South West Australia

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Hi everyone, take a deep breath and get a fresh cuppa, this is a bit of a long one! Also if any 'L's are missing it's the dodgy keyboard we're using!

We checked out of the hostel from hell (Planet Inn, Perth BOOO in case you've forgotten) as early as possible, and enjoyed a nutricious breakfast of cold pizza (doggy bag from previous night in Freo) and Coffee Chill (flavoured milk we've both become pretty addicted to) before picking up our set of wheels for the next 7 days. Our Toyato Corrolla was to be known as No Birds for the week for the simple reason that that was written on the side of it (how imaginitive are we!?). We chucked our bags into the boot and headed back to Fremantle (or Freo if you're cool like us). Having booked our hire car the previous day, we had tried to book up some accommodation in the Southwest only to discover that most of the Backpackers were aready booked up. Very unexpected. After a couple of hours of calling up the hostels listed in the Lonely Planet (aka Lying Planet) and scouring the internet we had only managed to book one hostel! So we ended up in the Little Creatures Brewery to think through our options over a Schooner or 2 of Pale Ale. It was here we met the lovely Aussies Corey, Owen and Steve (we mentioned them in the previous entry we think) - they had all met in Fulham a few years ago where they were living and working at the time (part of a bigger trip around Europe). Owen and Corey were currenty travelling around Oz, but had just set up home in Freo where they'll work for a few months before continuing their travels. Within minutes of chatting, Owen and Corey offered us use of their tent for the week and invited us to stay with them on our return to Freo. They all explained how many times they'd been helped out in Europe and now they were solving our problems straight away!

So we stopped by in the morning and threw the tent into No Birds and hit the road for the first stop on our SW adventure - Bunbury.

Bunbury is the second biggst city in WA and is a 2 1/2 hours drive south of Perth. By the time we got there, the weather had taken a turn for the worst. We must explain at this point that having been in Oz for nearly 4 weeks with nearly nothing but clear blue skies and temperatures between 25 and 40 degrees, even slightly showery rain came as a bit of a shock! On arrival we decided to walk the path looking down on the rocky coastline, but found ourselves running to No Birds for shelter from the light rain.

Continuing our slightly lame behaviour, we checked into our Hostel, the Wander Inn (with free coffee and cake at 6.30 daily), which was so, so inviting after our nightmare hostel experience in Perth! Unfortunately for Luke (who enjoys the space in bunk beds a little too much!) there was only a double room available and within seconds of trying the massive bed with sprung mattress we decided to book in for a second night.

Despite feeling exhausted after the previous 2 nights with little sleep, we were surprisingly quickly persuaded to head to the local pub with Kiwi hostel managers Linda and Barry and a few other guests for BOGOF drinks. We had a really good night - Laura got a lot of advice about what to do in NZ (slightly biased as they were from Nelson, South Island!). Meanwhile Luke was being put to the test on his Beatles knowledge by Barry. Being an absoute Beatles fanatic, Barry was horified that we live in UK and have never been to Abbey Road!

Bunbury is probably most famous (amongst tourists at least) for it's visiting dophins, who couldn't be bothered to show their faces the morning we tried to see them. Our bitterness just shows how difficult we found it to get out of bed that morning. So we gave up and headed to the Big Swamp Wildlife Park to see some much more reliable 'Roos who bounce around pretty freely. But when we say bounce, it's probably more accurate to say they lie around snoozing until you stick a handful of food under their noses and they'll force a bit more down to all us tourists' delight. Laura made friends with a massive goat and Luke had a good chat with a couple of Parrots.

After another good nights sleep we said goodbye to Linda and Barry and the backpackers we'd met we cruised down to Bussleton about 45 minutes down the coast. We did the one thing that everyone does and walked down the 2km jetty. This was pretty cool but even better in Laura's eyes was the BOGOF coffee we got in the nearby cafe by showing our jetty tickets, and who could resist a slice of pecan pie to go with it (we needed to line our stomachs in preparation for Margaret River - home to literally hundereds of wineries).

