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Published: August 11th 2008
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Kangaroo - tick. Wallaby - tick. Crocodile - tick. Snake - tick. Termite mound- tick. Didgeridoo - tick. Unfeasibly large spider - tick. Wild pigs - tick. Enormous-eared cows - tick. 4 weeks in Australia and we have at least seen some of the "tourist" sites... though some remain elusive: Bobbly cork hat on an actual person; Koala Bear; Shark; Whale; Paul Hogan. Not sure we will get to see everything though we'll give the whales a shot (not literally) here in Western Australia where the sun is shiiiiinning and the ocean looks beautiful.
Since our last blog we have visited: Port Douglas - higher end touristy, not much to report apart from great fish (to eat); Atherton Tablelands - pastoral, fertile land behind the rainforest - we loved seeing the cranes, herons, pigs, kangaroos and giant alluminium lizard at the Mareeba wetlands. Surprisingly semi-gourmet room service meal at the ming motel in Atherton. Amazing sunset over the lake at Yangaburra plus fun saturday market populated by teenage goths selling various potions, young boys entertaining us with the violin and enough butternut squash to sink a hippie. Delicous meal on Friday night at Flynns; Cairns - the queensland "metropolis", we
arrived on saturday afternoon missing our normal mixed doubles and stumbled upon Cairns tennis club on the Esplanade where we were kindly invited to join in. We had a wonderful couple of hours realising how much we should practice our serves and relishing playing with other people - thanks to everyone there for making us feel so welcome, we'd love to return the favour in Putney. Fuelled by the adrenalin i then tried my luck at the casino whilst Nige stayed in to watch the All blacks get thrashed. Unfortunately my evening on the blackjack table didn't end successfully but i was very content to stare open-mouthed at the drunken antics of Aussie lads and ladettes in between my playing my usual hand of 13.
Then on to Uluru... We flew in to the Ayers Rock resort which is, unfortunately, the only place you can stay near Uluru. I say unfortunately only because it is one of those places which suffers from "captive audience syndrome" where everything is majorly expensive and the poor staff just look like they never want to see or talk to another tourist again. But we weren't there to lounge around drinking cocktails.. we started
early (5am) and headed off in the dark to see sunrise. Suffice to say Uluru is very very impressive, and much windier and colder than you would think. We walked round the base of Uluru in the morning marvelling at the patterns of stone and the sheer impressiveness of it all then went over to Kata Tjuta (the neighbouring domed rock cluster) for a walk in the afternoon before returning to Uluru for sunset. On our bus to Kata Tjuta we met the inimitable Scott from Edinburgh (via Tottenham) as well as a very large young family. They turned out to be the Gabor Bretz and his family. We were none the wiser until Scott exclaimed that he had seen Gabor in Don Giovanni at Sydney Opera House and indeed Gabor is a major opera singer from Hungary currently playing the leading role in DG in Sydney. He was there with his wife Bernadette, her mother and their 5 kids- all under 10. They were absolutely lovely and all very bravely went walking around Kata Tjuta in the mid-afternoon sun!!! Gabor hopes to come to London soon so look out...
We have just spent the last few days in
Perth, or more precisely Fremantle, or more precisely "Freo" which is about 19km south of Perth. Freo is full of life, art, hippies, boats, micro-breweries and lovely shops and markets. It has a really great vibe and we just took it fairly easy. We met up with Laura and Richard who were fantastic guides to the area and even better company, especially when Richard got his guitar out. We went to the theatre to see David Mamet's "Speed the Plow", visited the Art Gallery of Western Australia which is amazing and i did a walking tour of all the (mostly scaffolded) sites in the CBD whilst Nige enjoyed browsing round the 78 Records music shop.
We are now on the road again and have spent the last few days in the Margaret River region, about 4 hours south of Perth - it's serious wine-making country here and we have enjoyed some even more serious sampling. Vasse Felix Heytebury Cab Sauv (2005) was the winner of the reds and Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay the best white we thought. They don't hold back on the old "degustation" either, unlike Mendoza where you get the fastest tour in the world followed
by a swill of paint stripper (ok, not that bad but let's put it this way - they don't retail it!!) you can try whatever you want here... and in serious quantities.
On Tuesday, i also had a little "adventure" after going off to tramp a part of the Cape to Cape Trail alone.. i got lost and ended up in the middle of the bush, no-one in sight and only some ominously large animal paw prints and the constant threat of snakes to keep me company. Obviously the trail is well- marked but somehow i managed to lose it... very stupid of me; especially as it was quite hot and i didn't have enough water. Thanks goodness for mobile phones (that will be fifty pounds please) as i managed to call Nige who came to my rescue (my knight in shiny white mitsubishi armour). Anyone would have thought i had been in there for days... as i emerged bruised ( i had clumsily fallen along the way), covered in sand and muck and panting from the bush... naturally i was being a complete drama queen about it. Nige had spent the time looking at "caves" apparently.
More
adventure.. this morning we were whale watching (Where are they? We always seem to be one step behind them and everyone loves to tell you how many they have seen) and saw some dolphins instead... good enough for us!
Our last day in Oz... off to Bali tomorrow.. culture shock time...
Will update when we can...
All our love... xx
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