Our first day touring Tassie...tops

Hi- we caught up on some sleep last night and set off this morning for the east coast. On the way we toured through pretty little towns, did a short rainforest walk near Weldborough (where we ate our packed lunch) and stopped off at a Pyengana cheese factory and bought some of their cheddar, before relaxing on their outdoor patio and enjoying a devonshire tea in the nice surroundings. We then saw nearby St Columba Falls, which are one of the highest in Tassie and were impressive.
We moved on and saw Halls waterfall- another pretty spot. We also had a close encounter with a cute long beaked echidna on our walk in.
From there we reached the coast and St Helens and started to travel south. We travelled through areas damaged by the bushfires around christmas- its amazing some houses are still standing.
We continued down all the way to Coles Bay- its cloudy, with sunny breaks and VERY windy. Adam may even get a sail in tomorrow arvo. Tomorrow we plan do bushwalk out to famous Wineglass Bay- we very much hope the sun comes out at least some of the day so we can see the area and its blue water at its best. Then we'll continue our journey.
Thats it from us today. Ready for more rest soon.
Love Emma & Adam xx

We are now overseas...Hello from Tasmania

Greetings from Tasmania!! Already we think it is beautiful here.

We are however, extremely tired after an exhausting journey over here on the boat. All started off well- we were most impressed with the facilities (restaurants etc) and tucked into a big dinner while we watched Melbourne disappear into the distance. Once we entered open water however, it all turned bad. It was a very rough crossing and that meant feeling sick and very little sleep for me. Adam also suffered- worse than me. He vomited much of the night and when we finally arrived was still shaking and sick. We disembarked at Devonport and then I drove us the 100kms to Launceston, where we are staying tonight. Adam then crawled into bed where he spent much of the day. He’s feeling more normal now, but we are both ready for some sleep.

Our boat story done, the scenery here is lovely- rolling green hills, tall mountains, beautiful bays and rivers. I have already spied a few new birds to add to my list, as I walked out to Tamar Island, in the middle of the river and a wetlands area- saw some bright finches and wrens and lots of waterbirds.
The city here is old and quite grand, with impressive architecture. We might have breakfast out before we set off tomorrow.
Tomorrow we head off for the east coast. Looking forward to it.

The last couple of days we enjoyed our journey along the Great Ocean Road seeing the well known attractions such as the 12 Apostles. We stopped at Apollo Bay for a quick lunch and then stayed the night at Lorne, a really beautiful beachside town. It has an impressive hinterland also- I went for a drive and saw a pretty waterfall and on a short walk to a lookout an echidna crossed my path. On our drive into Lorne, I also saw 6 koalas in the trees by the side of the road which was really cool. It would be a nice place to visit again some day- outside school holidays.

Yesterday I had a walk and swim at Lorne before we set off. We stopped in at St Kilda in Melbourne in the afternoon to fill in time before our boat left for Tassie- we went to Acland St and indulged at one of is famous cake shops.

Anyway, I really am too tired to think. Probably only got an hour or so asleep last night.
More news and photos from us soon.

On a final note, I want to pay a special mention to little Gidget- a special dog mum and I have had since 1991. Of course, she's been living with mum most of that time, but she was always like my dog too- I took her to dog training etc in the early years and I have always loved her a lot. Anyway, Gidget has been suffering the pains and ailments of old age the past couple of years and she had to be put down yesterday. I am very sad I wasn't able to see her again before she went and mum is obviously upset too and missing her already.
Sending you love little Gidget- I know you are up there playing in doggie heaven now.


Love E&A

More piccies from WA

Emma on top of Frenchmen's Peak, over looking the Cape LeGrande NP







Mr Sealion, thinking he is about to recieve a handout, whilst he lounges in the sun beside the wharf in Esperance.





Emma, in her PJs (we went up and had a look at the "superpit" at about 8.45pm) standing inside a large tractor bucket used to fill the trucks. Ahhhhhhh, what a beautiful piece of photography: large chunk of tractor part + hot chick + a sunset!




Here is about 1/3 of the "superpit". Only one in six trucks carries gold to the top, and that lucky truck, on average, yeilds only a small amount of gold, usually in total as much as the size of a golf ball once purified!!!! A lot of work for so little....but it is so expensive it is very worth while!!!!

