Current Mood: Sickly & Tired

So we’ve got to Broome, Lucy with an ear infection and me with some sort of bug which really wasn’t a good start! Also, coming into Broome at the tail end of a cyclone meant that the rain was torrential and made the days really humid. We checked into the Kimberley Klub and got to our room, not a bad size but it looked like a map of the world on the ceiling from all the mould that had formed.

I slept the whole of the first day, not in very good form. The girls went and explored around us, coming back to report that ‘Hot Fuzz’ was on in the local cinema and that there were two small shopping centres near us. About 6pm I managed to get up and even get my ass to the cinema, didn’t feel too great, but the thought of seeing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost lifted my spirits – it really is a bloody good movie and made me laugh loads, not good when I had to get up to go and be sick, but I don’t think I missed a major part of the plot ;).

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We returned back to the room and I jumped straight back into bed, Em sat with me while Lucy went out and saw some of the others we met in Exmouth. With my high temperature I was dreaming quite a lot and then when I woke up didn’t know where I was, even having mild hallucinations which scared me a little – like a good little nurse though, Em looked after me and the next morning I felt a lot better.

We jumped in the Hyundai Tucson and headed to Cable Beach, it was not the nicest weather but if you go to Broome then you’d be stupid not to see it! It really is a spectacular beach and I reckon if the weather had been nice, our whole time in Broome would be here! Still, it wasn’t, so we buggered off back to the shopping mall where we stopped to pick up some medicine from the Pharmacy. Yum yum…

Our hostel is quite central and they don’t check anyone who comes in and goes out, quite good for us as Marco and Lea came and joined us for a couple of evenings – enjoying a nice ‘Cold’ stubbie before going to watch ‘Old Hogs’ at the cinema. Then returning back to have a few more stubbies. Rich, Vic, Simon, Sarah, Mel and John were also at the hostel so we joined them in the pool where we just chilled out and relaxed.

Not that much to do in Broome during the weather we had, but good fun was had and it became a very relaxing place to plonk our bums for the 5 days. It also had the best internet place, I managed to get in an hours gaming during one particularly wet day! What a geek!!!

Wow, we’re missing all the birthdays being over here during this period of the year – but we just want to wish Sarah Harvey a very Happy 28th Birthday. We miss you mate and can’t wait to celebrate (belatedly) when we get back! Enjoy your day and we’ll hopefully speak to you soon… HAPPY BURPDAY :D

Current Mood: Tired & Sickly

Up early and loaded into the trusty Hyundai Tucson we got ready to drive to Karratha, our first nights stop. But before we actually left Exmouth we visited the supermarket to pick up some supplies! I wait in the car to keep the a/c on while the girls went in, all of a sudden Em comes running out telling me to lock the car and go with her. As any man knows, you don’t argue with a woman when she’s like that so I obliged. All of a sudden I see a lady holding a Joey (Baby Kangaroo) in her arms like a baby, his name is ‘Midnight’ as that is the time he was rescued from his dead mums pouch. She had been hit by a car! We all took it in turns to hold him, getting our pictures taken and finding out about what happens to him now – shame he’ll end up as a burger… Only joking, he’ll be released back into the outback when he is 1 year old if he seems able to fend for himself.

After we left the supermarket we said goodbye to Scatt as she was flying back to Perth and then onto Brisbane to see her boyfriend Dougal. Then it was on the road – our first stop was due to be Karratha, which was about 3-4 hours away. We kept ourselves amused playing the ‘Name Game’, ’80s Tunes’, ’80s Cartoons’ and a load of other random rubbish. When we arrived at Karratha we had a quick stop at the Supermarket to get some water, it was still early so the decision was to continue to Port Hedland – about another 3/4 hours up the road. Easing our bellies with a Fillet from Maccy D’s we continued on, more games and more larking about later we arrived at Port Hedland, it was dark (about 8:30pm) and we were going to try and find somewhere to sleep for the night. Our trouble was that there was NO space at all!

