The Long Road back to Perth via a different country!

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We headed off to Hutt River province which is independent from oz. Prince Leonard was a clever man and the Oz governement, due to surplus, told Hutt River province they could only farm 216 hectares of land and not farm the 20,000 that he had. this was not acceptable as Prince leonard looked after a lot of families and this would not be enough to feed them all. they were not allowed to trade with other countries. Leonard wrote a letter to the government saying that it wasn't acceptable, and to lift this rule or there would be consequences. They wrote back apparently saying how sad, too bad. So Leonard wrote back saying that the people of Hutt River province declared war on Oz. A day later he wrote another letter saying Hutt River province surrender, with no fatalities and no casualties. with these letters, as he has been addresses by the governement as hutt river province, he sent them off and due to oz law, if you declare war then surrender you are effectively independent. This left prince leonard free to trade with other countries and left Hutt River independent country. it's very random!

We met Prince Leonard - see photos - I'm a princess! and he checked over our passports to show different parts which glow up under the special lighting - it was pretty cool, got a stamp of arrival and departure. Some people had their photos in florescent which you couldn't see in normal lighting. I still think it's a bit random! they have their own money, stamps, but there's no border or anything you can drive through it or in it!

Anyways, we drove for a while then went to a wildlife sanctuary, we got to feed the kangeroos, the emus which as fast little buggers!!! take your finger off if your not careful! There were horses and sheep and goats we could feed which was funny!

then we had a snake show. All the snakes had been born and bred and handled by humans all their lives but they were pythons - wooooo which are not poisonous. It was really good actually, the guy was great and we could hold the snakes. Sarah had all 5 snakes on her at one point!!

We then headed off, stopped for lunch at a park and then headed for perth, with more crosswords and trivial pursuits along the way!

We met up with Suzi, Kim and dan to grab something to eat as nando's that evening in Perth (not as good as the Didsbury one Neen - no olives!) and then we met steve the guide in brass monkey for a few drinks! Steve has 2 days then he's off again, he stays in hostels as well when he's back as it's not worth the money renting a place when he's never there. rent os sooooo high over here though, its that high that most people cant afford to buy. They are not allowed to build new houses as the aboriginees own it. So we had a few drinks and then hit Rosie O'gradys! not quite the same as the fuerte one but hey - we have found out Perth one!! woooo!!

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