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Published: August 23rd 2010
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Oz flag innit
G'day you gallah and all that We landed in Australia not that sure what to expect. To be honest we’d done very little research on any of Oz let alone our first state of Western Australia, or first city, Perth.
It was cold. Obviously it’s the middle of their winter, that much we did actually know, but it happened to be the coldest winter Perth has had in about 40 years and after over three months in Asia we really felt it! It was also expensive! And we’re not talking in comparison to Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam, we’re talking compared to London!
However although it was cold and the prices were a shock the sun was shining, the sky was blue and if the UK had weather like that in any season we'd be delighted. We checked into a hostel in Northbridge, one of the cheaper areas in Perth known to cater for skint backpackers, and headed to the shops to buy some warmer attire. We happened to have arrived in need of layers just as the winter sales were on and got some great bargains. Though when I say bargains, I’m not sure how practical the cream, hand wash jumper Xan purchased will prove, even if it
was a third of it’s original price!
We stayed in the hostel for a couple of nights while we sorted a camper for our Perth to Darwin trip. When I mentioned we hadn’t done a lot of planning prior to our arrival, that included not quite getting round to booking a vehicle! Funnily enough, given that we’d left less than 48 hrs prior to collection, there wasn’t an abundance of vehicles available but eventually we found one. Bit pricier than budgeted as it was pretty much brand new but we were just so lucky to get anything at all. Phew!
So we picked up our new home from home for the next 6 weeks. I guess it’s our first abode together and a bloody fine one at that! I mean it’s compact, but you can’t fault the diversity of the living/dining/bed room. The kitchen isn’t spacious but what more do you need other than a sink, wee fridge and twin gas hob!
Our first destination was Margaret River, so we headed South to our first campsite for night number one in our wee van - and it was fab. Bloody comfy and spacious bed, (well for me,
The interior
Our living/dining/bed room not sure Xan could stretch out quite so much!) got pretty cold in the middle of the night but we loved it!
The following day we did a tour with ‘Wine for Dudes’. Basically a normal wine tour but because of the name, it attracts a younger clientele to some of the others, takes smaller groups and does a lot of bespoke tours as well (recommended to us by Maz and Dougie - cheers me dears) Was just brilliant. The scenery was gorgeous and we were with a brilliant group of people. There was the two of us and 9 others who all worked together and had won a trip to Margaret River.
We went to 3 wineries - Amberley, Hay Shed Hill and Windows Estate. Were pretty restrained to begin with being on the old backpackers budget but the red wine at Hay Shed Hill was just brilliant so a few were purchased there, then at the final winery we bought a further couple of wines, mainly because we felt sorry for the guy that did the tasting as we were late and it had to be rushed and we were all pretty tipsy and not really
paying that much attention to the wines which he was clearly very proud of and passionate about! We even bought a bottle of white of Xan’s choosing! (He denies this but certainly wasn’t mine! Those that know me well know that choosing to purchase an expenny bottle of white over a red is highly unlikely!)
We also stopped at an olive oil place (which was actually brilliant - sun dried tomato and macadamia pesto to DIE for), a chocolate factory (not so good but had a few handfuls of choc buttons) and finally a brewery. Here we drank honey and chilli beers while playing pool on a bizarre round pool table.
At the end of the trip the guys invited us into their luxury villa that was part of the prize for beers and food. We had a great night and our first taste of amazing Oz hospitality. They cooked a fabulous meal, served us beer after beer, introduced us to a drinking game called ‘beer pong’, attempted to explain Aussie Rules footie to me and let us watch the Brazil v Holland World Cup ¼ Final. It was a $100.00 taxi ride back to our campsite but
well worth it and a fantastic day/night.
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