Thelast bit of Oz

So, chickening out of going further North, we blast our way back down the highway, destination Margaret River. Back through miles of red earth and scrub , slowly turning into farming country and then into a more autumnalSouthwest Oz.

We stopped in Fremantle for a few days as we really needed to use the last bit of Oz to sort out Borneo and Japan.Fremantle was a great place to do this -a very European feel city, on the sea with a great street café and boutique culture - many hours happily spent trawling the internet and supping coffee/ chocolate milkshakes!! (H oggling at boutiques full of the most un-travel friendly clothing off course!)

Good day spent on the island of Rottnest, a car-free nature reserve where we visited several lovely beaches, hopping on and off the round island bus. O enjoyed the boat trip, and we were impressed that we could have a lovely cove pretty much to ourselves even at the weekend and within an hour of Perth! On the way back to Fremantle from the island we were delayed on the ferry entering port, and saw huge crowds lining the banks (1000s of folk!) , waving Aussie flags, and water cannons going off everywhere We thought it was a royal visit or some such, until we found out that it was all in aid of the anticipated departure of the largest cruise ship in the world……conclusion was that Aussies don't have much excitement in their lives!!

Leaving Fremantle to explore the Wheatbelt, lovely farming country southwest of Perth. First stop York, apparently an historic town of great character. Monday evening however was clearly not the best time to visit; the Lonely planet recommended restaurant had a "closed on Tuesdays " sign in the window….I know it was Monday but that was a tad typical of York. In this hick town where you could see more tumbleweed than people, we had to have the pub chairs unpadlocked before we could sit down!! Trying not to giggle whilst said heavy duty chain was removed was difficult!

York's saving grace was a brill motor museum, full of lovingly collected cars, bikes, model tanks etc. Even the carphone J was impressed, O gobsmacked, H … a little bored! Photo for Jamie and Julian!!!

A further 3 zillion miles west landed us at 'Wave rock', a huge geological accident shaped like a huge … you guessed it … wave! Pics, flies (arrrrgggghhh!), done!

Must have been the 'pull' of the wine but off to Margaret River we went, again drinking our way through all the cheap reds!

You can't go to Oz without seeing some surfing, so we took in an international comp at Margaret River: amazing how boring a sport can be when you don't understand it…. But nice sitting in the sun!

Margaret River is a well-off place - don't go into the aboriginal art galleries or you'll come out a grand worst off - hope the Mimihs get home (Mimih is a protective spirit) in one piece! (Irony of buying aboriginal art when we hardly saw any aboriginal communities was not lost on us!)

At this point we must not forget a very cultured part of the trip - our intro to the 'feather in the cap' of all Oz campsites - the Jumping Pillows. Having scoffed at these butlins style sites a few weeks ago, we now hunt them down voraciously! See pics - Fun for all the family!!! See even campsite carts!!!!!

An 'amazing' week (took in, would you believe, two mazes). Frankly we have a few days just filling in. that said, maze number one was great fun, maze number two was very difficult for the thick Gerrys! (nearly succumbed to the emergency exit several times!)

Spent a day/night at Yallingup, which really did look like Pembrokeshire in the sun!! Like Pembs it was as great for surfers as sandcastle builders - us being the latter! H in heaven as the hill behind was lined with gorgeous modern 'Grand Designs' style architecture - whilst H and her brother Tim tease Margaret about horses, H may now be teased for pointing out houses!! Discussion began again as to which houses in berko could be bulldozed to make way for our ideal home!! Watch out Berkoites !!

So, next blog entry from the land of the headhunters!! Bye bye Oz- we've enjoyed you!!