Perth was our final stop in Australia. It is quite a big city with a population of 1.4 million people. However again it didn't really feel so big.

We stayed in a hostel in the City which again had Ozbekistan written all over it. Yet again it was dirty and very basic. Unfortunately for some reason it seemed like most accomodation in Perth was booked out. We rang over 6 places before we found a vacancy, so were stuck with our meagre surroundings once again.

Perth is a strange city, seems quite spread out and has a railway running right through the middle. It also has a hostile feel to it, especially after about 6pm at night. Again, more down and outs wandering around the town pissed all day. We didn't realise until we came out here how England doesn't really have such a big problem. Even in London, you feel pretty safe walking around the city. Doesn't seem to be much of a police presence in Perth perhaps thats part of the problem.

We didn't really do much in the city of Perth, we used the time to sort out all our things and replenish our supplies. Also we have spent so many hours on the Intenet trying to get all our blogs and pictures up to date so hope you all appreciate it!

To have a break from the depressing city of Perth, we hired a car and drove down to Margaret River. A small town 3 hours south of Perth. The town is renowned for 3 things;wine, surf and caves. We started by visiting a couple of vineyards and having a few tasting of both their reds and whites. Considering the first vines were only planted in Margaret river 40 years ago, the wine was pretty good. Not as good as Cloudy Bay in NZ though obviously.

Next we drove to surf point to see the famous surfers. Apparently Margaret River is supposed to have one of the best surfing tubes in the World and it hosts many world class competitions. While we were there we saw many surfers practising for the upcoming World Qualifiers event in March. Was great to watch, the waves were massive.

Finally we visited one of the caves in the town. We decided to go and see Lake Cave as we had heard it was supposed to be very beautiful. We weren't disappointed. Firstly we descended a steep staircase that was surrounded by towering Karri trees. Inside the cave a tranquil lake reflected the delicate formations. The guide lit up all the different areas so you could see the detail, sometimes using coloured lighting which gave off a great effect. In the centre of the cave there were 2 tall, thick, pillars of limestone rock that were suspended from ceiling down onto a rock platform that was hanging over the water as if defying gravity.Was a brilliant site, hopefully you can see this in our pictures.

After the cave we visited one more vineyard on our way back (well we couldn't resist). Then we drove upto Bunbury where we spent the night before returning to Perth early the next day.

The last 2 days in Perth we caught up on everything and ensured we ate enough western food to feed an army. It dawned on us that for the final 4.5 months we would only be eating Asian food so made sure we visited The Colonel and all his friends several times.

Goodbye Ozbekistan, its been emotional. Asia here we come !