Perth and South West Australia
Hello all,
Well after some chilling out time on Melbourne I have finally moved on and I am now in Perth. Before I left Melbourne I met up with Madleen who I met at Fraser Island. We spent an afternoon and evening together catching up and seeing more of the St. Kilda area. After getting back to the hostel a group of people were going out to the bar and wanted me to come along to celebrate 1 year on the road. We ended up partying until the early morning with some of the hostel staff and had a great time. It was a great way to end my time in Melbourne.
On October 11th I flew out of Melbourne to Perth, on the West Coast. My flight was at 6am so I was up before 4am and had to take a taxi that cost $80. I got into Perth at 7:45am with a 3 hour time change. I went straight to the hostel I was told about from a few other backpackers called The Witch’s Hat. I could not check in yet so I left my stuff and went for a walk. It was cold in Melbourne when I left and it was rainy and cold in Perth when I arrived. I was so looking for some warmer weather. I think it was right around the same time that the weather turned for the worse in Alberta and got really cold. I can’t imagine how cold it is there and to have snow already!!! I took it really easy for the day, mostly because I was tired from getting up so early.
On Monday the weather changed here as well, but for the better and it has been around 25 every day and really nice. Monday morning was a great morning; I got to talk with my whole family on Skype. Everyone was together celebrating Thanksgiving. I got to talk to all of them and catch up with all the things going on. The best part was seeing all their faces especially my newest nephew, Nicholas. He is going so quickly!!! Everyone is doing well; I enjoyed the call so much. The rest of the day was spent roaming around the city checking out some of the sites and going to other hostels to see if anyone was looking for a ride up north.
Tuesday was a pretty chilled day as well. I went back into the CBD and found a really cool Aboriginal shop and talked to the guy running the place for a while. I spent most of the rest of the day relaxing. I was beginning to worry if I was going to find anyone to travel with but as you all know everything just seems to always work out. Later that evening 2 separate girls showed up at the hostel straight from Europe and were looking for some things to do. We chatted that night and made some plans to tour around together the next day. Saskia is from Germany and Satu is from Finland. We got up in the morning and walked to Kings Park. Kings Park is a huge park that contains the Botanical Gardens and other open areas. It is really nice and we walked around for about 6 hours and almost the whole park. Everyone was pretty tired from the walk and the evening was pretty chilled and I checked out some stuff on the internet.
Thursday was another chill day besides prepping to head on a road trip south of Perth. Saskia, Satu and I decided to rent a car and head south for a few days and see what we can find. We also went shopping at some discount stores and I found some cheap short pants as the ones I started with are wearing out. The girls came back with a few more things than me but we had a good day. In the evening I taught them how to play Bonanza and we played a few games before heading to bed fairly early.
On Friday, the 16th of October the 3 of us headed out of Perth going south. Like always we had no real plan but to see what we come across along the way. Most travelers go along the coast and then back up the middle but I thought it would be better to get the long drive all the way south first instead of leaving it for the last day. We drove for a few hours until we found our first stop at Kojonup. Here we stopped for lunch and then walked through a rose maze. The maze did not have that many roses because spring is just starting but it was a pretty cool place. The maze including 3 womens stories about their lives in the area. One was from an Aboriginal, another from an English women and the last from an Italian women. The stories were all very different but I found the Aboriginal one the most interesting. From here we went to a lookout at the top of Mount Barker for some great views of the area. After about 5 hours of driving we made it to Albany, our final destination for the day. We got checked into a hostel and then hopped back in the car to check out a few of the sites in town. We went to Mt. Clarence which was more like a hill than a mountain and the memorial lookout at the top. We then made our way to Middleton Beach where we thought it might be nice just to relax for a while. It was windy and pretty cold at the beach so we did not stay that long. We then went back to the hostel for some supper and relaxing. We had met 2 guys along the way and they ended up at the hostel as well. The group of us chatted for most of the evening and played more bonanza.
We got up early on Saturday and went to the outer coastal part of Albany and a place called The Gap. These are rock formations along the coast and it is truly amazing. Pictures will never do an area like this justice but my pics turned out pretty good. A little further down is the Natural Bridge and then the Blowholes. We stayed in the area for about an hour taking it all in, as the waves crashed up to the shore and all the birds flew around. We then continued across the bottom part of the south to a town called Denmark where Satu wanted a picture with a sign even though she is from Finland. Just outside of Denmark is the Valley of the Giants, where a huge forest is and a tree top walk. You get to walk amongst the tops of all these huge trees and see what it is like at the bottom and top of them. It was a little touristy but not too many people were around. We ended up meeting the 2 guys from the night before there again. We hung around there and had our lunch sitting in the sun and relaxing. We then continued to a National Park called Point D’Entrecasteaux and hung around to do some whale watching. Unfortunately we did not see any whales but the views were fabulous. On our way back to the car I experienced one of the dumbest moments in my life. We were walking along the path and came across a snake. Not just any snake a Brown snake, which is one of the most venomous snakes in the world. We stayed back and just looked at it for about 5 minutes and took a couple pictures. Instead of continuing to wait and let him get off the path I decided that I might be able to walk past it on the other side of the path. How stupid id this you ask, well very stupid. I walked very slowly and when I was about even with it, it reared up and started coming towards me. I screamed like a 3 year old and jumped and ran. These snakes are way faster than me and if it wanted to bite me it would have been very easy for it. I was very lucky as it decided not to and went into the bushes instead. After I could not believe what I did but I guess it all ended all right. Our next stop was a place called the Bi-centennial Tree. It claims to be the highest tree climb in the world and wow is it ever high. It is free to climb and I made it about half way up before starting to get freaked out a bit. There are no safety nets and it is just re-bar stuck into the tree to take you up. Not very safe but I thought that it would be pretty easy until I got going and once you are up a ways things change. I was happy to make it as far as I did. It was starting to get late and I wanted to get on the road and make it to our destination (Margaret River). It was a very tough drive because it was straight into the sunset and the area is known for lots of kangaroos. We made it to Margaret River just before dark and checked into a backpackers. Once at the hostel I had a rum, which I needed and relaxed for the evening.