[zp]roads[/zp]

Back on the road again thanks to a late opening petrol station we carried on driving, hoping to get as near to Broome as possible. That night we kipped in the car having driven for around 16 hours! We woke in the morning and sat waiting by the petrol pump for the store to open… Once again caught out by the time difference, we were waiting for about an hour as the clocks had gone back! Wonderful…

Refuelled and back on the road we carried on driving, but after we had driven about 10 mins I had to pull over – I had stomach cramps, headache and a high temperature. Em took over and I tried to get some sleep! I woke up about 90kms from Broome and felt really ill, I kept my gob shut and my head down for about 70kms but then had to get Em to pull over where I was very sick :(. I felt terrible and luckily Em and Luce got us to the YHA and checked us in while I went to Lay down! We were in Broome and I couldn’t move very well, liquid coming out of both ends.

The girls explored, while I just lay there feeling sorry for myself :(

Current Mood: Esctatic & Tired

Thank goodness for a short drive, only an hour and a half from Coral Bay to Exmouth so we were there bright and early at 10am – checked into the hostel side of the Potshot hotel and into our room by 10:30, first thing to do – Sleep! The room is nice and compact and we have a huge a/c unit, so when we woke up we realised that setting it at COLD setting wasn’t too great an idea – you’ve seen the scene in Dumb and Dumber where Harry and Lloyd go all the way to the ski resort on the scooter, well that’s how we felt!

Most of the first day was spent catching up on the website, sorting through the millions of photos I have taken and then burning a DJ’s worth of CD’s and DVD’s… When we got back to the hostel we flopped back on the bed and watched some TV, something we have missed from the UK – Lost, Prison Break, Bones, 24 and Crossing Jordan (Em also delved into the realms of Neighbours and Home and Away). Then ‘Knock, Knock’ on the door and we open it to find Lucy standing there, they’re in the room next to us! Freaky…

[zp]exmouth[/zp]

The following day Em and I head to the Northern point of Exmouth to see some of the beaches and various sites that there is to offer. The first stop Bendigo Beach where the water is flat, calm, see through and there is a Jetty without a barrier – perfect for some high flying action. We only stay here for 15 mins as there is a wealth of beaches to see…

The next stop on our Whistle stop tour of this part of Oz is the SS Mildura, a Cattle ship that collided with rocks on the 10th March 1907. Every person lived but all 481 cows and bullocks on board were left to drown :(.

While we were here we saw what we initially thought was a lizard, then out of the shrubbery shot a little mouse, we thought we were suffering with a bit of the ol’ Fisherman Syndrome (everything is bigger than in your mind than in reality), but the next minute a long thin brown snake shot out the shrubbery in hot pursuit. It was like Tom and Jerry on the beach, the Mouse would gain a bit of space then the snake would catch up and grab hold of the mouse – who would retaliate with a kick to the head and a bite of its own back until the snake let go, chase resumed and away they went again. I’ll tell you what snakes can seriously move quickly!! After about 30 seconds and about 4 rounds of Mouse vs Snake, the mouse did the unthinkable and ran towards the surf (Crazy fool!), the waves were only 30-50cm’s high but to a mouse that’s like a tidal wave! Even the snake thought he was crazy as he stopped dead in his tracks, coiled up and craned his head to see what was happening.

The mouse was engulfed in a wave and we thought how brave the poor sod had been. Resigned to the fact that the mouse was to join the cows in their watery grave we started taking pictures of the snake again – then as if by miracle a little up the beach we saw a little thing get washed ashore in the next big wave, Mighty mouse! Wet, bedraggled, tired, limping, yet alive, he hopped back up the beach to safety – the snake still looking out to sea… Victory for the mouse – wahoooooo…..

Time for Em and I to run as the Snake slithered back up the beach and past us, thoroughly pissed off I’d imagine!

Quite buzzed from our close encounter with nature we visited every beach down the coast hoping to see something else as cool. Nothing quite the same cropped up, but there were a mixture of washed up Jellyfish, some round, some square, some a mass of tentacles and others just a big mashed up, bird pecked mess! Em collected up some shells while she was beach combing and we both looked for the hatchling turtles that were said to be around.

[zp]exmouth[/zp]

The following day was Lucys Birthday (and Clare Coopers back home!), I had sneaked out after she had gone to bed the previous night and stuck a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner up on her door with a couple of balloons, then Em and I went into the Kitchen and bench area in the morning to decorate it for her arrival which Scatt was looking after. With it all prepared we sat and waited, Rich, Vic, Sarah and Simon joined us and we waited some more – next moment, Scatt pops her head around the side of the wall “Oh shit!”, she shouts, realising that they were late – off she runs again to get dressed and more importantly, get Lucy.

