WARNING: This is a very long description of a jam packed week, only read in you have a lot fo time on your hands....or read as installments to pan it out....or just dont bother!!tee hee! I have already written most of this already but unfortunately me and computers do not get along and apparently it wanted to swipe it all...doh...so here we go again. I believe last time I wrote I have been to Cottesloe beach, so that brings us up to Tues 22nd Nov. It was the girls last day in Perth, so they went to Scarborough Beach, whilst Dad and I decided to explore the city a bit more. I moved out of Underground backpackers hostel and started my week of luxury in the Royal Hotel with Dad. We took an old fashioned hop on hop off bus tour around this city, which was quite nice to get a bit of history of the place. We 'hopped off' at Kings Park, which is a beautiful park that is situated on a hill to the West of the city. From here there were the most breathtaking views of the Perth skyline and the Swam River that runs from the city to Fremantle port. We pretty much spend most of the day enjoying the sun and the views from the park. The rest of the day was quite lazy really wandering about town as we had a busy day the next day on a tour. The evening was spend chilling in the hotel room watching some kind of Strictly Come Dancing Ozzy style as I remember...which I was dead chuffed about as all you know who know how much I love that programme! So, Wed 23rd Nov, was the first of 2 organised tours we had booked, this one to the Pinnacles north of Perth, and one on Sat south to Margaret River. It was an early start and our first stop of took us to Yanchep National Park where I saw my first Koala siting and also as we left the park I my first wild kangaroo hopped across the road in front of us. The second stop of was at a place called Lancelin for morning tea...I know how posh! Now, Lancelin had the most gorgeous beach there....and it was idealic, if it hadnt have been for the fact that the town was home to the Lobster Australia headquarters and had the main depot for transportation of live lobsters...not good for the likes of me, so when I went for a paddle in the sea I was a bit warey of any strays!!!!tee hee! After tea we went off road on to the sand dunes just next to Lancelin and had a go at some sandboarding....yes, even Dad had a go! I didnt manage to get standing up though...still sooo much fun all the same! We then had a 1 1/2 hour drive around the bush....spotted a few more kanagroos and some emus, and then we ended up in Cervantes, home of the Pinnacles, which I thought we just rocks coming out of the sand....but oh no...they are actually fossilised tree routes. It was an incredible experience, because we were pretty much in the desert with not a lot around us apart from these Pinnacles. After the Pinnacles we had a quick stop of at a beach called Hangover Bay...which was pretty much named from some people becoming shipwrecked, getting hammered from the washed up ale and well not feeling so pretty the next day! I was yet again a beautiful beach...and it would have been rude not to have a little paddle!!! We headed home after Hangover Bay and on the way home the driver stopped and showed us our first Bobtail lizard. Thurs 24th Nov, planned to be quite a nice relaxing day, but actually ended up being just as hectic! We had to get the early ferry over to an island just off Perth called Rottnest, so that we had a good days worth of biking on the island there. When I arrived on the island the settlement area of the place reminded me very much of some kind of Greece 18-30 island as this was the place where school leavers would congregate and they had all just broke up a few weeks ago. But Dad and I hired a bike and rode around the island and there was so much space that in fact in some places you felt really isolated. The edge of the island was made up for tiny beaches or bays, so we rode from bay to bay admiring the beautifully clear sea and white sand. We did a quick tour of the island and then decided on THE most beautiful bay called Little Parakeet Bay was the one we wanted to spend our afternoon at...only one problem, I had not brought any bikini bottoms so I had to buy THE most expensive bikini from the settlement area ($100!). So the afternoon was spent chilling in the bay and I had a bit fo a swin, which is good for me as I dont usually go in the sea...well I felt like I had to after buying the bikini!! We got back to Perth about 6pm and then I had a bit of a treat to go to that evening. We had booked tickets to the most chick flick stage show...Dirty Dancing, with Libby from Neighbours at the main character Baby....I was soooo excited about it. And it definately lived up to expectations....I lived the dream that is dirty dancing!!! And you know when Patrick Swayze (is that how you spell it??) comes in at the end and takes Baby to the stage.....he came in from the side door in the stage as well...ohh it makes me weak at the knees!!! And I almost cried at the end when she 'did the lift!!' It was awesome...many apologies for all the men reading this!!!Defo a chick thing...I think Dad enjoyed the show, but there was defo a presence of women in the theatre!!! Ok Im kinda getting bored of writing now, but I am going to perservere to finish writing about the rest of Perth! Fri 25th Nov was spent with Joan and Bob. They took us for a drive around Fremantle, telling us many stories of how Grandad would have experienced Perth during the War. We went up near Garden Island which is a Navy base and we actually saw a submarine and Navy ship on the horizon going to the Island. We had lunch in Rockingham and then we had a drive around Perth. It was good to experience the more residential areas of Perth...including the equivalent of millionaires row....some absoultely gorgoueus houses that overlooked the Swan River. We also went to 32 Goldsworthy Road wher Grandad lived during the War in Claremont (a suburb of Perth). It wasnt the original house, but it was very moving all the same. We spent the evening catching up with Bob, Kathleen and Joan, at Bob and Kathleens in Fremantle. It was such a lovely evening! Ok, so now we are up to Sat 26th Nov, which was our trip down South to Margaret River. Yet again another early start, withe first stop off at Xanadua wine tasting place....Margaret River is very famous in W.A. for its vineyards. I didnt really know what to do with the wine...apart from drink it, but did a bit of swilling and sniffing, pretending that I did!!! Wine was good!!! Following the vineyards we went to an Eagle Nature place, where they kept Bird of Prey that could not be released in to the wild. Im not really a bird person but the guy put on an informative show and I actually got to hold one of the birds...very exciting. After the Eagle sanctuary we went to some caves (called Mammouth Cave), which again was good, but I couldnt help thinking of a film I saw before I came out called 'The Descent!!'...anyone seen it??Which made me chuckle! We then went to the Llwelyn (I think thats what its called) lighthouse, which is the most SW point of Oz and is where the Indian and Southern Ocean...so obviously we had to do the tourist thing and have a picture next to the sign!!! We climbed the lighthouse...it was soooooooo windy there, we actually werent allowed to walk around the lighthouse at the top because of the force of the wind. Our final stop on the way back from Margaret River was at the Bussleton Jetty, which is 2km long. We had tea at a restaurant there...it was another beautiful beach there. Sun 27th Nov....finally Sunday came round....this was a 'free' say for us, so we decided to go back to Fremantle as Dad wanted to go to the Maritime Museum. The museum had a tour of a submarine, which was really interesting! There was also a War Memorial commemorating submarines that were based in Perth during WW2 and Grandads sub was on there...the Telemachus. The rest of the day was spent pottering around Fremantle. It was the last day of the Festival of Illuminations so there was a procession down the cappuccino strip, lots of street performers and little stalls....it created awesome atmosphere, especially in the setting of all the old buildings there. The evening was spent watching the sun go down in Fremantle which was amazing and having fish (yes I had fish!!) and chips by the sea. Ok...so finally that brings us up t o yesterday (Mon) which was spent mainloy pottering about town and packing. Dad left for Albany this morning to go to the farm where Kim (Joans daughter) lives. I am due to leave to go to the airport to go to Adelaide at 2pm, which gives me a couple of hours to waste really....just as well cos the photos are taking sooooo long to load up and is only letting me do about five at a time...there must be a quicker way. If anyone has any suggestions (and has not fallen asleep from reading this by now) answers via e mail to [email protected])!!! Anyways will catch up again in Adelaide or possibly Melborne as not planning on staying in Adelaide for long.