Western Australia

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Everything has moved a bit fast over the last few days.

Our flight from Perth was delayed by almost exactly 2.5 hours due to a broken 'Pedo Probe' as much as I didn't enjoy waiting on a stationery plane it souned like something which I would not want to risk flying with when faulty.

Naturally we arrived in Perth later than expected and if I'm honest it was kind of a shock. I don't know exactly what I expected but somwhere in the back of my mind was sunshine, beaches, surfboards and the Beach Boys playing on some kind of city wide PA system. What we actually found was a cold windy day in somehwere that vaguely resembled the North Farm Industrial Estate. On arriving at our hostel we were greeted by two miserable useless foreigner (incidentally, our taxi driver wore a turban so at this point I am yet to see an Australian or a Kangaroo).

After checking in we took a wander around the town. By this point it was getting dark and it kind of gave us a sharp reminder of the feeling of security you get in a crowded place. There was nothing open, and no one around with the exception of the Perth version of a Tunbridge Wells Pikey. Surprisingly, the image has not been lost in translation after travelling the other side of hte world, baseball cap, Addidas tracksuit bottoms, they had the lot. To help us relax and get accustomed to our new surroundings we went for a beer. It was at this point that we realised the value of the pound was against us!

Just a couple of years ago a pound would have been worth around 3 Ausie Dollars. We're now working on about 1.9 and the price of things does not appear to have changed much. Again the next natural move was to find somewhere nice to have dinner. I had not realised that I had missed British cuisine until I had made myself sick eating a huge plate of beef pie and chips. Needless to say it was good!. Technically our wine agreement was broken at this point. We had agreed that we would not drink wine until reaching the Margaret River however the bottle of wine which was consumed that night was from the Margaret river so you could argue either way. With a hammered Rachel in tow, we headed home to our bunk where Rachel managed to keep our soon to be friend Ellie awake by talking in her drunken sleep.

The next morning was the one we had all been waiting for. My birhtday trip to Penguin Island. We arrived at the bus stop 20 minutes early and after waiting for a further 20 minutes decided it was time to give them a call. After a few dollars of hold music and the recorded message telling me that the penguins can't wait to meet us, I was told that there was no record of our booking and that particular trip had been cancelled today due to poor weather conditions (which I had to agree with because it was freezing!). Unfazed we returned to our hostel where the incredibly useful staff member Ken gave us some free internet time to write the penguin bastards a shitty e-mail. A full refund has now been provided.

After the previous nights money worries. We booked ourselves into a luxury boutique suite at the Margaret River and took a cruise ship to Freemantle. Freemantle was kind of cool, still pretty quiet but a good way to spend the day. I was pretty much running on coffee because it was free on the boat and getting our moneys worth was essential. That night we dined on soup and wine from the supermarket and watched TV in our upgraded room (free of charge because they messed with our booking) and got to know our new friend Ellie who strangely enough had a single bed planted in the side of our room.

The following morning thanks to Ken we were picked up by the car rental people to take us to the car rental place. We were originally talking about getting a bus down to the river and told Ken that we didn't want a car but despite this he called around to see what kind of deal he could get us. Now that it's our third day here, I am more than aware that we owe him a debt of gratitude because without our trusty Hyundi we would be screwed! the place is vast with vinyards every couple of miles or so, there's no visible bus or taxi service so had we got the bus we would not yet have left our resort.

Rahcel was really happy with the room wich always makes me happy, we decided that the order of the day was to take Prudence (the car) to the nearest supermarket, load up on cheese, meat and wine and head to our cosy room to watch a movie. I don't care how old that makes me sound, it was a good day!

The next day (yesterday) we headed to the top of the cape to do some whale watching and then decided to walk a few k's along the coast. The scenery aroudn the coast is really stunning as is the wildlife. Driving down the road we saw a couple of green parrots having a race part of our walk was populated by a blue tonge lizard. Lighthouse end of the cape had fallen victim to fire in just February of this year. This is not an uncommon occurence in Australia but it was fascinating to see the landscape changed from fire damaged to untouched.

After this we managed to pick from the hindereds of winerys and went to taste some wine. In fact rachel tasted wine, I was driving. We were only really planning to take a look around and left with 7 bottles of wine which we really have no sensible way of transporting so we'll just have to see how that turns out.

Today we're down in Margart River town just for a look around (a look which I'm hoping will steer us to the fudge factory), then tomorrow we're heading back to Perth for a couple of nights before we fly out and that will be that for Western Australia!

One of the best things about Australia so far is the people. Having come from Asia where it seems that the only reason anyone will be friendly is in a hope of ripping you off, all the Ausies we've spoken to have just been awesome. Everyone wants to help and everyone wants to know where you're from and what you're plans are (now that I put it like that they might be planning to rob us but I don't think so).

I'm off to eat some fudge and will be in touch soon.

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Comments

[Lisa Aston]

Happy Birthday
Sorry belated Happy Birthday - hope your having fun whereever you are - personally i am enjoying yours and rachels blogs - still want to be there in person though !!!! If not too late and if you get a chance call Jackie and Jo Gorman they will show you great bits of Aus - LOve Lisa xxxx