Western Australia

We spent the last 5 nights of our trip on the WA coast, including 2 at Dunsborough which is about 250km south of Perth, close to Cape Naturaliste and the Margaret River wineries. On the way, we stopped at Busselton (which has a 1.8km long jetty) for a first wonderful swim in the Indian Ocean, with the temperature well over 30C, where it remained each day before our flight home. This enabled us to top up the suntan and relax for the final 2 days at Cottesloe Beach, our favourite resort in Australia.

The Perth region is currently ‘struggling’ with temperatures of over 30C for more than 20 consecutive days and sometimes they are close to 40, which is extreme (especially in the city). However, for us it’s a lovely feeling to experience for a few days, especially knowing we are returning to UK weather.

We had one cracking full day around Dunsborough, starting with a 25 minute each way walk in sweltering heat and pestered by flies to a whale lookout. Sadly, it’s not the right time of year to see them but the view of the coast was worth the pain, just about. We then visited a couple of beaches followed by a view of the impressive Sugarloaf Rock, so named because of the ‘bombing’ it suffers from seabirds, although I have to say it looked remarkably clean. Next, we took in 3 wineries, including a superb wood fired pizza lunch at Swings and Roundabouts – the Aussies are very keen on this form of pizza. This was followed by a stint on Eagle Bay beach and in the sea, then back to Sugarloaf Rock to witness a classic Indian Ocean sunset. Finally, we bought a takeaway to eat by our motel pool in the evening, washed down with one of the bottles of wine purchased earlier.

Whilst at Dunsborough we got chatting to 2 separate couples in very different circumstances. The first, Ian and Jenny, are Aussies from Perth who have been travelling to the area for 30 years and have seen it change from bush to millionaire housing developments and resorts, although I have to say that the coast and many of the beaches are still spectacular, despite the spoiling effect. The others, Rob and Jenny, emigrated from Yorkshire only 5 months ago to live in Busselton. They regaled us with an entirely positive story of their acclimatisation to the country and the people, who have been entirely supportive and encouraging. They both got jobs quickly and are thoroughly enjoying their new life.

Our stay at Cottesloe Beach coincided with the installation of Sculptures by the Sea, an exhibition of a myriad of designs by leading and local artists, many eccentric and/or totally baffling but fascinating all the same. We were only able to see some of them being put in place around the beach for the show from 3^rd to 22^nd March.

We had 2 evening meals in restaurants overlooking the beach, which is floodlit in one section opposite the backpackers’ hostel, so on Sunday evening we witnessed all sorts of fun and frivolity under lights as we were consuming a superb meal of snapper and whiting – both popular fish in these parts.

We’re now flying home via Singapore, as I write this final posting. We witnessed by far the most prolonged and dramatic sunset we’ve ever seen from 40,000 feet. Because we were flying north-west, we experienced a continuous sunset for some considerable time. Unfortunately, this was then followed by a long period of rough turbulence as we flew over the tropics.

Many thanks for all the encouraging praise we have received for our blog, which we have really enjoyed writing, as it enables us to fully appreciate the incredible variety of sights and experiences we have been privileged to see and have on our trip to Vietnam, Singapore and Australia. We will add some photos in each posting over the next few days.

Random notes about Australia...

The Southern sky

There are so many more stars to see in the southern sky than there are in the Northern hemisphere. The Southern Cross is easy to spot, and Orion is always very clear, but there are thousands of others. When you are in the bush with no light pollution, the sky is just magnificent.

Bogans

This is going to sound a bit non-PC, but in the eight years since we have been coming to Oz we have become more aware of bogans. The closest British translation is chavs, but it’s not quite the same. The average bogan is overweight, coarse, loud, underdressed and frequently drunk. In some areas they are hardly to be seen (eg in the remote rural areas) but in others......

‘Grey Nomads’

An Aussie phenomenon. retired people either sell up completely or invest in a mobile home of some sort, as well as their fixed address, and travel the length and breadth of their amazing country. Mobile homes can be anything from a simple campervan, ranging through smart caravans towed by 4WD vehicles, to full-on converted coaches complete with satellite dish and trailer behind towing the 4WD. Some people travel occasionally, some concentrate on avoiding the winter in the south and head up to the tropical climate in the north for the dry season, and others are permanently on the move.

We’ve met a lot of nomads and they invariably have interesting tales to tell about their travels, some sticking to the sealed (tarmaced) roads, and others more adventurously tackling the great off road tracks such as the Birdsville , Oodnadatta or Strzelecki Tracks in the Outback. Hopefully one day we’ll do one of these ourselves.

