The Shipwreck Coast, or how we saw lots of animals

We afforded little time to Geraldton, preferring to make progress on our journey North. In all, we did three things in 'Gero', which after discounting the predictable town-stop activities of 1) lunch and 2) buying more food, really means we did one thing, a visit to another (after Perth, Freo and Albany) branch of the WA Museum. The predictable local-interest main exhibition was engaging and informative, with experience-enhancing props I'd expect only of museums twice the size. My favourite was the fully-restored aeroplane, which flew the first mail service in WA. Its survival and presence was remarkable, as even on the first flight, one of the three planes crashed in the bush with the loss of both pilot and mechanic. The special galleries were very good, with Annie's favourite the coverage of the Zuytdorp and Batavia wrecks on this treachourous coast. 

After a short stretch of the North West Coastal Highway, we turned off to Coronation Beach, with a sheltering reef and quiet campsite. We stayed late the next day whilst I fumbled ineptly on the beach with my new (and first) fishing rod, before hitting the road again for Kalbarri. 

We both like wildlife, as the number of wombat/koala/kangaroo photos on Annie's camera will attest, and thanks for some great zoos and national parks we have seen many many antipodean critters. Missing, however, have been the monotremes, which are either reclusive or had escaped their enclosures. It was then a stroke of luck when Annie cried out on an annoyingly slow 60-zone and we saw an echidna ambling by. Like a big hedgehog, but stretched out, he (she? it?) was quite unconcerned with our understanding that it was only active at dawn and dusk. Actually, I don't think I can support the widely advised dawn/dusk activity pattern for Aussie animals - they do what they want when they want, and road traffic be damned. 

Kalbarri is annoyingly pretty, one of those places that will always look like paradise even when it's raining a storm, or in the driest, ground-baking-est scorcher the Aussie summer can provide. My unwarranted hostility on seeing the splendour of reef breaks next to a tranquil lagoon, and seeing jagged sandstone cliffs looking over soft grassy sandbanks, was only assuaged by my mom not being in Oz yet. She'd want to up sticks and move here immediately, and the travel distance for family get-togethers would be silly. There would be plenty of local animals to stock her dream menagerie, though my fishing efforts need a drastic improvement before they could provide for her aquatic section. I stood by the water right through sunset until the seagulls stole an almost whole pack of bait, but in my defence, no-one else had any fishing luck that night either. 

Our body clocks are slowly resetting to match the sun, so it wasn't much of a struggle to rise and start packing at first light. We drive a few kilometres out of town to the Big River Ranch, where we had booked onto a horse riding tour. Annie was excited to be riding again, describing herself as an intermediate rider, a stark constraint to my trepidation and obvious lack of experience. We were introduced to our horses and told of their natures: Kiwi the laid-back dude for me, and Barney the playful egotist for Annie. The riding was surprisingly easy, nose-to-tail in a line of six with two guides and the horses knew what to expect. Until we went for a run, that is. During the run, for which I held on for dear life, Kiwi cut corners, jumped past Annie in line, led the others on an impromptu path-making session via a dead bush, and got lost, though unlike the rest that wasthe girl in front's fault for pulling her horse up. Phew! I was shattered after all that adventure, and that exhaustion doesn't even factor in my sore lungs from laughing; my horse pooed mid-river and floated towards a horrified Annie! Elated and feeling reckless, we left Kalbarri on the East road, stopping in at the National Park gorges. Why reckless? We'd been to so many other national parks in WA, we decided not to pay the entry fee here. And on that rock and roll note, we drove a 500km round trip diversion to Denham / Shark Bay World Heritage site, just to see some dolphins. 