Emma sitting on the water pipe that supplies water to Kalgoorlie from Perth, only 600+ klm! This shot was taken about halfway to "Kal".

In Warrnambool...about to drive the Great Ocean Road

Hi there,
We arrived in Warrnambool yesterday and had a quick look around, also stopping in at scenic Port Fairy on the way- the town has many historic buildings and also a good bakery ;-)
Today Adam put the car in for a service and had to walk back, so he is feeling quite fit now. I went for a walk and swim this morning, and then a bike ride around the foreshore.
After some lunch in our busy, rather claustrophobic caravan park (it's school hols after all) we walked into town, which is where I currently am at an internet place. We had a coffee and cake (we felt we deserved the sugar hit today) and also got a few things done- including buying giner travel calm tablets ready for our 11 hour boat journey to Tassie!
We'll travel along the Great Ocean Road tomorrow, which should be good. I travelled it years ago with mum, but Adam hasn't been here before. We'll probably stop in Apollo Bay or Lorne tomorrow night, then drive to Melbourne the next day, ready to board the boat, Spirit of Tasmania on the evening of the 26th. The boat leaves at 8pm and arrives at Devonport at 7am! Hopefully we'll be able to get some sleep on board, depending on how crammed the seats are I guess.
We saw the movie, The Holiday last night and both enjoyed it. Might go to the movies again today, just to stay out of the caravan for a while longer and relax.
That's it from now- might update tomorrow, if not our next blog will be from Tasmania.
Love, E&A xx

Green Trees, Blue Lake- now at Mt Gambier

Adam gybing before heading back out to the rocky break off Brighton Beach, Adelaide. First time using smallest sail...4.5m.....beautiful balmy day as you can see.








Little Joey, Flinders ranges, SA















Deep Creek Conservation reserve, near Victor Harbour, SA














This shot looks fake, but it isnt. Self portrait at top of walk over looking the crater lakes of Mt Gambier.









Hello- we travelled today from Adelaide to Mt Gambier. It was a good day, which started out cloudy but then cleared to be sunny and cool- about 21 degrees with a cold wind. On the way down here we stopped at the historic, seaside town of Robe, a charming little place. We bought some lunch ( a ham salad roll and custard tart from the bakery for me, and fish and chips for Adam) and ate it on the beach before driving on.
Mt Gambier is a nice place- with its most famous attraction the Blue Lake- a volcanic lake (its formed in an old crater) which turns the most brilliant blue colour each summer. There are some other lakes nearby and our caravan park is right next to the series of lakes. A walking trail surrounds them all and we hiked it this afternoon. It took us about 1.5 hours and there were lovely views of the lakes, town and countryside at every turn. The cool afternoon was also good for walking and there were lots of pine trees around- their scent filled the air and reminded us of Canada.
Or caravan park is surrounded by trees and we wish we could stay here longer. But we must push on tomorrow. We are going to Warnambool, where we have the car booked in for a service (it was time) the next day. We’ll probably ride our bikes around while the car is getting serviced.

Yesterday we had fun also. After Adam had finished windsurfing we travelled down to Victor Harbour, ate a nice lunch in a café in a historic town nearby, walked out to Granite Island on the causeway and stopped off at Deep Creek Conservation Park on the way back, where we saw excellent coastal views and lots and lots of kangaroos and wrens. A big day, but a good day.

Sending love and hugs,
Emma & Adam xx

Windsurfing in stormy Adelaide weather

Firstly,
Here's a pic of Adam at the top of Mt Ohlsen Bagge, where we hiked in the Flinders Ranges. It reaches an elevation of nearly 1000 metres, and the region is rugged and beautiful.






As for our latest news, well, today is still showery and with very strong winds, so it's really cold. Not so good for us to be out exploring, but good for Adam who was able to get out windsurfing this morning (it was too strong for me). There were guys sailing at the beach where we are staying 7.30 am! Adam went out at about 9.15 and by then there were about 15 windsurfers on the water, so obviously this is a known sailing spot. Adam had a really good sail- something he did not expect at all here in Adelaide, so that was a bonus.


