In the last blog, I mentioned that we hadn't intended to take a wine tour while we were in the Margaret River area. For a start, we had been on one in Blenheim in New Zealand, so there was an element of 'been there, done that'. In addition, the cost of $75-80 each seemed remarkably poor value given that all we would get for our money was transport plus sips of wine totalling around a single bottle at most. Fate, however, intervened in the form of a half-heard ad...

Thomas has mentioned the fact that many of our blogs are "punctuated" (his exact word) by mention of beer or other types of alcohol. In an attempt to disabuse people of the idea that we are a pair of alkies, I had intended to keep such sordid details to ourselves in future. But what can one do when the main topic of a blog is a visit to a brewery? Before all that, however, came our departure from the nirvana of Laura's house (and proper kitchen and be...

My friend Laura and her boyfriend Jamie emigrated to Australia two years ago and are living in Fremantle. Although the place has a lot to offer our visit was mainly to have a good old gossip and catch up, and to enjoy the pleasure of living in a house for a few days after five months in a tent. Fremantle is a port on the south side of Perth with a long stretch of beach and an array of coffee shops and eateries. Before luxuriating at L&J's house we spent a co...

We had intended to write a blog from Geraldton, the second biggest city in Western Australia. Had we done so, however, it would have read something like: "Went to Geraldton; it was closed." To be fair, it was a Sunday but we hadn't expected both major supermarkets to be shut all day. Neither were we prepared for the funereal atmosphere as we drove through the centre. Perhaps Geraldton is a fantastic, lively place to visit and many people have the exp...

Bob Geldof brought poverty in Africa to the world's attention with Live Aid and the striking images of children standing motionless with flies crawling over their faces. I couldn't understand the reason they didn't move them away, but having experienced flies in Kalbarri National Park I now know why. The park was the first place we planned to explore during the several days we spent in and around Kalbarri. There was an 8km loop walk that took our fancy. It wi...