“Surprise!”… Luce was a little overwhelmed and quite chuffed which was cool, I began cooking pancakes for everyone but with them taking some time I employed the culinary skills of Rich who joined me at the pans to dish out a mixture of perfect crepes, fluffy pancakes and the odd lump of slosh! We spent the day at Bendigo beach with Marco and Leaz joining us – most of the time here spent throwing ourselves off the jetty! That evening we all got dressed up and went to the hotel restaurant for a lovely meal and then to the disco where a few MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice moves were bust before we called it a night! A cool time has been had in Exmouth!!!

Current Mood: Playful

Just a quick blog to wish Clare Cooper and Lucy Evans both very Happy Birthdays.  Lucy is being spoilt rotten out here in Oz, I hope you guys back home are spoiling Clare!

Current Mood: Cool & Tired

Both Em and I had really wanted to dive the Navy pier in Exmouth, in fact that was one of the only reasons we had come here – trouble was, the pier has been shut down! The reason is not really known, so we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would probably have to resign ourselves to a lesser dive. Em booked us two reef dives and we waited outside the office at 7.30am for them to open up and to get our equipment.

We climbed aboard the bus and were advised that there were only 8 people diving today, bonus considering they usually have 20 dives! When we got to the harbour we saw the boat and it looked massive, climbing aboard we saw how big it really was – you could easily fit 40 people without anyone complaining, a fully equipped kitchen, bath/shower room, large carpeted deck with seating and places for all your equipment, lounge area and the Captains cockpit which contained more computer consoles and screens than my old office.

The skipper came out and advised everyone the rules of the ship and the diving – “Don’t flush the toilet at the dive site, we want you to all log your dives, not dive your logs!” was a typical line and I missed most of the others because of laughing. We got kitted up and ready for our first dive ‘Blizzard Ridge’, the reason it was called this was the current and when you jump in you are being pulled straight away, we were finning hard to stay in the same place so descend down to the ocean floor to escape. The current on the sea bed was virtually non-existent and the life was amazing – loads of big fish like Potato Cods, Lagoon Rays, Bat Fish etc, but zillions of the little ones like nudibranch, anemone fish etc that really made the dive. Everywhere you looked there were fish, making for one of the most interesting dives I have ever had.

The next dive was at a place called ‘Labyrinth’, which was because the reef down on the floor created like a maze which you could swim around and get lost in (coming up a bit if you wanted to see where you were again!). Around every little corner were different fish and then when we turned one corner, we saw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Sea Turtle just sitting on the coral itching his belly. He wasn’t interested in us in the slightest and we hovered near him taking photos and watching him chomp rock for ages. He wasn’t even afraid to be touched and his shell and skin felt really soft? Strange!

Leaving him to his own devices we went a little further around the maze, coming face to face with two white tip reef sharks, neither of which were fazed by us and came right up close – really nice as usually they bomb off as soon as they see you.

On the surface everyone was on a high and chat about what they saw all the way home, it also now becoming common for people to have underwater cameras so we were all looking at what each other took. Great day, great dives…

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

After our slightly disappointing stay in Denham we moved onto Coral Bay, we weren’t holding out much hope as our stay in the more populated Denham was a bit boring – so we prepared ourselves for the worst.  We needn’t have though, the cabin we had booked was nice with a separate bedroom area and lounge/kitchen with a table – wahooo, modern amenities hey, how we miss them!

After checking in, we had a brief exploration.  5 mins later we had visited the whole of Coral Bay and had decided on the best spot.  We went to the office and after handing over a total of $5 we walked away with snorkeling equipment for the day, we walked for 5 mins around the southern peninsula of the bay and swam over the boating lane, into the deeper part of water.  The fish life was great and we spent over an hour swimming around taking snap shots and getting a tan on our backs.  Knackered and needing a bit of shade we hit the beach and had a little nap.  This is the life…

We ran into the girls in the evening, they had been there a few days longer than us and in the tradition of Scatt had spent everyday on the beach topping up their tans.  We said we’d meet them the day after and hit the sack – tired and happy.

