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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney
January 3rd 2012
Published: January 3rd 2012
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I've been a bit slack with the old blog and so I apologise to all those that read it. Basically the parents...

I haven't really spoken to the family much recently so for once I feel this is actually of use to fill you all in.

I left you last in Bunbury, Western Australia. Fun capital of Australia it is not however it was nice chance for me and Chloe to relax a bit. Me and Chloe managed to read 2 books during the 3 weeks in WA, those that know me will know what a miracle that is. The weather was a bit pants to start of with but by the end of the week we got some nice hot scorching days. However it wasn't all just sitting around reading. We went to the gorgeous town of Bussleton with its extremely long jetty and beautiful beach. We also went to Dunsborough and near-by Mellup beach.

Western Australia really does have some gorgeous places and I wish to retract my previous statement in my last blog. WA does have stuff to do but just not if you stick to one place. You definately need a car and personally I would do Esperance all the way up to Darwin. Its a crazily long way so you'd need some time but there's stuff me and Chloe didn't get to see above Perth that we would love to come back to. Plus, Albany and Esperance, which are further south than Margeret River, are spoken highly of and absolutely breathtaking. My one regret of our trip is that we didn't take more advantage of our time in Western Australia. I wish we'd got a car and went North past the Pinnacles (instead of paying a fortune for a trip) past this amazing natural Pink lake and atleast up to Kalbarri National Park, which looks like it is red dirt galore. We were a bit obsessed with seeing red dirt in WA as its so amazingly Australian. But if we came again we'd travel past Kalbarri to places like Monkey Mia (Dolphin Heaven) and Broome, up to Darwin and then down to Alice Springs (Ayers Rock) and down to Adelaide and then back across to Esperance and Albany back up to Perth. If your confused I suggest you look at a map. Lets just say there are some beautiful places I'd love to see and it'd be an amazing road trip.

We got to see around the Margeret River area while we were in Bunbury. We hit a Chocolate Factory, a Cheese Factory and Winery. Possibly the three best culinary inventions. I found my favourite ever wine which of course isn't sold in the UK. I nearly cried. We also went to Lake Cave, one of the many caves in the area and of course we had to choose the one with 300 steps to get down to. We nearly died. After the cave we visited one of the beautiful local beaches. Haven't yet got bored of seeing a beach. There's something about the ocean that makes you feel at peace. That, mixed with sunshine, is pretty much Euphoria. However, this beach had something pretty tragic linked with it. It was the area that only about a month ago was devastated by Bush fires. I can't even explain what its like to drive through somewhere that is suddenly so barren, blacks and greys as far as you can see. Not a leaf in sight. And honestly, the area was huge. At first we were like 'Oh dear what ashame' and then as you travel through the heart of it you realise the immensity of the damage. Not only to wildlife and the Fauna but to people's houses. We saw houses that were luckily still standing but were surrounded by blackened trees and you couldn't help but imagine what it must have been like to be in your house watching flames engulf it. Its really not the same as watching it on the news and was extremely humbling.

Whilst in Bunbury we also had a little road trip into the Fergusson Valley with some local guys. We had a little advert moment, in a convertible, hair blowing, music up high, sun turning everything a 70's orange. Blissful moment. What was less blissful was the freaky 'Gnomesville' within the valley. A part of forest covered in Gnomes. It was like something out of a horror movie. I saw some Barrows Gnomes which made me feel slightly better. Plus Jess and Dave Gnomes that were hanging out together. This started a hunt to find all my family in Gnomes. I failed some of you, I'm sorry, well most of you to be honest.

From the freaky Gnomes back to the big smoke. Well the tiddly smoke of Perth. We had two more days in Perth before our flight back to Sydney and we used them well. First day we went to Rottnest Island for our epic and long awaited (by Chloe) bike ride. Now, I've never overly liked physical exertion, I tend to try and avoid it at all costs (my fat 50 year old self will hate me for it one day) But we both had a romantic vision of this well talked about island, cycling along, laughing and joking, the sun shining on us, a light breeze blowing in our hair, having breaks along the way at the stunning beaches. What we never thought of was the presence of hills. We got to the Island by speed boat which was ridiculously fun but the smiles slowly melted off of our faces as my heart beat started increasing to a speed which I'm pretty sure isn't normal and my lungs felt like they were so dry that each side of them was grating against the other. The hills in my opinion were ridiculous. Remember, I'm pretty much a fen girl, we don't do hills. We stopped attempting to cycle the up hill parts and walked. There was one point I actually thought I was going to faint. I don't even care what you all think of me, its true. We were walking along with our bikes, the sun was so hot beating down on us, there was no shade to be seen, any water I drank was automatically being sweat out again and my legs were like jelly, I felt very light headed. Yer yer hypercondriact blah blah blah. We eventually made a beach we decided would be our destination. It was beautiful. White sand, turquoise sea. Only slight problem was the stong wind. We stayed there for a couple of hours as our bodies slowly became covered in sand. We gave up trying to keep it off of us and embraced it. We had sand in our scalps and painful....bottom areas...for like a week. It was pretty funny. Despite the moaning, Rottnest island was really pretty and it almost made the painful bike ride worth it.

The second day back in Perth we went on a Pinnacles trip. I'd love to tell you what the Pinnacles are but I don't actually know. The trip we went on was pretty poor, there was only 4 of us, the guide didn't know anything and they didn't organise a tour guide at the Pinnacles either. It was totally worth it to see them though. They really are mysterious and eerie feeling. Most people compare them to gravestones and I definately know what they mean. Plus the two Scottish ladies on our trip were legendary. As was our last cocktail filled evening with Matt and Nat!

Our plane ride to Sydney was strange. When we were planning this trip, Sydney felt like practically the end so we had a mixture of sad and excited feelings.

Next blog....Sydney.

xxx


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3rd January 2012

happy travels
Wow, chocolate, cheese & wine - what more do you need? Sounds blissful and am now more envious than ever! Keep blogging... x
5th January 2012

You found me!
Ok, so I was strangely excited about a gnome being named after me...freaky. All sounds amazing! I totally relate to the bike excursion though - bicycles (if on a slight incline) are the devil. FACT. Keep us posted :)

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