We learned this time that the Nomads have a great reputation for turning up in droves to help out whenever there is a catastrophe such as the recent floods in Queensland and Victoria, and the bushfires in Western Australia. There is very definitely an Australian culture of helping out those in trouble – this is especially noticeable in rural areas and has been very pronounced in the Australian response to the earthquake disaster in New Zealand.

The Gawler Ranges

Pleased that the weather had ‘fined up’ again, we drove north from Port Lincoln to Wudinna, one of the gateways to the remote Gawler Ranges National Park. At the information centre they told us the park was now open after the recent heavy rain, but only to 4WD vehicles as the dirt roads were in poor condition. We planned to go deep into the park the next day, but had time that afternoon to visit some monolithic rocks in the Wudinna region, notably Polda Rock and Mt. Wudinna, which is the second largest monolith in Australia after Uluru. Climbing onto the rocks in the heat was tough but rewarding – the views were spectacular, and there were rock pools all over the place, holding the remains of the recent downpours. There was plenty of evidence of how the water had rushed down in torrents, and by the clever device of a simple wall at the bottom of the rock, all the water was funnelled into a dam.

We had been teased by Aussie friends about planning to stay in Wudinna (also Kimba – see later) – lots of jokes about there being nothing there and the very basic standard of accommodation. These are small country towns on the Eyre Highway – very welcome oases on the road where you may see a car every 15 minutes if you are lucky. Because this environment is so different from what we experience at home we love it, and the people are invariably helpful and friendly.

The next day we set off early into the Gawler Ranges. The whole day was spent driving on dirt roads of varying quality – about 250km in total. Pindappa rock was the first stop – SA’s own version of the better known Wave Rock in Western Australia. The early morning light showed the rock (like a giant surf wave) at its best, and we had it all to ourselves.

The next destination was the Organ Pipes, the most well-known rock formations in the park, but 10 km off the dirt road on a rough track, mainly sand and rock. This was a challenging drive (we kept wondering what the rental car company would think if they could see the vehicle totally covered in red dirt!) but it was worth every pothole and puddle when at the end we found a small colony of rare yellow-footed rock wallabies playing amongst the organ pipes. There were five of them, incredibly agile, leaping around amongst the rocks and making strange little growling noises. It felt as if they had put on a show for us (nobody else was there of course) and we could have watched them for hours.

We then followed the scenic driving route through the park and had our picnic lunch sitting on the verandah at the Old Paney Homestead, now abandoned. A pioneering family had raised 11 children there. The place was very atmospheric, surrounded by beautiful country and utterly peaceful – yes, nobody else there again!

Throughout our day in the Gawler Ranges we saw only five cars. The small town of Kimba, where we spent the night, seemed like a bustling metropolis when we arrived there. Kimba’s two claims to fame are the fact that it is ‘half way across Australia’ and the home of the Giant Galah (an Aussie bird). This is one of the many Big Things in Australia (such as the Big Banana, Big Pineapple, Giant Prawn, Giant Ram.....)

Next day we drove from Kimba back to Adelaide, had time for a brief farewell drink with Joan and Don at lovely Glenelg, and then off to the airport for our evening flight to Perth and the last leg of the holiday in Western Australia.

Port Lincoln

After leaving Coffin Bay, we returned to Port Lincoln for a day to visit Lincoln NP, which turned out to be another venture along unsealed roads through lots of Aussie bush, seeing very few other people. There were fewer dramatic sights compared with Coffin Bay NP; we enjoyed the rugged coastline and a couple of lovely deserted beaches but the highlight was a climb up to Stamford Hill to see the Flinders’ Memorial which also provided spectacular 360 degree views of Boston Bay, Port Lincoln and the NP. The climb was arduous and involved fighting off the biting flies. However, when compared to the achievement of carting the marble blocks up to make the memorial, I don’t think we should complain.

Furthermore, the story of Matthew Flinders and his crew, who surveyed much of the South Australia coast around 1800 is both inspiring and extremely sad. In 1802, they were off the coast of what is now Lincoln NP, desperately in need of water, so Flinders sent a party of 8 on a cutter to the shore. They were never seen again, not even their bodies. Evidence that they came to grief on the rocks was found but, despite numerous attempts, no trace of the sailors was ever found. I should remind you that sharks reside in the area. Subsequently, water was found close by and meant Flinders was able to survey much more of the Eyre Peninsula rather than set sail further east. The various rocky islands off the coast are now named after individual members of the stricken party.