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The next morning we met up with Marco and Leaz, the guys we had met at the Sea-Lions tour back in Green Head.  They are a nice couple and good company.  While Em, Lucy and Sarah had a sunbathe, Marco, Leaz and I swam up to the Shark nursery where the Black Tip Reef Sharks leave their pups to get bigger before they go out into the blue.  We only managed to see a few though, one of them a mum as it was a lot bigger than the pups!  With our Sun cream struggling to keep the sun from burning our backs we head back to base.

Marco and Leaz joined us for Sunset and finished up by cooking us the best Spag Carbonarra I think I have ever eaten.  We laughed and chatted into the night, the drive to Exmouth is only an hour and half so we didn’t have to worry.

Current Mood: Bored

So after our trip around Kalbarri and all of our various adventures we had there, we have spent the last few days just chilling around the pool and reading our books. Denham is a nice place, but really small and has one supermarket where they sell everything for living, an internet place in the Telecentre that costs a small fortune for you to even log on and a surf shop that sells t-shirts/shirts that look like they have been made by someone with one arm.

We have been making the most out of the room and the pool, the room itself is quite large but we have a slight problem with mould on the ceiling – not a problem if you don’t look up ;). We have a kitchen inside with all the necessary equipment to cook up a storm – Em’s Mushroom Sauce on chicken breat with Veg… Yum yum… God, I really am scraping the bottom of the barrel on things to put down for Denham. Next I’ll be telling you about the choice of pants I put on each morning or something!

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So after 3 fun-filled and extraordinary days in Denham, we checked out and headed towards Coral Bay – stopping briefly at Monkey Mia to see the Dolphins. Em got picked by some German Girl who must of been helping out there to go and feed the dolphin, she only just put the fish in the water when the girl was already saying “Okay, you can go back now”, some Dolphin encounter that was…

Onto bigger and better things now – Coral Bay with a population of 120 people – uh oh…

Current Mood: Cool & Tired

So we reach Kalbarri and check into the nicest room we have stayed in so far. It’s like something out of a caribbean resort hotel, with a massive amount of room, lovely bathroom, big double bed with a spare just in case one of us kicks the other one out, kitchen area, TV, bedside lamps and the greatest invention ever – air conditioning. We feel a bit pampered so decide to spend the first day just chilling in the room with a bit of ‘Heroes’, ‘LOST’, ‘Bones’, and ‘Brothers and Sisters’ (Em also watched ‘Home and Away’ and ‘Neighbours’, but they don’t count).

The next day we went to ‘Natures Window’ a rock formation that is supposed to look like a window over ‘Mirchison River’, but didn’t resemble one at all apart from you can see through the gap. It was our attempt at keeping fit, with the walk there and back being 1km, we were going to do the full 8km circuit, but with the temp being around 50 degrees because of the heat given off by the rocks, we decided to call it a day and wander back – I would definitely not like to leave this world from heat and lack of water.

Getting back to town we went straight to the cafe where I went online to mail the folks and while on the internet, I got an email from Div telling us about their Snowboarding holiday – I must admit to being hugely jealous, the only thing I think I would enjoy more than this trip is to do a season on snow…

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That evening we booked Abseiling for the following day, we had tried already but the first day we tried it was already full. So 7am in the morning we were up and out the front of our hostel when the big Abseiling bus pulled up and Robbie and Carl got out to say hello. It was just us on the trip which was a surprise as they had been fully booked for the last couple of days. We went to the wall in Mirchson River Gorge and Carl gave us a demonstration of how to get down backwards, Em said she would go first, so after being strapped in and donning the gardening gloves she edged out over the side of the wall. It was only a 30 metre drop, but it had a few overhangs and stuff, so I was a little nervous. Em made it look easy, hopping backwards and jumping out like something out of Mission Impossible. When she got to the bottom Carl unclipped her and sent her back up the wall ready for her next go. I was strapped in and went back over the edge, I was fine until I looked down and then got a bit nervous – but, the moment you start jumping back you forget about everything and see how quick you can get down.

The next stage was to go down forwards, which sounds nerve racking (and it is – at first) but get over the falling forwards over the edge and its all good fun, you literally let the rope slip through the harness and then run like crazy. Em went first and had me in stitches, she couldn’t hold her legs out behind her so ended up coming down hanging from the rope, she got a few foot holds, but otherwise you will have to see the pictures and video. My go and I actually managed to do it, what a rush as you hurtle towards the floor – take a look at these pics and videos if you want to see what I mean.

