The rest of my time in Katanning passed without much incident - very Groundhog Day. I did manage to get out to the sheep sheds one (very) early morning and watched the shearers at work, as well as making friends with a lovely little collie and attempting to shear a sheep myself. I don't think I've found a new vocation. I found myself getting a little homesick and wanting to move on a lot earlier than I thought, but hope that getting moving again with get me o...

Whilst I had the luxury of Jo's car I also visited Denmark on the South Coast, again a 2 hour drive away but Florence and the Machine sure makes a drive fly by. Although I loved Albany Denmark was definitely my favourite of the two towns. I arrived in good time and checked into my little hostel, a cute little place called the Blue Wren travellers rest, replete with chatty South African owner and rotund Labrador to welcome you to their home. One of the main att...

On one of my days off I decided to go down to Albany, a town on the South coast, about a 2 hour drive away. I borrowed Jo's car and set off early ready for a couple of days out of Katanning! The journey didn't start well as I almost ran out of petrol halfway there and was pretty stressed by the time I finally saw a petrol station. Everything really is so far apart here - it's not like driving up the M1 that's for sure. Anyway I managed to fill the car up and ge...

So now I've been in Katanning for a few weeks and have some observations to share, I think I have the measure of the place. I got the coach down, a 5 hour trip although only 3 hours by car, all the while seemingly getting further and further from civilization. The town is relatively small, about 4000 people, 3 hours from Perth, 2 hours from Albany down on the coast, and is pretty dusty and hot. I arrived in the middle of a crazy heatwave, was like 39 degrees wh...

The flight to Australia was uneventful, with the exception that we managed to have 3 little bottles of wine at 10am and still managed to get through customs. There was an unexpected sniffer dog at the baggage area, luckily my bamboo chopsticks weren't deemed a national risk!! My immediate impressions of Australia were positive, although the cost of everything was a massive shock. Despite the warnings given by everyone about the price of everything, paying ten d...