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Published: February 12th 2007
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Inside the Caves
Low lights on, really nice Having been in Sydney for over a month I really fancied getting back on the road and visiting pastures new. I jumped on a 5 hour Qantas flight to Perth and to the last Aussie state I had yet to visit, Western Australia. I arrived in Perth mid afternoon and was bowled over by the heat, a really dry heat around the 35-40 degree mark, I had been warned it was a hot area. First day I didn't do too much really, met my mate Phil and wandered around the city, a few photos and a few pints of beer. I knew I'd be hitting the road in a few days so it was my first and last chance to hit a few bars and get pissed. Backpackers night at the Aberdeen hotel (2 for 1 drinks and wonderbras get in free) in Northbridge was a popular choice and off we went. Several jugs of VB later we were doing the limbo and playing twister. A fun night if a little messy.
Next day we were up early and off to a nearby island called Rottnest - named after the Dutch discovered it, saw a strange creature like a small
kangaroo (called a quokka) and though it was a rat so named it Rats Nest Island. This place is heaven, amazing water, amazing beaches and it was a beautiful day aswell. It was my first time ever swimming in the Indian Ocean and it didn't dissapoint. Of course, I took my mask and snorkel and the reefs we great, tonnes of fish too. We rented bikes for the day and rode everywhere, first exercise for a while! A really beautiful island, very glad I saw it.
Next day was an early start for me and Phil, we rented a car with the view to heading south of Perth ans see various parts of south western Australia. The first day was the biggest driving day, from Perth to Esperance via Wave Rock. In all the journey was 750km, but a very easy drive passing only a handful of cars. Getting up to 170kmh with the limit at 110kmh for a large chunk. The first stop as I said was at Wave Rock, a natural rock formation which looks obviously like a wave. It is huge however , about 30 metres high and 100 metres long. You can wisper at one
Tree top walkway
40 metres into the canopy end and the sounds travels to someone 100 metres away which is cool. We also saw a rock formation called Hippos Mouth, looks slightly like it but not overly. Continuing onto Esperance, we arrived late that evening and found an amzing restaurant. I had a steak like a paving slap perfectly cooked medium rare, with 5 huge prawns and a lobster tail, unlimited chips, potatoes, salad cart, veggies and everything for 10 pounds. Nick heaven!! Esperance is a really beautiful area with possibly the best beaches in the whole of Australia. White sand, turquoise water and great national parks. The best bay being Lucky Bay, amazly beautiful!
We continued on the next day for the 650km drive to Albany via the Esperance National Parks. Another long drive at times in torrential rain, so wasn't a great day. Sun was out when we arrived and again a lovely seeside town.
The next morningwe again visited the national parks of Albany, a few observation points etc, but after about a million Aussie towns they are starting to all look the same so we quickly moved on. The next stop for us was Margaret River, one of Australias largest wine producing
Wave Rock
Amazing the size of it, just needed a surf board! areas. On route we passed 2 pretty decent tourists points, the first was valley of the giants which is a huge walkway amongst the tallest trees in Western Australia, the walkway is 40 metres in the trees and gives a pretty good view. Some of the trees are so big that you can walk through them, they are almost hollow throughout aswell. Next stop was the Gloucester tree, this is a huge tree with metals poles dug into it which creats step like things in which to climb to the viewing point at the top. Was really high and from the top the view was amazing, my legs were like Jelly though, was please to get back down to solid ground!
On we plodded to Margaret river and our first night was just chilling in the caravan park we stayed at. Up early the next day for a tour of the Vineyards. In total we visited 5 vineyards tasting at least 10 wines at each place, a chocolate factory and a cheese maker. Was a great trip but towards the end of the day the wines all tasted the same, and I was well on my way! Bought a
few bottles, some of which went that evening, the others I'll probably break in my backpack on my travels. After Margaret river on way to Bunbury we stopped at the Caves of Margaret river, going on a caves tour which was really cool, turnign all the lights off at some points and it was totally pitch black, couldn't see your hand in front of your face, weird!
Bunbury was the last stop of South West Western Australia, which is where they have a large population of Dolphins and a small town. It was the cricket final so me and Phil, went to the nearest pub to watch the days events. They have an institution in Western Australia called the "Sunday Sesh" when everyone gets drunk every Sunday. I kinda knew it was on but the pub was amazing. Not only did they have cheap drinks and the cricket on, they had a bikini contest and the ladies were hhoootttt! Not like big cities, everyone knew everyone so the ladies we just in the bar after aswell. Great fun!
Up early the next day and it was Dolphin time. Bunbury has roughly 100 in the bay alone so we
Perth Skyline
Very clean lovely city! really wanted to check it out. After visiting the information centre we did a boat trip for a couple of hours into the bay. We saw quite a few of them, babies, adults it was amazing. The only problem is they move so fast and I barely took any decent photos. Oh well, tomorrow I'm off up the West Coast to Monkey Mia (more dolphins), Shark Bay and Coral Coast.
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