Rotorua & Tongariro National Park

We covered the ground between Paihia and Rotorua in about 6 hours, leaving at 8am and driving out along the shoreline for one last glimpse at the spectacular view of the bay before turning south towards Auckland and Waikato country.

The countryside north of Auckland is fairly familiar to us, just as green if a little more undulating than home with plenty of sheep and cattle grazing and narrow roads.

It has the odd splash of fern and palm tree, huge orchards by the side of the road and fields of lilies however to remind you you ain't exactly on the back road between Kill and Johnstown!

Upon arrival in our hostel (Crank) in central Rotorua we were immediately impressed with our accommodation. There was a climbing wall, a cinema, cold beer and cheap rooms - definitely recommended! The smell of sulphur in the air is pretty apparent once you enter town, so we were spurred into action when we noticed that the Polynesian Spa was just around the corner.

The setting here is fantastic, with pools ranging in temperatures from 37 to 42 degrees Celsius dotted around a wooden decking that leads to the lakes edge. We spent an hour or so lolling about between them and the freezing showers. It was incredibly relaxing, even with the arrival of a hoard of Korean tourists!

The baths were established by a Catholic priest in the 1880's (no cheap jokes here, no sir not me) who had arthritis. He hand dug a hollow in the soil a few metres from the lake and jumped in. The buzz was well and truly started when he built wooden decking around the original baths, which you can see (but not touch)
nestled amongst today's existing pools where himself and lots of other naked fellas could get together and discuss the finer points of alter boy etiquette - sorry couldn't resist;)

Next morning we drove the length of Fenton St to Whakarewarera (or Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao in full for the linguists among you). This is a living thermal village - a cluster of wooden structures built on active geothermal land and home to 18 families who seem to make a fairly handsome living from showing their village off to the world. We caught a cultural performance which consisted of a few traditional Maori songs and dances (including the Haka of course) and then took a guided tour through the village.

Its a fascinating place. Before electricity arrived it must have been quite the luxury to live there. Each house has its own cooking pit - basically a hole dug into some 'thin ground' through which boiling water bubbles completely free of charge and hassle. You can buy corn on the cob freshly boiled in a thermal pool - you definitely don't want to fall into any of these things. The temperature can get up to 200 degrees, you'd be destroyed! After a good look around, and many inadequately answered questions to the guide about life expectancy rates and fights over the land rights amongst the Maori before settlement (the latter was responded to with a gruff statement to the effect of 'I'd like to see anybody bloody try it') we finished up at a platform viewing the Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser. Its a pretty spectacular sight, albeit only sending up a spray of about 5 metres (it can get to over 20 metres!). Beside it is the more famous Pohutu geyser too. The bridge into the village was a hive of activity with 'penny divers' - children from the village following the dubious old tradition of plunging into the water below for tourist gold coins - making a racket and half drowning themselves for a few bucks.

We had heard about a spot called Kerosene Creek about 20 km out of town, so after lunch down by the lakeside we decided to check it out. This is the only free 'thermal experience' available to the public around Rotorua. A couple of kilometres off the main road and down a dirt track a wee carpark spills into the forest and a cascading creek. We followed the river downstream on foot, passing smiling towel clutching folk making their way back up to their cars. Wasting no time I dipped my foot into the side of a natural swimming hole. It was almost too hot to get into. Unbelievable. We edged ourselves into the water, up to about 3 feet - perfect bath height and submerged. Heaven. I crawled through the current and up under a waterfall to get a massage from the falling water on my shoulders. It must have been at least 38 degrees. What an experience. Suitably scrubbed courtesy of mother nature for the evening we made it back to the hostel and collapsed into welcome sleep for the night.


Taupo lies about 80 km south of Rotorua, and is the largest lake in the country. It too is a geothermal region, but we didn't go in for any water based activities choosing instead to drive around he southern tip of the lake and head south west for Tongariro National Park. The drive was stunning - the overcast weather giving the lake an eerie grey coat. It was quite windy too so we only stopped briefly on the shore to get a closer look. With time restraints we wanted to get to the park as soon as possible, but managed to stop at the beautifully blue Huka Falls en route. We made good time towards Whakapapa Village - the gateway to the peaks of Ruapehu, Nguaruhoe and Tongariro.

The most recent eruptions here occured in 1996 - so it is very mych still active! Mount Ruapehu was used as Mordors Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings, and is the tallest of the three at 2,797 m.

We found a cheap log cabin to rent for the night and set off on two separate walks that afternoon. The first brought us to Taranaki Falls, and the second to Silica Rapids. Both walks were about 2 hours return, the latter following the golden bed of a river coloured by the process of oxidation in the water. Unfortunately the cloud cover was too dense for us to be able to see the peaks, but we fell back into the cabin later that night satisfied we had seen as much as we could have on the day.

The sun did break through early the next morning as we left though an as we made our way south towards Wellington we were afforded spectacular views of the snowy summits.

Bay of Islands Oct 09

We arrived late into Paihia and checked into the Peppertree hostel which deserves a mention. It is a charming little hostel run by a couple in there late 40's at a guess. Jan is like a mother hen coming into the kitchen in the evening with fresh, clean, dry dish cloths which is novel for a hostel let me tell you! Everyone was on their best behavior and so the kitchen remained spotless. She clucked about all the same wiping down counters and reminding everyone to wash their dishes! Her husband came down at 11.30pm to close up the tv room and kitchen area so we were all scooted out with the option of bed or to the pub across the road. There was a lovely familial vibe to the place. We spent three nights there. Of course with the joys of traveling comes the joys of sharing dorms again and those people who snore very loudly after they stumble in full of a bucket load of pints. But we struggle on.........