We are now going to drive down to Victor Harbour for lunch and a look around, despite the poor weather. Didn't end up heading out last night as the weather turned really bad. The wind was so strong it ripped our awning to bits and really strong gusts shook the caravan all night, making for a difficult sleep.


Anyhow, more news soon.


Love Emma & Adam xx

Charming Adelaide...

Howdy,
We've been in Adelaide since Thursday. We arrived here a little later than expected as we had a poor nights sleep on our last night in Port Augusta as a couple of people tried to break into our portable fridge and things outside the van. We alerted the park manager who called the police. Adam was then awake on high alert for most of the night.

Anyway, we are staying in a park right on the beach at Seacliffe, which is about 15 mins south of Glenelg, Adelaide's most famous seaside suburb and we like what we've seen of this stately city.

We had a coffee at Glenelg on our first day, and a look around.
Yesterday we had a top day in the Adelaide Hills region. We first went to hisoric Belair National Park, which has a diverse range of trees, and many exotic species, planted by the original park custodians in the early 1900s. We wandered around in spite of on and off rain.
We then went to the oldest German settlement here, Handhorf, settled by the Lutherans in the early 1800s. We had a terrific lunch at a little cafe serving german style meals. We then went to a German bakery for some german cake and coffee...yum.

Today the rain was pretty set in all day. Despite that we set out exploring again and after a brief wander in the city centre (which is really nice) headed for the Barossa Valley. We meandered our way through many little historic towns and had a lovely lunch at Angaston Fine Food...german style again...fresh baguettes with cured meat, pickles etc.

Then it really started pouring. We looked at a few vineyards with their old majestic buildings and then headed back to Adelaide. We had planned to go walking in a conservation reserve but it was just too wet. Oh well.
Think we'll head to the movies tonight. We watched The Pursuit of Happyness the other night, and enjoyed that. Glenelg has a lovely, majestic old movie theatre.
Here tomorrow, then off to Mt Gambier, and our race across to Melbourne begins! We plan being home late February, a little earlier than expected for a few reasons, and we've booked the boat to Tasmania for Jan 26th, Australia Day. Looking forward to that!!
Love Emma & Adam xx

The Flinders Ranges & Port Augusta...and photos

This is a cast model of the largest great White caught with a rod and reel off the S.A town of Streaky Bay. This fella was 5m long and weighed 1540kg. He had a gob that would take half a man in a bight.This is certainly not the biggest pointer observed, but big enough to gain respect of all water lovers and conservationists. Here I am, as a watersports person, sharing the love, hoping to get some good shark Karma.







The Great Australian Bight- it's as though the land just suddenly stops, and drops away to the roaring ocean. Very impressive spot and the highlight of the Nullarbor journey









Here is the beach where we went swimming yesterday at Coffin Bay NP, on the Eyre Peninsula...beautiful!











Lovely Esperance! A wonderful swimming spot..the sheltered lagoon was beautiful and devoid of Great Whites

We had another big, but rewarding day today. We travelled about 150kms to the Flinders Ranges NP and hiked up a mountain to an elevation of about 1000 metres-- awesome, rugged scenery! Luckily a cool change came in overnight and it was only 32 today! But cloudy, so that helped us from baking on our rather strenuous climb. We saw lots of kangaroos and wallabies...some unusual yellow-footed rock wallabies-very cute! Also lots of different lizards, wrens and ring-neck parrots.

We head off tomorrow- to Adelaide.

Love E&A xx

Dry, barren and beautiful Eyre Peninsula

Firstly, a photo of the Nullarbor- a long treeless plain and many straight straight stretches of road just like this one, which go for hours and hours....

(will put up more photos tomorrow hopefully)

Howdy friends and family,

We are at Port Augusta now, after a few hard days travel. In two days we covered 1700kms- not a bad effort towing a caravan!

Yesterday we made it from Bordertown to the Eyre Peninsula- we headed down the western side, to Elliston, where it was time to call it a day well and truly. It was a hot day- up around 39 degrees at times. On the way down we stopped at Streaky Bay, a pretty spot. The tourist info centre had a life-size model of the largest white pointer shark ever caught on rod and reel, off Streaky Bay. It was 5.5metres long and the thought of something so huge coming at you in the water is terrifying!

