One thing we haven't done much of in Australia is explore its culture and history, particularly of the time since the Europeans arrived. So when we hit the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie we thought we would try to remedy that deficiency… By visiting a brothel! Gold has been discovered in many locations in Australia, but Kalgoorlie still has active mines producing large amounts of the shiny metal. It has also retained something of the atmosphere of a 19th cent...

Having finally come within two feet of a snake we have now added koalas to our wildlife 'to see' list. Not that they looked particularly alive, rather stoned out their heads. We had gone to Yanchep National Park with Laura and Jamie whilst back staying with them in Fremantle. It's an hours drive north and we all went in our car as it has an annual Western Australia National Park pass that the previous owners had bought. We cleared out the extra spare tyre/boo...

One animal we hadn't really got a close look at on our travels round the country was a snake. That was until today! We were on a gentle stroll around Wave Rock when Richard threw me into a moment of panic by calling out for me to stand still. For a split second my mind whizzed through possible deadly creatures that could be in my path and I settled on a snake. As I looked round there it was, a long fat snake slithering among the undergrowth only two feet away. W...

Continuing along the south coast, our next stop was at Albany, which predates even Perth in the history of Western Australia. The town was bigger than we expected, with a large centre featuring several buildings dating back to the 19th century. The atmosphere had become increasingly heavy in the previous couple of days and we were rewarded with a thunderstorm one evening as we sat and ate our dinner. Luckily the camp kitchen was undercover so we didn't get soake...

Having caught sea sickness from Richard in the Whitsundays, I hoped I wouldn't catch his fear of heights while climbing trees and doing the tree top walk in the national parks between Pemberton and Denmark. This area is covered in tall karri and tingle trees and made a pleasant drive from Margaret River, passing trees with foliage that resembles florets on broccoli stalks. Near Pemberton there are three trees that you can climb - Gloucester, Bicentennial, and D...