Day 3 of the trip began with a drive out to Prevelly Park and a famous surf beach in the area. There were lots of surfers on the water and we watched for a while but the water was really cold and so we stayed out. We then drove on what they call Caves Road through the wine region and made a couple stops at some of the wineries. There is nothing better than tasting wine at 11am, which I didn’t get to try much since I was driving. After the tastings we went to the Ngilgi Caves and toured around the caves. It was really cool and we ended up about 40 meters below ground walking through a natural cave. It was not a good as the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand because it was all set up so any tourist can walk through it. They were still really cool but no abseiling or tubing here. We then made our way to Yalgorup National Park and Preston Beach. We hung out on the beach for about 1½ hours getting some sun and relaxing. It was pretty windy but we made the best of it. The water was cold here as well and Saskia was the only one to go in. From there we drove to Freemantle for the night. The hostel was right downtown and they offered free internet. We got in pretty late and all the grocery stores were closed. We ended up going out for pizza and there are tons of Italian restaurants here. Actually it is a huge Italian area and they just finished having a big street party that day. At around 8pm a bug fireworks display happened and lasted for about 20 minutes. We used the free internet for a while and then Saskia and I played backgammon.
In the morning we toured around Freemantle. We found another cool aboriginal store with some great stuff. We then went to the Freemantle Prison. This is a maximum security prison that was opened in the 1850’s and closed in 1991, 3 years after a riot. The tour took us through all parts of the prison and lots of crazy stories. None of the cells had toilets, they were only given a bucket and that was still the way in 1991. After the prison we walked along the port and saw the Maritime Museum and other port highlights. We had lunch there and then drove back to Perth. It was only about an hour back to Perth and we checked into the Witch’s hat again. Lots of the same people are still here and they were all interested to hear about how our trip went.
Tuesday was a chill out day. I had to return the car for 8am and then got ready for the day. I walked into the CBD to check out a few things and get some groceries but basically I was just wasting time for the day. Saskia and I are trying to find some others to go north with and so a few emails and texts were sent after looking up some people on the internet. I planned out a day to Rottnest Island and started to work on this blog but did not get very far. Later I taught Jen and Nathan (hostel workers) how to play Bonanza. I love playing this game!!! We also got a call from a Scottish guy that is looking to go north and we are going to meet up with him on Thursday.
On Wednesday I was gone from the hostel by 8am and on my way to Rottnest Island. It was named that because the first explorer here mistook the Quokkas for big rats. The ferry to the island went down the Mary River to Freemantle then out on the ocean to the island. The ferry ride down the river was interesting and they showed us 2 multi million dollars homes, one that had a boat launch and dock inside the house. A garage door opened and then you could drive your boat right into the house; some people have way to much money!!! Once on the island most people bike around the island because it is not very big and you can easily get around it in a day. Well I am not most people and I decided to hike it. I had an incredible day walking along beaches, paths and rocky out croppings. I stopped at a really cool area to have lunch, I thought I would just sit on the rocks but they just kept going out and ended up leading to a little beach that I had all to myself. Listening to the waves and these little birds that I wasn’t sure what they were but something like a finch. As I walking back to the main path I saw a Quokka, it was so cool. Please don’t laugh at the next thing that went through my mind but here it is: One for all the hockey fans; If you remember back a few years and think about Ken Linesman or Theo Fluery, well they were pests on the ice and were aptly named rats. I am not sure who is the current rat in the NHL, probably someone on the Oilers, but I think they should be given the nickname Quokka instead of Rat. I am not sure how many of you are the MEJ but I guess this is another one you guys can use. I hiked all the way around the island coast and had some many amazing views. There are no personal vehicles allowed on the island and the only autos on the island were work vehicles and busses. I think the one bus driver waved to me about 6 different times and every time he had a bigger smile on his face. The total hike was somewhere between 20-22 kms. I got back to the hostel at around6:30 and made some supper and chilled for the evening. It is now Thursday and I slept in this morning and I thought my legs would be pretty sore but everything is good. We met with the Scottish guy this morning and saw his van and have agreed to travel north with him. We are going to leave on Saturday and go all the way to Broome. From there I will have to find another ride to Darwin as he and Saskia will be coming back to Perth. The rest of the day was spent writing the blog and chilling out. I will spend Friday getting everything I will need for the trip which is not much and getting ready to go.
It is going to be so much fun heading north and I am looking forward to it. Right now it is anywhere between 30-35 where we are going and high humidity, just the way I likeit!!!
Take care all!!!
Steve
PS: A few events to catch up on!!! Uncle Louis and Aunt Lovina had an anniversary on the 11th of October, you guys are awesome and I thank you for the comments on the blog. Mt brother in law Darryl has a birthday coming up on the 25th, damn he is getting old!!! And I am sure there will be some trouble on the 31st because it is Kirby’s birthday, have fun girl!!!
Tags: Australia
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