We spent a day exploring by car the nearby town of KeriKeri and it's surrounds before coming back to Paihia to soak in the abundance of beautiful scenery it had on offer. Day two we went out on the water for the day. We were lucky enough to have an absolutely fantastic day and so the colour of the water and the contrasting green roling hills of the many islands and on the main land was very dramatic. Before we knew our boat was surrounded by a pod of bottlenose dolphins who were leaping in and out of the water much to our delight. What a way to start your day cruising alongside dolphins. Unfortunately we couldn't swim with them as there were a few babies amongst the pod which was disappointing as that's what we had been hoping to do.

We spent the day cruising from one island to the next as the ferry company dropped off mail bags to home owners or island owners in some cases. The boat was following what was the old dairy route from years ago that the milkman made to those living on the islands in the bay. Nowadays you can buy your own island there for as little as NZ$3 million and bays go for about NZ$7 milllion!!!! We stood with our mouths agape whilst these various people bounded down to their wharfs to pick up the mailbags as we chugged in. It was mostly the caretakers we encountered of course generally with a dog in tow. The ferry companies come armed with dog biscuits and the dogs are generally down at the wharf edge barking there heads off within seconds of the captain hooting his horn!

It was all very entertaining and interesting witnessing how the other half lives! We weren't doing too badly mind you! The captain pointed out islands and bays of historical interest and filled us with Maori legends and facts of the area. It was great. We pulled into one bay for lunch and climbed to a nearby lookout for more stunning views. James and I had a quick swim before getting back on the boat. We ventured as far out as Cape Brett where the captain navigated the boat through the 'Hole in the Rock' which was pretty exciting! All round it was a fantastic day and I can't recommend it enough to anyone who makes it out here in the future.

James and I jumped off in Russell on the way back and had a stroll around what is a quaint fishing village which was stuffed full of people who had arrived in the previous night after a sailing race from Auckland. There was lots of celebrating going on and so we did what we do best and joined in for awhile sipping on some nice wine overlooking the Bay of Islands as the sun set.

New Zealand!!!!! - Auckland, the City of Sails

October 21st 2009










We arrived in Auckland mid-afternoon and headed out for a wander in the city. One of the first things that struck us was the massive Asian population. It is great to be back on the road and moving again. I still find it hard to believe our time is up in Australia and now we are finally in New Zealand. The first new country in a year. The excitement of having somewhere new to explore hit us and we are well and truly looking forward to the next few weeks here. We arose early the following day planning to tick the city of our list within a few hours. We are in fast tourism mode once again! We caught the ferry at 8am to Devonport. This is a suburb almost entirely surrounded by water, which has a fantastic view back over the city. We climbed Mt. Victoria, a distinct volcano to get an even better view of the Auckland skyline. It reminded me a lot of Sydney. The Sky Tower, the large harbour full of yachts and boats. All it lacked were some iconic features, namely an opera house and big bridge! Also the industrial part to the harbour is quite close to the CBD, which takes away from it a bit I reckon. But still very much impressed nonetheless.

From there we walked to the Domain and into the national museum to brush up on Maori culture, the volcanic history of the country and the achievements of Sir Edmund Hillary! The last stop was the Sky Tower where we were just in time to see some guy hurl himself over the edge with the help of three ropes, not quite a bungy more an abseil down 328 metres head first! My lunch nearly came up just looking at him.

There is a fantastic view of the city up there. Interestingly enough it was only finished in 1997 and is the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere at 328m high.

Auckland, tick.

Just one more day....................

Well as we had it luck was on our side and that wish everyone makes before leaving somewhere they don't want to, came through for us. Initially it didn't feel like that when missed our flight to NZ due to visa issues in Sydney but as the problem was solved we realised we had an extra unexpected day in Sydney to play with! It didn't take us long to figure out how to spend it. Before you can say Manly we were on the ferry to our beloved spot! Somebody was really trying to tell us something we reckon! The sun was shining and we were beaming as we boarded the ferry. I'll never tire of that ride across the harbour. We headed straight to Shelley Beach and slept, swam and relaxed there for the day. WE had less than four hours sleep on the plane and time difference was not on our side so the warm sands of Shelley were a welcome relief. We sat there marvelling at the opportunity to hang out there again for a day.

Naturally we caught up with Colin in the wharf bar and sat watching the sun sat across the harbour before catching one of the last ferries back to the city. The night ferry is just as spectacular. City lights, the harbour bridge and the opera house take your breath away as you round the bend and into Circular Quay.

Now we were ready to go.

Australia Top Ten!

These are mostly based on our experiences in these places, as well as the sheer beauty. it's also a list of what not to miss if you come to Australia according to us!

In no particular order:

1. Blue Mountains, NSW
2. Treachery camp at Seals Rock, NSW
3. Fraser Island, QLD
4. Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island, QLD
5. Shelley Beach, Manly NSW
6. Wilsons Promontory, Vic
7. Great Ocean Road, Vic
8. Coral Bay, W.A.
9. Margaret River, W.A.
10. Rottnest Island, W.A.

