Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Eagles & chocolate!
Here's a few pics from eagle centre - the largest collection of birds of prey in Oz, even got to hold one & survived! And also made a visit to Margaret
River choc co & dairy co for some taste testing...
River choc co & dairy co for some taste testing...
Owls!
Wedge tailed eagle - the largest in oz
choc making in progress
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Margaret River
After leaving Kalbarri last week, travelled 10 hours south to Fremantle, just south of Perth. There I discovered a place to live and work where not only is accommodation free but employment is paid and work is only 6 hours a day. Plus great on site facilities including gym, theatre, meditation & art classes. Also only 2 people per room and room service also included, plus opportunities to purchase a range of herbal teas! Yes this is the Fremantle prison, now closed to prisoners but open to the public since 1991. There I learnt all about convict life and some of the great escapes that took place. And after deciding that spending some time in the slammer might not be so bad after all my next stop was the nearby chocolate factory where I carried out my first heist!
So am now hiding out in Margaret River, right in the Southwest corner of Oz where I have discovered the heist was not necessary as this is chocolate / cheese / wine heaven with tasting opportunities at every turn (literally - on the 50k stretch of road down here there is a sign to a winery at almost every side road!). Am wwoofing here with a family (John & kids - Angelique & Leon) a few k's out of town on a 4 acre property surrounded by forest complete with vege garden, chooks, 2 kangas with Joey's, bunnies, a pool and a trampoline! Beach just down the road too. John is a herbalist so have been doing lots of herb type stuff including pressing / bottling the tinctures and gardening.
So am now hiding out in Margaret River, right in the Southwest corner of Oz where I have discovered the heist was not necessary as this is chocolate / cheese / wine heaven with tasting opportunities at every turn (literally - on the 50k stretch of road down here there is a sign to a winery at almost every side road!). Am wwoofing here with a family (John & kids - Angelique & Leon) a few k's out of town on a 4 acre property surrounded by forest complete with vege garden, chooks, 2 kangas with Joey's, bunnies, a pool and a trampoline! Beach just down the road too. John is a herbalist so have been doing lots of herb type stuff including pressing / bottling the tinctures and gardening.
The cappuccino strip in Fremantle
Yes in Oz even the Millipedes can read
Pool cleaning action!
Bottling the tinctures
Nearby vinyard & wine tasting!
Beach & cactiThursday, October 19, 2006
Monkey Mia
Left Coral Bay on Monday after a couple of days exploring the reef, spotting lots of fish, a turtle & stingray. Next stop was Monkey Mia on Shark Bay, home of friendly dolphins & pelicans! There are around 10 wild dolphins that regularly visit the beach, usually 2-3 times a day. On the day I was there though they weren't as friendly as usual and only 1 paid a visit to the beach, a 30 year old heavily pregnant female. Came right up to the edge of the water so got a good look & was amazing to see up so close. Now in Kalbarri for a couple of days for some snorkelling / beach / parrot based fun!
Shark bay, home of the dolphins
Coral Bay - the dark patches in the water is the coral, top pic is some 2000 year old coral (9 feet wide, 4 feet deep).Friday, October 13, 2006
Road trip extraordinaire!
Finished working in Kununurra on Monday and spent Tuesday checking out some of the local attractions, including Miramar national park (lots of rock formations & flies!). Also went to the celebrity tree park where my hopes of finding trees planted by the likes of Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe & Kylie were dashed as most of the trees there were planted by various ozzie celebs unknown to us brits (with the exception of Rolf!) Final place visited in Kunnunura was the zebra rock gallery - zebra rock is approx 600 million year old stripy / patterned rock which is only found in this area of the world, so took the opportunity to purchase a selection, so adding a bag of rocks to my ever expanding collection of luggage (yes the art of travelling light still eludes me!).
Departed Kununurra Tues eve and took the overnight bus to the next stop of Broome (1000km southwest). Broome is best known as a pearling town and nearby Cable beach (one of the most spectacular in oz). Whilst I was there I did my best Lawrence of Arabia impression and travelled by camel along the beach at sunset ;-)
Left Broome Thurs am for another epic road trip, this time 1350km south west to Coral Bay. It took 18 hours and during that time we only passed through 2 towns - yes there aint much in the way of civilisation in most of western oz! Coral bay is a tiny town (popn 120) on the coast almost as far west as you can get in Oz. Main attraction is the close proximity of Ningaloo reef - found right off the beach within swimming distance so no sea sickness required! Here for a few days so off to explore soon. Seem to have escaped the unrelenting heat of the north too as today experienced a COOL BREEZE and was even able to walk outside during the middle of the day!