That night, we sipped some wine and had the best fish’n'chips we have so far encountered in oz. Yum yum yum!! We were joined for the meal by Mambo, a local Staff who was friendly with the backpackers, but that night, it seemed it was just us! Miss my dog…
The day we left we did a bit of Pelican Feeding and then it was time to move onto Denham

Current Mood: Playful

Well, not actually lion lions – but Sea Lions. We arrived to meet Rodney our Skipper not knowing how many people are on his trip, we are introduced to everyone and we climb aboard. It’s about an hours sail out to ‘Fishermans Island’ which is only a small island off the coast, home to a couple of hundred sea-lions. Cruising up to the island it looked to be a little bit of a wasted trip, the sea-lions were all fast a kip on the beach.

Nevertheless we all put on our Mask, Fins and Snorkels and jumped in. Surfacing from the hop off the boat we were all confronted by a playful juvenile whom took us a little out from the boat and to all his mates.

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They are sooooo playful and copy whatever you do, if you do a forward roll, they do one too. If you stand on your head, they too stand on their head (all in the water of course). The only trouble comes when the big bulls come out to round up the pups and take them back in. It’s like my Dad with me, he need just give me ‘the look’ and I know that I’m in the wrong – these Bulls do the same thing. So we had to wait again, but not for long – we were joined by three teenagers (in Sea-Lion terms) and they had a little play with us, look at the photos and you’ll also see that they had a play with each other.

We met a young couple on the trip – Marco and Leaz from Switzerland whom we have stayed in contact with since. They are a really nice pair and are driving the whole way around Australia in a little camper, got everything you need, but I bet it gets hot in there.

After a successful snorkel and a bit of fun we jumped back in the car for the rest of the journey to Kalbarri.

Current Mood: Tired

The drive to Cervantes was short and sweet so we didn’t arrive late, even though we had been on the bikes for a lot of the afternoon. Our hostel was lovely and we had a double en-suite room where the bathroom was roughly the size of our normal bedrooms! So a bit of a lucky break there.

We had a chat with one of the owners who told us what time sunset was for the pinnacles and where we had to go. Really nice people and when we found out that the Sea-Lion Snorkelling trip wasn’t going from Jurien Bay, they suggested one from Green Head which we eagerly booked.

There isn’t much to do at Cervantes, so we chilled for a while having a shower to remove the sand that had become embedded in us from the motorbikes, then head to the Stromalites which are one of the oldest living organisms in the world – dating back tens of millions of years ago. You can imagine how active you would be being that old and they look like big lumps of rock in the shore line. You can’t play chase the ball, or practice your sit, lay down, roll over with them anyway.

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For something a little more interesting we drove to the Pinnacles desert arriving an hour or so before sunset. We drove round twice so we could find a nice spot to watch the sun leave us for the day and then set up the cameras. We met a swiss dude there who had the same idea as us so got talking. We must of been there for about an hour after the sun had gone down – it’s an eerie place in the day time, a moonscape of rocks and shrubs. At night it’s a pretty haunting place to be and I could imagine a few horror movies being set there. The pictures have come out okay – but nothing special! I’ll put them up when I get to a decent internet cafe…

A pleasant evenings sleep and then a short drive to Green Head!

Current Mood: Cool & Esctatic

After a chilled and relaxed break in Perth, Em and I head to Lancelin which is about an hour and a half north. Em really wanted to go to Rottnest so after driving all the way upto Lancelin, we drove back to Perth the day after to go check out what Rottnest Island has to offer. In our eyes, not really a great deal – yes the beaches are quite impressive, but we have seen a lot better on our journeys – the island itself is just sand and grass, nothing else really there to give you the wow factor. But still, we spent a nice chilled and relaxed day sunbathing at Little Parakeet Bay which is at the North of the Island. I even got a little bit of snorkeling done.

So we drove back to Lancelin to explore the following day. The town itself is mainly windsurfing as they have a steady wind all year round, making the conditions a lot easier for the Windsurfers to predict. We were planning on having a lesson, but the wind really picked up and even some of the intermediate Windsurfers were coming back into the bay, the advanced ones though loved it and we were really impressed with the speed and power that these guys commanded on their boards!

Our hostel was really nice and we had a lovely room with veranda, we had a little nap and wrote our diaries, Em on the patio and me on a hammock really comfortable, but it’s not great for writing in.