We awoke today to another hot one, with a very hot wind blowing. I went for a morning walk and swim, then we packed up and hit the road again, heading south down the peninsula. We stopped in at Coffin Bay and explored the national park. Like the rest of the area it’s a beautiful place, in a harsh, desolate sort of way. This area is dry and barren- lots of rocks and sanddunes near the coast, and inland lots of wheat farms and brown rocky fields. The bays are pretty, and the surrounding land is quite bare and stark in places. Lucikly we came upon a beautiful beach in the national park. It was very hot, and the wind was offshore. As we walked over the dunes to the beach the water was a brilliant aqua and a huge pod of dolphins was surfing the waves. It looked wonderful and so inviting! There wasn’t another person in sight along the entire stretch of beach so we stripped off and ran into the water for a swim. It was really cold which was refreshing after the heat of the day. It was liberating to be in the middle of such wilderness alone. That was the highlight of our day today. We then sat in the shade back in Coffin Bay and I made some sandwiches for lunch.

We travelled from there around the bottom of the peninsula to Port Lincoln where we stopped off and bought some fresh seafood from the local fish place. We bought local oysters, tuna and a big hunk of smoked salmon.

We then continued up the eastern side of the peninsula, deciding to try and make it to Port Augusta. We arrived here around 8pm and it was stinking hot. The temperature hit 40 degrees on the way up and the fellow at the caravan park said it was actually in the mid 40s here today! At 8pm it was still 38 degrees. Not pleasant.

We set up as quickly as we could and then Adam prepared the dozen oysters we’d bought for dinner- so we ate salad and oysters Kilpatrick which was nice (we stopped at coles on the way in to buy the necessary bacon etc). Our caravan park looks over the water and across to the Flinders Ranges which dominate the horizon and are publicised as having some of the most beautiful, rugged inland scenery in South Australia. We intend to drive out there tomorrow (about 150kms) and do a bushwalk. A cool change is forecast. Hope it arrives in the morning and not the afternoon!! Otherwise we may melt if we attempt a bushwalk. The day after tomorrow we’ll continue on, probably down the York Peninsula for a night, before heading to Adelaide for a few nights.

We are both tired, but despite the long days and our very cramped quarters (and the various things which are no longer working properly in Molly, our old caravan) we are getting on pretty well. It’s 10.30 pm- Adam is attempting to sleep but it’s still just so hot he can’t sleep yet. I will join him shortly.

Sending our love,
Emma & Adam xx

Bound for South Australia……..Heave away….Haul Away!

Hi all,

Yesterday was our last day in Esperance where we decided to take it easy due to having some big drives coming up. So we started with a swim in the open saltwater lagoon at a beach 2 minutes out of Esperance, then a lay in the sun. Went into a great Turkish bakery and picked up some lunch. We sat with the sealions on the main beach and had our lunch.

Today we awoke with the fact in mind that our stay in WA was drawing close to an end.We left Esperance this morning at 7.45am with the goal of reaching Cocklebiddy at the very least, or perhaps Madura if we had the stamina.

The road was very empty heading east, with many road trains heading west. Petrol escalated from $1.20L at Esperance to $1.69L at Balladonia and it barely got better then that, until we stopped at Madura where the station was famous along the Nullabor stretch for cheap petrol at $1.40L.

The Nullabor was an uneventful drive, but at the same time was quite beautiful. Some stretches had just knee to waist high shrubs and one or two trees as far as you could see. At the time we were playing some tracks from Paul Simon’s Graceland album. With the African background harmonies and drum beats of some of Paul’s songs you could certainly picture the scenery as being the Seregeti Plains rather then the Nullabor! One straight we drove along was the longest in Australia, at around 146klm. The straight did go up and down in undulation, but no curves for all that time.

