Greetings once again from oz, this time from kalbarri where we are enduring some very British weather! Its windy & wet and we are currently sitting in our tent being battered by the wind as it attempts to dismantle our tent but it's made of sturdy stuff and standing strong....so far! what better time to update our blog.

Anyhow, the past 3 weeks have been spent exploring the world's most remote big city (Perth) and  Western Australia (WA.) Its crazy to think Perth is closer to Singapore than Adelaide but its a great city and WA is a stunning part of the world, no doubt even more so in summer. However, we are here in winter and it's cold (well the same temperature as the uk I understand!) ... and wet! Our company so far hasn't been lots of young, fellow backpackers. No, we've been meeting lots of the 'Grey nomads, ' the over 60's, who travel in their camper-vans north in the winter to the warmer parts of Australia and then south again when that part gets too hot. One camper likened them to a pack of wilder-beast on their migration via the Australian plateaux aka Indian Ocean Highway. Seriously though, everyone is so friendly, but so far we haven't found too many people sub-60! 

Thanks to the fantastic generosity of Bec's family, the Pikes, we stocked up with camping gear and headed off south to explore the beautiful south west coast. First stop was Busselton, a small coastal town with a kilometer long pier, with an underwater jetty to see all the amazing coral and fish. Sadly, the weather was so bad it was closed, as were most things in the town, and we were the only hardy campers at our site. Deciding we should drive further to explore the Cape Naturaliste coast, we visited a beautiful lighthouse and after climbing to the top managed to spot a whale in the distance. The west coast is a prime spot to see whales, especially at this time, as they are returning from breeding in the north. That evening the weather took a bit of a turn for the worse with a torrential rainstorm which managed to drench the inside of our tent. So much for that British stiff upper lip; it was time to abandon ship and everything was packed into the car and a local motel was our refuge from the storm. A bargain in the circumstances, and we made it just in time to catch the end of Top Gear! 

Certainly one of the jewels in the south west is Margaret River. A massive wine producing area which we drove around (and had the odd tipple). Holly was feeling tipsy already after the first couple of vineyards, but luckily we found her paradise - The Margaret River Chocolate Company. Chocolate tasting a plenty, plus a selection of condiments including passionfruit curd. I don't think holly will ever let me forget saying no to buying some (at least she didn't for the next week!) It was even brought up today!! We also had our first brush with wildlife when we found a field full of kangaroos although we soon found out why there were so many as we had stumbled across a kangaroo farm.... Yep farming them for meat!

We continued down the coast to Walpole, seeing an emu pottering by the side of the highway, ending up at Jewel Cave. This incredible cave was formed from limestone sediments over millions of years and we winded our way 60 metres to the bottom of the section they had opened so far. The photos don't do it justice, but it was amazing! 

The highlight of the trip so far was undoubtedly the visit to the Valley of the Giants and the Giant Tingle Trees. These trees grow to about 80m high but a massive 26 m in diameter and have generally decayed through the core because of fire. This meant people in ye olden days used to drive their cars through them for a kodak moment. After one of these collapsed because of damage caused by the cars to the roots, it was decided to build a giant tree top walkway to explore the trees in a different way. We gradually ascended until we were 40 m off the ground and walked along a walkway between the canopy of the trees. No joking here, the walkway wobbled a lot and with just a metal grid to stand on you could see all the way to the floor, plus it's quite windy 40 metres up too. it was unmissable and truly amazing! 

We eventually made it to Albany and because of the murky weather we decided this would be the end point and we would head back to Perth and give ourselves more time to explore the north of WA. However, not before we had chance to explore this old whaling port which was home to a monumental moment in Aussie history. Albany was the departure point for most of the soldiers who fought at Gallipoli in WW1 and there is a big ANZAC memorial there. We thought we would walk to it and headed off following our tourist map. It was when we reached a no entry sign to the park that we began to doubt the quality of the map, but, determined to make the most of the day, we disregarded the warning and decided to keep heading on. Things began to seem even fishier when the path became flanked by a big pipeline. After about another 20 mins, we turned a corner and realised where we were headed: the Albany sewage treatment works, conveniently missing from our map (I wonder why!). Anyway, still trusting in the penmanship of the map, we decided to carry on. Just as we turned a corner, there was a loud rustling in the grass beside us. We stopped and Holly confidently said, "that can't be a snake, it sounds too big for that." Famous last words. A few metres on, more rustling, and out pops an enormous black snake.... Cursing the quality of the map, we made a quick about turn and retraced our steps as fast as we could. And what did we see as we left the pathway, only another ruddy snake headed off into the garden of a house alongside the parkland! We did eventually make the memorial and at the top met some friendly Aussies who had brought their new pet cockatoo on holiday... Honestly! I thought it was necessary to explain why Holly randomly has a cockatoo on her in one of our pics! 

After heading back to Perth, we drove north to try and find the sun...! The last few days have been full of stunning scenic drives up the Indian Coastal Drive, watching out for kangaroos popping out at dusk on the roads. We visited the fantastic Yanchep National Park to see the koalas and then stopped for the night in Lancelin, where we watched the sunset on top of massive sand dunes, so white they looked like they were covered in snow, while coach loads of tourists arrived around us and promptly got out their sandboards! We then drove up to Kalbarri National Park, stopping at Port Gregory to see a pink lake. Yes, its pink most of the year due to naturally occurring beta carotene in the region (the stuff that makes carrots red) and then drove around the beautiful coastline. Kalbarri also has a fantastic parrot park, where you can walk in the open amongst some of the smaller parrots of australia, which was amazing, even when one landed on my head! 

Evenings have been spent watching Australian X Factor at campsites which is pretty much on 4 days a week! I thought one day was bad enough in the uk... Yes, the uk has Gary Barlow and that girl from N Dubz, but the Aussies have Ronan Keating, Mel B and the woman Dr Karl once had an affair with in neighbours.... At least I think he did... Hmmm! Still, we secretly have become hooked, (can't believe I just said that!) but so far talent is a little on the low side. Just google/you tube" introvert, extrovert" and you will see why! Its become a phenomenon over here! An example of the meaningless drivel so far...