Current Mood: Cool & Esctatic

Into Augusta and one of the nicest hostels we have yet to stay in.  The rooms are like your grandmas house, without the smell ;).  The owners are really friendly and we even have a tv in the room – wahooo…

Augusta is the final town (well, village really) before the most southwest point of Australia, where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean – next stop if you carried on down would be Antarctica.  We dropped our stuff off and went exploring, the first place we found was the local bakery where we sampled one of their famous (in Augusta anyway) paninis – was delicious.  With full bellys and upbeat music flying from the car speakers we set off to see the many wonders that Augusta had to offer.

[zp]augusta[/zp]

We first drove down to the Jetty to see about one of the river cruises, not as posh as it sounds mind you, but we might get to see dolphins.  Next stop on our whirlwind adventure was the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse that stands 63 metres above sea level – this is where you can lookout over both oceans, one either side of the cape.  Doesn’t look any different as it’s just water, but it’s nice to feel you are looking at something totally cool. 

We got here down a long ’Scenic’ Dirt track, where we saw some lovely trees, and more trees and erm, more trees.  In fact, in half an hour of driving we saw two places where you could see something other than trees – the first is Skippys Rock, a small cove where there are some interesting rock formations.  The second of which is the Waterwheel, this is a wooden wheel that was used to pump water up to the lighthouse when it was being built.  Over time limescale has built up around the wheel encrusting it – making it actually look like stone.

We set off to Hamelin bay to explore and watch the sun go down.  When we got there we saw the local attraction, about 8 Giant Stingrays and a few Eagle Rays all in the shallows waiting for the fisherman to feed them.  We ended up here a couple of hours, chatting to a friendly local fisherman who came over to give us some fish heads and guts that we could hand feed the rays with.  Wow!  This blew our minds, the Rays were huge, especially ‘Big Fella’ that the kids had affectionatly named, along with ‘Stumpy’ who had unfortunately lost his tail from a boat propeller :(.  Em couldn’t get enough of these guys and after being a little apprehensive at the beginning because of the size of the tail and barb, was eventually stroking, patting, feeding and near enough swimming with them like they were her new best friends.  We decided that we would come here everyday to see and feed them – they are truly awesome!

[zp]hamelin-bay[/zp]

The next day we had a little stroll in the Bunarup Forest, which is filled with Yirra Trees.  These stretch high into the sky, which is pretty amazing considering the width of their trunks aren’t even that of a large english oak!  While we were here, we decided to do a bit of caving – so after a bit of research into which was the nicest cave to try out, we went for Lake Cave.  A fairly small (compared to Jewel) cave, but with a permenant water supply at the bottom, the lights ensure that the reflections of the stalagtites is pretty amazing.  The tour lasted about 50 mins and we were told all about how the cave formed – we loved every minute of this, bar the 300 steps to get down into the cave!  Oh, and the pitch blackness when our guide turned all the lights out!  Oh err…

To cool down after our climb out the cave we returned to our buds at Hamelin Bay, this time armed with our swimmies and a towel so that we could join them in the water!  The Bay is lovely, calm and the sun was beating down.  A few kids were making the most of it out on their little speedboats, towing their friends on their knee boards – we could just imagine Russ, A and Dunc out there when they were that age flying around.  Again we fed the gentle giants and had a chat to a few more of the locals (and a few non-locals) before heading back to the hostel.

The final day in Augusta and we hit the pub, where they served pints of Guiness (don’t tell Phyll, but Em and I both had a couple of pints!).  We played a few games of pool and sat out on the terrace looking out over the Blackwood River until the food place opened up.  Jimmys Grill was great, you basically pay $17 each to cook yourself your own food – you get a plate with a lump of steak on, a plate to put it on after it is cooked and then you just place it on a giant grill until you think it is ready.  I ended up with a rare steak, that was actually really nice whereas Em’s came out pretty much perfect Medium.  Then you add yourself some chips from the counter and a bit of salad – we were a little cheeky as we took some of the salad (onion and mushrooms) and went back to the grill to cook these – all in all it was pretty yum yum yum…

After dinner we watched Aussie Rules, loads of kicking, jumping, punching, but no real structure or order to the game – I think I’ll stick to rugby thanks.