Anyway, a road train overtook us and sucked us along for the ride, which was handy as our petrol consumption was halved due to the strong headwind we had. The result being that we crossed the South Australian boarder, and we are now spending the night at Boardertown SA. It is really just a truck stop, but never the less we were happy with our efforts. We travelled approx 935klm today, which topples our previous record by 25klms. It was not a hard decision to press on with driving today as there are no stops or towns or anything of natural interest like bushwalks etc. We saw many emus with their young during the day, and a few big grey roos towards dusk, so that was our hint to call it a day.

Tomorrow we plan to get up early and continue our trip through the Nullabor national Park and onto Elliston near Port Lincoln SA, where we may spend a few days. On the way we plan to stop at one of the many lookouts (only about 20klm up the road from where we are at Boardertown), where I plan to cook Emma and I a pancake breaky with coffee whilst overlooking the majestic cliffs of the Great Australian Bight.

Anyway, off to bed for a rest.

Good night.

Love Adam and Emma xoxoxoxo

Cape Le Grande National Park...a grand place

The sun was shining today and there was only a light breeze blowing when we set out to explore Cape Le Grande National Park, about 50kms east of Esperance. It's a beautiful place, with stunning rocky coves , clear blue water, and lots of empty scrub and land, with hills here and there. One of those hills...more a rocky bluff really...we hiked up today- Frenchman's Peak and it had great views. We then went to Hellfire Beach for our lunch and a swim which was terrific.

We returned to Esperance and went down to the old Tanker Jetty where there is a resident sea lion- he was in his usual place on the beach, basking his fat body in the sun. We were tempted by the site of icecream sundaes on sale from a food van at the beach. We each ordered a "fudge bomb" which turned out to be HUGE--way more than enough for one-- but delicious just the same. It consisted of icecream, interspered with layers of hot caramel and chocolate fudge, topped with cream, more topping and waifers. We each finished ours (just) and then felt a bit sick for a while afterwards. I am off for an afternoon run soon. :-)

Yesterday we also ventured east- more than 100kms and saw lovely places such as Duke of Orleans Bay, Mount Arid NP where we found a long empty beach to swim at, and also Wharton Beach, which is where the teenage boy was attacked by a shark, and lost his leg, late last year, while he was out surfing. It was scary to imagine, as that beach is 80kms out of Esperance, in the middle of nowhere. We have not been surfing down here and dont intend to go out- our swims consist of a quick dive under in the shallows.

We have a final day of relaxation here tomorrow before we set out on some long day's driving east. We hope to cover about 700kms the first day...out onto the Nullarbor.

Love and hugs,
Us xx

In lovely Esperance...

Well, we made it down to Esperance today and it's beautiful here, just like everyone told us it would be. Gorgeous rocky headlands, aqua green water. It's only about 21 degrees which is a nice change! It's pretty windy though, and been a bit overcast, but the weather is supposed to clear over the coming days. We look forward to exploring the national parks, bushwalks and beaches down here.

This afternoon we drove around the coast a little way and also walked out onto the Tanker Jetty where we saw a couple of sea lions playing, which was pretty cool- they are huge, but have the cutest faces. Will try and put up pics when we have better reception.

We are both really tired tonight and feeling a bit rundown...so early to bed and back into it all tomorrow.
Sending our best wishes and love,
Emma & Adam xx

Our 37 degree day in The Golden Mile

Tuesday, January 9th

We had a good, although very hot, day exploring the goldfields area around Kalgoorlie. We began by looking through the colourful towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder….lots of ornate heritage buildings, dating back to about 1898 when the gold rush started booming and the area became wealthy. Lots of pubs! The towns are quite attractive, with very wide streets. The Town Hall in Boulder is particularly impressive, and standing inside it I could just imagine all the events and social functions, theatre and dinners which must have been held there over the years.

We then drove up to the lookout over Australia’s largest gold mine, known as the Superpit (it’s basically a huge pit, which represents the coming together of lots of old separate mining leases). It’s size is staggering, as is the size and cost of the trucks and machinery used in the mine! Pretty amazing. The mine is very, very wide and very, very deep- huge trucks look like matchbox cars from the lookout, and the trucks make ordinary 4wd vehicles look like little ants!
A few facts which we found pretty impressive:
The mine is 3.5 kms long, and 1.5kms wide and 500 metres deep!
The haul trucks are state of the art, worth $3.5 million and the take out 225 tonnes each trip! Each massive tyre costs $26,000- totalling $156,000 in tyres for each truck. There are four Face Shovel machines at the mine, worth $10 million each, with each bucket holding 60 tonnes.
They expect to keep mining there until 2017 at this stage.