Matthew Flinders was a remarkable explorer, sent by the British Government, he only lived to the age of 40 and yet his discoveries provided an incredible amount of detailed information and his legacy lives on with numerous references to his name, most notably the highly impressive Flinders Ranges.

On leaving Port Lincoln we had a classic Aussie “can do” experience. On checking our tyres, we were concerned that one had a slow puncture, so contacted the rental company who gave us the number of the local office. By then, we had driven to a tyre repairer called Beaurepaires. When we told the local guy where we were, he said that was “highly fortuitous” and to ask for Brett and tell him the beers would be delivered on Friday. We duly found Brett, passed on the message to which he replied “you bet they will”, proceeded to arrange the immediate checking and repair of our rogue tyre and uttered the immortal phrase “it’s good to go” with no charge, although we tipped him, of course. This was all done in about 20 mins from arriving at the place.

Eyre Peninsula

The Eyre Peninsula is a vast area, encompassing miles of pristine beaches, the Great Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain, as far as the border with Western Australia.

We had to be flexible on our arrival here, as heavy rain was forecast for the following day, no good for our planned exploration of the Gawler Ranges National Park on gravel roads that were likely to be flooded. Instead we headed down the east coast of the V-shaped peninsula, and spent an afternoon and evening in Whyalla, where the huge OneSteel works provides a lot of employment. The motel pool was very welcome after our long drive from the Yorke Peninsula.

As predicted, the rain arrived during the night and persisted all the next day, so we kept driving south to Port Lincoln on the southern tip of the peninsula. We stopped at various small coastal towns on the way, all looking a bit sad in the rain but no doubt delightful in the sunshine. Boardwalks through the mangroves and coastal vegetation seemed to be on offer in various places, so we opted for the ‘award winning’ one at Arno Bay which was informative and enjoyable even in the rain.

Port Lincoln is a thriving fishing port - tuna, prawns and rock lobster (crayfish) especially, as well as a tourist town. Two main tourist attractions, both of which we were happy to forego, are the opportunity to swim with bluefin tuna (they are huge) or, 100 times more scary, to go cage diving several miles off the coast with White Pointer (Great White) sharks. No thanks! The latter trip is controversial as apparently they throw food into the water to attract the sharks and this can encourage them to associate humans with food...sadly, more about this later.

We had a night out in Port Lincoln at the local cinema (to see Burlesque). A quaint little single screen place, there were 18 customers, during the performance the projector broke down not once, but twice! It reminded me of Ruthin Picture House in the sixties when this was a regular occurrence.

We were lucky to arrive in Port Lincoln when the yachts in the annual Adelaide to PL race were arriving. The Lions Club (active in all Australian towns) were at the end of the jetty to welcome the yachts, grilling snags (sausages) and presenting each crew with a case of beer. This seemed to be the main reason for the yachts calling at the town jetty first before sailing round to the smart new marina. Whilst watching all this we got talking to Diane, a lovely local lady, whose stories ranged from the absolutely tragic (She had lost many relatives in a bush fire) to the amusing – her daughter is mad on animals and drove all the way to Adelaide to collect a baby pet emu, which now of course is huge.

Our next destination was Coffin Bay, about 40k west of Port Lincoln. Normally known for its lovely coastal national park, sadly Coffin Bay has been very much in the news as the day before we arrived a young local man had been taken by not one, but two, great white sharks whilst diving for abalone off the coast here.

CB is a very pretty small town, with a population of 600 which swells to 4000 in the season. It’s peaceful at the moment and we have a lovely apartment across from the beach. When we arrived there was an open-air wedding taking place in front of the main jetty – all very relaxed and informal, with the guests wearing thongs (flip flops) and the wedding cars were white 4WD Toyota Landcruisers.

The National Park is unspoilt, with some wild and rugged beaches on the Southern Ocean, and some calm swimming beaches on the inland side. The sun was out again so we did swim....but kept VERY close to the shore. We saw lots of emus, including one family of mum, dad and six young ones.

There were very few tourists about, so it was amazing to share the one picnic table at a beach with a British couple who had owned a flower shop in New Malden, where we used to live in the eighties.

Yorke Peninsula – secret treasures

Most Brits visiting Oz will not have experienced the Yorke Peninsula (west of Adelaide) even though it’s the most popular destination for South Australians. Fortunately, we chose a quiet time after the schools are back, so it was hard to believe that it could be so crowded when seeing deserted beaches, empty roads and encountering nobody else on walking trails and scenic driving routes.

We must thank Gene for the suggestion as an alternative to our original plan to drive across the Nullabor Plain to Perth.

