How do I cram 2 manic weeks in Perth into just one entry??
I arrived here after an 8 hour flight from Jo'Burg and got dragged out on the beers that evening - for an absolutely cracking night out. I think Australia's going to be fun!!! ;-) It was such a relief to be able to go out of the hostel and wander around normally after a couple of weeks of feeling cooped up the whole time in SA.
Spent a couple of days getting used to "civilisation" again, and then set about exploring and getting into the Aussie spirit. That started with a trip to Scarborough beach. It was an absolutely baking day - gorgeous! Stayed out there for a few hours of frying and watching the locals surfing (and spotting the Samoan rugby team on a stroll along the beach) and then broke for another Aussie tradition - a cold beer!
The next day, complete with nasty hangover, I headed across to Rottnest Island, about 20km from Perth. You get a ferry across, then hire bikes to get around the island. It was a really lovely day (once the hangover had cleared!) - gorgeous weather again, and nice to be doing some exercise. Again, there was a bit of sunbathing involved (purely in the interests of soaking up the Aussie culture, you understand!), but also a little bit of wildlife spotting. Rottnest is famous for (and named after) little wallabies which live there, called Quokkas (the first of many odd names for animals which exist in this country - as I'm discovering!!) When the first explorers came to Perth, they saw the quokkas on the island and thought they were large rats - so called the island rat's nest island...
Then I went on a day trip north about 250km to the Pinnacles desert. We left late afternoon, so that we arrived at the desert in time for sunset, which was just beautiful. We had quite a few stop offs on the way up... First we stopped in the sand dunes north of Lancelin and did a bit of 4x4 driving up and down the dunes. That was really fun - some of them are incredibly steep, so tipping down the side of them was quite scary!! We also tried a bit more sandboarding - although I just couldn't get my board to move, no matter how much wax I put on it!!!
We then kept driving north, through a few nature reserves and conservation areas, which were beautiful as it's the middle of wildflower season, so they were really colourful. We also saw some wildlife - my first kangaroos, emus, bob-tailed skinks (a kind of lizard), an echidna (pretty rare animal related to the duck-billed platypus, but looks like a cross between a porcupine and a hedgehog).
We stopped off on the beach for a swim and a sausage sizzle for dinner, and then headed into the pinnacles. The Pinnacles themselves are columns formed millions of years ago from compacted bits of seashell. It is quite odd to see a landscape with lots of these columns. At sunset it was absolutely gorgeous - the sun made the desert beautiful colours.
Also visited the WA museum, which was pretty interesting - it had a big exhibit about the settlement of Perth and eventually WA by the Europeans, and also Aborigine history, and "traditional" ways of life. It was interesting in itself the way this information was presented, trying to strike the right balance between acknowledging the aboriginal right to the land, and the arrival of the europeans.
And then it was the day I'd been waiting for - the first England game of the rugby world cup. I headed to Subiaco (the suburb where the game was being played) with some friends I'd met over here and we started to get into the spirit with the odd beer!! The atmosphere just built and built as more and more people started arriving, and it was magic. I had a great business going, painting the cross of St George on people's faces in return for a beer... Which meant I was doing pretty well by the time we headed over to the ground!! I had bought my ticket on my own, so was sat away from the others, but it didn't matter as everyone was really friendly. Despite paying just $15 (£6) for my ticket, I had a fantastic seat - better than I've had some times at Twickenham, and defintiely better than most of the most expensive seats!!) As the stadium wasn't full, I was even able to move at half time, so that I could be at the England game to see most of the action for the whole game. Had an absolutely fantastic day, and still can't believe I was there to see England play live! Roll on next Saturday and the big game against South Africa!!
A big chunk of the second week was actually spent out of Perth, exploring South West Western Australia. I went on an organised tour, which meant 21 of us crammed into a tiny bus. Not the most comfortable at 7am the morning after a massive drinking session (12 of us were English and had been at the game the day before!)... But luckily it was a cracking group of people and we had a fantastic 4 days - my cheeks still ache from laughing so much!!