Before moving onto our next destination we did one final little tour, the Annie Flinders Eco Cruise.  Os was really cool and we met a guy called Bill Ipsen on one of the stops, a 5 generation Aussie and a real bushman, he showed us how to catch Marron (a large Crayfish), how they would round up cattle in the olden days and what their life entailed.  It was bloody interesting and the guy reminded Em of her grandad Vic, we bought a copy of his book and got him to sign it for us before heading back down the Blackwood River.

Next Stop, the Valley of the Giants, the Gloucester Tree and Walpole! 

Current Mood: Mischievous & Tired

Margeret River our first stop from Perth and our base of operations for the next few days.  The drive down was excellent as Eurocar upgraded us to a ‘mini’ 4wd (Hyundai Tucson), so although we didn’t have the boot space of the other car it was far more comfortable.

We set off along the highway, kicking back and relaxing to the MP3 player – our first stop was a few hours at Bunbury, possibly the largest town south of Perth before you hit the water. We had a nosey around and ended up walking along the boardwalk of the mangroves, which is something like the only one this low down in Oz (or similar?! ;)).  Here we found a Big W and got ourselves a set of Poker Chips so that Em can learn a bit of Texas Hold ‘Em.  There are apparently dolphins that frequent these waters, in the mornin, however we arrived in the afternoon so missed them – obviously!

Lovely town, but not somewhere that leads itself to the scenic idea that we are aiming for – so we moved onto Margaret River.. 

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Our hostel was nice, but basic, luckily we were in the quieter block and only shared our kitchen with about 8 others – we had to venture over into Chinatown to get a kettle though and it was chaos.  It was quite late when we arrived, so we shot down to the local where I managed to order a pint, yep, you read it right, a PINT of Stella Artois, which slid down my throat like melted chocolate!  The food wasn’t bad either and it reminded us of a summers day in a classic british pub garden.  That night we went to watch the sun come down at Prevelly Beach before moving onto Surfers Point to watch the diehard boys in action.

The following day we drove back to Bussellton, it was somewhere I wanted to go to and Em was more than willing.  This was everything we were after, the water here is as clear as Thailand – if not clearer and was not as freezing as most places around Australia.  Stretching out for 2km into the Ocean is the Bussellton Jetty, the largest wooden Jetty in the Southern Hemisphere!  Really picturesque, especially when combined with the deep blue sky that we were welcomed with.  Em and I decided to walk to the end and visit the underwater observatory (the UWO), this goes 9metres underwater and is surrounded by various corals and fish that you can watch from the giant reverse (dry!) fishtank.  We stayed in Busselton for ages, mucking around in the sea and taking a few snaps, but as the sun began to dip we returned to Margaret River and went back to Surfers Point to watch the sunset, this time as the wind was up – the surfers were joined by some windsurfers. :)  (Nothing on Little Sarah and Steve though ;))

We were up early the next day (10am!) as our pickup was arriving for our wine tour.  Our guide for the day was Kim and he advised that we were the only two on the all day tour until the afternoon session joins us – one German guy!!!  So off we went, with Kim explaining the many processes of making wine, changing its colour, taste and type – while also letting us know that we were going to consume in excess of 2.5 bottles – EACH!

In the morning we visited 3 wineries, 2 of which we loved and 1 of which tasted horrible (apart from the Port).  We were shown the correct way to smell and taste the wine so we appreciated the whole flavour.  We could choose to spit out each wine if we wanted, but we got our moneys worth and swallowed every tasting (approx 60ish!).  For lunch we went to the Voyagers Estate, one of the richest estates in Margeret River – both Emma and I had the Salmon which they accompanied with a Merlot to wash it down, a whole glass this time though. 