We then set off on a road trip. We went on a circuit, first going to Coolgardie, then mainly on dirt roads through some old goldrush towns, now ghost towns, with just a few crumbling remains left in the middle of the bush of what were once thriving towns.
We stopped at one place called Ora Banda where the old pub has been restored, and had a cold drink- we needed it, it was 37 degrees today with a strong, hot wind blowing all day. Bloody hot. We sat outside the pub on a dirt road in the middle of the outback, north of Kalgoorlie, and marvelled at just where we were.
We also went to a freshwater lake, called Rowles Lagoon where we saw some black swans (we saw white swans at Northam, a small town on the road to Kalgoorlie, yesterday) ducks and other water birds. There wasn’t too much water left in the lake- amazingly, it’s known as a local waterski location! It’s in the middle of the bush.
On the drive we also passed many other working mines- we didn’t realise there were just so many different mines out here.

It was a really interesting day and we are glad that we ended up seeing this part of Australia (even though it means we missed Bremmer Bay which is supposed to be lovely- next time!). It’s hard to imagine what life would have been like out here more than 100 years ago, when people came in search of gold. Some made their fortune, but others simply struggled and suffered hardship and sickness, living in such harsh conditions. Off course those who first found gold in the area which has now become the Superpit- the so-called Golden Mile - would have been laughing.

It’s now 30 degrees at 9pm. Tomorrow we set off for Esperance- reports are that it is still good for tourists to visit, after the storm. We are looking forward to being back near the ocean and in cooler temperatures. But we certainly will remember this trip to Kalgoorlie!

Love, Emma & Adam xx

Howdy from the Gold Fields

8/1/2007

Hi family and friends,

After a terrific time in Perth we finally packed up our little site at Scarborough this morning and set off.
Just a quick update on our last few days in Perth: As you know, we had a great day at Rottnest Island on Saturday. On Friday we had an interesting tour through old Fremantle Gaol, a haunting place, followed by a coffee at one of the trendy cafes down there. That afternoon we went windsurfing at Safety Bay- good fun!
Yesterday, Sunday, it was lovely and sunny for our final day in Perth. I did my usual morning walk then went to the beach. It was perfect, with just a light offshore breeze and the usual sparkling water. We had some lunch back at the caravan and then the seabreeze started so we drove down to Safety Bay again for a final afternoon windsurfing. It was good fun- I sailed Adam’s new board which is the smallest board I have tried. It feels so rewarding to try and master new skills and to be sailing that board and going fast! I’m really pleased with how far I’ve come since my first days windsurfing in Geraldton, and so is Adam. We were out on the water for a couple of hours before we packed up and headed back to the van. We quickly showered and went over to Marcus’ place for pizza with him and Tarni and Beau, for our final night in Perth, which was nice (plus we were starving after all the windsurfing). It’s been terrific having the time over here to spend with them and we already have begun discussing future trips west- I’d love to come back with Mum and Dad also to explore with them some of the terrific places we have seen.

Anyway, today we had to make a decision on where to head next, as the recent severe storm in Esperance has left the main highway heading east from Bremmer Bay closed, due to a washed out bridge. Bremmer Bay was to be our next stop, then Esperance. We did not however, want to get stuck in Bremmer Bay and have to backtrack hundreds of kilometres. I rang this morning to check on the state of the road and was told it would not open this week, therefore we decided we would sadly have to skip Bremmer Bay. Instead, we today headed directly east on a huge drive to Kalgoorlie. We got here about 8pm and we are now exhausted (it’s about 11pm). It wasn’t a place we expected to see on this trip, but it will be interested exploring this goldfields area tomorrow and we are looking forward to it…lots of heritage buildings and old ghost towns from the gold rush days, plus there is a viewing platform into the pit of Australia’s largest operating gold mine. It’s very hot again- to be expected, we are in Kalgoorlie in January after all! It’s even hot now (it was still 30 degrees at 8pm). We’ll stop here a couple of nights, then head south to Norseman. We then have to decide whether to head south to Esperance or turn and head east. I think at this stage we’ll still try and head down to the coast as it’s supposed to be beautiful (hopefully the storm won’t have caused too much damage to the national parks etc. and the water isn’t too murky etc), and we’ll then have to backtrack the 200kms or so to Norseman to then head east. Esperance has suffered a lot of damage and has qualified for Disaster Relief- we feel for the people there and the farmers who have lost a lot of stock.

