Picking up our hire car today - first driving since we left blighty, I wonder what that will bring. Have to keep sober now! Spent the morning here in Perth, weather is great, Freemantle Doctor keeping us just right. Been using the free CAT buses to take us around the city. They run very frequently, there are 3 different routes and there are plenty of stops. We will soon be headed East. We met some Aussies up by the WACA, who were over from Adelaide for the HASH at the trotting track, whatever that is. They said it had been over 38 Celsius for 14 consecutive days. Hope it cools before we get over there.
I can't quite make. the Aussies out, confident, brash, lively - but drive like pussies. Came all the way down without exceeding a speed limit 110klicks max. Arrived and stayed in Bunbury, again quite bizarre for a seaside town, all closed up by 5:30, the pub was closed by 9:30, ghost town.
Here in Margaret River, nice drive down and its a lovely place, climate great, a small town on the bottom SW tip of Aus. It has a high street with bars, restaurants, cafes. Lots of wineries in the area, surf dudes in town, nice place. We got the last room in town, its Easter week and apparently this is the place to be. We are in the bar right now, on the verandah, eating lunch. Fed up with roaming charges and got an Aussie mobile now. It's 0061 439151907.
Its very rugged here, we went to the beach yesterday, there is nothing there except the beach and dunes. The sea is coldish, although that's not too surprising as we are at the junction of the Indian & Southern Oceans. The sea is pretty wild and it is always windy. There is a lot of people surfing and kite surfing. This is also wine country, there are dozens of vinyards, some with names you would recognise from wine in the UK. Even, though it's Easter break, there are so few people in town in the evenings, most of the restaurants are closed by 6:00pm, it is so unlike being in the Mediterranean. The people all seem very nice and helpful.
Drove down to Augusta, right in the South West corner. We tried a bit of spelunking as the coast is riddled with caves. A tough walk down and up out of the cave, it was 63 m below ground, some in our group really struggled to get back up. After the cave climb, gluttons for punishment, we climbed the lighthouse, only 35m this time. It is great driving here, lovely single lane roads thru te Jara tree forests, dappled with sunlight. Easter Mon coming up, I wonder what the traffic will be like going back to Perth - we fly out that day to NZ
Went to a winery(vinyard) today. A real one man show run by Pat & Tim Negus. They moved here about 14 years ago and bought 130acres and built their own house and then a chapel to display her art. When I say built, I really mean it - they made their own mud bricks and built it themselves. They thought about farming beef but one day on a whim, Tim bought 500 vines and planted them, no budget no costings, just did it. He does all the work himself, fermenting, barrels, bottling, no chemicals. He makes about 5000 bottles pa of cab sauv and merlot and a bit of rose. Oh, he has a Jack Russell called digger who helps out. Pat started painting watercolours when she arrived here and illustrated a book on West Aus wild flowers, apparently little is available.The originals are on show in the chapel, in which they also hold concerts and weddings. We went down and watched the surfers in the evening. It looks a waste of time to me - they spend most of their time paddling for 10 seconds of surfing (if lucky) every 15 minutes. I heve mentioned how Aus defeats my pre-conceptions. It happened again today, went out for a pre-dinner drink, no joy, you can't buy a drink on Good Friday. Its dry Friday, I dunno if thats good or not!
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NOT!
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