Others to note were Spring Gully in Lamington National Park, QLD, Saphire Coast in NSW. Also Mallacoota in Victoria. Sydney is general is a massive highlight, we had such a fantastic time in that city. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it!haha!
Another is Little Creatures Brewery in Freo, it holds a special place in James's heart!

The last of oz....

We had such a busy week and having Martin and Dave with us meant we hadn't much time to dwell on the fact that we're actually leaving Australia within a matter of days. That is a good thing too but all of a sudden when we got back to Perth it hit us it was our last weekend and also the last we'd see of Dave for quite some time. We spent Friday back in Fremantle wanting to show Martin around and hang out there one last time. We had a coffee in Gino's, bought chocolates in Kakulas Sister (our favourite shop) and had a beer at the markets. We strolled around to the Round House and through the park before finally ending up in Little Creatures brewery for the avo. We sat out the back in 30 degree heat looking out on the water. We were later joined by Rachael and Suz and had dinner there. James got a standing ovation, and got clapped out of the bar (mostly by Martin and Dave) but it caught on! He even got a high five from an enthusiastic punter in there. Ahhh, we'll miss Creatures!!

J and I said our goodbyes to Rachael. We'll miss her, she was a great housemate, I'll always have fond memories of that house.

We made another trip out to Rottnest Island or Rotto as it's locally known. This time the weather was scorchio and we well and truly huffed and puffed our way around until we reached Geordie Bay where we lay on the beach for the day, glad to be near the water. It reached 35 degrees and so the water was a welcome relief. There was a shark warning on the island that day. A few days prior to this a 4 metre Great White was spotted off Floreat Beach in Perth feeding on a whale carcass floating in the water. It was less than 100 metres from the shore. They had towed the carcus out to sea in a bid to draw the shark further out. I saw aerial pictures in the newspaper of the shark, seriously scary. Anyway looks like a similiar thing was going on off the west end of Rotto so we avoided there as warned. The chances of us ever being back on Rotto again in our lifetime is fairly slim so I'm glad we had the opportunity to get out there one more time before leaving.

The ferry brought us back to the city up the Swan River. It reminded me a little of Sydney Harbour. The river is so wide in parts and all the houses are built into the hillsides. We saw the most expensive house in Australia on the riverfront - $65 million. It was very impressive. It was a lovely boat ride and I was glad we got to do it before we left Perth. It certainly gave me another perspective on the city. With sun shining more and more and temperatures around 30 degrees the city is sure looking more inviting than it did when we first arrived.

For our last hurrah in Perth and Australia we headed out to Northbridge to the Rocket Room, great night, lots of laughs and dancing.

We spent Sunday a little worst for wear initially but headed out and had a quintessentially Aussie day. We started off with lawn bowls up in Mosman Park. The views of the river and the city are fantastic from there. We cooked up a barbie nearby and then rounded off the day with a trip to Cottesloe beach for a coffee at sundown. Cottesloe is kind of like the Bondi of Perth. Nice big beach, big surf and lots of people.

And that's that. We chilled out for the rest of the evening. Martin and Dave were flying east for more fun and James and I said our goodbyes to the boys as they left for a week out east.

Its been quite an adventure. Words cant describe really. A full year of great times, a lifetime of memories.

Margaret River

We moved out of our place on Grey St the second weekend in October and straight into Dave's! We had a hire car for the week, and awaited Martin's imminent arrival that night. The four of us headed down south to the Margaret River wine region for four days. En route we pulled into the beautiful Bunker Bay outside Yallingup to get an idea of the type of beaches in this region.

Like much of W.A. they are spectacular, and for the most part empty! It was too cold to swim that first day but we just stood on the sand and marvelled at the sheer beauty of the place. Martin having flown straight out from Dublin was amazed. We stopped in Caves House after that for lunch. Dave had been down this way before and so was very clued into where the nice places were and what the nicest wines were. Some of the wines we tasted in Margaret River were nicest wines I've ever tasted. The region produces 3-5% of the country's exports but 30% of its' premium wines so the quality is astounding, even more amazing is the price. We were tasting wines that would probably be at least 90 euro at home and are about $40-$50 here. We had a bottle of Saracens Cab Sauvignon 2004 with lunch and all thought we'd died and gone to heaven!

After we peeled ourselves away from the table we headed towards Margaret River town. Winding our way through narrow country roads and beautiful countryside we were incapable of passing a few wineries without stopping. Swings and Roundabouts was our first stop, then onto Saracens estate to pick up some more of that Cab Sav we had at lunch. We stopped into Pierro where we were greeted by a Cork woman behind the counter! Brooklands got a call too and finally we were stocked up to get us through dinner at least!!

We checked into our hostel and cooked up a storm on the barbie! We spent that even slurping our way through our purchases and munching on kangaroo burgers. The fantastic thing about Margaret River is that it has not only all these wonderful vineyards on rolling hills, beautiful forests and fields of wild lillies but also has spectacular beaches. What a marriage of all that is good and wonderful in this world!

We made our way down to Settlers Tavern after dinner and the night culminated in James singing on Karaoke (the lads did't give him a choice!) as he belted out 'My Song' (also picked by the guys) a couple came up to slow dance, such is his way with music eh!?

