn't see which direction I walked in.

So, map in hand, I set off in the direction of the shops. I set off in search of a toilet! I'm wandering around thinking that Perth is quite small so the chances of bumping into each other are pretty high. I found a toilet near the city museum and then skirted the main shopping area and found myself by the ferry jetties on the river.

What we had failed to discuss was the boundaries in which we were to work. Prats! I was thinking big but I knew I wasn't allowed to go to Freemantle which is an hour away by boat. I was thinking small and stuck closely to the main shopping area in the centre.

I thought the best way to find someone would be to climb to the top of the biggest hill in the city and look for them from the 'city view' lookout point. It's not the best way as you have no chance of spotting anything but buildings. But the view was good and I wandered around the park and botanical gardens. Even I wouldn't go looking for myself in the botanical gardens so it's no surprise that Anna didn't find me. If I'd been looking for me I would have searched every coffee house and every bar.

At first I thought that it would be funny to not find each other and had visions of our mothers ringing each other in a panic fearing a break-up was imminent! But after 2 hours with no-one to talk to boredom ensued and I began a full-on search for Rhod. I was still up in the park wandering aimlessly. It' s a small miracle that with 15 minutes to go, legs feeling like lead, I spotted a familiar face, map in hand, coming towards me. I then realised that I had been looking for someone with a light blue t-shirt all along. I'd forgotten Rhod was wearing a dark green one. It's a good job as I had walked all that way then got dis-orientated in the shopping area and couldn't find the bench for the meet up. We're so good at it that we might try New York next time.

It was an interesting experiment. Lessons need to be learnt such as setting the scale you are allowed to roam. But when all is said and done it works out like this. Anna went to look in shops and I went to look at buildings. I'll know where to look for her next time.