The afternoon we met the German Guy and went to my favourite winery of the day Watershed, where Em and I bought a lovely bottle of Chardonnay – apparently the Red Wine drinkers white?  :?  – the Final winery of the day was one called Moss Bros (not related to the suit hire company!) where we got to taste wine straight from a barrel – Hungarian Oak Barrel to be precise.  The day was rounded off with by a visit to the Margaret River chocolate factory, where we at last found some decent Australian Chocs, our palate was then in for a shock when we chomped down a few bits of Australian Cheese – Yuk!  My god Australians cannot do cheese!!!!!!  We didn’t stay at this one long as you can imagine.

One more nights worth of sleep and then we move on, this time – Augusta!

Current Mood: Esctatic & Flirtatious

So we have arrived into Perth having survived our little brush with the outback.  The flight over was lovely and all four of us managed to get into Emergancy Exit Seats – not a hard feat considering the amount of people that were on the flight,  and that we were the first people in the check-in queue – but hey, it still felt nice being able to stretch out.

The Perth hostel is lovely and we’ve got a lovely double room.  Em and I are doing our own thing from now until the 23rd March, making sure that we meet up again for Luce’s birthday (no way we’re missing that!).  This way we all get a little rest bite from each other ready for the full on camper van in New Zealand and its also easier when you want to do something.

Perth was nice as we got to meet up with our friend Bien who was staying for the first few nights down at Cossteloe beach, it was really nice as we explored Freemantle together, a coffee/fish lovers dream (well fish eaters).  It was nice to spend the day with her, listening to how her travels have been going and getting her advise on bits and bobs – she recommended a Surf Camp down the East coast, which we have now booked with Lucy and are travelling down to meet Scatt a bit later in the trip – (Scatt is meeting a friend in Sydney a bit earlier). 

For a treat we got to watch the cinema a few times – seeing ‘Music and Lyrics’ on valentines day after a lovely meal at a nice restaurant (beats beans on bread).  We visited Swan River and had a few nice walks around the various suburbs before exploring the actual city centre and the shops.

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Em has now got a nice camera and an underwater case to go with it, so we have promised ourselves a few dives to see what the West Coast has to offer – one of these may be the Rottnest Island wreck dive, but I’ll let you know more about that once we do it (if we do it!).

We’re picking up a car on the 21st March and are then heading down the South Coast, so we’ll see what adventures we have down there.  The girls are doing the same, so it will be really nice to meet up in Exmouth and talk about each others trip.  Looking forward to it…  Sorry about the length of time it has taken to update this, the internet cafes are few and far between, but I’ll try my best.  Feel free to leave comments or drop me a mail to let me know how you all are!

Lucy and Sarah are now having 4 weeks doing their own thing, while Emma and I do the same.  This will mean that when we meet up next time we will all have had a relaxing break – taking in the sights we individually want to see. (we have done really well so far taking everyones interests are quite varied).

So…  Lucy, Emma and I have all signed upto a website called FACEBOOK, to keep in touch and allow us to see the girls (Lucys and Sarahs) photos.  In order to see these photo’s you too must register and add us as friends – if you know Lucy, then you will know her surname and be able to search her out, same as with Emma and I. 

So, do it and share the joy ;;)

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

So we arrived into Alice Springs and despite the warm weather, were surprised with how busy it actually was.  This wasn’t the way out west town any of us were picturing so came as a nice surprise.

The YHA hostel that we booked was comfortable and had a pool in which we could throw ourselves to cool down.  Which we did hastily…

In the morning the ‘Rock Tours’ representative Kate came and picked us up (6am!) and we were taken around the various hostels picking up all manner of nationality – Swedish, Dutch, Danish, German, Irish and of course us English.  The journey to our first stop was a long drive and I had my head back counting Z’s for most of the trip, most of the bus was silent as other like-minded people prepared for what was coming.