I've noticed a split in travellers here: those who enjoy the outback and those who think it's 'just the bush' and can't tell mulga from eucalypts. The crux seems to be how much the landscape changes in, say, a three-hour drive. Let me warn you, even David Attenborough would have been pulling his hair out in frustrated boredom, if he'd been with us on that drive to Denham. You may now be wondering if it was at all worth it, and, unfortunately for future travellers, I have to say it was. Let's ignore the overpriced caravan park and the neighbouring camper who mistook our get-lost-it's-tea-time look for an entreating come-talk-at-us, and get right to it. We saw baby emus being inexpertly shepherded across the road by a parent. We were within touching distance of two fully aware wild dolphins, who swam on their sides to get a better look at us while their pups span, jumped and chased back and forth (at Monkey Mia). We saw beaches made entirely of the shells from the tiny bivalves that proliferate in Shark Bay's hypersaline southern reaches, the sea grass meadows from an excellent high clifftop viewpoint (though sadly no dugongs at this time of year), and we even saw evidence that the entire area was tropical and mangrove-covered only 4000 years ago. In short, the monotonous drive to Denham was completely worth it, and we really should have broken up the boredom of the drive in with some of the picturesque rest-stops, instead of saving them all for the way out!

Readers of Bryson may have picked up on an omission in my list if wonders in the Shark Bay area, though I've not been specific with place names and his 'Down Under' did come out in the 90s. After a long bus trip, he dismounts and baffles at the appeal of some slimy rocks, namely stromatolites. Hamelin Pool is a famous site for viewin these ancient microbial colonies, and it's about as interesting as slimy rocks can get to the non-biology-specialist. The slime colonies are protected by boardwalks and boating restrictions, but what the info boards don't tell you is that these particular stromatolites can only have been there for several thousand (not million) years - the sea level changes have completely reshaped this area several times over since then. It's nice they're protected where they are, but they're actually quite common in this bay, to the extent that you can drive your 4x4 over them (to launch a boat) at the campsite we stayed in that night, a lovely station stay called Gladstone. 

Sadly that brought our journey's biology lessons to an end for a while, but don't worry, we've still plenty to recount. Next up: The Pilbara!

Yornaning to Geraldton: Overheating in the rain

Technically, this comes before the previous post but somehow the other one got sent first!!! 

Form Yornaning we continued North and noted the change in the landscape. The lush hills and forrests of The Great Southern region gave way to farm land and huge wheat fields as we headed through the wheat belt of Western Australia. We stopped for lunch in York, a lovely old town and WA's oldest inland settlement. It has a beautiful Town Hall building and many others besides. We took a day trip here from Perth and as it was on our way, we couldn't resist another look as well as another visit to Jules Cafe, a wonderful spot for lunch - how convenient!

We drove on through some lovely countryside and stopped at another winery before heading into Gingin and paying a visit to the Gravity Discovery Centre. It's a fun interactive science centre focussed on gravity and you can do a range of experiments to demonstrate various aspects of gravity, magnetic field and so on. They also have an excellent cosmology gallery all about the evolution of earth and the ascent of man. Unfortunately we arrived within one hour of closing so although we got to see everything, we rather had to skip round which was a shame. By the time we had finished it was 4pm which is when we usually aim for camp and annoyingly, when the rain really started coming down. We pulled into a rest area for the night and hunkered down with wine and books hoping the incessant rain would clear by the morning... 

Luckily for us, the rain stopped and we woke to blue skies and white fluffy clouds albeit with a rather incessant wind. We took a short drive to Guilderton for a caffeine fix before heading north along Indian Ocean Drive. We hadn't gone very far, 30km maybe when the dashboard beeped at me, ENGINE HOT flashing on the display. Shit. There's not really a hard shoulder on this road, a vague patch of gravel to one side at best. When the road straightened out a bit, we found a spot to pull over and Tom took a look under the bonnet. We weren't losing either oil or coolant so it wasn't easy to assess why we had overheated. For the second time on the trip, we called roadside assistance and were towed to the nearest town, Lancelin. Thankfully, it was on our way and only 12km down the road. It would have helped if the roadside team had given the tow truck the correct instructions, but you can't have everything can you? As it happened, we were the only red commodore pulled over that day and the truck soon came to our rescue. The mechanic made a quick assessment as to what caused the issue, given that we had put in a new radiator during our time in Perth. It was the thermostat. Even more luck was on our side that day as they had the part in stock and so we knew we'd be ready to go sooner rather than later. All told we were waiting for about two and a half hours in a charming seaside community on a pretty blustery day. The heavens opened once more, just as we got back to the car.

