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After a taster of things of things to come in Singapore, our next stop on the trip was the financially crippling Australia. No more Thai curries and a beer for £2. Nope, now we are back to western prices which inevietably means, God forbid, that we may even have to cook our own dinners and even worse - drink beer before we go out. It's be like our student days relived.
As seems to be the common theme, we started off this new country in true Ross and Sean style of unintentional blundering by first getting into an argument with a taxi driver, leaving our Lonely Planet guide book in the back of the second taxi (after the first had dumped us in the middle of nowhere) and then spent 4 hours visiting every hostel in Perth only to be told there were no vacancies. Finally by about midnight, Sean managed to get a bed in a dorm where someone hadn't turned up, whilst I slept on a camping chair in their common room, A few people came in from a night out and stuck on the Utd v Bolton game at 5am, so when I say slept its actually a
bit of a lie. Maybe dozed would be more apt.
Anyway, the following day, we hot-footed out of Perth as the whole world and their dogs were there on holiday, heading south to the town of Bunbury and then Margaret River. Both of these are quiet little coastal towns towns and we took the opportunity to relax a bit over the Easter weekend, venturing out for a few beers on a couple of nights and taking in the scenery and culture of a country that you hear a lot about, and that every person under the age of 25 seems to have backpacked around. Around Margaret River we were rewarded with some picturesque walks through national parks and even got to see a few snakes in the wild. Crikey!
On from here, heading further south, at a stop at what has to be one of the most inbred towns I have ever seen led us to visit the Walpole National park (via our first taste of hitchhiking as we slightly misjudged the 18km distance from Inbredsville to the park). In amongst this forest are a group of tingle trees that are a few hundred years old and pretty
tall which are a magnificent site to behold. Also the Treetop Walk took us on a canopy-level walk through the tops of the massive trees, reaching 40m at points!
Right on the south coast, our next stop was at a town called Albany which is famous for whales passing through at certain times of the year and can be spotted from the mainland. Sods Law dictated that we were visiting off-season, so we didn't get to see any but we rented a car which allowed us to explore the local area, visiting some cool natural scenery, and also a disused whaling centre, which was so mind numbingly dull that it was actually a good laugh.
Albany also gave us our first taste of Goon. This is the huge boxes/bags of 'wine' that cost $10, famous amongst backpackers, students and penny-pinchers like ourselves. The following day spent in bed (literally in Sean's case) was testament to the Goon's reputation as a vintage tipple, enjoyed by us and the homeless alike.
Heading back up north we again stopped off at Perth, this time learning from our mistakes and booking accommodation ahead. The city is a really vibrant and active centre,
yet it seemed to really hold onto its small and rural vibe. We really liked the place instantly and was helped when we found an all-you-can-eat Indian where you pay what you want after you have finished depending on what you think it was worth! Sean was adamant that we only give a dollar but I insisted that we gave more (actually thats a bit of an embellishment in case any of Sean's family think bad / worse of him than normal. Ive got to at least try and make this blog interesting).
The 'Sunshine City' of Geraldton was the next stop on the agenda, yet the City of Flies would suit it better. The pesky little bastards were on us from the moment we got off the coach, and no matter how many times you try and swipe them off your face, they seem to back sitting on your cheek/forehead/glasses/lips within seconds. Annoying to say the least.
A rented car allowed us to get our north to the Kalbarri National Park where the scenery and landscape transformed into the Oz that we'd visioned before leaving. The concentration of flies also increased 100-fold. Breathtaking gorges encompassing raging, yet graceful,
rivers coupled with the unique rock formations made the day a really enjoyable one, only slightly tainted by Freddy Fly and his million mates.
Geraldton itself its an extremely rural town, better described if you imagine that 99% of the place is made up of country bumpkins. We ventured out one night to 1 of the 2 local pubs and made a hash of trying to blend in and not look like out-of-towners. I managed to rile some oaf whilst playing pool and talking to 'his' women which apparently wasn't the best idea. So as the local mob chased us out of town, pitch forks and flaming torches in hand, we booked the next coach and made a hasty retreat back to the sanctuary of Perth.
Having a couple of days to kill meant we could get our and see some of the surrounding areas of Scarborough Beach and Freemantle before catching our flight over to Sydney,
Ross
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Jim Khan
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I am loving....
Seany's action poses!