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Well we're finally out of rehab & so are able to continue the saga!!
On the final leg of the WA tour, we left Cervantes & headed South, got to Perth & kept going South to a lovely little seaside resort called Busselton. Originally intended as a mere stop-off on the way to Margaret River, it turned out to be quite nice - more sunsets over the sea & Matt managed to get another dive session in - off the end of the jetty (which is one of the longest in Oz). In it's hey-day I imagine that Busselton was a very chic victorian resort, now it looks like its over-run with tourists in the summer & fairly dead in the winter - we hit it just as the high season was drawing to a close so got the peaceful side.
From Busselton it was a short hop further down the South West coast to Margaret River - famed not only for its wine, but also cheese, chocolate and caves. Being the concientious tourists that we are we sampled all of the above in varying quantities - heaven. Day 1 was spent pottering about town, getting our bearings,
stocking up on supplies & booking tours - we managed a quick trip to Lake Cave in the afternoon as well. Very pretty, but not very big, was the overall impression of this underground hole. We also made friends with our neighbours like the nice little campers we are - a family of about 14 ducks!!!
Day 2, I'm told, was spent hopping on and off a mini bus sampling wine, cheese & chocolate & then more wine, followed by lunch (bushtucker style) more wine and finishing up with some very lovely port. Each taster was only about 20ml, which looks really mean in the bottom of a glass, but I think the brochure stated that we'd be sampling about 40 wines, which all adds up to a fair bit - spread over the day it didn't seem too excessive, but I'm not over keen on doing the maths to find out. We then some how managed to cook dinner & spent the evening chatting to a couple we'd bumped into on our fist day in Karijini who were also doing a tour. Having taken advantage of the generous cellar door prices, we carried on 'sampling' into the night.
Day 3 ...... slept in late to soothe the effects of the previous day and then revisited a couple of the wineries to buy up supplies of our favourites from the day before - we had been clever enough to take pen & paper so we could make notes as we went rather than trying to tax the cells too much the following day. The very nice people at Church View winery offered to mail a crate back to Sydney for us, even though we hadn't bought all the contents from them. Before parentals start to worry about the state of our livers, not all of the box was for us - we hope you are enjoying your birthday pressies Dave?
The weather has turned into UK style grey clouds & rain & it's getting colder - down to about 15 C (which feels bloody freezing after 38+) so we decide to hunt down a camp site that allows fires - quite a rarity over here for obvious reasons. Having visited a couple of National Park ones that allow fires, but no alcohol, we eventually found a very pretty place called Hamelyn Bay which allowed both. Having pitched the
tent for the 10th time in 2 weeks or so, it was time for gathering wood. All of the National Park ones visited previously offered free fire wood (& there was no sign to say you had to be staying there to avail yourself of said wood) so with engine running & a plastic bag under each arm, we stocked up on fuel for the night!! We then spent a very cosy evening round the campfire eating stew & drinking the now obligatory rum & hot chocolate (all praise to Mr Elsworth for introducing us to this delight!!).
Before starting the long trek north towards Perth we went all the way to the bottom corner of South West Australia where the Indian & Southern Oceans meet for a wander round the Leuwin lighthouse. We picked a particularly good day for this - it was blowing an absolute gale & trying very hard to rain, so sanctuary was sought in the coffee shop, before heading to Jewel Cave. What a magnificent place - much more impressive than the previous cave & much much bigger. Apparently the cave was discovered by some bloke (whose name escapes me) who fell down a
hole & landed on the edge of the cave - he managed to get out & came back a bit later with some rope & some candles & lowered himself down the same hole & went exploring. Our final stop before arriving in what was to be home for the night was at Yallingup - a top surf beach - didn't look quite so glam in the pouring rain. I think I've turned into my nan (which isn't actually a bad thing), well probably everyone else's nan too - we parked up to have a look at the beaches but ended up sitting in the car eating our sandwiches in a carpark, overlooking the sea, in the pouring rain - it's good to keep up these British traditions even if one is overseas.
Our final stop before returning to Perth was in Bunbury - what an awful place - don't ever bother going here unless you're paid to - an all night rave / party really finished off the stay so we were good & grumpy when we had to get up at 7 to get on the road in time to return the Harlot from whence she came.
To top off a perfect last night, I got flashed by a speed camera - we're not sure yet whether we'll get done though as we were in a hire car registered in a different state, but I don't think the local cops take too kindly to tourists bombing through their patch at 140Km / hour - the limit is only 110 which seems really slow on a highway. Oh well - wait & see with that one.
With the car safely delivered back & our seemingly growing amount of luggage stored at a hotel in Perth we went off to explore the delights of Freemantle or Freo as it's known locally. It's the port town for Perth & has a large & bussling market on at the weekend. We stocked up on yet more supplies & managed to find a lovely Italian restaurant that served up Gluten Free pasta on the biggest plates you've ever seen - these Aussies are truely enlightened. Ahhh the delights of a hotel room after 3 weeks camping - no need to put on every item of clothing you own just to run accross a field to get to the loo in the
middle of the night. Having slept in 'til nearly lunchtime we then went in search of something to do for the evening - a comedy show / movie / live music - nothing happens in Perth on a Monday night, or any other night for that matter - what a disappointment for such a large city - out for dinner again then!!
Our stay in WA was just about at an end - time to pack up & head off to Melbourne. We had to post some of our junk back to Sydney as we would've been way over the luggage limit - not sure how we managed to accumalate so much. Just time for lunch in Cottesloe - pretty seaside suberb of Perth - & then off to the airport.
Next installment coming soon - the delights of Melbourne.
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Steve
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Speeding?
Careful now, you'll wind up like me (3 speeding tickets now, first one expires this August). Been on holiday with Emma for a week over the bank holiday. Went to Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, lots of adventures! Including hitting another car, driven by a guy who spoke no English... but no serious damage done :-) But you two sound as if you're having a wonderful time, so jealous! :-)