Perth claims to be the sunniest capital city in the world, with an average of 8 hours per day of sunshine, and it also claims to be the most isolated capital city in the world. Off the top of my head, I can think of a number of cities that are sunnier and more isolated so I'm doubting those claims. One that I'm not doubting is the claim that  Perth has the highest population per capita of self made millionaires in the world. Why? Because to live in Pert...

We are running short on our time in Australia so we cut down our loop through the southwest corner, omitting Esperence (which, depending on who we talked to, was either a huge mistake because we'd be missing out on the best beaches in the world, or a good idea because it was just beaches) and Kalgoolie (which was either vintage Golden Outback, or just a modern mining town). Our foray into the Golden Outback was going to be limited to Hyden which was home to a...

Continuing with the tree theme, just outside Denmark we wandered through the Valley of the Giants. This famous area derives its name from the large red tingle trees which are found there and the walk meanders around, and sometimes through, the old trees. This is the only place where the red tingle tree is found. This buttressed, rough barked tree can live over 400 years and grows up to 75 metres in height, and with a girth of up to 26 metres. While tingle trees a...

Margaret River is something of a Mecca when it comes to tourism in WA but a big part of that draw is the many surrounding wineries that dominate this SW section of Oz. With neither of us drinking, and having done a number of winery tours in other parts of the world (once you've toured a Cambodian winery, you've pretty much seen it all?), we spent a couple of hours wandering the town itself. It's another of those Aussie towns that has done a great job ...

As they say in Australia, there are "heaps" of places that have been given names that are just so odd that they almost invite you to visit simply so you can say you were there. A small sampling might include Boing Boing, Burrumbuttock, Come By Chance, Eggs and Bacon Bay, Goonoo Goonoo, Humpybong, Koolyanobbing, Pimpinbudgie, Woolloomooloo, Yorkeys Knob, and the one Aussie destination we wanted to get to but never did, the Bungle Bungles. After a couple of long dr...