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Published: January 16th 2011
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The days following Christmas really flew by. On boxing day we began our dash south starting with a speedboat to the mainland and then taxis and buses through the night to Malaysia and our first stop at its capital Kuala Lumpur.
We spent a day wandering round the city and visited the butterfly and insect park the best bit of which was the spider exhibit (I know, neither a butterfly nor an insect) which enabled us to make a pretty accurate identification of the aforementioned spider in the hostel bathroom (Thai Toilet spider as it had been known until now). I'm pretty confident in stating the our loo was invaded by a Blue Tarantula and a pretty mean looking chap he was too. The name no doubt comes from how much the sight of one makes you swear.
Next stop was Singapore and, again, a spot of sightseeing. We went to the famous Raffles Hotel - the home of the 'Singapore Sling' which made us feel a bit like celebrities although I've got a feeling its normal patrons manage to afford the cocktail rather than just watching other people drink them like a Dickensian urchin watching a christmas dinner
through a glowing window. Singapore was great, and the mix of the colonial and the super modern styles was refreshing after the tin huts of Thailand.
On our last night we went to the Night Safari - this was basically a zoo but in the pitch black which sounds daft but was actually brilliant as the animals are more active than they would be in the day. There was also an animal show aimed at kids which we lapped up.
From Singapore we waved Asia good bye and flew to Perth. It is worthy of note that Malaysia touts itself as 'the Real; Asia', well it's not; it doesn't smell at all!
Perth and 'WA':
Fremantle, just south of Perth, was our destination for New Year, and with real ales and fish and chips on offer it was just what we needed. The Shipwreck Museum was excellent, but Little Creatures brewery was better! We had thought we'd hire a car from Fremantle or 'Freo' as the locals call it (they abreviate evrything and put an 'o' on the end, it's rather silly) but the cost was prohibitive so we took the Trans Western Australia (Transo?) bus to
Maragret river instead.
Margaret River and its environs are a prolific wine growing region and we thought it only right that we should sample at least a few of their efforts while we were there. The tour was excellent and by mid day Kasia had forgotten all about spitting the wine out after tasting it, in fact she'd forgotten her name and where she lived as well. At lunch, as it was a 'bush tucka' tour, we had Kangaroo (quite gamey) and bush limes (so sour they make you pull a funny face). We also tried Wichetty Grubs, they're the ones that look like a six inch maggot. The guide cut them up into small chunks (lovely sight) and handed them out. I thought it tasted like creamy grass. Kasia was less complimentary although she did eat its posterior, a bit of a bum deal I guess.
It was while staying at our hostel in Margret River that... wait for it... KASIA GOT BITTEN BY A VENOMOUS SPIDER! She woke up to find big red whelts on her arms and back very much like burns, and in a pattern as if she'd rolled over onto something in her
sleep. We took advice from the hostel owners and some locals and were told they looked like the work of a White Tail. Sure enough, after clearing the room out, we found one under the bedside table. We also found a Red Back (yep, they're poisonous too) behind a picture. The bite of a White tail can be pretty nasty as they inject a substance into you that can cause the skin to burst and then prevents it healing resulting in a nasty wound. Kasia escaped this thank goodness.
After a few days in Margaret River (Margo?) we went North again to a small town on the Coast called Dunsborough. We had a nice day on hired bikes trying to get to a lighthouse but actually just getting lost ending up back where we'd started and I tried a bit of fishing but didn't catch anything (good to know that's not changed since we've been away). Cycling along the coast line was beautiful, especially at sunset. From there it was back to Perth for a night or two, then a flight North to Broome.
Broome has a tropical climate and we flew slap bang into it's wet season.
Thanks for that STA Travel! That meant temperatures in the high 30's with humidity so high your clothes are soaked before you've gone 5 steps. As everyone else in Australia knows it's like this, noone else was there and Broome itself was a ghost town. There is however one advantage of going north in the rainy season; the crocodiles are unbelievably active. Admittedly, you might not consider this a benefit if you were being eaten at the time, but the ones we went to see were behind wire fences (although some had ripped holes in them - gulp!). The croc park traps fresh and saltwater crocodiles (they're te real nasty ones) that are posing a risk to people (one 'salty' of 5.5m was seen on Broome Beach looking at surfers and licking its lips last week). We went at feeding time which was pretty astonishing to watch. They go from asleep to 20mph in a second and itreally takes your breath away, and your arm if you're not careful.
It was just too sticky to stay longer than a couple of days in the North and the sea was out of bounds due to jelly fish (and the big
crocodile obviously) so we went South to Coral Bay. The 18 hour bus journey was pretty spectacular with arrow straight roads through the planes of red earth, termite mounds and silver grey scrub, broken every now and again by rock outcrops and road trains (lorries towing up to 6 trailers at about 80mph). I woke during the night to see a large red Kangaroo bouncing majestically along in the headlights of the bus, a picture of evolutionary perfection, so elegant, suprisingly fast and sleek... then we ran over it.
Coral bay is only a tiny place. We went snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef just off shore. I'd thought the Snorkelling in Thailand was pretty good but this was something else. In 2 hours we'd dived with 6 turtles and countless massive and brightly coloured fish. At one point we crested a large coral outcrop and saw a big shark below us. Screaming into a snorkel makes a strange sound I have discovered. Luckily it was only a Black Tip Reef Shark which, we are told, are harmless (not that we hung around to test the theory, it was as big as kasia and even more mean looking).
From
there it was South again to the Kalbarri National Park. Sadly due to recent bad weather further North the rivers were brown and getting into the park was impossible. Still, we had a lovely couple of days fishing, drinking wine and getting a boat with some friends from our hostel up river to have lunch at a place called 'Castle Rock'. We're now in Perth at the end of our West Coast wanderings. Tomorrow we fly to Sydney. Kasia is most excited!
Love and best wishes
Kasia and Tom xxx
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