The South-West Corner.

We collected our car and left Perth at 10am on Monday morning. We were on the road about half an hour when Willie (who was driving) had a near collision with some poles marking out new lanes. The poor fella got an awful fright, as did myself and Gill, but luckily that was the only incident of it's kind, well except for when a Roo bounced out infront of me a couple of days later en route to Pemberton! That's not an animal you want to be messing with on the road!

Our first stop was Bunbury which is a lovely town. It has loads of nice cafe's and nice clothes stores. This town is famous for its dolphins but you can't go swimming with them until November, unfortunately. We had lunch and then set off again. Our goal was to get to Margaret River that evening. We stopped at Eagle Bay adn Cape Naturaliste along the way. There is a lovely walk in Cape Naturaliste that brings you along to whale lookout points, but unfortunately we didn't see any. We went straight through to Margaret River from here.

Now this is a town you could easily fall in love with. It is really charming with lots of beautiful little houses and sprawling winerys. It has a character all of its own, particularly compared to the other towns in the south-west. We stayed in a great hostel here, where we got a small self contained apartment between the three of us which had separate bedrooms and DOUBLE BEDS!!! We didn't want to leave!
The next morning we were collected at 10.30am to go on our Bushtucker wine tour. This consisted of 4 winery's (all of them very nice), a chocolate factory and last but not least a brewery. The bushtucker part came into play at lunch time. We all had a plate infront of us containing some weird looking berries and squishy things. We had to taste them before we were told what we were eating. The majority of them were harmless but the Witchetty Grub Pate just pushed it a little far for my liking! But I still ate it. Needless to stay we were a little wobbly on the way home and had to take a little snooze to recover before dinner! It was a great day. The owner of one particular winery, Bettanay's, took a shine to Gill and kept referring to her throughout his presentation. He thought that Will was her boyfriend and made a remark that she obviously had better tasted in wine that she had in men! Willie was not at all impressed!!

The next morning we headed off to Pemberton. Our first stop was Jewel Cave where we saw plenty of stalacmites and stalactites. It was really fascinating. From there we went on to Augusta where we stopped at Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, where the southern ocean meets the indian ocean.It is the most south-westerly point of Australia also. We stayed in a motel in Pemberton and had quite possibly the worst chicken burgers of our lives, I was surprised I didn't die from it!

Our first stop the next morning was at the Gloucester Tree which is a 60m high Yarra tree that you can climb. I wasn't brave enough to make it to the top mind you! Then on to Walpole at the Valley of the Giants treetop walkway. This is really great. You're basically walking along the canopy of the trees.The highest point of this particular walk is 40m. The whole thing sways in the wind too which is a little scarey! I think Willie in particular was happy to get back onto solid ground, he doesn't do heights!

On the way to Albany we stopped at Williams Bay where Willie surveyed his "land". We had our last meal of the trip in our motel in Albany that evening and it was delicious. It was washed down with a lovely bottle of Shiraz purchased on the wine tour. We is flash-packers we is!

We spent Friday morning looking around Albany. Our first stop was the Whaling station and then onto the Blowholes. Willie walked straight down to one, with Gill following. Just as he approached the opening the was a huge gust through it and they both jumped about a metre! Willie started running backwards up the hill. It was the funniest thing I'd seen in a long time. I was so sorry I didn't have my video camera. The other people there were all in stitches and the two of them had to sit down to recover from their fright!Next we went to the Natural Bridge and The Gap, both natural phenomena and very imaginatively named! Then I started on the long drive back to Perth. It took about 5 hours to get back but the scenery was fantastic the whole way back and we arrived alive and in one piece.

It was a great trip. I was sorry that we didn't have more time as the scenery down there is truely beautiful, it's green and lucious and completely different to the west coast. Don't leave out this little part of Australia, you'll be sorry you did.

Perth to date!

Well, where to start. We actually didn't see a whole lot of the city in the week we have been here. Sad I know, but for the first few days all I wanted to do was chill and look around the shops, of which there are plenty. We arrived in Perth late on a thursday evening and all we were fit for that night was food and bed! So the next day we went scouting around the main streets. Perth is probably the cleanest city I have been to, it is practically sterile. Everything looks so new in it, it's almost like one of those models that companies make of prospective developments! It really is beautiful though. That night we had our first proper night out in a month and man did we have a good one! There were plenty of laughs, pics and lots of dancing! Even Willie strutted his stuff! We met a lovely group of Kiwi's and stayed with them all night (and early morning!) On the way home, the heel of my shoe got caught and I ended up taking a face-plant (it really wasn't drink induced, not that any of you are going to believe me anyway!) and I ended up with a sprained wrist, oh the fun! But it was a great night all the same! The following day was spent recovering and then we were right as rain again on the Sunday to go to the Fremantle markets.

Now Freo is a place with character. It was buzzing with activity and the weather was fab. It's full of old colonial style buildings, streets lined with cafe's and an overall happy atmosphere. We walked around and soaked it all up before treating ourselves to a lavish dinner, flashpackers and all that we are! It was bliss!

