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Published: January 28th 2006
Dashiki
The most illegal car in Western Australia. Early 1980s model station wagon, purchased for 600$, it is not registered, smells like gas, does not like to be in 1st gear, 2nd gear or reverse. But it does have a bobblehead doll of an afro woman playing the ukulele, so its got that going for it...The World doesn’t care about Australia. Australia doesn’t care about Perth. This is great! No one cares what happens out here! Anything goes!
- James E. Lynch, Jr.
Had my cousin, James the Wise, not been living in Fremantle for the past 5 months, there’s little to no chance that I’d have landed in Western Australia at any point in my life. But then again, I’ve learned that there is a glimmer of method to Jamie's madness, as the trip to WA has been much more than I expected.
The entire trip to WA had been rather suspect due to the fact that I couldn’t get in touch with Jamie until just about a week prior to arrival. But as this journey has worked, the unplanned has proved the most fun and the day after arriving in Fremantle (southern coastal suburb of Perth) we rented a car and drove further south to a town called Dunsborough. Being used to weekly house rentals at the Jersey Shore, the idea that we could rent a house for two days in the middle of the week was a fresh one, and worked out all the same.
We met up with the American contingency of Western Australia at the house, there’s Jamie and 3 other rural Philly guys living in WA while we added
a few Aussie friends just to keep the reality of being in a foreign country alive. Some of us went surfing while the rest made a day combining fishing and drinking which is pretty much a national sport down here. Actually, combining drinking with any daily activity not normally considered sport is in fact an Aussie sport.
The house we stayed at in Dunsborough Beach was right on the beach and at the end of a road where a river emptied into the ocean so there was an ample numbers of crabs to go crabbing at 3am. I’m not sure I could’ve stood in waist deep water with nothing but a flashlight and a big net on a pole had I not been drinking all night but after catching close to 2 dozen crabs (of which only 4 were large enough to eat) a drunken feast was close at hand.
The following day we went south to the Margaret River Wine Region. Before visiting the wineries, we made a quick stop at the Ngili Caves. I can't remember the last time I was in a cave but its always cool, much like with clouds, to try to pick
out animals, faces, or whatever shapes the stlagtites & stlagmites may have formed over the course of thousands of years. Onto the Brewery & Winery tour. For the vino enthusiast, this area of WA produces some of the best Shiraz in the world. We had intended on making a day flip flopping between breweries and wineries, but the wine was so much better than the beer, so we stuck with what worked. We bounced around to nearly half dozen wineries before hitting the road to Pemberton. Now I’ve been in Australia for close to two weeks now and I hadn’t seen a Roo once. For a country who claims Kangaroos as their national pride, they were exceedingly hard to find. All of this changed on the drive from Margaret River to Albany.
Near sundown we passed a Roo farm at close to 140 kph, slammed on the brakes in excitement and ranout to take pictures. These Roos were not very excited. They didn’t take good pictures. We decided that rather than waste time taking pictures of Roos that didn’t want their picture taken, we’d try to climb the Pemberton Tree. Desparately hoping to catch sundown at the top of
this tree, we increased to close to 160 kph, to get to the park just as the sun was setting.
Pemberton Tree typifies the general Australian attitude. In the center of a national forrest, there’s a tree with rhubarb piping spirling 60 meters up to a platform at the top of the tree. These rhubarb pipes vaguely resemble a ladder except for the fact that I’ve never seen a ladder climb so high without any type of safety harness. If you slip and fall, you die. Simple as that. If you can’t handle this fact, then you shouldn’t be climbing trees. It wasn’t until nearly 10 rungs up the ladder that I realized my short car nap hadn't cleaned the wine out of my ystem and that climbing this tree barefoot rather than in sandals was a very bad idea. So half drunk, barefoot, and in the setting sun we climbed 60 meters to a platform that stands at the top of the tree. There was no trunk that ran through the center of the platform like most tree houses, this cage was constructed on the top of a swaying tree to give off the feeling of being in
the canopy of trees. Insane. Apparently my bungy jump has not cured my fear of heights.