The Peninsula is the shape of a foot and around 200km from north-east to south-west, where we stayed in Marion Bay for easy access to Innes NP. This provided a wonderful day of exploring with spectacular views over the Southern Ocean’s secluded sandy beaches, limestone cliffs and rugged headlands, with several lighthouses. There are numerous stories about shipwrecks and the gypsum mining history of the area which thrived over 100 years ago in primitive conditions. The vegetation is also fascinating, continually varying depending on the altitude and exposure to salt and wind. We also managed to find the time to swim and sunbathe on the beautiful Dolphin Beach.

We had a weird experienced after arriving at Marion Bay, having driven from Adelaide over a leisurely 8 hours of exploring, we’d unpacked and were relaxing in our motel room when a guy burst in and told us to collect our things and leave immediately because gangs of motor bikers were coming. He kept repeating himself in an urgent tone. Once we noticed a heavy smell of alcohol and perhaps a couple of screws loose, we ushered him out of the room as quickly as possible. Later in the evening, with our door now locked, he knocked a few times and enquired whether we were fishing with him the next day. In between, we enjoyed our Valentine’s Day meal in the adjoining Tavern!

In total, we spent two and a half days on the Peninsula and would highly recommend it as an alternative to some of the standard destinations in Australia. We spent time in Port Vincent, Edithburgh, Stansbury, Corny Point, Minlaton (a principal country town), Moonta Bay, Wallaroo and Port Broughton. In each place, we met some friendly and interesting Aussies; most notably Rick and Ann, a well travelled couple of farmers who have 4,000 acres, while we dined at the Moonta Bay Patio Motel. In addition, after Mary’s successful introduction to crabbing in Glenelg, she now speaks with confidence to fishermen we meet on the ubiquitous jetties, discussing the size of their catches.

Adelaide – two days of new experiences

We love Adelaide, a well-designed, leafy, cultured city set between the Adelaide Hills and mile upon mile of stunning beaches. This was our fourth time in the city, staying with our friends Joan and Don, and as always they had put a lot of thought into planning some new ventures for us.

The Adelaide Festival was about to start, and as a precursor there was a Fringe festival in one of the (many) parks, called The Garden of Unearthly Delights. There were dozens of shows to choose from, all an hour or less, taking place in a variety of venues ranging from tents to buses to wooden boxes to circus style big tops. The atmosphere was lovely – there were food stalls, bars, cafes, and stalls selling all manner of unusual goods. After a delicious Turkish meal we selected a comedian (quite funny but very nervous) and then what can only be described as a piece of performance art in a metal container, called Track. 15 minutes long, the piece consisted of a crazy Dutchman and an only slightly less crazy lady from Sydney simulating a train journey using an old sewing machine, some film, a model train and a video camera.......for 5 dollars, we weren’t about to complain as they promised we’d be entertained and we were.

Adelaide Zoo is lucky enough to have recently acquired 2 pandas, a male and a female, with the aim of attempting to breed from them in due course. We visited the zoo with Joan and Don and of course the pandas were a real highlight. We’d never seen any before, and they lived up to expectations. Wang Wang, the male, was very active and spent all his time wandering round his large compound looking for treats the keepers had hidden for him. Fanu, the female, was fast asleep but right at the front of her compound, by the glass, so we had a great view of her.

The zoo is beautifully laid out with lots of lush greenery. I always like to see the Australian animals and was really delighted to find they had a breeding programme for the endangered yellow footed rock wallaby. Pete, Stuart and I spent a lot of time in the Flinders Ranges last year scouring rock faces for this animal, always described as ‘shy and elusive’ – aptly, as we never saw one! They really do have yellow feet, and a very attractive ringed tail.

When Don and their Cambodian friend Sreng suggested we go crabbing that evening off Glenelg jetty, I imagined we’d be catching tiny crabs in little nets, just for the fun of it. Not at all! Sreng set up no less than seven large nets (made by Don) baited with carp, tied them to the pier railings and threw them over. While Pete went for a run and Sreng went on an errand, Don and I kept hauling in the nets, checking them and throwing them back in. In the space of an hour and a half we caught 15 blue swimmer crabs – beautiful to look at and delicious to eat, as we discovered later. Six had to be returned to the sea as they were too small and there’s a fine for taking them.

It was definitely a combination of Sreng and Don’s expertise and my beginner’s luck, because I pulled in lots of them, much to the disgruntlement of some of the local jetty regulars who weren’t best pleased to see a Pommie FEMALE having such success.

Don cooked our catch later at home – the blueys turned pink and we all got really messy as we tackled them – great fun.