We signed up to do a wine tour so that all of us could enjoy the wine tastings without worrying about driving. First up was Tassell Park Estate where a nice guy behind a horsehoe shaped bar greeted us with the first tastings of the day. The most memorable being mulled wine. Onwards from there to Brookwood Estate where the lads attempted to estimate with the (poor) guy behind the counter what's the yield per acre or in other words how many grapes are in a bottle of wine! It drew a few laughs from the crowd, and a calculator was even produced at one point as the accountant amongst us (Martin) tried to figure it out. We had lunch there which was delicious. Wild turkey, cured kangaroo meat, yummy relishes and pesto and fancy breads, delish!! Dave ate a widgety grub, which are essentially wild slugs that Aboriginal people use as bushtucker. In the wild they pull the heads off and eat them straight from the trees. Luckily for Dave it was already dead, but whole and dipped in Greek yogurt! I felt sick listening to him crunch his way through it. Oh well at least he knows he can survive in the bush now, once he has some Greek yogurt on hand of course!

We had a break from the wine and enjoyed some yogurt and cheese tasting at the M.R. cheese factory. The M.R. Chocolate factory followed, where chocolate tastings, hot chocolates and ice-cream were available. As you can imagine at this point we were stuffed and there was still three more places to go! Death by indulgence was clearly the agenda!

Knee Deep winery had a very sleepy, full crowd on their hands by the time we got there. 'The Grove' was a break from the wines, it had ports and liquers. We were warned by our tour guide Gary that Nick in 'The Grove' is very politically incorrect and not to be offended. We waited hoping he'd say something outrageously inappropriate, as Aussies are not PC at the best of times but bar a few jokes he seemed fine. Macadamia nut liquers mixed with white chocolate liquers and cream were made and consumed. We had to be rolled out of there to our final destination Duchsteins Brewery ( I realise how excessive and ridiculous this day sounds as I write this and it was) . we found ourselves some comfy chairs and chilled out there for 45 minutes before being driven back to town.

Straight off the bus and into the M.R. hotel bar only to be served by an Irishman. We had dinner later there also before catching an early night, all of us a few pounds heavier from the days consumptions.

The following day we hit the road to Pemberton down towards the karri forests. The Gloucester tree near Pemberton stands 61m tall and has metal spokes the whole way up it to a viewing platform. After a bit of machoism the three lads were all of a sudden ascending the tree while my heart was in my mouth. There are no safety nets and so I wasn't happy about them climbing it. But once one decided he was doing it they all did, typical. One lady down below commmented that there were some crazy Irish boys up the tree. I think they were all pretty happy when they got back down, it was pretty scary looking.

We drove to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse stopping in Augusta for lunch. The lighthouse is the tallest in Australia and stands at the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. We sat there for awhile watching the dolphins ride the waves. The weather had picked up considerably overnight and so we decided a swim would be nice. We made our way back up the coast to Hamelin Bay. The water was a bit cold but we had the beach all to ourselves. We drove to Gracetown and watched the sunset before making our way back to Dunsborough that night. Dunsborough is a nicer town than M.R. we strolled down the town to Malt for dinner and a few drinks. The bar was hopping when we walked in but by 9.30pm it had cleared out. The Cork woman from Pierro was there with her husband and came over to tell us that everyone goes to bed early here. I thought it was funny that out of ten people left in the place six of us were Irish! And so we had another early night.

Up early and straight to Smith's Beach where we hung out for the morning. Lunch was consumed in Leeuwin Estate. This place was a highlight for us. It was nestled in a valley amongst tall trees and had lovely wooden decking overlooking all of this where we sat for lunch. We stopped into 'Voyager' and 'Cape Mentelle' wineries before hitting the road back to Perth. En route we picked up some supplies and made back to the city just in time to have a BBQ in King's Park before the sun went down. King's Park is great because it looks down onto the city and river and so as the sun goes down the lights go up. We sat up there looking down on the city, a perfect end to our few days away.

Freo post Road Trip

We got back into the swing of things in Freo pretty quickly. The weather was wet for a few weeks but picked up towards the end of the month. One of the weekends we took the boat across the Swan river from Perth CBD with Dave and checked out South Perth. A few nice coffee shops and a great view of downtown Perth were the highlights. We ventured by foot to East Perth for lunch the same day, fully satisfied then that we'd seen the best the city has to offer.

In my opinion the best thing about Perth is Fremantle. We couldn't have picked a better spot to lay low for a few weeks. Perth's winter is comparable to our summers (better actually) so we faired ok. Fremantle is pretty sleepy during the week, but so bustly and atmospheric on the weekends. It was great living so near the town. It was less than a ten minute stroll to the 'cappuccino strip' and markets. Arguably the two best things about the town. Little Creatures brewery on the waterfront ranks pretty highly. I don't know what Dave and James are gonna do without their favourite pale ale, it'll be back to the black stuff I guess!

We spent a couple of weekends just hanging out. We lived a stones throw from the beach which was too cold for swimming but beautiful for walks and running. They have big big sharks off the coast of WA, it seems . I remember when we were over east a few Aussies remarking on the fact that they've 'big ones over that way!' In fact when we were living in Sydney a man and his son were snorkeling early one morning when the man was attacked and killed by a Great White. I saw aerial footage of this shark and it was enough to keep me out of the water. That and the sighting of a 14 foot Great White during our time in Perth meant I kept my feet firmly on the sand.


