Hello Loyal Readers! (part 1 - Sarah is lazy)

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Hello! Sorry we haven't supplied the details of our action-packed adventure-lives for a long time, but here comes your fix.

After saying goodbye to my tractor and our plant chums in Benara nursery, our bank accounts healthy replenished, it was time to do some fun stuff again.

We were joined by my Mum and Dad (hello Mum and Dad), and tried to fit in two weeks of the best the area has to offer. We booked them in to a Balinese themed hotel in Scarborough, that we never got round to using the pool of, and greeted them at the airport, along with the high 30's degree heat and the million or so newly arrived flies. We spent the first day wandering around with flies on our backs and in our eyes, looking for a place to wet our whistles, and eating at a Thai restaurant while catching up on all the family/England gossip.

With the forecast predicting temperatures reaching 40c, we were advised to spend a day on the nearby island of Rottnest (it's supposedly a few degrees cooler here). Well, i don't know how hot it was on the mainland that day, but it was hot enough to cook my lentil patties i keep in a bum-bag. And there was two flies for every square inch of air. It probably wasn't the best idea to rent bicycles (with just the one gear to save money) and ride around the island. It was hard enough for me and Sarah who are acclimatised! But the island was beautiful (when the flies weren't on your eyeballs), we saw some Quokkas, and swam in a beautiful turquoise sea, while cycling round this car-less island. Returning to Fremantle, we took my parents to the excellent Little Creatures brewery and sampled the incredible bright ale, pale ale and pilsner. Me and Dad have plans to export it the stuff now, if we haven't been beaten to it (we probably have).

The next day we had a wander around the National Trust town of Guildford, accompanied by our miniature airborne chums in sweltering heat. We then hopped over to the Swan valley to a chocolate factory and made them wish they hadn't placed bowls full of chocolate for 'tasting'. Afterwards we visited a vineyard/cellar door and tried some pretty nasty wines supplied by a grumpy goose. And the free cheese did not present itself. Heading up into the aptly named Perth Hills, we visited Lake Leschenaultia, a beautiful grand lake, and spent our afternoon cooling off in the yellow water and diving off the floating thing you jump off of. (Apparently there's lots of Tanin in the soil/rocks which colours the water- but this was discovered later at a separate location, so either this explains the water, or the ducks have overactive bladders). Heading back towards Perth we stopped at John Forrest National Park where we walked to a waterfall, took in the local flora and fauna (with Mum and Sarah spotting a kangaroo). We then had a tipple at the pub located in the park and sat ourselves outside. Before long we were joined by exotic green parrots (exotic to us, not Australians of course), Magpies, a Kookaburra, ducks, other birds (one of which was an escaped bird that would have been worth $15,000) and kangaroos! One of which was tame enough for Sarah to feed and all of us to stroke it like it was some kind of mishapen gymnast dog. We were searching the bush (the natural terrain) intensely for some wildlife, and we found it all in the pub garden! That night we ate at a Hare Krishna Vegetarian all you can eat buffet restaurant that you pay 'what your heart desires' - fast becoming our favourite place to eat.

We spent a day exploring the city, Subiaco and Kings Park, which offers an incredible view over Perth and the Swan River. If i'd been more organised i could have put a nice picture here. Sorry.

Then we headed to the fabled 'Down South', the area of Western Australia all Perthites salivate at the mouth at the mention of.

Our first stop was just outside of Perth, at Serpentine National Park, where we swam in orange coloured water under a waterfall to escape the flies and the heat (however we'd soon find we'd left the flies behind here and spent a blissful week without them). Our destination that night was a small campsite next to the ocean in a place that i don't think had a specific name, where we discovered strange furry discs on the beach, a cabin that wouldn't open, and a friendly campsite owner who rode around on a golf buggy giving the impression that there was something he was doing.

The next day we stopped first at Bunbury, where we took in a panoramic view of the town and coast from up a tower, explored a mangrove boardwalk and paddled with dolphin (briefly) in the harbour. Next was Busselton, where we had lunch, swam in an incredibly clear sea next to Australia's longest pier/jetty (2km long), and wandered around the quaint sea-side town. Then we headed to Dunsborough/Yallingup where we walked along the coast and saw some incredibly powerful waves. We walked some walk trails through the Cape Leeuwin National Park, where i desperately tried to spot a snake or a skink (but didn't), and spent the night in our over-priced cabin, where me and Sarah slept basically outside under a marquee with lots of spiders, and crows feet away in a tree who kindly woke us up at sunrise with their crazed shrieking. Sarah is falling asleep behind me so i'm going to make her take over to wake her up.



Sarah here! We've (well I have!) decided to carry on the blog later on, i'm too tired to remember what we did! So look forward to the next installment coming to your computer very soon!

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Comments

[ben's mum]

it brings it all back!
Thanks Ben, my fly nightmares had just stopped! Glad you've written it all down, there's stuff there I'd forgotten about already. Any future enquires about our holiday will all be referred to your blog so please don't leave the next instalment too long. Besides your version is far more amusing! To all avid Ben and Sarah blog readers - we had a truly wonderful time thanks to their organising and enthusiasm for us to experience as much as possible. They have a great future as tour organisers!!