I think now it’s definitely bed time. Love, Emma & Adam xx

Welcome to Quokka World

Hi all,

Yesterday we took our bikes over to Rottnest island to have a look around. The coastline of the island was dramatic, with limestone cliffs and outcrops surrounding beaches with beautiful clear water.

We snorkeled in Little Salmon Bay, where there were underwater markers to show the snorkelling trail with interesting info on each marker about the environment at that marker. The water was the clearest we had seen in WA, with lots of fish, big and small. Back in shore an English lad showed me an octopus he had found, trapped in a sheltered rock pool by the tide. The lad was also very excited by a starfish he had found, and looking at it I could see why…….it was larger then my hand and was a vivid red colour, begging to be noticed.

Onward we travelled. A volunteer guide had told us that if we approach Acaccia shrubs quietly, and look beneath them, we may see a Quokka. He went on to say that they are predominately nocturnal by nature, but because of the abundance of fresh water and food, and also the lack of predators (no foxes or cats on the island…..with the only predators we could think of being large birds of prey and snakes) they can sometimes be seen at day. Well, it was not long before we found some. We stopped by the cycle way and wandered into the scrub a little and there were two of the cutest faces you have ever seen. Not scared of us at all they went about their business foraging for food. Emma approached one and squatted down. The inquisitive Quokka, probably after a free handout of food, approached Emma and got as close to sniff her leg and touch the camera. The result is the close up of the Quokka staring straight down the lens of the camera. We saw several more of the little fellas going about their business whilst we were on our 25klm+ cycle around the island.

We spotted some surfers off the NW end of the island surfing a deep water reef……to me, it didn’t look that good to warrant being a lure for a great white, considering there have been many sightings of large pointers this coastline this summer.

We stopped and had lunch at Parakeet Beach and then onto the end of our ride. There are no cars allowed on the island, only bikes, but if you don’t want to exert too much energy you can jump on a tour bus. The ride was not too demanding, well not as demanding as Magnetic Island off QLD, but we had to reconcile that probably not everyone came out on the boat that morning and rode around the whole island.

To reward ourselves, we stopped at a café close to the port where we were to catch our boat home at 4pm. We both had a large gourmet iced coffee from DOME. Back on the boat to Freemantle and I had organized my brother, Marcus to meet us at Dutch Inn (a beach with a reef break just south of Cottesloe) with my sailing gear, because we noticed that the seabreeze had picked up as we were crossing the channel. I sailed with my new 5.8m sail which worked a treat on my updated board.

We got home at about 6.30, both tired and sunned out! Anyway Emma cooked a terrific stirfry. We then sat and watched a movie…..The Exorcism of Emily Rose……a very interesting story based on real events.

Enough from me, here are some pictures

Love, Ad and Em xox



Here is one of the intrepid travellers over looking the clear waters of the island. The cycle way trailing off to the west.







Emma about to throw on the goggles and go for a swim with the fish

Taking my picture?........Go ahead.....make my day!

Latest news...and a photo from our catchup with Darren

Hi all- here is a pic from our dinner out at a great Japanese Restaurant in Subiaco with our friend Darren, who recently moved over here from Sydney. Darren and I are about to tuck into an excellent chicken stirfry dish, which was a lot hotter (lots of chilli) than we both expected!

As for our latest happenings:
We're off to see the old gaol at Fremantle today, and have booked in our boat trip over to Rottnest Island tomorrow.


Yesterday we went sailing at Safety Bay, south of Perth- it was cold and overcast, with a southerly wind blowing- Adam had fun and I'm learning new things each time.