The nigthlife in Fremantle was pretty good. The Norfolk was our local and one of my favourites. Little Creatures is a fantastic spot. It brings a whole new meaning to beer garden, with views of the harbour and yachts parked right up to the fence line of the pub it was a spectacular place to pass a few hours.

I worked in a pharmacy for two months. All the staff members were Australian and local, many never having left the state. They were all female so I had the joys of being back in an all female environment where everybody likes to bitch! Christ the scandal! All the same it was a great place to work and I really enjoyed my time there.

Fremantle has a massive Italian community, so I was back in familiar environs in some ways! I love the Italian sense of community and family. They are for the most part an endearing bunch! Our local market was operated by the Galati family and had been for 50 years. 2nd and 3rd generations working at the tills with Italian features and Australian accents. The town mayor is Italian and prone to scandal or two apparently. Many of the ornate houses with lions on the pillars belonged to members of the Italian community. Most of the women I worked with were 2nd generation Italian. I found it really interesting to live in a place with people whose families were immigrants a long time ago and yet the traditions and ways of their culture are still very prominent.


Rottnest Island

This little gem in the Indian Ocean had been beckoning for some time but we were holding out till the weather got warmer. The first weekend in October we caught the ferry across, hired bikes and spent the day cycling around and swimming and snorkeling. Fantastic place. No traffic is allowed on the island, so everyone cycles and it lends a lovely lazy feel to the place.

The real draw to the island are the fantastic white sandy beaches and beautiful clear blue water. It's possible to hop on your bike and find yourself a secluded bay and hang out there for the day. A guy from Perth once said to me you take your proximity to Europe for granted like we take our beautiful beaches for granted. I couldn't help think of this as we watched yachts come in and out of the bays, and young families come ashore. I couldn't help thinking these kids don't know how good they have it.

We finished off the day with a cold beer in the Quokka Arms. Quokka's are tiny marsupials that are indigenous to the island, little kangaroos, or large rats as the Dutch thought when they first landed, hence the name - Rat's Nest.


Spring in the Valley - Swan Valley

Our housemate Adin organised a bus to this festival in the wine region outside Perth. So along with Dave, Rachael (our other housemate) and her boyfriend James we jumped aboard. The day entailed twenty of us heading off early to a couple of vineyards where there was live music and hoards of people out to celebrate the start of spring and the good weather. It was like Oxegen but in wineries, a recipe for disaster. We enjoyed oursleves all the same and spent most of it laughing at the antics everyone else got up to. Adin and most of his mates were fairly worst for wear by the time we got back to Fremantle.

Coral Bay - Road trip North

Growing restless with the weather in Fremantle we saddled up Holden for yet another road trip. The objective was to get as far north as quickly as possible, and get some sun on our bums while taking in some of the west coast's famed beaches.

We pulled into Geraldton, a quiet seaside town about 400km north of Perth and settled into a cosy hostel close to the beach front. The difference in temperature was already palpable, and we grew ever more excited about the prospect of sun and sand. We loaded up on provisions, and had a quiet night in having quickly established there was no night life worth checking out.

The next day we made our way along Highway 1 as far as Shark Bay (World Heritage Marine Park), and arrived at the tiny resort of Monkey Mia with a few hours of sunlight to spare. Famous for its daily dolphin feeding sessions, this is a beautifully secluded stretch of beach with an adjacent caravan park and bar/restaurant. We pitched the tent and jumped into the sea straight away. The water was pretty cool - but it felt great to lie on the sand after and dry off under the sun. We did a short walking trail of the area before watching the sunset over a few beers on the beach.

Early next morning we waded into the sea up to our knees and waited for the dolphins to arrive. They didn't disappoint - about 8 or 9 showed up, some coming within a few inches for a good look at us. They are beautiful animals, full of personality. A few opportunistic pelicans were also lurking about.We had breakfast at a spot called Little Lagoon about 10km from Monkey Mia, and pulled over into the stunning Shell Beach about an hour later. We also took in the views of Shark Bay from a lookout called Eagle Bluff. We had a great aerial view of the seabed which is different contrasting shades of blue. The dark patches owing to the large beds of seagrass which are continually shaping the sea floor in the bay. It's not called Shark Bay for nothing either with it being home to at least 28 species of shark, as well as many other marine creatures.

A little further down the road is the tiny settlement of Hamelin. We pulled in to take a look at the stromatolites - a modern colony of single cell organisms that have been in existence for at least 3.5 billion years. These great coral like black clumps are credited with releasing oxygen into the atmosphere to such an extent as to make the planet habitable. At one point they were all over the shop - now they can only be found in a handful of places. The hypersaline waters of Shark Bay make a perfect ecosystem for them since no grazing fishies can survive there. They are a surviving link to the planet as it was 4 billion years ago. So after a crash course in evolutionary microbiology we had a cup of coffee in the bizarre little shop at Hamelin, which alongside very tasty cheesecake sold fake Gucci bags.

The landscape here is like the Nullarbour over and over again, but with a lot more roadkill! Every few hundred metres we saw or dodged a poor old 'roo. The roadtrains just obliterate them.

Anxious to make the most of our time we made for Coral Bay, and set up camp there later that afternoon. We cooked up some dinner and ventured up to the Coral Bay Hotel for a few beers and a listen to a cracking blues band.

The next few days passed by in what feels like 30 seconds now that I'm trying to recall them. Countless times each day I paused in sheer wonder at the beauty of the place. It is the closest to paradise I think I have ever been. We got into a routine of rising early, making our way down to the beachfront and walking a kilometre or two along it to find a sheltered spot along the dunes and then reading, swimming, snorkeling and sunbathing for the whole day. The water was that shade of blue that makes you want to tear your clothes off a go galloping like a frenzied child into it.

Coral Bay is the best spot to access Ningaloo reef from. The current is onshore and sweeps you parallel to the beach front, so we would jump in with the snorkel gear, swim out about 50 metres to the reef and float along over it until making our way to the beach, walking back up to where we started in the first place, and repeating the process. It was like jumping into an aquarium. The whole area around the bay is a marine reserve, so great shoals of snapper and angel fish, turtles, giant clams, moon wrasse etc etc all vie for attention. I would glance up from my book and notice dark shadows over the white sand bed a couple of metres out, and go running in to see a turtle, or on occasion a manta ray flying about just under the surface.

When the tide is out full (which happened to be in the evenings when we were there) the sandy shelf gives way to an immediate drop of about 6 feet into the water. Its like a huge infinity pool. We would lie in the water and catch the last of the evening sun, with snapper nibbling on our toes. I swear I nearly cried leaving the place. The sunsets were spectacular too.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and we pulled out of Coral Bay bound for Kalbarri one morning, narrowly missing an early rising kangaroo on the outskirts of town. Our intention was to cover the 600km or so as quickly as possible to allow time to see Kalbarri National Park that evening. Later en route Sarah had a close call with an emu on the road. We'd seen more wildlife on these roads than anywhere else in Australia, so much so it was jumping out at us. In spite of it we made good time, and were on the turn off towards the town whizzing by fields of wildflowers in the park by mid afternoon. We had pulled into the pay booth at an entrance to the park about 10km out of town when disaster struck. Mick Pyro was on the stereo screaming about breaking down, and Holden took heed and died unceremoniously. Luckily we were right opposite a small airport which had an emergency phone (no mobile signal out there at all) so I arranged for us to be towed into town.

After about half an hour waiting in the scorching heat a friendly mechanic turned up. He took a quick look and made the usual mechanic noises, dodging any definitive prognosis and attempting to size up my knowledge of combustion engines to see how much of a ride he could take me for. In town we waited outside the garage for another hour while he tinkered about, and eventually sidled up to us with the unmistakable manner of a man about to deliver bad news. It was going to cost the value of the car to get it fixed, and would take a few days at the least. We were a little stunned, after all we had traveled over 20,000 kilometres over 10 months in it, and had become somewhat attached! Sarah was on the verge of tears, and I was bent over the engine confirming that most of the valves were minus compression. No doubt about it, car was kaput. So we took a lift into the local backpackers to get our heads together and figure out what the feck we were going to do!

In the end we sold the car for scrap, managed to offload all of our camping gear to a local for a few quid, and booked ourselves on a bus out of town leaving a few days later. Having come that far we were determined to get into the park and have a look around the area. On reflection we realised how lucky we were to have broken down when and where we did - the highway stretches for hundreds of kilometres at a time with the occasional ramshackle road house breaking the monotony. The towing bill alone would have been astronomical, and of course all the extra hassle and time...

So we waked the car in a local bar, and to be honest felt almost relieved to be rid of it and the constant nagging worry of it exploding on some godforsaken far flung dusty highway on us! The hostel staff were very helpful, and Kalbarri is a gorgeous little town on the mouth of the Murchison River, so we settled in for a few days, renting bikes and cycling along the cliff tops to the south of town one day, and going on a tour into the park the next.

The tour was gas. The hostel messed up our booking and the bus went off without us. Luckily they arranged a neighbour to speed us out after the bus and we caught up before they got too far. We were the youngest on the bus by a good 30 years. Its wildflower season in WA - and all the rain this winter has the 'grey army' coming from all over Oz in their droves to bend their brittle backs sniffing Sticky Everlastings and ogling at Kangaroo Paws. First stop 'natures window' a spectacular lookout over the gorges carved out by the Murchison about 60 metres below. This landscape is one of the oldest on the planet, and its majesty truly humbles. Then on to the 'Z-Bend' another lookout over dark red gorges that have been eroded over the millennium to form a large Z in the landscape. Gasping along in unison with the pensioners we shared their obvious delight and relief at having a good old sit down over tea and cakes after the walk. I could get used to retired life, oh yes.

The next day was a long one on a greasy bus back to Perth. We fell into Dave's, surplus baggage wrapped up in great plastic sacks and looking fairly homeless. We had a big dinner there and slept like babies.

Freo Pt 3

The following weekend we went to see Augie March in a small venue in Freo called Fly By Night. We had seen these fellas before on new years day at Woodford and it was nice to see them in a more intimate setting. They are a bit of a shambles but have a few great tunes. The morning after myself Dave and Sarah hit the markets, and Dave did a little film of me busking there. I made a few bucks and we hit Kakula Sister, a great little shop full of sweets and spices and bought provisions for dinner.

The Shipwreck Gallery is worth a mention, and really is a must see in Freo. It documents the Dutch naval expeditions towards the Spice Islands, Indonesia and their involvement with the west coast of Oz among other things. I was wandering around the displays when I came across a case of artifacts from a British registered ship, the James Matthews. It turns out that I was staring at belt buckles, a pair of leather shoes and a few pieces of pottery that had originated with its charterers, a pair of brothers named De Burgh, who lived right beside my grandparents house in Naas. Funny to think of this stuff in the light of day a few yards from Oldtown Villa 250 years ago.

We had planned to run the city to surf, a 12km track from the city centre out to City Beach the following Sunday, and headed into Dave and Suz on the Saturday night beforehand. Myself and Dave caught the Tri nations game against South Africa that evening, watching the Boks comfortably beat the Wallabies in Subiaco Oval. It was great to see Habana, Matfield et al in action, they are a class act. We had a cracking day for the run and all managed to do it good times. We were treated to free refreshments in the Accenture tent after the run and met a few of Dave and suz's work colleagues in the process.

We drove to the Queen Victoria later that evening for dinner before heading home to get ourselves organised for the trip north. Ah the open road again!!

Fremantle Part II

Northbridge & Dave's Birthday

Colin flew in from Sydney the following weekend and we had a big celebration for Dave's birthday. We arranged a taxi to bring us all out to Swan Valley, the local wine region. After a round of 'supa golf' (oversized balls and clubs. Dave loved it the big child. In fairness is was very funny) we ran into Mash Brewery avoiding the rain for lunch. Then to a nearby winery called Edgecombe Brothers where we ended up for the whole afternoon eating cheese and educating our palates. That night we hit Northbridge (read Templebar/Kings Cross) and caught a great pub band in Mustangs after dinner with Suz in Subiaco.

Colin got his whirlwind tour of the city on the Sunday morning visiting Kings Park and Cottesloe. I ended up having a huge Sunday session in Creatures with the boys. It was a great afternoon. We solved all of the worlds problems, hatched plans for a micro brewery empire back home and since it was be the last time we would all be together for a long time generally made the most of it.

Busking Baking and Eating Second Hand Novels


There is a huge Italian population in Fremantle. I gained a great insight into their far flung community by hanging around Wray St a fair bit. This little centre of commerce would not be out of place in any sleepy Tuscan village. I discovered Gelati & Sons grocers one sunny morning wandering aimlessly about the blocks around the house. As I walked up past a row of ramshackle houses, all wooden facades and garish paint jobs and built on top of each other, I came across two weather beaten old men in animated conversation. It took me a few seconds to realise that they were speaking Italian because their spech was pepered with Englih words spat out in forced Australian accents. One was a farmer who was in the process of dropping off a van load of vegetables to the grocers. I went through to the shop inside past the rows of fruit in stalls along the outer walls and immediatly felt hungry. The smell of cheese and chorizo sausages, stacks of imported tinned tomatoes (whats wrong with Australian tomatoes?) and almost everyone conversing in Italian. It was refreshingly bizarre. I bought some coffee and a few things for a salad, and wandered homeward warmed by the little slice of old fashioned community bound society I had stepped into for a few minutes.

Back at the house, and comfortably ensconsed under the olive tree in the garden I drank some coffee and cracked into my book. This pattern was to repeat itself quite a bit over the coming weeks. I made my way through a long list of books I had been meaning to read, ran regularly down along the pathways past South Beach, baked batches of various 'experimental' bread that was on occasion actually edible, and generally engaged in a lifestyle close to perfection. I kept myself in coffee beans and second and books by busking as much as possible in the markets.

I get slagged for only being able to play 3 songs when Im a little worse for wear at parties - well no more. I sat down and learned about 45 tunes over the next few weeks, and made a few initially tentative forays into the markets on the weekends to belt them out. After a few days the confidence grew, I met a few people who encouraged me more and more, and before I knew it I was peaking earnings at the rate of a dollar a minute!

There are three spots in the markets for buskers, and I would get there early on a Friday morning and sign up for as many hour long slots that were still available for the weekend. At a natural 'crossroads' in the flow of human traffic, and right in the midst of the strawberries and melon stands, I set up camp and blasted through as many classic Beatles, Kinks, Waterboys, Van the Man, Pearl Jam etc etc etc songs as I could muster in an hour. It was great craic. The vocal gymnastics I eventually managed to pull would never have been possible without the hours and hours of singing. There is something infinitley satisfying about mucking around with a guitar for a few hours, doing a little jig on the spot while roaring out your favourite tunes in public, and making handsome money in the process.

Fremantle

Our first few days in Perth slid into each other in a nebulous haze of incredulity. It was great to see Dave again and hang out with Suz in their beautiful apartment on Milligan St, but it quickly became apparent that we were a long way from Kansas (Kansas being Sydney).

We took in the sights in about two days: the view of the city from Kings Park, tea in Indiana on Cottesloe Beach, drinks in Northbridge, lunch in the Left Bank in North Fremantle. We spent the next few days dodging raindrops and trying to find a place to live and jobs. Leederville looked like an option, but when we viewed an apartment there our hearts sank even further - overpriced and dingy. Not quite the 360 degree views of Manly. We persisted for a few more days and then decided to check out Fremantle on a whim.