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The following day we were due to go to Cervantes Backpackers, but thought that we wouldn’t go too early as the only thing to do there is the Pinnacles. So instead we head towards Lancelin Off-Road Motorcycle Hire where we had ourselves a little fun – Em hired a 250cc Yamaha Quad and I got a 250cc Yamaha Motorcross bike, a quick introduction to the controls, basically how to kickstart it we were off on the dunes. These machines are seriously good fun and took me back to my childhood (motorbiking around a field with my pap’s!). We were all over the place and the way that these machines through up the sand made you feel like you were going a million miles per hour! After about half an hour I had a quick pop on Em’s Quad, it was quite a nimble little thing and was easy to throw into nifty powerslides and donuts. I showed Em how to do them and she jumped on – a few minutes later and she was holding the slides for ages and really carving up the sand with her donuts. I left her to it and went to the top of the dune, sitting up there watching her it looked so cool and I got a few pictures of her before I saw her catch one of the ruts she had made and roll the quad.

It didn’t look very fast as she had scrubbed off the speed, but I got there quicker than I thought I could – but she was already up, onto the quad again and still blasting around in the power-slides, just this time, away from the tracks she had already laid down! Impressive stuff… One of the guys who runs it came over to me to tell me I had a cool woman?! And then challenged me to a race down to the dune and back again – so I obliged, he beat me (because he could ride it better) but I wasn’t too far away and where as he tail whipped the bike on the dune, I turned slowly so I didn’t fly off. HE was quite impressed though (so was I actually) and he taught me how to tail whip the bike on the dune so that our next race would be closer. Trouble was, our time ran out :(. Next time maybe!

So we left the extreme Lancelin and headed to the slightly quieter Cervantes!

Current Mood: Tired

Well we got to Perth, safe and sound and in relatively good time.  We left at 4am in the morning and arrived at Wave Rock at 8:45am, just as the sun was poking its head over the ridge – 45 mins later and we were on the road again, arriving into Perth at 1pm.  Tired but unscathed!!!

[zp]hyden[/zp]

What was important to do in Perth, well the website, emails and photos of course.  So Em and I have sat here tonight and done it all – phew!  So below the post congratulating Dale, Liz and James you’ll find the blog for the last fortnight continuing onto the second page.  Nice to hear from you all, send us some pics so we can see what it is like back home!

Current Mood: Happy

Just thought I’d take the chance (while I’m actually at a computer!) to wish Mr James Stringer a very happy 30th Birthday!  Hope you make it a good one and we’ll be thinking of you over here! :D

Also – Congratulations to Mr Dale Millar and Mrs Liz Millar on their marriage last Saturday.  We wish you all the love and happiness for your futures!  :D

Current Mood: Cool & Happy

So we drive for 3 and a half hours and straight to our hostel, god we’re good!  The first thing we notice is how many beaches there are within reach of our hostel – loads!  Which is a good thing as we are here for the beaches…

As we arrived fairly late in the day we decide to just grab ourselves something to eat and familiarise ourselves with the surrounding, the board at the hostel tells us of loads of things to do but we only see beach, beach, Beach!  Off we go and within 5 minutes we are down on the beach next to Esperance Jetty where there is a crowd gathering by the fishermen so we too thought we would rubberneck.  Turns out that everyday the jetty is frequented with Sea Lions who are eager to get the scraps of fish that are being thrown over the side, there are 3 big ones and a ‘toddler’, they duck and dive over each other all competing for the guts and bones from the days catch.  After about 10 mins they disperse and later on we find them on the beach sparko, all knackered from having to swim to the jetty – cute, but the couch potatos of the Sea Lion world ;)

[zp]esperance[/zp]

Next day we head to Lucky Bay which is officially the whitest beach in Australia, it is bloody white and the sand is soooo fine.  We have a little stay here and then decide to move onto the 2nd whitest which is Hellfire Bay – again really spectacular and we come to the conclusion that each beach through Esperance is going to be gorgeous so spend the day trying a beach and moving on, trying a beach and moving on.  When we get to Twilight Bay we set up camp and stay for the rest of the afternoon, the water is clear, the sand is soft and the scenary is spectacular.

The next day we do the same thing but this time skipping the first set of beaches and ending up on Twilight.  Gonna miss this beach!