The next day we set out from Albany to see the Natural Bridge and the Gap. I’ve never heard of either of these sights as I’m sure most of you’ve never heard of them. Essentially, this was where Antarctica and Australia were attached until the very last moment. The rock deposits and even formations found at this location are identical to those found on the northern tip of Antarctica. If you look really close at the picture, you can see Antarctica. No, I’m lying but I’m sure someone tried squinting.
After the Natural Bridge, we stopped at a parked called the Valley of the Giants due to the incredibly large trees that grow there reminiscent of the days of dinosaurs and ancient life forms. In the Valley of the Giants, they constructed an elevated walkway that inclines through the forrest until you are essentially walking at the tree tops. The reason for the walkway is because the root structure of these particular trees, although enormously tall, are not very deep. Rather, the roots spread far and wide across the surface of the
forrest floor. If the park was to remain open and allow for tourists to walk the grounds, they needed a way to protect the roots. Voila! Another scary attraction having to do with heights and little saftey.
The trip back from Valley of the Giants took us through Margaret River again where there are some of the best surf spots in Australia. Unfortunately, where Margaret River empties into the sea and creates amazing waves, sharks are incredibly abundant. I still cringe when watching Jaws so it would’ve taken the Jaws of Life to get me out of the rental car into the water. The good thing was that we’ve been cursed with horrible swell so there’s been little reason to go surfing, but whenever I’ve been out in the water, I can’t help but think of my split toe, skinned knee and sliced shins essentially making me human chum.
We split from Margaret River about mid day to make the going away party for one Jamie’s American roommates. The bars are open till 6am in Fremantle. That’s all I’ll say about that night.
The next adventure was Rottnest Island just outside of Fremantle and Perth. Initially named
Ratsnest Island by Captain Cook because of the million Quokkas that pollute the place, after finding out that Quokkas were marsupials rather than overgrown rats, they tastefully changed the name and turned the island into a tourist destination. Again, having been cursed with horrible swell our entire Aussie trip, we rode rented bikes all around the island in search of surf but found nothing but reef filled coves where rich Aussies anchored their yachts and snorkeled around.
Our return back to Fremantle, known to locals as Freo, finally afforded me some days of no traveling, no being a tourist, a chance to relax and recharge my batteries. When you are in constant motion, these days are like gold. Do some laundry, catch up on some emails, do a bit of writing, read a little bit of that book you've been lugging around, (for me currently Anna Karenin which I've used more as a pillow than intellectual stimulation) cook a good meal, and get to bed an an honest hour. Solid Gold.
The Finale in WA was Australia Day. This is essentially the same day for Australians as the 4th of July is to Americans in terms of celebrations
Wine Tasting
We really had no business walking into wineries in our boardshorts and t-shirts but were able to impress with our vast knowledge of good vino but when I asked some Aussies what Australia Day signified, not one could pinpoint the exact meaning of the day, so I won't bother to speculate. Australia Day for me was a great opportunity to sample local Aussie beers, play the wiffle ball version of cricket in a tiny backyard and see some spectacular fireworks over the Indian Ocean. I have a new found respect for the game of cricket although it does accentuate all the aspects in baseball that most people hate. Its slow and tedious but if you can get past this fact, its jolly good fun. Jamie and his roomates have become hardcore cricket fans so if the Simpsons wasn't on tv in their apartment, it was the Victoria Bitter Cricket Classic matches between a combination of Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia.
Switching gears, after this long blog, its the finals of the Australian Open here in Melbourne adn I'm off to see if I can't catch some of the excitement moving around town. Two more cities in Australia before heading to India at the begining of Feb....
I've still got more pictures to add from this blog and past blogs so I'll alert
readers when I do just that.
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James the wise
non-member comment
Best blog by far
I dont know what it is about this blog but i was captivated the entire time, and it was almost painful to pull my eyes off the screen. loved having ya here, safe travels