[zp]outback[/zp]

First stop was King’s Canyon and when we exit the mini-bus we felt the heat.  My face began to melt, my body began to throw sweat out in a way that the bloke in the Lynx advert would seem like he has only a mild problem, then I find out that we only have to go and do a 7km trek!  The temperature was 42 in the shade and we had to first navigate a sheer slope to the rim of the canyon.  It was a struggle – definately…  Poor ol’ Lucy hates having to walk up hills, yet she grit her teeth and made it to the top – feeling half dead, but had still managed.

The rest of the walk was a piece of cake compared to the first bit and we were treated to a swim in a natural waterhole halfway round.  Yippeeeee…

Back in the bus, all of us drenched from head to foot we all began chatting.  A guy called Tobi from Germany got everyones spirits up as he larked and joked around in the front.  The stories around the coach had everyone laughing and joining in, singing songs and swapping stories.
We drove for a while taking in sights and talking about the day before reaching our first camp ground – well, not so much a camp ground as a desolate place in the middle of nowhere.  When Kate turned the lights out on the bus however, the sky lit up and the stars were everywhere – looking so close you could almost touch them.  We cooked around torch light (too dry for a campfire, don’t want to be responsible for a huge bushfire!) and had noodles with chicken, vegetables and moth’s.  yum yum…

Next day we were up really early to walk around the Olgas Paul from England and Marc from Holland kept me company and the trek went really quick.  This was another 8km walk and when we got back to the start we noticed that the Rangers had put up a sign saying the walk was shut due to extreme temperatures -thanks for telling us.

[zp]outback[/zp]

After this short trek we went to Uluru to do a short walk called the Male walk, this was really interesting and we leart a lot about the Aboriginal people and ‘Chooc or paa’ (I can;t spell it, but it is the term used for everything, life, law, the land, history, present and past).

Time to see Uluru at Sunset and it lived upto it’s reputation, it was truly beautiful and something I will remember forever.

Camping that night was at a pre-defined campsite and we got to grab a swim and stuff earlier in the evening.  That made do as my bath and shower at the same time.

In the morning we were up at 4.30 to see Sunrise – this too was an awesome experience and sharing it with so many friends made it that extra special.

Next was the Base walk and while Emma walked with Bien and Lucy, Sarah walked with Marc and I walked with Tobi, all of us chatting and passing the time.  A 9km walk later and we are back at the minibus ready to go home…  It was an amazing tour, with some amazing people whom I hope to stay in contact with.  There are too many people to list and talk about here, but if you read this – thanks for making the trip special.  Look after yourselfs – Paul x

Current Mood: Bored & Tired

Running around trying to decide what to take for food on a train journey is quite difficult when you are doing it at the last minute – packing for 15 hours in the same carriage and the same seat.

The taxi picked us up on time, we had to get two taxis because of the sheer amount of stuff that is being lugged around at the moment.  I swear to god that Scatt’s bag is like a mobile home at the moment, she too has bought a trolley for it, but it screams out in pain everytime the bag is loaded onto it, then there is the seperate toiletries bag, the food bag and finally the day rucksack.  So there was no way we were going to get  1 taxi between us.  Emma and I got the first one and await the girls at the Gahn train – a little worried as we had noticed a sign saying max 20kg on the way in!  Uh oh…

Luckily this meant that each ‘individual’ bag had to weigh no more than 20kg, so luckily Scatt didn’t have to throw away any of her belongings this time (phew!).

Checked in we went and listened to the crew saying hello and introducing themselves out on the platform and then climbed onboard.

It was more spacious than I had pictures and a lot more comfortable, the seats swivelling round so that we could share Cheese and Wine with the others.  The rest of the carriage looking on with envious eyes ;).

We sat, we read, we sat, we read, we read some more and we sat…  There would be a moment of stupendous excitement when one of us would go and get a cuppa tea, but apart from that we sat, we read, we chat, we read, we sat…

The evening drew on and the sunsetting was beautiful, I tried to take a few pictures, but the trundling along of the carriage made it a little difficult to do so.  Then came the night and even though the seats were uber comfortable to sit on during the afternoon and early evening, they were a killer to lay on.