Owing to the engine trouble, rather than make it to Geraldton as planned, we pulled in for the night at Cervantes. On the way, we called in to visit the remarkable Pinnacles Desert. The pinnacles are pretty amazing limestone formations sticking out of the flat sand around them. They are rather striking, with an other-worldly quality. We saw them as the sun was beginning to set, bathed in orange light. Not too long before the rain caught up with us there as well!!! It follows us around I swear. The discovery centre gave some interesting info on the wildlife at the Pinnacles as well as various theories as to how they were formed, but no one really knows for sure. 

The next day, we woke early to beat the cleaners, that is to say, we had to access the bathroom before they closed it for cleaning. I can't understand why, when check out is 10am, you would close the bathroom between 7:30 and 8:30am? I remain incredulous.

On our way out of Cervantes, we called in at Lake Thetis to see the Stromatolites. Stromatolites are microorganisms found in certain conditions and were instrumental in the development of life on earth. They are believed to be the world's oldest living organisms and the saltiness of the lake meant that they are able to survive with little disturbance. From there it was off to Geraldton, the biggest town for quite some time. 

Rewind 1: Tidal River to Bendigo - Oil leak the second

So, as promised, I want to continue some of what we did before our arrival in Perth, as it was great and it shouldn't be ignored. These backtracks are for our own benefit as much as anything so if you're not interested in stuff we did last year, then stop reading now. When we last rewound, we detailed you with tails of sandwich-stealing seagulls and snuffly wombats and all the majesty that is Wilson's Promontory National Park. Cue flashback:

The drive from Tidal River to Warburton was rather long and once again we found ourselves having to battle with vague maps and poor signage. We hadn't had breakfast and our hopes of making up for it in Fish Creek were dashed as the decent looking cafe was closed. The next town along, Leongatha had a better offering (one that was open!) and we were able to get an eggy fix as well as a good amount of caffeine.
We drove through beautiful forests to Warburton, a lovely town on the edge of the Yarra Valley, you guessed it, one of Australia's most famous wine regions. We called in to Chandon, the Australian outpost of the famous Moet Chandon company. They have a beautiful winery and cellar door and even offer self-guided tours around parts of the winery with explanatory panels for each stage of the winemaking process. We also visited a brewery (makes a change!), this was White Rabbit the sister brewery to Little Creatures based in WA. Next door (conveniently) was Giant Steps winery, not as welcoming as some we've been to, but still some decent wines and we came away with a couple of bottles.

From the Yarra Valley we drove along winding roads through Healesville and Marysville, both devastated by bush fires in 2009 when 34 people lost their lives.  Signs of the fires still remain but they are thriving and creative communities nonetheless and continuing to rebuild. We made for Alexandra and a decent free camp just outside of the town. We were finally enjoying some sunshine, our drive North was spurred by hopes of sun and we found it, for now at least. Alexandra is a lovely little town and we were thrilled to find Redgate Espresso, a lovely cafe with free WiFi and free iPads on which to surf! How very modern! We spent two nights here owing to the fact that the Melbourne cup was on which meant bank holiday, which meant crowds everywhere. Thankfully the crowds failed to materialise in our little pocket of Alexandra and we were rather pleased about that.

From Alexandra we took a slightly indirect route to Bendigo. We had to stop by the brilliantly named village of Break O Day and we stopped for lunch at Flowerdale. Somewhere on the way Annie was struck by the realisation that her shoes which had been safely stowed under the car, were probably still there. Only the car had moved and the shoes were still at the campsite, they could still be there now! We headed to Flowerdale, not only because Annie's name is Flower, but because the local hotel (and by hotel they mean pub) had won best Parmigiana in 2012 as awarded by The Hotelier's Association of Australia. We had one for lunch (to share as they are generally huge) and it was truly excellent. We have explained the beauty of the Aussie classic Parmy once before but as a refresher it is: a crumbed chicken breast, topped with a slice of leg ham, covered in napolitana sauce and topped with melted cheese. Phwoar.

