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Western Australia (WA) was an itch that we just had to scratch - I'd spent some time in Perth back in 1999 and we'd both stayed in Darwin during our trip to Ozland ten years ago - but we'd never 'joined the dots'....so it was time to pop back to the antipodes for the roadtrip of a lifetime.
Unfortunately this means we've had to jetison Japan from the Big Trip - a tough decision - but it was just tooo expensive to get there, whilst you can now catch a cheap flight to Australia from Singapore, so it was time to sample western culture for the first time in seven months.... It was strange immersing ourselves in such a big backpacker scene - catering for gap-year kids is a huge industry down under - but we soon adapted to watching the Simpsons over dinner and seeing drunken Brits lying in stupors on corridor floors with their boxers round their ankles! Not a pretty sight....it also took a long time (like never) to get used to western prices again: cheapest beer in a basic battle cruiser was two quid, a buzz-cut was six nuggets and a going for a
cappucino was a major event....the halcyon days of Filipino happy hours are a distant memory....
After a few days chilling out in Perth - lapping up the cafe culture in cool suburbs like Subiaco, Freemantle, Cottesloe - it was time to hit the road and begin a journey equivalent to driving from London to Kabul, hardcore. The driving was actually fairly easy as the roads are poker straight and there's relatively little traffic - huge roadtrains excepted - but hitting a kangaroo/wallaby/emu/cow is a real threat, especially at night. We had a couple of relatively close shaves but nothing too hair-raising.
About half of the time we stayed in caravan parks - when we wanted a shower and some electricity - but the rest of the time we just parked up in lay-bys or resting areas and hoped we wouldn't get 'Falconio-ed'; we slept with a big knife to hand just in case! The biggest stress was trying to get in some quality slumber as it was mega toasty at night (25c) so we resorted to sleeping with all the doors open - not wonderful in personal security terms - in a vain attempt to catch any whiff
of a breeze and dry our sweat-sodden sheets; naturally the mosquitos and flies just loved this set-up, torture....
Still, it was great to wine n dine alfresco whilst watching the sun set over the outback, snacking on hummus and sinking a few stubbies, the simple life....and I managed to add another couple of classics to my CV, in the shape of the seminal Ulysses (James Joyce) and Animal Farm (George Orwell), I wonder what will come my way next?
WA is all about the wonderful landscapes, the sense of isolation and the laidback lifestyle, there's scant evidence of the tourist-fest you encounter on the east coast: highlights of the trip included the Pinnacles Desert, Karrijini National Park, Broome and the Bungle Bungles, the last of which I saw on a scenic flight. Not too mention winning the Darwin Hostel's Sunday afternoon 5-a-side tournament a decade after I last won it last time, form is temporary but class is permanent eh?! Even squeezed in a few megs for good measure, suck it up....
We've just arrived in Hong Kong after five more days diving at Sipadan - the sharks and turtles were missing us - and a wee 
Perth (from the Swan River)
A great wee city to live in....overnight in Macau, which we inadvertently spent in a brothel; it was half the price of anywhere else! Another first for Dom n Jom. Anyways, the tip-top-jobbly-pop news is that tomorrow we'll be joined in the Far East by two good pals from Glasgow: Steve (for a week in Hong Kong) and Stuart (to join me travelling around China and Tibet) whilst Jom jets off to Bali for four weeks to do some tanning.....sorry work with Tearfund partners! Is that the 'chug-chug' of the Gravy Train I can hear?? Think we might just hop on!
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Bruno
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Woo woo all aboard the gravy train!
By the way bringing this trip forward by a week certainly focuses the mind, just as well my huge project management and planning knowledge was there to tap into (wrote a list, descoped 95%). So, travel insurance is the last thing to do, well the last thing I'm going to do. The rest can wait! Getting picked up, lift and laid, in a couple of hours for the sleazy jet to Gatwick and then (just realised last night one can still partake of a few schmokes in the airport boozers, no Jack McConnell suite for Stuarty boy) a four/ five hour wait with mad mental moorie. 12 hoors on the flight to Hong of the Kong and we'll be there Thursday around 5 for some dim sum and dim sum more. Looking forward to seeing you guys....rack em up Bahhhhhrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooo