Return to Oz: SW WA

You know you're in Australia when...(Somewhere near Perth in the outback, Aus 22 Oct 07)
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Aha - Australia. Land of Fosters, cork hats and a million UK gap year students.

We had it on good authority that for Generation X, "west is best" and so we headed to Perth and environs for the last month of our adventure. After hiring a small car for a huge amount of money (the same as the differential between buying and selling our NZ car, and we had that for 4 months!) we headed northwards towards Cervantes and the Pinnacles.

Not an inspiring start to our "big Oz roadtrip", to be honest. Whenever we opened the car door we were greeted by Australia's full population of nagging flies, so outside trips began to be planned with military precision. V made friends with many of the locals as she walked along the street waving a tissue in front of her face to keep the little critters away (they all waved back in a very friendly manner!!) but luckily the worst "black clouds" seemed to be in the heat of the day. Thus visiting the Pinnacles and Stromatolite around sunset was a good idea.

These road trains were lorries with THREE trailers, up to 100ft long which made overtaking interesting! (Aus 22 Oct 07)
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The Pinnacles was definitely worth braving the flies for. Thousands of eerie limestone pillars, up to 4m tall form the Pinnacles Desert. The moonscape scenery is made by the pillars rising out of the stark desert landscape of yellow quartz sand. The limestone formations of the Pinnacles vary in size and shape; some are as small as a fist whilst many are as big as 4m high. These unusually shaped rocks have been likened to tombstones, termite mounds and even fingers (we found some rude shaped ones too). It was one of those moments when V wished she had a better camera!

The sign you don't often get in England (Pinnacles, Aus 23 Oct 07)
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Looking for all the world like rocks which have grown into huge cowpats, Stromatolite are believed to have been formed by the “trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary grains by microorganisms, and have existed on Earth for more than 3 billion years. Which makes them the world's oldest creatures. It was a bit humbling to think that these quiet pets had lived through it all, although their lifestyle, sitting in a cool tidal pool at the edge of the desert, was fairly stress-free I'd imagine.

The eerie Pinnacles desert (Pinnacles, Aus 23 Oct 07)
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After braving the flies for a few days, we beat a retreat back southwards to the fast growing resort of Mandurah. With a landscape of cranes and building works, this was not, at first glance, the most relaxing place. However after securing our very own little chalet on the Waterfront, we chilled out nicely for a few days. We also enjoyed our first meeting with a river dolphin, who had chased some fish up the creek next to the icecream shack (our HQ for an hour or six). Seeing his sharp, short precision turns that were quite at odds with his body shape, and the huge smile on his face when he had finally caught his tea, made us feel a bit guilty that all we had to do was decide whether we wanted a cone or cup, and how much chocolate sauce to have.

Some of the ruder structures (Pinnacles, Aus 23 Oct 07)
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Onwards southwards, to brave the gale force winds and rain (grr - why do we always manage to attract bad weather?!) and past the Aus cricketers hideout of Yalingup (aboriginal for "place of love", trivia fans) to the famed Margaret River. Well, famous in V's eyes, as there are few places on earth that have 200 vineyards, a chocolate AND a fudge factory within a 50 mile radius.

There followed an excellent day with www.winefordudes.com with a hugely knowledgable guide in John took us round the best vineyards in the area, with an extra stop at the chocolate factory (whereupon he turned into V's best friend by pointing out the free samples bowls) together with a lesson on how to blend wine...v interesting. A final stop to check out the best surf breaks in the area finished a great afternoon, which turned into a fab evening out as well as the crew joined us for some beers in the local pub and dinner on the closing night of one of the outstanding restaurants in the area. Franco and the team at Relishes are moving to bigger and better things having packed out their little place for the last 7 years, we wish him all the best and look forward to tracking him down when we return to Margs!

Nice arty shot of the desert (Pinnacles, Aus 23 Oct 07)
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The 30th October dawned fine and dry, and Rob was delighted to receive a pile of birthday cards via the Margaret River Post Office (thanks all!). V sent him over the cliff for his birthday present...with a coastal climbing afternoon with Mick at the Margaret River Climbing School. The Willyabrup sea cliffs, about 20 minutes north of Margaret River, rate as one of the premier abseiling and rock climbing sites in the South West. With humpback whales surfacing and crashing through the rough sea barely 500m offshore (on their way home to Antarctica), and the SW WA coastline unfolding as far as the eye could see, it was simply stunning. A great way to get rid of any wine-induced cobwebs and challenge ourselves in a very different way to any other climbing we'd done previously. Awesome. Mick even smuggled a birthday cake (complete with candles!) into his rucksack and I don't think I have seen such a spectacular setting for a birthday tea in a long while.

Chilled out Stromatolites..spot them?! (Cervantes, Aus 23 Oct 07)
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V barbequed kangaroo kebabs for supper...(Rob was glad she'd also bought prawns and chicken) and we toasted his age, our families and the lack of flies.

After 10 days in the SW we decided to take advantage of Virgin Blue's special offers on airfares and head up to the NW tip of Aus and to Broome. Aussies always go misty eyed at the mention of this tropical hideaway apparently, so we'll report back on whether it's worth the reputation!

V&R