Long drive tomorrow, all the way back to Perth (via Wave Rock), so its into bed early – alarm set for 3.30am! :(

Current Mood: Tired & Happy

Pleasantly refreshed after our little stop at Kerry and Jeffs hostel we moved along to our next base of operations, Albany.  Driving in we were relieved to see that there were a few more people here than Walpole, the town actually had a town with shops in and everything!  First stop was obviously the hostel and we checked in no problems, Peter the owner did a now customary introduction to the town drawing with bright pink marker all over a map he gave us.  With enough information and places to visit for a year in Albany we put our stuff in the rooms and made a start.

Sounds really dull but our first stop was Albany Wind farm, a feat of mechanical brilliance that we actually quite enjoyed looking at.  They are massive, like super humongous fans…  I thought it would make an excellent fairground ride – you strap one child to the tips of each fan and then let it rotate, we went on a particularly windy day (click here!) and I reckon even the most inexorable child would of hurled on the day we went!

Next stop was the ‘Natural Bridge’ and the ‘Gap’, two more rock formations for us to gawp at.  Quite impressive, especially the Gap which sucks in and throws sea water high into the air, coating my camera lens with a layer of salt and leaving your face feeling nice, dry and flakey ;).  We didn’t stay here too long, especially with the wind like it was.

Next stop the Whaling Museum, imaginatively titled – “Whale World” which I thought was a kind of theme park.  Nope, it was an old Whaling Station where they used to pull the dead whales up onto shore and process them.  We learnt how they used to cut them up, burn them down and make oil out of all the blubber – something that those of you who know me will know, I really like to know about ;).  Still it was quite interesting and they are now all about saving the whales and making people aware of their beauty.  They are such graceful creatures and I so hope that I get to dive with one (not too big mind!) this holiday!

[zp]albany[/zp]

With diving in mind Em and I went and booked up at a dive shop that we were recommended when we were in Freemantle (by a photographer guy called Glen Cowan).  So booked up for 2 days of diving we went to a bay called Little Beach where we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening chilling out on the sand.

The next day we were up early, down to Supa IGA and onto the Jetty for 8am in the morning.  Here we met our Dive Guide Pete, our Skipper Carl and the rest of the divers for the day.  First thing we had to do was change into our wetsuits, now I normally dive in a rash vest and board shorts and am not really used to having to stick a suit on - now I find out that we need to wear a 7mm wetsuit and a full suit vest and hood, its like wearing a duvet!  But this is because the next stop south would be the Antarctic and the water is a little on the nippy side when you go down to 30 metres :)

Jumping in the water on the first day of diving it really took both Em and I by surprise, it was equivalent to sitting in a cold bath and both of us looked at each other to say - are you sure you want to do this.  We cut the crap and went under.  The visibility was good and all we were actually down to find was a fish called the ‘Leafy Sea Dragon’ that disguised itself like a piece of kelp – Em went through her air quite quick and I got buddied with a guy who loved looking in every nook and cranny.  We didn’t find one though and resigned ourselves to the fact that we may see something super interesting on the next dive…. :D

We did, the next dive we were prepared for the water, but not for what would accompany us throughout the dive.  A lovely large female fur seal, who thought that we were under the water for her own amusement – she stayed with us throughout the whole dive, taunting us with her ability under the water and playing with us.  She ventured to within only a couple of feet of each of us, checking us out and studying us, it really did make us smile and the dive was amazing.  We surfaced, both like big kids.  Em had conserved her air better and we had really enjoyed our ‘play time’.  That evening we went to Little Beach with a Eagle Boys Pizza where we chilled and took everything in, another early rise in the morning because of the wreck dive!

[zp]diving[/zp]

Again we were up early and went to the Jetty where we met up with Pete (guide), Carl (Skipper), Mick (Photographer) and Ron (Photographer) from yesterday and a few newbies to the boat, all of whom were good fun to talk to and a good crowd to dive with.  The trip to the HMAS Perth took only about 15 mins and we were in the water really early, the mast breaks the surface of the water so we all swam over to it, ready to make the descent.  The wreck was really eerie and loomed into view as we went down – its like Pete’s second home as he dives it so often and he knows his way around every single room and cabin that there is.  He showed us some really cool things like the captains room, cabins, bathrooms (complete with mirrors!) and the computer rooms.  Em and I both loved it and were so relaxed – for those of you in the know, both Em and I went down with 210Bar in our tanks, we dove to 29.4 metres, our dive time was 47 mins and I came up with 95 Bar left while Em came up with 60 Bar – Pete had got hold of some of the fins that he uses (the most expensive in the shop) and they are supposed to reduce your air consumption by 30-40 percent!  They definately work!!!