The minute I got out there my spirits lifted. I have no idea why because it was approaching darkness and we hadn't seen the town centre, but I just had a feeling about the place. We stayed in a tumbledown haunted old kip in the docks called Australia Backpackers. Just down the street is a lovely little pub called Clancy's. Full of all kinds of weird and wonderful bottles and kegs of beer and live music, and with a roaring fireplace on a cold night, we got cosy and started to thaw out a bit. We walked around the town centre the next morning and came across Sundancer Hostel - which unbeknownst to us at the time turned out to be the nicest hostel in the town. We moved straight in and in the space of a few hours had been sold on Freo as a place to live for a few weeks. We climbed up to the Round House, had coffee in Gino's on the 'cappucino strip' and managed to squeeze in a pint on Little Creatures that afternoon.

So between job hunting and sight seeing a couple of days in the hostel sneaked by. Being low season we had a whole dorm to ourselves and shared the common areas with the 15 or so other guests. Everyone seemed to be in the same mode of keeping their heads down for the winter months and looking for work. We got friendly with a few of them, one particularly funny Frenchman who made onion soup and his own mayonnaise and offered a taste to all around.

Dave came out on Friday night and we hit the town hard, having a few drinks in the hostel, then Clancy's and ending up in the aptly named Clink (read Coppers) until the wee hours dancing like 4 year olds at a playschool disco. We woke up early Saturday, strolled around the town again for a bit, having coffee on the cappuccino strip. Thence to Creatures again via a stroll through the markets where we toasted Sarah after she got a phonecall offering her a job in a local pharmacy. We had a ridiculous dinner in a Mexican restaurant and slurped PINTS of pina colada through straws (oh god as I write this it sounds so bad haha) and ended up in the Irish pub that night. Uggh. I lost my glasses on the dancefloor. Say no more.

On Sunday morning I rang around a few places to see if we could get some accommodation and made an appointment to view a house later that afternoon. We immediately liked the place, bright and airy and only a few minutes walk from town centre. So in the space of two days we had one job and a place to stay sorted. Not bad going.

We weren't due to move in for a week so we spent another 7 days in the hostel. I got a days work out of a removals company and helped a very well to do English family move from a fabulous big house into a not so fabulous smaller house. Tough times. Out of a population of about 1.5 million, 400,000 of Perth's inhabitants were born in the UK. EVERYBODY I met that day was born in England. The couple who moved, the owner of the removals company, the two lads who worked with him, the cleaners coming in after us, the bloody dog minder, the TV rental people. Unbelievable.

Sarah started work in the pharmacy and seemed to immediately fall into step. I did an RSA (responsible service of alcohol) cert which is basically a money spinner for lots of private education companies and a rip off for prospective employees in the booze trade. I reckoned I'd give a go at working in a bar in Freo and set about calling into them all and proclaiming my love and healthy appreciation for all things beer. This I did with much gusto, making a point to prove said devotion in each premises. It was the most fun I've ever had applying for jobs.

Unfortunately what with it being the depths of winter and all nobody was hiring. I did get a trial run in the Irish bar which was good fun but they gave the job to some Ozzy girl with large breasts instead. Ahh the world we live in eh? So I took to the streets with my guitar and embraced the busking culture here in the hope that it would embrace me back. More of which anon.

We moved into the house on Grey St and met our housemates. Adin is a local boy, a self styled entrepreneur and all round man of mystery. A funny man indeed. Rachel is a sweet and smiling Berkeley graduate who has a great CD collection and in fact has turned me back on to buying the little plastic discs again in lieu of my unhealthy addiction to MP3. Oh what a privileged existence us audiophiles have. We all got on great from the get go and settled in nicely.

That Sunday myself S and Dave visited the famous Fremantle Gaol and took a guided tour of it. This place is the best preserved example of a convict prison in this nation of prisons owing to the fact that it was built when Victoria's fat arse was on the throne and remained in full operation up until 1991. Unsurprisingly it is a place of rich history and anecdote and it is indeed shocking. The lucky prisoners only had to deal with a lack of plumbing (having to do their business into buckets in cells) as the rest of the world had to endure the cultural assault course that was the 1980's. They got off lightly I say. Some shower of liberal pinko's eventually petitioned to have the place shut down and now all of WA's worst offenders have cosy cushioned cells and common areas in which to play their Wii's and occasionally knock the feck out of each other over cigarettes.

There was one great story about the jail that is worth retelling, and we were surprised somebody hadn't bought the film rights when we heard it. The only successful escape from it in its 160 odd year history was orchestrated by an Irish poet/publisher/ladies man /IRB sympathiser/ all round hero named Richard Boyle O'Reilly. He was shipped off and locked up in Bunbury for his Fenian activities back in the homeland but escaped to Boston where he made a fortune publishing the Boston Pilot.

He had promised some of his buddies in Freo he wouldn't forget them though, and a few years later mounted an elaborate plot to get them out and away on the high seas. While the majority of guards and the governor were out sunning themselves at a regatta in Perth one afternoon, he arranged for the lads to be smuggled aboard an American registered boat called the Catalpa. The authorities had wind of the escape at this point and raced out in a whaler to intercept the Catalpa, firing warning shots at it. The lads pulled a stars and stripes out and promptly told the British that one more shot in their direction would be tantamount to declaring war on the US. They backed off and a few weeks later the Fenians celebrated their reunion in Boston over tea and crumpets and buckets of red bull and vodka. Yipeeeeee!!