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Published: March 19th 2007
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Well after the long bus and train ride from Denmark, we finally arived in Perth. Its the capital of WA and perches itself on the pretty Swan River. which flows down to the Indian Ocean. Beaches are first class around the area, and theres a much more relaxed way of life compared to the other cities i've visited.
We managed to get a hostel in Perth after many phone calls, but the hostel wasnt the best i've stayed in. We met up with Tiina for the evening and had a few drinks. She's managed to get a job down in a place called Pemberton for a few months as a live in nanny, and is leaving tomorrow. Ive have now decided that the best way to save money is by purchasing my very own shaggin wagin, so have started the process of looking in all the hostels' notice boards for campervans. We stayed in Perth for 2 nights, then moved to the more trendy Fremantle, a suburb of Perth, but very has it's own indentity. Fremantle is the main port and has many fishing boats and habour-front restaurants as it's focus. The beach was right on our doorstep from the
Wine Tour
Redgate winery hostel and was gorgeous. In Fremantle I found my campervan and went to have a look at it. After looking around the van and under the bonnet for god knows what, I decided to buy it. Its a 1991 Ford Econovan Maxi
We went to Rottnest Island for a few days (see Rotto Blog) and on our return was joined by Anns mum. Shes just on a 2 week holiday of Australia and has about a week left until she flys home. I picked up the van the following day, for $4000, about 1500 quid. That day the 3 of us headed south again as theres so many nice places to visit after Denmark that we missed. We travelled firstly to Margaret River.
Margaret River has great surfing, some of the best in Australia, and some of the most internationally acclaimed vineyards. We decided to book up on a wine tour named "Wine For Dudes", and it was so much fun. We travelled to about 4 different vineyards and sampled between 10-15 different wines in each one. We had white, red, and rose wines, and we even got to make our own wine to enjoy with our lunch.
Wine Tour
The vineyards We learnt a lot about the different types of grapes and how they are grown which determines there different tastes. We also went to a raspberry factory which had many wines, and ports. After about 7 hours drinking everyone was happily sloshed. There were a few mature people on the tour, and it was funny watching them get steadily pissed during the day, and giggling like school kids by the end! I brought a bottle of red wine one of the wineries to keep on the van for a rainy day.
Next we travelled south to Pemberton to meet up with Tiina for an evening. Pemberton is a timbertown deep in the karri forests and also surrounded by vineyards. Its nature-based tourism is its main attraction with nerve-racking climbs up some trees which used to be bushfire lookouts. We went to one called Gloucester Tree which was a 60 metre climb up to the top. The tree has stakes put into which you use to climb it and spirals its way to the top. Getting up was quite easy, but going down was slighty harder as you had to go backwards! That night we were welcomed by Tiinas work
Wine Tour
Brown Hill winery. Famous for its reds, yum yum family and they were so nice. They allowed us to stay in their house for the night, and the lady also cooked us all a gorgeous meal which we devoured like pigs! The house which they lived in, used to be a furniture warehouse, and is huge. Its the same sort of size as the John Nance building in Newquay. They have only converted a small part of it upstairs, but has got gorgeous views over the karri forest. That night we went out to one of the pubs in Pemberton, well the only pub actually! We all had a giggle and drank far to much. Next morning, sore headed, we headed back up to Perth, and stayed in Scarborough, a seaside suburb with good surf. When we was there, they were holding the junior ironman, and ironwomen competitions on the beach. Amazing how serious these young people are about sport, and thats quite apparent all aroung Australia. Its very unusual to see overweight children as keeping fir is a massive thing over here. Its was good watching the competitions and also made me feel very tired!
Next up is the West Coast, which im looking very forward to.
Wine Tour
Brown Hill. More wine over here please!! Hopefully the van will last the 4300km to Darwin, so keep ya fingers crossed for me!
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