The rest of the week was spent with a very sore hand (Thanks to Gill and Will for looking after me btw) and arranging the rest of my travels. I also had to go on the hunt for new bikini's after some idiot robbed mine from the laundry room!! I just don't understand some people, but don't get me started! The weather was pretty wet and cold for most of the week. This is the first rain that I have seen in over 3 months so I suppose I can't complain too much, but I really didn't like it!

On Thursday we ventured out to Freo again to see the prison, rain and all! It's a pretty fascinating place, even more so considering it only closed down 7 years ago! When you see the conditions the inmates were subjected to you would wonder how it was not closed down long ago for being in breach of human rights! The inmates had no toilets in their cells, they had the use of a plastic bucket! Lovely! The cells had been made bigger alright, but even at that they were tiny and some had bunks to cater for the ever growing number of inmates. Things had gotten so bad that some inmates set fire to one of the divisions in the 1940's with the hope of calling attention to their dire living conditions. Their plan worked and the size of the cells was increased by knocking the wall between 2 down to make one bigger cell, but they still didn't put in toilets! The main reason the prison was closed down was because of the lack of sanitary facilities, otherwise it is quite probable that it would stil be running today.

Some parts of the tour were very eerie, in particular the hanging room. It is believed to be haunted (no surprised there then) and the guide told us that anytime she has had people with guide dogs on her tours the dogs have refused to go into the room, and quite often babies get very upset in it too. If anywhere is going to be haunted then it is definitely this room! It really is a great tour and well worth the jaunt out from the city.

Low and behold, friday night was another night out, shock horror! But there were no falls or sprained limbs this time round, thank God!It was Gill's friend Debbie's last night in Oz so we had to help her celebrate! It was a great night again! But you can see it all from the photo's!

So ends the 1st week in Perth. We have hired a car and are heading down to the south west corner for the week tomorrow, taking in a wine tasting tour on our way. Life is tough!

Coral Bay to Perth and all that's in between.

We were all very sad to be leaving our little bit of paradise, but alas the time had arrived and we had to go. Our only main stop on the way to Denham was the Stromatalites. I wasn't really paying that much attention to what our driver was telling us about these things, but I do know that they are the oldest living things on the planet, they are an organism living in the rocks in some areas and basically what they did was separate the H2O molecule to oxygenate the planet. Pretty extraordinary considering how boring they are to look at. You're expecting this super bug or something and all you see is what looks like rocks? Although, if you look at it from a particular angle it does remind you of the Giants Causeway in Antrim.

After the Stromatalites it was off to Shell beach. This gorgeous white beach is made up entirely of white cockel shells and they actually make bricks out of it to build houses with. Infact, our hostel in Denham was built from these bricks. So it was off to Denham next and the Bay Lodge hostel, which had fabulous beds for us to relax in!


We spent a week in Denham, again just relaxing and having a laugh. We went out to Monkey Mia two of the days and I just loved it. Dolphins are the most fascinating creatures and I actually got to feed one which was really cool. We didn't get to swim with them unfortunately, but hopefully I'll do that in Fremantle. The dolphins come in like clockwork every morning and then they just come back whenever they feel peckish! Some had calves with them too, it's really a fabulous experience, even if it is all for the tourists. Monkey Mia itself is a really beautiful beach and well worth the trip of 25mins from Denham if you just want to relax on a beach for the day as Denham doesn't have a great beach.

So after our week in Denham it was off to Kalbarri. This was a long enough day, and it seems a lot longer when you have a head-wrecking driver who likes to play stupid games the whole time and play the worst music possible at the highest decibel possible! We stopped Ocean Park on the way, which is definitely one of the best wildlife parks I have been to. It's really tiny and the owner is developing it slowly but this guy is just so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about everything that he has you hooked from the moment you walk in the door. We saw loads of fish and sharks and it really is brilliant. I'm going to write to the Lonely Planet and tell them to put this place in the book.
We also stopped at Eagle Bluff gorge and then it was on to Kalbarri to watch the sunset on the beach. Then we all went to a restaurant for dinner where you paid $10 for the biggest plate of food you could imagine. Nobody could even eat half of it. There was snapper, calamari, barramundi, prawns and more! Sinful!!

Kalbarri itself is a nice town, really the first "civilised" one we came to since leaving Darwin! We rented bikes one of the days and went exploring (I nearly died from the heat and lack of exercise in the last month!) which was really great.

The final day of the Easyrider bus was a long long day, 13 hours to be exact, but it was a great day too. Our driver was fantastic. He knew everything about everything along the way. He was telling us about a farmer in WA who found a loophole in the constitution and was able to found his own country within WA in order to evade the taxation and there's nothing the Government could do about it! So this guy has his own currency, passport, stamps and even a seat at international talks. It's hilarious! You get your passport stamped going in and out of this guys land!! Talk about a genius!

