Dear All

Phil here this time and writing from the comfort and affordability of my brother James's house so there are no time pressures attached to this blog entry and also BEHOLD photos! Sorry its taken so long but this really is the first time we've had a computer capable of uploading more than one photo per hour!

So we left off in Pretoria where we were staying for just one night.

Saturday - Headed to Jo'burg airport in the worlds fastest taxi! Slightly scary, especially doing 160kmh in a 60 zone, but we got there in one piece. After a short delay with some visa issues (so much for the automatic eta system!) we eventually got through.

Sunday - Another good but sleepless flight arrived in Perth and we were greeted by very hot and humid conditions. We caught a shuttle bus to our pre-booked hostel and checked in to what was a much much bigger, stinkier hostel than we were used to. Having only really met 'travellers' in South Africa it was a bit of a shock to be face to face with lots of people who just seemed to be there to party hard for as long as they felt like it! Our first dorm room was rejected on the basis that it was described by one ex-room-mate as 'party central'. Having been up for 36 hours we felt that it would be wise to move rooms to get some sleep. Our second room was fine and we chatted to what appeared to be the only other couple who seemed equally pleased to have another couple to talk with. We are fast learning that couple = social leper to most 18 year old travellers!

Monday - Having slept like logs we headed into Perth again and headed first to the old Perth Mint. THe highlight was seeing gold being refined and poured into a mould to create a solid gold bar. Pretty impressive stuff and amazing how quickly it all happens and cools. We also weighed ourselves to see how much we are worth in gold. I was worth some $2,600,000, whilst Liz clearly was worth somewhat less, though in my eyes is worth her weight in gold.....ahhhhh!

Later we headed to Kings Park which is a lovely park with a great view of the city and river front. Perth was lovey and we were amazed that you could walk around the city on foot and so safely. A relief having come from South Africa where security is a big issue constantly.

Tuesday - We decided to head down south a few hundred KM's to Margaret River on the bus. We were staying in a lovely hostel just a few minutes walk from a stunning beach and enjoyed a picnic as the sun set. This was what it was all about :)

Wednesday - We booked ourselves on to a Cave and Canoe tour with added bonus of a bush tucker lunch! We made our way up river, taking in some really beautiful scenery of the Margaret River mouth, followed by lunch consisting of Kangaroo, Emu, Wichity Grubs etc! Despite some curiosity I have to concede that I did not try the Wichity Grub (apparently it tastes like peanuts - reason enough for us both to avoid it - haha). This was follwed by a cave crawl through tunnels and a canoe race for a bottle of wine which we lost due to nautical sabotage...

After the tour we visited Margaret River which was very nice. The town is clearly built on the money created by all the wineries in the area and has created a town full of boutiquey shops, nice restuarants etc. Highly recommend heading there should you ever go to Western Australia.

Thursday - Early bus ride back to Perth then another bus ride to Freemantle. Checked in to the local YHA hostel and decided that we deserved a treat so headed to a bar for a drink, which turned in to two... We then headed in to a 'local' pub to find the local Aussies going mad for a lee langford look-a-like (trbi) singing and playing the guitar. Having safely seen off another drink Liz casually strolled up to the crazy aussies to see where they were going next. We ended up in a dodgy looking nightclub where we had several mores drinks and tried to keep up with their crazy dance moves ...on the stage... Good times!

Friday - Bad times, early start to catch a speeding ferry to Rottnest Island. God knows how neither of us were sick but it was a very close call, more so on Liz's behalf I'd like to add ;-). On Rottnest we had hired bikes (cars are banned) and enjoyed a day exploring and sunbathing on this absolutely beautiful island full of idyllic beaches and coves. A fab day once the hangover had subsided!

Saturday - Flew to Melbourne to be greeted by James and Renee, who thankfully left the 'Noodberg' welcome sign at home :)

So we're here in Melbourne until the 28th Dec so if you fancy emailing and saying hi etc we have a lot more time to respond and say hi back etc. Hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year. It's going to be very weird having Xmas on the beach in 30 degrees but we'll give it our best shot!

Love Phil and Liz

ps. did we mention the Cinema room at James's house!?