On the road, we also discovered one of our favourite wineries, Rees Miller. He only had Pinot Noir for tasting (like we care) but it was all organic and it was delicious. He was a very interesting person to chat to as well and even sold us a copy of his self sufficiency magazine! We spent the night at Greater Bendigo National Park which was a bit of an arse to get to but free which was all we needed. The next day when visiting Bendigo town centre, we pulled up outside the information centre to collect some leaflets. On our exit from the building, we saw a huge pool of oil coming from our car. Rather than move it, we called Roadside Assistance (a 12 month membership had been included when we bought the car). We scrambled to get a few things out from the car before they took it away and we stayed in a cabin at a nearby caravan park. Unfortunately the garage wasn't open that day, being a Saturday so we had to wait a couple of days in Bendigo until it could be fixed, but the important thing was that it got fixed!

Bendigo is a real gold rush town and it shows in the magnificent buildings.  During our time there, we visited the Central Deborah Goldmine and took a tour down below which was fantastic. Wearing hard hats and lights we went down into the mine as though we were a mining crew, our guide was our boss. We had a drilling demonstration and inspected the operations as our boss determined whether we were up to the job of miner, invariably we were not. The mine was worked on 17 levels and is no longer operating other than for tourist purposes. In its time it removed over 1000kg of gold.

Gold was first discovered at nearby Ravenswood in 1851 and by the 1860s diggers were no longer tripping over surface nuggets so the deep mining began. Many mines operated in the town and ripumour has it you can walk from one end of town to the other completely underground.

We also visited the excellent Regional Art Gallery and the Golden Dragon Museum and Gardens. The museum is home to two impressive imperial dragons, Old Loong is the oldest in the world and Sun Loong which is the longest in the world at over 100m long. Old Long is retired but Sun Loong still makes an appearance now and then. The museum also details the life and inevitable hardship of immigrant workers in the mines during the gold rush.

When we were finally reunited with the car, we continued North toward the border of New South Wales. More on that next time.

Peaceful Bay to Yornaning

From Peaceful Bay, we drove back through Denmark and on to lovely Cosy Corner, a free camp site near West Cape Howe National Park, though not part of the park itself. It's a small and unsurprisingly popular camp ground as not only is it free, but it is very sheltered and only metres from the beach, and as a bonus the loos were pretty OK too!!! We camped amid peppermint trees which had intertwined to form a perfect canopy over the camp ground and as there aren't many camping spots, we were lucky to have arrived when we did. Tom will attest to the fact that I can be annoyingly particular when it comes to camp spots, but on this occasion there was really only one to choose from! Being a freebie, we opted to spend two nights here even though it was still quite rainy.

When the rain eased, we explored the beach and tried to do a bit of fishing but our only catch was seaweed and lots of it. We also admired the nocturnal visitors, particularly a brave little marsupial which I first thought was a rat. Then I was convinced it was a Gilbert's Potaroo, Australia's rarest marsupial, but later research showed it to be a Quenda, a type of Bandicoot. Nonetheless, he was cute and pretty fearless as he foraged by our feet.

After a nice couple of days in Cosy Corner, it was on to Albany, our last stop on the South Coast. A nice, reasonably large town with lots of beautiful old buildings and very friendly locals who shared with us their enthusiasm for the town and the region. First stop was the Boatshed market to check out some local produce and so on before heading to the Albany outpost of the Museum of WA. They had a very interesting exhibition about the Second World War and the role of Australian soldiers in East Timor. It is fascinating to learn about the war from this part of the world and it really brings home the reality of the worldwide impact of a part of history that we are really only taught a snapshot of.