Australia being really quite a large country, its states are really pretty big. Western Australia is the size of half of Europe, so exploring the South West means covering a hell of an area! But we had plenty of stop offs to keep us amused. First was a quick stop off in Margaret River, an up and coming wine area. We had a quick bite to eat before a very dignified wine tasting (it was afternoon by then...) of some really quite nice wines. It was quite tempting to buy some, but I knew they'd never make it back as far as Perth!! We then went for a horse ride (well, walk...) through some woods, seeing more of the wildflowers, some 28 parrots (very colourful) and more kangaroos. Some of the kangaroos were boxing, which was pretty cool (although very odd!)
The next day we headed further south, and went down into Giant's Cave, one of many caves in the area. Kitted out in very attractive hard hats, we walked and climbed through the cave. There were quite a few stalagmites which were quite impressive, and an arborite chamber - where the tree roots have come down into the cave through the ceiling and have joined with stalactites. Quite odd.
We then went on through forest country - massive forests of karri trees, some of the tallest in the world, up to 100m or more. They are so tall they used to be (and are increasingly again being) used as fire lookout posts. We were able to climb an example of one of these, 75m high... Climbing consists of walking up a spiral "ladder" of nails hammered into the tree, with not very substantial looking wire to keep you held in. I managed to get up to the first viewing platform at 25m, and started to go a bit higher, but decided that it really was a very long way to fall, and maybe I'd just stop there. Apparently the view was amazing from the top, but I just don't think I could have made it!! I did get to go a bit higher though, as we then went on a treetop walk (reached by a nice gentle ramp) at 40m, in the canopy of tingle trees, another type of big tree native to the area.
The next day started with a look at The Gap and the Natural Bridge, rock formations on the coast formed by sea erosion. The power of the sea was certainly incredibly impressive - it was thumping into the rocks. We then drove up to the Stirling Ranges, and climbed up Bluff Knoll. This was an absolutely knackering 1.5 hour climb up a very steep hill, made worse by time pressure cos we'd got there a bit late and there was a possibility it would be dark by the time we started coming down!!! The view was amazing when we got to the top though - incredibly flat farm land for miles around.
The final day of the trip was heading back - with a stop off at Wave Rock, an aboriginal site, with a rock, surprisingly enough in the shape of a wave.... IT was pretty impressive though - standing 16m high, and 110m long, the water dripping over it has eroded in such a way that it has an overhang which really does look amazingly like a wave. After the obligatory surfing photos, we headed back, stopping off in a small town called Corrigin for lunch and a game of rounders (quite an interesting experience, explaining the rules of rounders to the Japanese....)
Corrigin is very proud of itself because it holds a world record.... for.... (wait for it.....) the longest queue of utes with dogs in the back. It set the record with 600ish, the record was then broken by a town in Victoria with 700ish, so they decided they had to utterly smash the record - and got an amazing 1500ish all in a queue. The question "why" really does spring to mind.
The next day was back in Perth - supposed to be a trip to the beach as it had been such a gorgeous day the day before. Unfortunately it started raining when we got to Cottesloe beach, so we went for a pint instead! We did attempt to have a throw of the frisbee on the beach, but it was more like throwing a boomerang, the wind was so strong. Not overly successful! That evening was the highlight of the stay in Perth for me... I decided to have a quiet night, given that the next day was going to be very big with the England vs South Africa rugby match, so I went to the cinema. And was very excited that Martin Johnson (England captain) was in the row in front of me!!!
Finally the big day of the crunch match came round - the England vs SA game. I was so excited to get tickets last week, although I needn't really have worried, as there were loads of spare tickets available - lots were being sold for less than face value!! (Serves people right for trying to make money out of them!!!) Once again the day all got really quite messy as we started in the pub at 2pm in time for the Australia vs Romania game. I did a roaring trade again on face paints, making for a very cheap afternoon - I think I've found my vocation in life. It was actually a great way to meet people - travellers, residents, holidayers...
The game itself was way too tense to be able to really say I enjoyed it... More like I bit my nails all the way through and felt an amazing sense of relief when Will Greenwood finally went over for the try. We should definitely be glad that the SA fly-half had left his kicking boots at home on Saturday!
So that's basically the end of 2 weeks in Perth - it's gone so fast, and I've felt really settled - it's a lovely city. But there so much more to see, and so little time... ;-) On to the outback.....
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