Click on each of these for some dive movies of us (big files!) Em and Seal, Playful Seal, Em Waving.

Dives done for this part of the trip we return to our hostel and get changed, ready for the cinema.  Rocky Balboa is out and we really wanted to see it (Rocky is a legend and I love the movies!), so we head off.  It’s a bloody good movie and although he is showing his age now (part of the film actually!) he is still a beefcake and would kick Vin Diesals Ass!

Long drive tomorrow – Esperance!  Time for bed, night…  :D

We said good bye to Augusta and travelled up the South West shoulder of Oz to a little town called Walpole, little in the way that the population is only 400 people and even a lot of them are just holiday home owners!

Checking in we met one of the owners of the hostel – Jeff who showed us around and introduced us to Walpole on a map.  Not a great deal to do in the actual town and as we arrived after 6pm, everywhere was shut apart from the Comfort Inn so we ended up grabbing Dinner there – bloody nice it was too.

The next morning we were up early to go exploring, Walpole is the town to stay in if you want to see some big trees – first stop of the day was the Giant Tingle Tree, measuring 27 metres in girth you can fit a small car within the hollow trunk.  Em and I got caught up in a little bit of rain here so made ourselves at home within the trunk.  When the rain passed and the sun popped his head out again we jumped insde the Tingle for a few pictures.  Stupid ones, but fun nonetheless.

[zp]walpole[/zp]

Next stop was the ‘Valley of the Giants’, named as such because you are walking through a forest of Tingle trees all reaching 40-50 metres into the sky.  We had a stroll around the aerial platform that takes you up to 40metres with the tips of the Tingles and gives you a nice view out over the valley.  You can only really walk one way and the platforms sway gently in the wind so it gives you a weird feeling.  Once we had completed this we had a stroll around the ‘Valley of the Ancients’, which – as the intelligent of you will realise, is a walk around some ancient trees, some of the trees are hollow and you can have your picture taken inside them which is pretty cool, but we’d already done that at the Giant Tingle so moved on pretty quickly.

That evening we met up with Kerry (the other Owner, Jeffs’ Partner) who showed us how to play Rummy…  So there we were, till gone midnight when we were supposed to be moving on in the morning, listening to Kerry tell us stories of her life as a hostel owner, some hilarious, some frightning, but the rummy was fun and the skip-bo was also a good game (which we’ve since picked up!).  Next Stop Albany…

Current Mood: Playful & Tired

Before we even reached Walpole we stopped at the Bicentennial Tree just before Pemberton so that Emma and I could have a try at climbing one of the four firespotting trees.  In days gone by, blokes would scramble up these wearing studded boots and a rope to try and pinpoint where a bushfire has started, now the trees have become a tourist attraction, the local councils placing giant steel pins around the trunk in an upward spiral to the pinnacle at 67 metres.  Brave hearted souls (like me ;)) have the oppurtunity to climb up them – now in England they would be instantly shut down for health and safety, there is no safety net, no cushioned floor, if you slip from the top you will come a cropper and that scared the crap out of me!  We put our shoes on and started to climb….  It’s high, but feels higher!  After we got to the first lookout platform, we both bricked ourselves.  We stopped here and had a look around, instantly in awe at the scenary, but both scared witless – we climbed down… 

After a while I thought I had plucked up enough courage to make the top and tried again…  This time I made it 3 quarters of the way up, bricked it and came back down again!

As we left the national park I was cursing to myself, I should of been able to make the top – so we took a detour to Pemberton, where we stopped off at the Gloucester Tree.  Another lookout of the same height that I could try my luck at climbing again.  This time I made it!  Wahooo  :D  Standing at the top with my heart pounding and my hands shaking, chatting to a fellow backpackers, we discovered that the climb up was the easy part – we stood at the top for about 15 minutes chatting about what we had been upto before deciding to climb back down.  “See you at the bottom” I said, “Not too fast I hope!” Was the reply…

Completely chuffed with myself, legs aching like crazy we headed for Albany!