Today is sunny with a cool southerly wind, so we may windsurf again this afternoon after our time in Fremantle.
Supposed to be warming up again on the weekend- for our last couple of days in Perth.

Love Emma & Adam xx

The Good Life in Perth

Hello,

We continue to enjoy ourselves in Perth.

On New Year's Day Adam and I drove to a park (one of many here in Perth) on the Swan River for a quiet picnic lunch. It wasn't quite windy enough to sail and it was nice to have a rest day.
Yesterday we met with Beau and Marcus for a lovely lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach at Cottesloe, called the Blue Duck.

Today Adam and I went into the city for a look around- we had some sushi for lunch and a nice coffee. Then we went to Pelican Point where I went for a sail. It was a cold rainy day today....unusual weather for here, and a southerly wind was blowing. It wasn't too consistent, but enough wind for me to get out and practice for a while. Today I sailed on Adam's new board- the smallest board I have been on so far, and I managed it OK! I was really pleased- there is a sense of achievement which comes with learning a difficult new sport like this, and mastering steps along the way.

Tonight we met with our friend Darren again, for a final catch up while we are in Perth. He took us to Subiaco for dinner- we went to a very hip Japanese restaurant and had a great meal, before going to a cafe for coffee and dessert. It was a really enjoyable evening and it has been great to catch up with Darren.
I think now we wont be eating out for a while, or else we wont have enough money left to make it the rest of the way home!

Will pop a few more piccies up soon.
Love and best wishes,
E&A xx

Happy New Year ........2007

Howdy All…….Happy New Year

On the New Years Eve day we visited Brian and Sandra in their peaceful hillside manor, east of Perth. Brian cooked a beautiful BBQ breakfast (Bacon, sausages, eggs and tomato), something which I especially loved because I love hot breakies and haven’t had one for months. We had a strum on Brian’s guitars. Brian’s pride and joy, the Taylor, was so beautiful to play………would be lovely to have one to go along side Gabby the Gibson in my future music room at home. I know it would be considered indulgent, but who knows, maybe one day. Twas a great way to spend the morning, thanks Brian and Sandra.

We then proceeded down to Safety Bay to go for a sail. Emma proceeded to the next step on her sailing journey, jumping onto Marcus’ waveboard (Angulo Chango 85), which was shorter, not as wide and with 20% less ‘float’ then the F2 on which she has been used to. She sailed across the Bay, with no issues, sailing very fast…….Marcus and I were very impressed. The next step is to jump onto my waveboard, which is smaller again, but I think she has the skill to handle it. The wind is predicted to get stronger later in the week, so we both look forward to sailing again.

We had no plans for NYE, as usual, but we decided to go out for some Thai food because we were ravenous after our hours of sailing. So at 9pm we jagged a great table on the balcony of a Thai restaurant on the second floor of a complex overlooking the Scarborough beach. The sun had just set (daylight saving makes the days so long on the W.A coast) and the sky was still glowing in pinks and orange. The food was terrific. We walked home at about 11pm, and then drove to King’s Park, which is a very elevated, manicured park that overlooks the city and the beautiful Swan River. It sure was busy, and we were just lucky to find a car park. We sat under the avenue of tall gum trees which were lit up with different coloured lights. About 20 minutes before midnight, all the lights in the park were switched off, and a fireworks (they call it a “skyshow” over here) bonanza commenced over the city, with a grand ending at midnight in a more frenetic display of dazzling lights. From our vantage point we could see other suburbs and their skyshows as well. It was a great way to see in 2007. We thought of how lucky we have been in 2006 with our travels of S.E. Asia (Thailand, Cambodia and Laos) as well as our extended Australia travel which has crammed almost a lifetime of Aussie travel experiences into one year. 2007 we hope will be just as much fun, but a different fun, settling in a house, planning a family etc. We hope the coming year is as much fun for you all too.

Love and hugs… Ad and Em xx

Here's some more piccies


Brian, master breakfast BBQer

Me having a play on Brian's pride and joy.....a lovely instrument







Brian, Emma and Sandra

The avenue of Gum trees in King's Park on NYE



Me testing my new sails and Marcus' new board at Dutch Inn, Cottesloe Beach