We arrived in Margaret River, and headed for the Big Valley campsite a few KMs out of town at the end of a pretty darn dusty unsealed road (sorry No Birds). Pitching up Corey and Owen's tent was slighty stressful for a couple of reasons:

1. Massive, massive tent.
2. Hot, hot sun.
3. Hard, hard ground.
4. Windy, windy... wind(?)

But once it was up it looked like a palace - at least from the outside anyway. In the combination of excitement and relief we felt after our intial accommodation problems were solved, we failed to consider what other camping essentials we should have organised....

Checklist for next time:

1. Roll mats - to prevent bruising on bony prominences from super hard ground.
2. Saucepans
3. Plates
4. Bowls
5. Cutlery
6... you get the idea - we had nothing!

So after a couple of trips to the supermarket (note we went twice because of our assumptions and poor observation skills) we managed to throw together a tuna pasta bake (which wasn't actually baked). We joined a couple of nice Italian guys in the kitchen who were serving their own pasta and sauce made from scratch (putting our cheap jar to shame). We tasted some of theirs and it was the most delicious Italian food we've ever tasted, or at least can remember!). They also said the name Marini is 'pretty common' in Italian - interpret as you wish!

Our first night camping was pretty good (as long as we turned over at 10 minutes intervals to relieve the pressure from our boney bits) when compared to our most recent experience at music festivals (i.e no-one weeing next to tents, drunk people falling on you, or playing games of B*****ks all night). It was actually pretty peaceful.

Margaret River is probably most famous for its massive surf and hundreds of wineries. So that was pretty much our original plan for our time there. So we took No Birds to the coast and checked out a few nice beaches where we saw some pretty incredible waves, most of which eventually smashed into some pretty big rocks. We reached The River Mouth, a nice beach break that looked much more our rookie scene but was pretty wind blown. So after a chat with the woman who was hiring out surf gear we decided to leave it for the day to calm down (they had been 12ft the previous day!) and instead opted to go canoeing on the Margaret River itself. This seemed like a good alternative as the river was so calm and was surronded by beauitiful scenery. With Laura at the front and Luke behind we started to cruise down the river, probably not with the best technique but we were doing okay. We paddled for about an hour spotting ducks, birds and occassional fish jumping out of the water until we reached a fallen tree that stoppped us going any further. We quite happily turned around and started to head back. Then suddenly

SPLASH

Man overboard!

Actually man and woman overboard.

Well, really man, woman and digital camera overboard.

During our initial cruise the wind was behind us pushing us along, so we hadn't noticed it picking up during that time and as you can imagine it took us completely by surprise. And it wasn't a nice surprise. We were completely out of our depth, but luckily life-jacketed to the max, although the water was pretty manky and the banks of the river were like slimey muddy compost.

So as we swam to the side of the river (Luke pulling the canoe) we remembered about Luke's wallet and the key for 'No Birds' - eeek! After a gut wrenching panic, Laura spotted both the wallet and key still at the bottom of the canoe under at least a foot of water. They were both soaked, but at least they were not lost. So the only real casualty other than our canoeuing confidence was our camera. We eventually battled our way into the wind back to our starting point, three hours after leaving. Looking pretty bedraggled and gutted, the lady we hired the canoe from only charged us for one hour instead of three.

After a late lunch back at the campsite (microwaved baked beans with dipped bread!) we salvaged the day by heading to a couple of wineries. On this occasion Laura was designated driver and Luke chief wine taster. After having a few tasters, Luke opted for an unexpected choice - Strawberry Sparkling wine - which turned out to be Berry Farm Winery's current best seller. After a slightly disasterous day our luck then returned to us. We had turned up at Berry Farm less than an hour before closing, and Luke had also sampled some pear sparkling wine during the visit, so as we were about to leave, the girl that served us gave us a three quater full bottle of pear wine which she would have otherwise thrown away. Bargain! Lets put it this way, the ground wasn't quite so painful that night!

