Blogs from Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 8

Dec 13th - Dec 15th The world famous Margaret River region has over 100 wineries to explore not to mention chocolate shops, gourmet cheese producers, a fudge factory, ice creameries and breweries. It would be easy to spend a few days there (with a designated driver of course) ambling from one cellar door to the next stopping off for lunch by the river and gorging yourself on amazing chocolates. We chose to do an all day Bushtucker wine tour which turned out to be a lot of fun with a great group of people and ended at 11pm in a bar after a few songs on the karaoke. This wine tour was a lot different than the one in New Zealand. It was very laid back and a great laugh with everyone on the trip (there ... read more

Day 218 - Shannon National Park to Conto Campground We’re on the move again this morning but we haven’t got far to go so there’s no real rush. There’s time to enjoy some toast for breakfast and a hot shower, what a luxury that is when we’re camping in the bush. Ken, Zoe and Beth (the Reeves children) are great fun to be around. They’re so energetic, funny, imaginative and beautifully mannered. It’s a terrific family to be travelling with and the kids are certainly keeping us on our toes. Darryl spends a lot of time playing with Kenny, they’ve found mutual ground in driving each other crazy (in a very lovely way!) and the rest of us just laugh ourselves silly at them. The packing up doesn’t take long and before the clock strikes much ... read more

Liberta ! Ah rappelez-vous ! Rappelez-vous la premiere semaine apres avoir passé votre permis de conduire, les premiers jours au volant de votre nouvelle voiture, alors que la routine n'avait pas encore pris ses quartiers. Quel sentiment de liberté ; on déplie la carte, on choisit sa destination et roulez jeunesse ! Et bien, c'est la carte de l'Australie, a tout le moins celle de sa partie occidentale, que j'étudie quotidiennement pour tracer mon itinéraire jusqu'au prochain camp propice pour passer la nuit. En a peine une semaine, j'ai déja putzé 1500 km sans vraiment m'en rendre compte. Y a-t-il meilleur endroit que l'ouest australien pour tailler la route ? Un aller-retour jusqu'au Pinnacles Desert En guise de test course pour mon nouveau petit pote le Gremlin, nous avons pris la route du nord, celle qui, ... read more

Oct. 9th: After leaving Bunbury, Kevin and I headed to beautiful Margaret River! This small town is very famous in Australia for its wineries. The weather in Margaret River was very chilly and rainy when we were there. And our hostel room was freezing too! One thing you might not know about Australia is that it is not sunny and hot all year round. Haha. So, our first day in Margaret River, we only explored the town for a short while, and then hurried back to the hostel because of the weather. As I said, Margaret River is home to many wineries, so of course we had to go on a wine tour! The tour company we chose was called “Wine for Dudes”, and was geared towards backpackers and young people. Our tour group was really ... read more

Hi there everyone, hope you are all surviving winter & enjoying some good soul food & of course some reds! Medical update: on the 29th May Jeff had his hip operation in Perth. Basically they went in with a mini angle grinder and ground off the tear in the hip lining and while they were in there unfortunately found his cartilage coming away from the hip joint. So, they scratched up the bone underneath it in the hope that when scar tissue forms it will help re-stick the loose cartilage. Not the best news really, we were hoping it was just going be the tear to fix. However, the doc thinks that with time it will get stronger & more adhered to the bone…worst case scenario hip replacement (don’t wanna go there as plastic hips only ... read more