Gday cobbers
03/02/2010 Perth, Western Australia, Gods country, the land where the sun always shines and the premier race play.
We stayed our first 3 nights in the Billabong backpackers, a clean, tidy and young hostel, I must have been 30 years the senior of most, It had a communal kitchen where you just helped yourself at breakfast from washing basket size tubs of cereals, Its painful watching some who have only just flown the nest, I had to teach one poor thing how to butter toast. Accommodation in Perth isn't cheap after South Asia, hotels average 120 bucks PN.(£60) We moved on to the North lodge/hostel run by 2 old dear's where the prices change depending on their mood. We managed to sweet talk them to £25 PN for our bijou bed sit.
Perth isn't that big with only a million residents, The buildings range from the modern to colonial and give it a cowboy feel. Perth's pride is it's fantastic near empty beaches, white sand and turquoise (bloody cold) sea. (no surf) Transport in the inner area is free so its easy to get around. 08/02/10 we took a ferry to Fremantle a 45 min journey down the river Swan to the sea (passing the most expensive house in Oz at 53 million knocked down from the asking price of 82million dollars,) Fremantle is a listed heritage town so the buildings are all 1900,s style, There is a prison at the top of the hill it was in use from 1855 to 1991, same size cells no running water or toilets nothing has changed, it's a interesting visit of brutal penal life
12/02/2010 Alice Springs, Northern territory. First thing that gets you is the flies, Hundreds every bloody where, all wanting to do their own personal internal on you, they really do get right up your nose, eyes, ears and everywhere. Alice Springs is meant to be the driest town on earth , smack in the middle of Oz, We soon sorted that, within an hour our dark cloud that follows us let rip and the drought was over. We were warned not to go into town at night as its unsafe due to the drunken Aborigines who want to fight all comers. 13/02/10 Oonaghs birthday started with a 6am pick up for our fantastic trip to Uluru (Ayers rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgers), The guides were really informative who didn't stop feeding us all day we had 3 walks around the rocks and finished with a sunset Aussie bar -b as Uluru changed colours as the sun went down and the flies finally gave up. We got back to Alice at 1am, (a long day.) But another early start the following day took us into the outback again, this time for a camel safari, Our second day in the Bush and we finally sighted Kangaroo's and Wallabies, A morning spent in 40 degree heat, again with hundreds of flies, and Camel Dundee our bushman guide of few words (another great trip).
Update on sickly, she was still bruised for our flight to Oz, we had to buy a cushion for her to sit on, She had her stitches out on the way to the airport, It looks good and won't leave much of a scar, Her leg is still scabby but getting better
Scrabble has been abandoned for now, due to the heat affecting the counters, scores level

Laters the Chaffer's