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Published: April 7th 2011
This story begins in Los Angeles. Because we discovered that 32 hours of non stop air travel isn't very fun, we decided to break up our journey back to Oz. We had one day to spend in LA, so we went by bus to see Venice Beach and Santa Monica. That was a very long way (took about 1 hour). You don't realise how big this city is by looking at a map. Venice beach didn't live up to my expectations. It was not like I'd seen on TV. Just an ordinary concrete path beside a very nice beach. I can do that at home. The legal Marajuana sellers were different though. They have a list of ailments which doctors can prescribe Marajuana for and you just walk in to tell the doc which one you think you have and he writes a prescription for you. It's only for medicinal purposes you see. We also saw the Hollywood stars (on the pavement) and the Kodak theatre (where the acadamy awards are held every year), but at the end of the day I felt that LA was not for me. I know I didn't see Disneyland or anything like that, but I
was underwhelmed.
Next stop was Sydney for one day to catch up with Olly and Frank (I worked with Olly for 2 years when we lived in Sydney). We did a run club class together and then had a great night undoing our healthy work from the afternoon.
When we arived in Perth we were in much better shape than we were after our 32 hour journey to Costa Rica. So the two stop overs worked! We had lunch with another Friend (Bill from Aust Post) and got in our campervan; back on the road again. First stop at Margaret River we did the usual Margaret River thing. At least I did the usual thing. Bouncer would not approve of Leanne doing that right now. We also saw two light houses that mark the beginning and end of a 135 km walk (Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin). That gets me thinking about a return journey with Bouncer and Leanne one day. We'll need a tent for that one.
We then visited Pemberton and Leanne climbed the Gloucester tree. (61 metres tall; see picture) What an effort! My mum was horrorfied when she heard this. There are other
Feeding the Parrots
Pemberton Caravan Parktrees like this one and they were once used as watch towers to keep an eye out for bush fires. I am amazed that they are open to the public these days. I would have thought that some idiot would have fallen and died through their own stupidity causing the thing to be closed. But luckily for us it was still open.
We then drove towards Denmark to do the tree top walk, but as many of you know, we didn't even get through the front door. Leanne tripped and fell in the car park and managed to slice her knee open. She didn't hurt Bouncer! But we then made a detour to the Denmark hospital where she was sewn up by the doctors and nurses there. I think the worst part for Leanne is that she then missed out on swimming for most of our beach time along the southern coast.
Denmark was an otherwise pleasant stop. It is a quiet coastal town and once Leanne was over the shock of what had happened we relaxed and finally went back to do that tree top walk. We saw some amazing sunrises and I wnet for some pleasant
Ouch!!!!
11 stitches required! morning runs in the bush. From Denmark we went Albany, which is much larger and even has a Cinema. That made a change from chatting to the grey nomads who generally go to bed at 9.00 PM ... about half an hour before we do. (Truth be told; I'm looking forward to being a grey nomad one day.) There was a whaling museum to check out (well worth the stop, we spent half a day there) and a wind farm that I enjoyed walking around. The loud wooshing sound is pretty cool as you walk under these giants. And in Albany I switched from morning runs to morning swims as I found Middleton Beach too tempting.
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