Last Leg to Albany

We spent a few days with the trees then continued south to Albany. The weather got worse and worse as we travelled and we ended up wearing all the clothes we had brought with us to keep warm. We thought Fremantle and surrounding area was remote but soon found that the southern beaches were even quieter with some excellent names -

Cosy Corner ....

Misery Beach.... We visited some blow holes and nearly got blown off in to the sea....

Then went out to Albany's busiest restaurant to celebrate the last stop on our trip...

(first video entry - press play under picture for video virgins...)

Tingle All The Way....

After travelling south on the coast for a few hours, we turned in-land towards the Southern Forests. Gloucester National Park is the home of the Gloucester Tree which stands 60 metres tall. Very handily someone has hammered in metal spikes all the way up to the top so people can climb the whole 60 metres - not for the faint hearted.

I made it about 10 metres.... impressively Mikey made it up about 45!

Next stop - Valley of the Giants in Walpole. Some more big trees (Tingles) and a tree top walk. I started to feel sick when it began swaying in the not so gentle breeze...

But a very impressive view from the highest point which was about 40 metres above the forest floor. If you look closely enough you can see the fear in our eyes.

Here are some facts about Tingles especially for Al:

• The Red Tingle (Eucalyptus jacksonii) of South Western Australia is one of the tallest trees in the state and can measure up to 16 metres round at the base and grow to a height of 60 metres and live for up to 400 years.
• 
  The trees often have shallow root systems and grow a buttressed base. Forest fires often act to hollow out the base of the trees creating a large cavity. The distribution of the species has been shrinking due to climate change over millions of years.

Bush Camping

This is our bush campsite .... off road (totally illegal in our camper van)....

It was unlike any other sites we had stayed at so far - in the middle of nowhere, "long drop" toilets, no personal washing facilities or electricity - the perfect camping experience in fact.

I tried my hand a wood chopping and was really very good at it.

Mikey lit a fire and was really very good at it.

I washed up with a lovely view of some parrots - I was good at this too...


Neither of us was good at coping with the MASSIVE spiders in the toilets.

Wine For Dudes

Apart from Beautiful Beaches, South Western Australia is famous for...... Wine!
We decided to do the proper tourist thing and jump on a bus to look round some of the wineries in the area surrounding Margaret River. Clearly the tour below was made for us.....

Our tour included visits to three wineries, a brewery, a cheese farm and a chocolate factory... I was none the wiser about wine by the end (they all taste the same to me) but we met some other dudes on our bus and had delicious lunch under some vines with our guide, Jon.

Smell, swill, smell then taste.....

We made friends with the owner of one winery who took us on our own private tour.

Then we got ourselves smartened up after a few days roughing it and went out for dinner.... A real treat after a few nights of sausage pasta...

The Beaches of Western Australia

After a short but very enjoyable stay in Fremantle, Mikey and I headed South in our extra deluxe camper (with shower and toilet - we had an upgrade). Soon after leaving the bright lights of "Freo" we came across some of the most amazing beaches I have ever seen....

Many of them we had all to ourselves! If you look very hard behind me on this photo you'll see some dolphins...

A bit of gymnastics on the beach....

9/10 - Point your toes next time please...

Not much else to say really apart from "quite nice"...

The Big Fre - O!

Imagine spending your 30th Birthday in sunny Fremantle, Western Australia....
Well that's what I was doing (imagining) as I really wasn't 30.... Oh well.

We were luckily enough to meet up with Sy and Jo, two of Mikey's friends from Bournemouth, who now live out here. They introduced us to Fremantle by taking straight to the beach for a glass of wine and some cheese at sunset... lovely.
And a quick dip to cool off - mind the sharks....


The next day was raining - they've had no rain here for 3 months but it came especially to welcome us (!).... so instead of heading to the beach, we drove in land to the Swan Valley to a brewery for some beer tasting and cheese fun. Sy and Jo tried out the smile detector on the camera with great success.....

Mikey couldn't quite work it out......
I've discovered that I can do different colours on the blog....

Addicted to Sushi

There are many, many sushi restaurants in Sydney. I already loved sushi before I came here, but now I can officially say that I am addicted. Someone from tennis recommended TOKO - a sushi train restaurant a short bus ride away from Dover Heights. The best thing about it was the prawn nigiri.... the worst thing about it was the slightly embarrassing silence while the whole restaurant stopped to watch us have our photo taken.....

Yum, Yum... crab inside out rolls......

Luckily it was BYO so we stretched the budget to a couple of extras....

Might as well face it... I'm addicted to sushi.....

Welcome to Australia!

After almost three months in Australia, I felt sure that I would be able to find lots of fun things to do to entertain Mikey....

And I certainly came up with the goods....

I did manage to impress him with an excellent view of the harbour at the end of a very long day walking in flip flops... i know - this is not recommended (see blog entry 09/02/09 "Ouch!"). Welcome to Australia Mikey!

Beautiful Bronte

After a week of MISERABLE weather, the sun came out on Sunday - perfect for a trip round the coast to Bronte . Bronte House (open only twice a year) has a lovely garden which we all agreed strangely reminded us of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. No band stand, morris dancers or lemonade sparkles, but we did have a cup of tea and a muffin.


There was lots of greenery which was perfect for taking jungle-esque photos...

Then a short walk down the hill took us to the beach to check out some more amazing waves and views and some impressive surfing....

It all looked so inviting that I thought I'd hop in and have a try myself... not bad for a first attempt I think you'll agree....!