Being a Sunday, not much was open in Albany so we decided to head to another free campsite, Norman's beach set in the beautiful Whydachincup National Park. We drove about 50km out of our way along mostly dirt track for this site for no reason other than it was free, but it was worth it as we had the place to ourselves! We pulled up to a small parking area /camp ground and read the info about the beach, named for the three Norman brothers who at one time owned much of the land nearby. The parking area was lined to one side with trees and as the ground sloped away, it became evident that some of the trees were standing in water, as though there was a lake there, though no lake was marked on the map. We took the path over the dunes that led to the beach and from this higher vantage point we realised that this was Norman's inlet, once connected to the ocean, it is now separated by the sandy beach and so it makes it more lake than inlet. As we followed the path round and reached the staircase that led us to the beach, we both let out a WOW at the scenery around us. It felt very remote and it was very beautiful. To our left, a high rocky hilltop half covered by cloud, dark green trees interspersed with large granite outcrops. In front of and below us, a pristine sandy beach and the azure blue of the ocean with pounding surf. To our right, the bay curved round with more rocks protruding into the sea and more hillsides rising in the distance. All along the beach, big granite rocks were emerging from the sand and even in the greyness and drizzle of the afternoon, we couldn't fail to be in awe of some of the best scenery we have seen thus far. It is a thoroughly special place and I hope to add some photos before too long.

The following day was back to Albany to stock up before we began to head North. It occurs to me that Albany is a very friendly town for us travellers. Free internet in the library and WiFi that works outside as well. Free plugs to charge your gadgets, free showers and loos, free drinking water for campers and a microbrewery! Or so we thought, it turns out that they don't have a brewer right now which is a real shame! Anyway, Albany seems like a pretty great place to me.

That afternoon we drove up to Mount Barker to visit the marvellous winery known as Plantagenet. As luck would have it, I was tasting again, such a hardship. They have some amazing wines and pretty good value too, I would say that though (we did get 15% off!). We came away with 4 bottles: An Off-dry Riesling, an oaked Sauvignon Blanc, a Cabernet Merlot and a Syrah. While in Mt Barker, we paid a visit to the butcher and bought some Jarrah smoked bacon for the next day's breakfast and lunch. It was delicious!

From there it was 20km down the road to Porongurup, a very small settlement nestled in the hills of Porongurup National Park, somewhere we weren't even planning to visit until we saw some pictures of it in Albany and were recommended it by some locals. On our arrival at the little caravan park, we were assured by the owner we had chosen a good time to arrive as there forecast was good for the following day. She was right and we woke to blue skies for the first time on the trip! We climbed up to Castle Rock in the National Park and walked to its summit where there is The Granite Skywalk, an amazing metal walkway attached to the granite rocks and allowing impressive views over the surrounding areas. From there, to the South we could see Norman's inlet and we also looked North toward the dramatic Stirling Range, where we were heading. Access to the Stirling Range National Park is somewhat limited so we decided to just drive a little closer and have our picnic lunch with a good view. They rise dramatically from the flat plains and are covered with such thick green scrub they look as though they are wrapped in wool. We drove for a few more hours, picking up the Great Southern Highway and stopping on the way at Gnowangerup and Wagin. Wagin is home to another of Australia's big things which we have mentioned before, Wagon is home Rambo, the big ram. Wagin is in the heart of a region that seems to exclusively have Merino sheep and Rambo came into being in 1985. From Wagon we realised we were in easy reach of another free camp, Yornaning Dam so headed there for the night.

Yallingup to Denmark

We left Yallingup and set off for the famous Margaret River wine region. In an area such as this, with over 100 vineyards it's certainly difficult to choose where to go even if they don't all operate cellar doors. A chance visit to the big Waterstones on London's Piccadilly a few weeks before our departure saw me pick up the perfect book to see us through this dilemma and guide us for what has become an integral part of our travels: wine. The Glovebox Guide to Wine Touring by Greg Duncan Powell covers 48 Australian wine regions (who knew there were so many?)  and has been an invaluable guide to our cellar door visits with maps, contact info and opening hours and even recommending places to line our stomachs. Fear not, we are responsible and whoever isn't tasting gets to drive!! Somehow, it happened that Tom was driving through Margaret River so I had the pleasure of tasting the wines at three lovely vineyards, two from the book and one being somewhere Tom was keen to visit. To  quote the opening sentence on the region from our book: "If you were God and you could design a wine region from scratch you'd probably come up with something that looks, tastes and feels like Margaret River." I could tell it was going to be a tough day...

