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Published: January 1st 2007
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Sunrise at Uluru
Our base walk around the Rock! G'day folks!
First of all, we hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and that 2007 brings you everything you wish for!
So, what have we been up to since our arrival Down Under on 12 November? In the past 7 weeks we have gone seriously walkabout! As we had both visited the East coast in years gone by, our focus during this trip was the delights of Western Australia.
Our first week was spent discovering the wonderful city of Perth including some of its idylic suburbs such as Cottesloe Beach. Just 15 minutes by train from the city centre, this has to be one of the best places to live in the world. Picturesque, quiet, with good restaurants, chilled bars, a fantastic beach and a great golf course. What more could you ask for?
Fremantle, or should we say "Freo", also deserves a mention. We enjoyed a lovely lunch there with dolphins swimming off the front of the boardwalk, now that really is good service! But the highlight of Perth would have to be the truly beautiful Rottnest Island, or "Rotto" as it is known to the locals. There are no cars on Rotto and
Xmas Barbie !
One Christmas lunch we will never forget! P.S. Not all of that food was for us! so the mode of transport is the good old push bike. No tandem or red wine this time, but plenty of beautiful beaches and gorgeous sunshine.
We also celebrated Sue's birthday in Perth. Presents included her first hair cut in four months and a night out watching Australia's very own Dame Edna Everage on stage. Dane Edna was fun (we were all waving our glads) but it is the visit to the hairdressing salon that has left a long term mark as Sue opted for a complete make-over. Needless to say, Sue looks great with short hair - 10 years younger yet even more sophisticated ;-) !
After getting our arms around Perth, we decided it was time to hit the road and take a tour up north to Broome. The trip was everything we could have possiblly wished for. We stopped in spots with wonderful names such as Coral Bay (where we did a sea kayaking and snorkelling trip), Turquoise Bay (where we went snorkelling on the Ningaloo Reef, this time seeing a 2 metre long leapard shark, two or three big white and black tipped reef sharks) and 80 Mile Beach. It was at 80 mile
Us snorkelling!
One way to cool down from the scorching heat and also see the wonders of the Ningaloo Reef on our way up the west coast!! beach that we got really lucky. For just two weeks of the year, female giant turtles return to the beach to lay their eggs. We decided to sleep under the stars on the beach in our swags (big foam mattress sleeping bags) and when we awoke at 4.30 am or so, it was to the sight of a giant turtle first laying and then burying her eggs just 50 metres along the beach - nature at its finest!
The trip to Broome also saw us visit Millstream Chichester national park, where we were fortunate enough to see an olive python. The only drama was that it was in a watering hole in which we were all swimming at the time which created a bit of a fuss! Mark's favourite way of entering the watering hole was the rope swing. He got the hang of it after a few attempts ... the video clip shows some of his earlier endeavours - man and nature in perfect harmony - tee hee! Anyway, 3500 kms along the highway from Perth, we finally arrived in the pearling town of Broome. It was fairly hot and humid for us, but that didn't stop us
Night sky on fire!
West Coast ... our best sunset so far! taking a sunset camel ride along the beautiful cable beach!!
We had a week spare, before we had to be in Uluru (Ayres Rock for the uninitiated!), so we decided to catch a flight to Melbourne. Here we took a tour around the wonderful 95,000 seat MCG, Australia's answer to Lords. But the highlight of our time in Victoria was the unbelievably scenic Great Ocean Road. This was another one of those times when having a digital camera was a must as the views seemed to be getter better and better round every turn in the road. The big draw here is the 12 apostles, which were great. But there is also the Bay of Martyrs, and, strangely, London Bridge! At the end of the drive we headed in-land to the Grampians, Australia's idea of a mountain range, where Sue got to feed a friendly possum.
After Melbourne it was time to fly to a town called Alice. Alice Springs does not have a huge amount to offer, unless 40 degrees and flies are your thing, but as it is the closest city to Uluru, it draws a lot of tourists. We took a 3 day tour visiting
Twilight Bay
Just one of the very picturesque beaches, almost deserted, near Esperance Uluru, the Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and Kings Cannon. Mark actually visited all 3 spots on his last trip to Oz, and was a little underwhelmed by Ayres Rock on that occassion. However, this time round his impression was very different, as we were both blown away by its beauty. Rather than climb, we elected to walk a 9km base walk at sunrise. This gave us a chance to really see and experience Uluru at close quarters and left us with a much better understanding of its significance as an Aboriginal sacred site.
On returning from Alice, it was time to catch a flight back to Perth, the plan being to watch England win at the WACA!! before spending Xmas in the beautiful Esperance and New Year in Margaret River. We all know the result in the cricket - the gloating from our Australian friends has been hard to take at times - but Esperance and Margaret River (in the south west of WA) proved to be fantastic destinations.
Esperance, a fairly remote spot, boasts two of the best beaches in Australia - Lucky Bay and Hellfire Bay - which is why we decided this had to be the
Sue at "Rotto"
Perth's own paradise island! place for our Xmas Day BBQ on the beach. We didn't have roast turkey but the sirloin steak and Toohey's Extra Dry (the local brew) went down very well indeed. After lunch and a spot of sea fishing off the beach, it was time to settle down for a sunbathe; it was 30 degrees after all! It really was a Christmas Day to remember.
Margaret River is one of Australia's surfing meccas, so the first thing we did when we got there was book Mark a surfing lesson. It is also a fantastic wine region, so a wine tour was the second thing we booked up. You cannot see if from the photo, but Mark did actually manage to stand up - well, at least for about 1.5 seconds; unfortunately, Sue's reflexes were not quite quick enough to catch it on film! The wine tour was also very good. Margaret River as a wine region is all about premium wines, and there are many family run businesses. We both got stuck into many a glass of white and red, and had a great day to remember - vaguely at least!
Margaret River is also where we spent New
12 Apostles
Well, if you look closely you should be able to spot 6 of them! Year's Eve. It was a little strange not to have all our friends and family around us come the allotted hour so we made do with a few hugs with some local Aussie folk. Getting there 9 hours before the UK also meant that when we made a couple of 12.30 am obligatory drunk telephone calls back to the UK, we found that those on the other end of the phone were not quite on the same level as us - oh well!
Well, that is about all we have got time for - this blog has taken a very long time to put together! On 2 January we depart Australia for South East Asia, with Thailand, Cambodia and Laos the next countries on our itinerary. We have had a wonderful time Down Under and will never forget all the wonderful things we have seen. The big upside will be that we won't be here to see the final nail being driven into England's cricketing coffin - a 5 nil whitewash. Now that really would make the place unbearable!
Until next time possums!
Happy New Year,
Love Mark and Sue
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Anitra
non-member comment
Happy New Year
Hi there, I want to wish you a great 2007!!! May your travels take you where you want to go! Love from Anitra and Ardi (remember Huacachina) from Cuzco.