Rock face at Miramar national park
Departed Kununurra Tues eve and took the overnight bus to the next stop of Broome (1000km southwest). Broome is best known as a pearling town and nearby Cable beach (one of the most spectacular in oz). Whilst I was there I did my best Lawrence of Arabia impression and travelled by camel along the beach at sunset ;-)
Left Broome Thurs am for another epic road trip, this time 1350km south west to Coral Bay. It took 18 hours and during that time we only passed through 2 towns - yes there aint much in the way of civilisation in most of western oz! Coral bay is a tiny town (popn 120) on the coast almost as far west as you can get in Oz. Main attraction is the close proximity of Ningaloo reef - found right off the beach within swimming distance so no sea sickness required! Here for a few days so off to explore soon. Seem to have escaped the unrelenting heat of the north too as today experienced a COOL BREEZE and was even able to walk outside during the middle of the day!
Rock face at Miramar national park
Zebra rock
Boab tree, these are only found in the Kimberley region. One in nearby Derby had a girth so wide it was used as a prison!
Me & Imrahn Khan!
Cable Beach, near BroomeMonday, October 02, 2006
Yee-ha!
Completed my first week in cafe and now enjoying long weekend courtesy of her majesty - today is queen's birthday holiday (even the bank holidays are topsy turvy down here! If my trip had been timed differently I could even have had this bank holiday 3 times as takes place different times in different states).
This has been a weekend of firsts - on Saturday I went to my first rodeo, which was an experience! Quite entertaining in parts although wasn't exactly promoting animal welfare!
Also this weekend I went on a ROAD TRIP! We travelled a couple of hours through the Kimberley and back over the NT/WA border to the River Keep for a spot of fishing. Caught my first ever fish too - a catfish closely followed by a shark! Both escaped the BBQ though and were returned to the river whilst I cleaned my conscience!
Baby Jabiru spotted at the river
AFL (Australian Football League) fever gripped the nation too this week as the final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday - I knew the Aussies were into sport but this was a whole new level! It was the west coast Eagles versus the Sydney Swans and by Saturday morning excitement had reached fever pitch. The whole town was looking distinctly Ikea-like, awash with the Eagle's yellow and blue colours, and judging by the news coverage of the last week there were no other world events taking place. Stories abounded of west coast fans driving the 3000+ kilometres across Oz to watch the match, you can only imagine the lengths people would have gone to had Oz made it to the world cup final!
Temperatures are now increasing by the day and yesterday this was the hottest place in Oz at 39c! The build up to the wet season in now underway and it will now get more and more humid until December when the rains and lightning storms will kick in. Hopefully I will survive my time here without going troppo - this is when the heat and humidity get too much and send you crazy!
This has been a weekend of firsts - on Saturday I went to my first rodeo, which was an experience! Quite entertaining in parts although wasn't exactly promoting animal welfare!
Also this weekend I went on a ROAD TRIP! We travelled a couple of hours through the Kimberley and back over the NT/WA border to the River Keep for a spot of fishing. Caught my first ever fish too - a catfish closely followed by a shark! Both escaped the BBQ though and were returned to the river whilst I cleaned my conscience!
Baby Jabiru spotted at the riverAFL (Australian Football League) fever gripped the nation too this week as the final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday - I knew the Aussies were into sport but this was a whole new level! It was the west coast Eagles versus the Sydney Swans and by Saturday morning excitement had reached fever pitch. The whole town was looking distinctly Ikea-like, awash with the Eagle's yellow and blue colours, and judging by the news coverage of the last week there were no other world events taking place. Stories abounded of west coast fans driving the 3000+ kilometres across Oz to watch the match, you can only imagine the lengths people would have gone to had Oz made it to the world cup final!
Temperatures are now increasing by the day and yesterday this was the hottest place in Oz at 39c! The build up to the wet season in now underway and it will now get more and more humid until December when the rains and lightning storms will kick in. Hopefully I will survive my time here without going troppo - this is when the heat and humidity get too much and send you crazy!