Between us, Tom is definitely the wine connoisseur so I can rely on him to talk knowledgeably with the staff at each cellar door while I make appreciative sounds, quaffing each sample and muttering about tannins and 'The Nose' or bouquet, if you will. In Margaret River we started with Clairault wines and then went on to Brookland Valley, owned by the well-known-back-home Hardy's. Set near a large lake amid lovely gardens, the cellar door itself felt like a National Trust gift shop so we felt compelled to wander around admiring the stuff (much of it not even wine related) before admitting that we just want to taste the stuff, please. A nice lady talked us through the selections and discussed the region with us. She also let us pet Lily, the resident dog of the vineyard so that was lovely.

We made a pitstop for lunch in the lovely country town, Margaret River that gives the region its name and added to our ever expanding collection of leaflets at the visitor centre before heading into the final vineyard. Stella Bella was the one that Tom wanted to visit as he has known of it for a long time, it's a family-run vineyard of great quality and reputation. The cellar door here was a bit more like someone had built a bar in a shed and I don't mean that as a bad thing. It was lovely and a friendly English lady took us through the selections here and we may have acquired a bottle or two.

After all the rigours of wine tasting, it was time to find a place to camp so we headed back toward the coast to Cape Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park and stayed in a wooded campsite run by Department for Environment and Conservation called Conto Beach. In the morning, we were rewarded for our early rise by a close encounter with a kangaroo and her Joey. It was lovely to see them potter around foraging together and we watched them for quite a while before having a hearty breakfast ourselves and setting off for the day's adventure.

This day we went to Cape Leeuwin, the most South Westerly point of Australia and one with the tallest lighthouse. We took a tour of the lighthouse so that we could go to the top of it and admire the views over the spot where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. Following a stop in Augusta, a sleepy, small town for provisions we drove on to Pemberton via one more winery. This time it was Donnelly River Wines and we scored a bottle of red for $7!! Bargain. Pemberton is a lovely town set amid rolling hills and wooded forrest. Such was its charm that we almost immediately chose to spend two nights here. It's worth mentioning at this point that the climate, and as a result the landscape, in this corner of Western Australia are totally different from the rest of the state. There is far more rain here and it is consistently cooler with the breeze coming in from the Southern Ocean making the whole area more lush and green than the northern part of the state.

Another feature that is unique to this area are the impressive Karri trees. These huge, tall straight trees are a sight to behold and we drove part of the dedicated roadway known dramatically as the Karri Forrest Explorer. It was amazing to drive with such huge trees on either side. The region also has some rather famous individual trees, one of which is known as The Gloucester tree. When the forrest was being logged for timber, certain trees were used as lookout points to watch for forrest fires. The Gloucester tree is one such tree, named after the Duke of Gloucester who visited one day, though I doubt he climbed it. Iron pegs had been driven into the tree trunk to form a ladder up the length of the tree, 53 metres to the top where there is a sort of lookout hut on a platform. For some reason, I climbed the thing while, ever wise, Tom waited at the base. The view from the top was spectacular, you can see for miles around and it was fun seeing the birds and other tree tops at that level. Getting down was tough as you more or less have to look down to place your feet on the godforsaken pegs! I was holding on for dear life which goes some way to explaining why my legs still hurt as I write this, three days later.

Having paid entry to one national park to climb the tree, meant we had free entry to another national park. Apparently I am a glutton for punishment as despite the fact my legs felt as though they might explode, I agreed to climb a mountain!! Well, it was more of a rock really but who am I to split hairs when I can claim to have climbed a ruddy tall tree and a mountain in one day?! It was called Mount Chudla after all. After more nice views and a couple of rain showers, it was back to Pemberton to our nice spot in a  rather idyllic caravan park as we camped next to a stream, surrounded by nosey ducks.

The following day, we headed to Walpole where we did the Valley of The Giants treetop walk. Not quite as dramatic as it sounds, it is literally a suspended walkway amid the tops of beautiful red tingle trees which can grow to 75 metres. It turns out these trees have very shallow roots, in spite of their height so the treetop walk enables people to admire and enjoy the trees without damaging the roots. What's also lovely is that it is designed to sway in the breeze so to enhance the tree like experience I suppose. From there we set up camp at the charmingly named, Peaceful Bay.

