Perth, Rottnest Island, Pinnacles and some dodgy Sandboarding!

Hey Everyone.

Well we arrived in Perth safe and sound to a rather chillier climate than we left in Ayers Rock! We are staying in Northbridge just north of the city centre. The hostel is quite good and we have our own room which is splashing out a bit but oh well! Just for a change first priority was finding somewhere to watch the UEFA cup finasl on Wed night. We looked everywhere and it wasnt looking likely but it was fine it was on in the hostel so up we got at 2.30am to watch it, and back to bed at 5am with a not very happy Martyn!!

The next couple of days we spent just walking about the city trying to sort some tours out. We are here for 10 days which is too short a time to go a great distance from Perth as everywhere is SO far away, but its kinda a long time for staying in one place. We decided to base ourselves in the city and just go on day tours anywhere we want to save moving about all the time. We got the train down to Freemantle, which was about 1/2 an hour away. Had a nice day down there, the markets are pretty cool. We also got our Thailand visas all sorted out with suprising ease and it was stress free :) So at least we wont get banged up in The Bangkok Hilton for overstaying our welcome!

On Saturday we decided to do some afternoon drinking as the weather was gorgeous then we made ourselves depressed by watching Rangers draw with Motherwell! Had a good day though! On Sunday the weather was so good again so we got the train down to Cottelsoe and had a lovely picnic, then we parked ourselves in the Ocean Beach Hotel, right on the beach with big open windows and got a tan and drank beer- perfect! We seen a beautiful sunset, up there with the best so far! Then we got fish and chips and headed back to the City what a great day!!!

On Monday we got a Western Exposure tour to see the Pinnacles which are in a National Park about 250k's north of Perth. Well when we got on our 4x4 type van thing we thought we had joined the Japan express bus!! My god it was like our worst nightmare but on the plus side, they certainly kept us amused taking photots of EVERYTHING! They are hilarious even the petrol stations we stopped for toilets breaks they took pictures of. Anyway we made it to the town of Crevantes and from there to see the Pinnacles Desert. It was pretty cool, youll see them in the pictures, we just didnt expect there to be so many. After we were done messing around in the Pinnacles we headed for the town of Lancelin. Lancelin has loads of sand dunes just on there door step where loads of people come to go sandboarding etc. After our great effort at the sandboarding in Peru we were all geared up for it.......what a disapointment, we had to go down on our bums! They werent real sandboards with straps for our feet. Poor Martyn was gutted but we managed to get ourselves covered in sand anyway, oh what fun!!! It was good day out even with our hilarious bus group!!

On Wednesday we got the ferry over to Rottnest Island, its about 1 1/2 hours from Perth. Its 11 km long and 4.5 kms at its widest point, and with our little hired bikes and helmets we cycled the whole way round and more! 26kms in total, hope everyone is impressed!! It was so much fun, the weather was gorgeous and the beaches there are so beautiful. The beaches here on the West Coast are so nice, the sea is turquiose and the sand is so white, almost like Whitehaven beach everywhere!! We found loads of little secluded bays and took SO many pictures. Although my legs were so sore the next day it was def worth it.

Our last 2 days we pretty much spent around the city getting bits and pieces done before leave for Bangkok and Martyn finally got a haircut! We decided last night to go out for our final beer in OZ and it turned into rather a messy affair that ended at 2am with Martyn putting me to bed and having to go watch Rangers loose the league himself, what a shame! So yes the football was not so good but on the plus side we are off to Bangkok tonight so its all good! Very excited bout Asia, but time is going to fast and we will miss OZ. Seems like last week we arrived in Melbourne, will miss speaking to Ashley and Alicia whenever we feel like it!! So next blog will be from Bangkok.....Cant wait!!

Happy Birthday April hope you have a lovely birthday on the 28th.

Loads of Love from OZ xxxxxxxxxx

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