It was already Wednesday by this point and we were still hoping to visit quite a few more places before returning to Freo on Friday. So on Wednesday morning we headed further south to Augusta. Well actually, Cape Leuwin to be more specific, which is the South West corner of Oz where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. This point is marked by the lighthouse which we had a quick look around before we headed off again. We made a lunch stop in Pemberton, during which we just wished we had more time to explore the beaches and National Parks. Our overnight stop on our second campsite was in Walpole, which was the "perfect place to explore the surrounding coastline, forests and wilderness areas" (Lonely Planet 2005). This time we pitched up our temporary home like pros and were ready to crack open a couple of beers within 15 minutes of arriving - the lack of wind, cooler temperatures and softer ground certainly helped. The enormous March flies certainly kept us on our toes and we would be lying if we said that we didn't swipe at them with the hammer whilst knocking in the pegs! The Riverview Campsite was set around a beautiful lake, complete with a fishing jetty and pelicans. We opted against trying the canoes! The next morning we drove No Birds through kilometres of trees and looked at the Giant Tingle Tree, which has the largest girth of any known Eucalypt on Earth. Basically there's a massive hole in the trunk caused by fire, infection and insects and it's so big a car can fit in side. We then went further along the road to the Valley of the Giants where we walked a 600 metre steel ramp, which rises up to 40m above the forest floor to see the canopy of the giant tingle trees. Somehow we felt a lot safer here than we did in the rainforest canopy walk at Poring in Malaysia.

Our final destination was Albany, where we spent Thursday night. On arrival, at around 4pm, it was pretty windy. The previous three nights of camping were starting to catch up with us and we were both starting to wonder about checking into a hostel. So we popped into the Albany Backpackers and were relieved to find they had some dorm beds free for us. And even better, they were putting on a BBQ that night for $8 each and were offering free coffee and cake! Having had a few slightly bizarre meals while camping, we ate like kings that night.

The next morning we were keen to see a few of Albany's sights before making the 450km journey back to Freo. So we went to check out Albany's wind farm: 12 enormous turbines with 35 metre long blades that supply up to 75% of Albany's electricity. We did a short walk exploring the wind farm and Albany's rugged coastline and the path we took coincided with a very small part of the Bibbulmun Track, which is a 950km hking track that runs from the outskirts of Perth and continues through the South West until it ends in Albany. It apparently takes very fit and crazy people about 8 weeks to complete, but one guy jogged it in 17.5 days. It would have been 16 but he had a day of rest through injury and had to wait half a day for the media to show up at the finish line because no one believed he would finish it so quickly! D'oh!

It was then time to cruise back to Freo along the long and very boring Albany highway. A very uneventful journey (which is probably a good thing), but we had a wonderful welcome from Corey and Owen when we arrived at their house that evening. We sat out on their front patio with chilled wine and ice cold beers until after the sun set. Corey dished up an amazing feast of pasta bolognese, feta and avocado salad, hot crusty bread, followed by coffee and chocolate! It felt like heaven being in a lovely home again, rather than a hostel/tent/bus/train and tucking into home cooked food. Such a treat! (Thank you so much guys for everything and we really hope to see you again.)

Before we knew it we were back in Perth, returning No Birds and celebrating the fact that were refunded our full deposit, despite breaking the rules and driving on a few very dusty unsealed roads and having to give him a sneaky hose down in Albany!

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Photos

Bunbury Beach
AKA the beach in Bunbury

Big Swamp Wildlife Park
Patrick the friendly goat.

Big Swamp Wildlife Park
[Insert Name] the friendly 'roo.

Bussleton Jetty
No Sheikhs/Rutherfords type dodgy nightclub at the end of this one!

Margaret River
Big waves, big rocks!

Albany Wind Farm
Refreshing.

Aussie Traffic Jam
Moooooo.

Valley of the Giants
It means the trees, not us.

Giant Tingle Tree
Pretty self explanatory!

Walpole Sunset
Yet another sunset, sorry.

Our Wheels
No Birds and our borrowed massive tent!

Augusta
Indian Ocean on the right, Southern Ocean on the left.