Blogs from Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 571

Fed up with Pemberton, I headed down to Walpole for a bit of rest and relaxation over the new year. Walpole is 420km south of Perth and 120km west of Albany, roughly a two hour coach journey southeast from Pemberton. With a population of only 450, the township of Walpole is completely encircled by the 18,000 hectare Walpole-Nornalup National Park. Within the boundaries of this National Park are forests of Tingle and Karri trees, miles of coastline, beaches, rivers and estuaries plus a massive abundance of flora and fauna. Walpole is situated on the shallow Walpole Inlet. This has a depth of no more than one metre and is fed by the Walpole River. Good for chilling out with a bit of fishing. After my success in Pemberton and slap-up trout suppers, I decided to invest ... read more

After leaving the drunken debauchery of the East Coast behind, I flew over the great expanse of the red centre, finding myself 5 hours later after falling victim to an outburst of air rage in sunny Perth, Western Australia to be welcomed at the airport by a sign "Neil, Welcome to Perth," oh and my two friends, Una and Amelia! My Australian Christmas Adventure began.... I spent the first week of my stay with the Fitzhardinge's in Como, South Perth. Unfortunately, I picked up an eye infection en route to Perth, so sightseeing took on a whole new meaning! Amelia, however, very kindly took me (with only one eye open) on a whistle stop tour of the city allowing me to get my bearings and settle into my new surroundings. That evening, found us at the ... read more

Its not Christmas at all, really. The heat makes it like any other day, really. We had Christmas dinner, though. Everyone paid $20 and we got breakfast, lunch AND dessert! it was fantastic. Then, we drank goon. I tied tinsel around my cup and made it christmas goon. I believe today we're having the goon olympics. I'm not sure what it involves, but if it involves goon, i'm in! I'm still not a fan of Christmas. Believe me, I try to be, but I just can't get into it. I'd love to be able to avoid it. Aside from Christmas, things are going alright. I'm getting desperate to find a job. If I can't, its back to Adelaide for me. I'll get back to Perth again as soon as I can, but I'll have to go ... read more

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!!! Hope you had a lovely day? I have to admit it was the strangest thing celebrating Christmas away from my lovely family and away from freezing cold temperatures! I don't think I would ever get used to it! Funny how you moan about the cold but when you don't have it at Christmas it's like its not really Christmas at all!!!! ( Brian does not agree with this in the slightest!! :o) ) Fortunately we had a great day though. I wasn't as blue or homesick as I thought, worse so I think on the lead up to Christmas, oh and at Christmas mass. The Priest prayed for all those away from their family's on this special day...and opened up the flood gates! The tears where streaming down my face ... read more

Today Brian became a Godfather! It was lovely! He was absolutely gorgeous and Niamh is the luckiest baby girl in the world! The service was really nice and a great day was had by all...especially Niamh's mummy who had a ball opening all the Christening pressies! The day before Christmas too...pressie overload! lol She must have been in heaven. After the christening service we headed back to Victoria's mum and dads house. Its a really grand old australian house, veranda all the way round, gorgeous, i tried to steal it but it wouldn't fit in my pocket. Just went back and had some champers and some nibbles, opened the pressies then hurried back to may and dereks to get into shorts. The rest of Christmas eve was spent hanging around the pool. How great it was ... read more