We also went to a wildlife park which was not on the itinerary, but was brilliant. We fed the animals and held snakes, except for Gillian who was terrified!! Next it was on to the Pinnacles desert.This is another one of those places in Oz where you just stand there and wonder how the hell this thing happened. It is so vastly different from the surrounding landscape, it's well strange, but fascinating. After a short walk around, it was back to the bus and on to Perth.

The trip down the west coast was truely amazing. It is so different from the east coast that they are really like different countries, there's no comparison, from the landscape down to the people. I can't understand people who come to Oz for a few months and who don't come near the west coast. They are honestly missing out on the most stunning part of Oz. I loved every second and I'm so sad that it's over, but there's still more to see so I must struggle through I suppose!!!

Coral Bay

Well what can I say about Coral Bay? Where to start? We had the most chillaxed week of our lives here, doing nothing but eating in the bakery, spending the day on the beach sunning and snorkelling and then playing cards and having a laugh at night! It is such a beautiful place, you could stay here for weeks on end!It's a tad expensive but you also don't really do anything so you're saving money in the long run. The hostel is lovely too, even though there is no fresh water supply in Coral Bay (you do get sick of salt water showers I have to admit!).


We went out on a glass bottom boat to the Ningaloo Reef one of the days and it was great, apart from the part where we were trying to get back on to the boat and the skipper kept throwing food into the fish so that they would swarm around you. Poor Gillian was terrified and it took her about 15 mins to get out of the water. The little bastards bit you too, not a pleasant experience!

I think that other people in the hostel thought we were bloody nuts, or nucking futs as Willie would say! We spent our whole time playing games and jokes on each other, in particular the girls against poor Willie. We buried him in the sand, we hid in his press and jumped out on him, we hid in and under his bed and basically just wrecked his head!! We played drinking Jenga with forfeits and just doing childish things and it was all bloody hilarious!! This is not a week that any of us will forget in a hurry!! We all want to go back up there now!

The start of the Easyrider trip. Broome to Exmouth.

We had an early start the first morning on the bus. There were 10 backpackers and then Sandy the driver and Jane the trainee. Out of the 10, 3 of us were Irish, what a shocker! Today we had to drive to Pardoo where we stayed that night. This is a cattle station in the middle of nowhere and is run by a real outback Aussie couple, who were just hilarious!The best part was the beds, the best ones I've had since I left home. You wouldn't believe how much I miss my lovely double bed!! We went to watch the sunset on the beach and the bus got bogged in the mud on the way so we all had to get out and push it out, twas hilarious! This would be a lovely place to stay for a few days. Harry (one of the owners) would bring you out fishing and you would be guaranteed to have a great meal every evening. We had a gEorgeous stew that night, yes Mam, I did eat it, and loved every bite, carrots and all!

The next morning we were off to Karijini NP so it was an early start. We did't reach the park until 1pm and after walking to the Fern Pool Falls we all jumped in for a much needed cooling down period! I swam over to the falls and clambered up the slippery rocks and then, of course being me, I slipped down them and ended up with the mother of all bruises on my ass. Going to the toilet was a painful experience for the next week I can tell ya! Karijini is a beautiful NP and definitely worth a trip. We camped in a caravan park in Auski that night and nearly froze to death, even with 3 blankets!

The next morning we headed for Exmouth. This was basically a day of driving and not much else. We arrived at 4pm and then went to watch the sunset at the lighthouse which was really pretty. We stayed at the Aspen caravan park and the 5 of us girls got our own little caravan with a wee kitchen. It was like luxury compared to the night before! We decided to stay for 5 nights. Originally I was going to stay longer to do a diving course but I failed the medical so that was that out of the window.
We hired a car for a couple of days to go exploring the surrounding area. The first day we drove down to Yardie Creek to see the gorge and then we headed up to Turquoise Bay, stopping at some beaches along the way for a look. At one such stop Willie got us bogged in some soft sand and we had to get out and push. We we finally got it moving he caught the front bumper on some rocks and pulled it off on one side. There were people watching us so we all jumped into the car and sped off to a more private location to inspect the damage. Luckily we were able to clip it back on, Phew!!

Turquoise Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The clarity of the water and the sea life are astounding. I saw more here in 5 mins of snorkelling than in a whole avo on the Barrier Reef. The Ningaloo Reef really is a must do for anyone interested in sea life or diving etc. We spent the day here snorkelling, sunning ourselves and running up and down the beach searching for Ren whom we thought had gone missing while snorkelling but was down the other end of the beach safe and sound! It really was an amazing day!

The following day we went exploring the NP in the area. Willie didn't accompany us as he went diving for the day, but we managed to survive without him, just about! Twas another scorcher and I was the pilot for the day, which was great fun. It's so nice to drive again after so long! And thus ended our time in Exmouth. Twas a great week and one that will be remembered fondly for all it's laughs and joking around!