Peaceful Bay is the place where we discovered that our griddle pan makes great toast. It is also the place we had to return to mid-afternoon as I had left my tablet charging at the campsite. Thankfully, we weren't too far away when the realisation hit and even though the couple who camped on the site after us had put the thing in their car, at least they handed it over and I was reunited with my doof (as I call it). Other highlights of the day included a visit to Denmark chocolate company, run by a lovely Swiss lady and Forrest Hill winery, the oldest vineyard in the Great Southern wine region.

On the road again

It may seem to you that our blog has fallen by the wayside somewhat and to some extent that's true. The distractions of work and city living in Perth meant that our blog fell down the list of priorities so we are woefully behind and for that we apologise to our loyal followers, all ten of you.

Hopefully, the phone/Skype calls have made up for our lack of prose and we will eventually go back to fill in the gaps for our own sake more than anything.

In summary, we spent 5 months in Perth and four of those we were blessed with a warm welcome and a wonderful Aussie hospitality with my relatives, Simon and Nicci Whitehouse, Simon being my Dad's first cousin and so (and we have this debate on every meeting) I think it makes him my second cousin. Anyway, they were extremely kind to put us up (and put up with us) for such a long time. Not only this but they gave us an amazing Aussie Christmas experience, a beautiful steak on the barbie and of course, a pavlova. They truly welcomed us to their family and it was great to get to know them, their twin sons, Ben and Andrew and their partners, Anna and Jacqui and of course, their grandchildren, Maeve and Freya not forgetting their wonderful dog, Moses, recipient of many belly rubs. We have also enjoyed the hospitality of Simon's sister, Jane while we were in Adelaide and we will update on that later on.

In January I got a job at a nearby family-run deli, Scutti where I worked around 25 hours a week selling and slicing the cured meats and preparing fresh salads and other items for the shop. It was a great experience for me and I met some wonderful people who were part of the team.
Tom got a job at a Japanese restaurant about 25mins away by car which served as an interesting introduction to how fickle the hospitality industry can be, particularly for those of us on working holiday visas.

Our last month was spent in Como, a nearby suburb to the deli. Tom had some shifts at a nearby restaurant but not many hours which meant that it was time for us to hit the road so, on the 26 April we set off in the rain. The night before, our friends gave us a wonderful send off in the pub which resulted in us setting off from Perth a little bit later than planned but we hit our target of spending our first night in Busselton, celebrating our arrival with cocktails on the beach followed by Chinese food in town.

Busselton is a charming coastal town which has the claim to fame of being home to the longest jetty in the Southern hemisphere at 1.8km long. It juts out into the waters of Geographe bay and having undergone a recent restoration, you are now required to pay the princely sum of $2.50 to walk along its length which we (and many others) did in a bracing wind. We gave the underwater observatory at the end a miss as while it is a cool idea, it seemed a bit pricey and we doubted being able to see all that much given the blustery conditions above. It is a rather nice jetty and it even has a charming train as one option to travel along its length. Timber was the main industry to put Busselton on the map and to warrant the building of such a huge jetty, the last extension happened in1969. Our jaunt along its length saw us pause at many an information panel or gaze at the various arty sculptures and comment on the lack of life rings and in some places, complete lack of railing. Don't worry, Mum, we didn't fall in.

From Busselton we headed to Yallingup via Bunker Bay to check out the beach and we spotted dolphins in the sea. By the time we arrived in Yallingup, a tiny settlement, the rain which seemed to have followed us since our departure from Perth, had well and truly arrived so we hunkered down, grateful for the warm and dry of the car. Yallingup is one of those small, creative communities where the local shop is also a post office and cafe so we called in there to send off a parcel and discovered next door a bakery dedicated to making kugelhopf which were as delicious as they were unexpected, we took two as sustenance for the day ahead, a chocolate orange one and an olive with walnut. Lovely stuff.
Despite the rain, our trip was off to a good start.