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Emma couldn’t get comfortable, so I said I would go and read some more of my book in the lounge car so she could have a nap.  So at 11pm I went into the lounge car and read some more of my book (Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz!) and only got up at 2.30am when I thought I would fall asleep where I was!  Em was fast a kip and very reluctant to move, even though she was going to rest her head against my arm – completely destroying my chances of catching flies.

It was pretty surreal just rumbling along in the dark, no cabin lights and only a few on the exterior of the train, made it feel like we were on the surface of the moon as it lit the outback floor and showed up all the pits and scrapes.

As the sun lifted its head over the horizon, I felt like an insomniac jacked up on Redbull – dreary eyes with bags you could take your shopping home in.  The sunrise made up for a lot of it though.

Em surprised me with a Scrambled Egg, Bacon, Sausage and Tomato brekkie which was delicious (oh and a cuppa!) and we chat until we arrived at the station in Alice Springs.  Stepping out of the train was like stepping into a dry oven.  What HAVE we let ourselves in for!!!

Current Mood: Playful

Didn’t hold out much hope for Adelaide, we had been told that is was a little quiet farming city with no real character.  4 nights seemed too long and quite like the littlest hobo, we were looking to move on quickly.

As Emma and I slept in the back, the girls chatted and navigated their way into the city – Lucy behind the wheel.  Em and I woke to see that the farming town wasn’t full of Cows and Bulls, that the population weren’t getting around on horse and cart but the place was actually quite a buzzing and things stayed open all hours of the day.  We pulled up next to a clapped out old Ford Falcon in the YHA Car Park, grabbed our Backpacks and shot into the Hostel to get out of the 39 Degree Heat!

The first thing that we noticed was that the place was actually quite nice and large, loads of computers and a travel shop attached to the side of the building!  Excellent start, let down by a staff member serving us with a face like a slapped arse – he hadn’t just got out of bed the wrong side, he’d fallen out…  Nevermind, you do come across them and the best way to respond is usually with a nice dose of sarcasm to make them feel even better. Walking away feeling good we get to our room and find that it is what we need after such a long drive.  The room is large, tidy and has it’s own bathroom attached.  What a treat.

Exploring the hostel we find little gems of things hidden around in various rooms and cubbie holes.  Imagine our joy when we spot pool tables, arcade machines, a computer jukebox, pictionary, twister, a huge kitchen, a library, 2 reading rooms, 2 tv rooms, well I damn near passed out and came out with my favourite line “I think this is my favourite hostel so far” – apparently I say it at everyone we get to.

We all head out to see what Adelaide has to offer and while Lucy and Scatt head off to get something to eat, Emma and I go and check out the shopping district and Rundle Street Mall.  The centre is quite vast and in the heat we don’t last long, maybe only a couple of hours – I only get chance to go and check out another Camera wholesalers where I find what I am looking for, 2 neutral density filters!  Wahooooooo…

[zp]adelaide[/zp]

Eventually we end up back at the hostel where we meet the girls.  Lucy is a bit of a wiz on the pool table so we enjoy a few games, where I actually get put under a fair amount of pressure!  The kitchen is vast and quite clean so throughout our time in Adelaide we had quite a few nice meals.

The girls loved Adelaide as it they managed to book an appointment to get their hair cut, both Em and Lucy having highlights to cover up their roots (they looked like reverse skunks with the dark stripe down the middle of their heads!).  While they were there I caught ‘Smokin’ Aces’ at the cinema – not the best film ever but I did have the whole cinema to myself as it was midday.

Adelaide turned out to be a city of rest and relaxation for us and definately a decent place to go ad chill.

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

Wassup people…  Massive update of pictures today and with the help of the girls I have gone a bit overkill (167 Photos of the Great Ocean Road – which is rocks ;) ).  Still, it gives you guys and gals something else to look at…  Also uploaded a few videos which I will put into a future blog.  But for the moment, take a look at Luce and Scatt giving it large in the back of our Subaru Outback by clicking here.