Sunday 1^st December 2002
Another month, another continent. Taxi to airport (S$16 bottom end of estimates - no traffic). Plane running 40 mins late. Changi airport good. Free power, infra-red and network connections for laptop Internet access - finally get to work. Pick up mail. Bumpy flight, particularly at low altitude (i.e. take off and landing). Pass over alien landscape in northwest and west Australia. Dense network of rivers and tributaries, all apparently dry with scrub and trees instead of water, otherwise desert. Rivers split and recombine. Presumably the result of flash floods. Suddenly landscape becomes patchwork of huge orange fields as far as the eye can see (long way 7 miles up). Then chains of circular white lakes (salt lakes?).

Takes hour to pass through customs (not what we are used to), while official organises the queues. Have to declare our packet of biscuits and canned drinks - but is OK. Outside airport discover that it is cool and windy, quite a shock, will have to dig out fleeces. (Later discover Perth is 2nd windiest city after Chicago.) Decide to take airport shuttle bus to town. Big mistake! Queue for ages while driver very slowly processes passengers, taking destination and A$13 per person one way. Eventually set off on 15 min trip to town. Driver attempts to solve travelling salesman problem visiting each of our destinations. Misses several turnings, and has to do big circle only to find that the people he thought he was dropping off were not on, and that we were! Running commentary as we go. Hour later, finally arrive at Grand Chancellor. Turns out that for two it would have been the same price and much faster to go by taxi. Oh well, we wouldn't have had the tour of Perth thrown in.

Walk down to Swan River jetties looking for dinner. Charity outdoor concert taking place on Supreme Court Gardens. Eat at fish and chip shop run by Lebonese expat - Friendly Fish. Views of city and river very nice. Too cold to stay for concert.

Grand Chancellor seems good. Huge room, all extras including iron and ironing board (Glyn in element). However, as sit here the room seems to vibrate regularly - lift? Could be an interesting night. Australian power sockets are rather strange, flat pins like American but angled at 45 deg. Use the computer but have to stop before the battery expires. Also the hotel has strange phone sockets.

Monday 2^nd December 2002

Get packed up again and go down to reception. Decide to phone ACE car hire rather than just wait for car to arrive. Just as well, nothing was about to happen. However, car arrives shortly afterwards and after completing paperwork set off. Indicators are on right and wipers on left and Pete keeps getting it wrong. Causes Glyn considerable amusement, Pete annoyance. Stop to get petrol but Connect card doesn't work at garage. They have device that scans card and then you select account type and enter PIN, but transaction is cancelled. Not sure we like this system, even had it worked. Pay cash. About 450km to Denmark and apart from stopping for brunch at roadside café just plough on. Glyn bored but Pete fairly happy to mark gradual change in scenery. Its true long straight roads through open countryside fairly stupefying, but there are subtle changes. Road broad, single carriageway and mostly empty. Pass very little human habitation along the way. Stop at pull-off about halfway to take a few pictures. Not sure what is in fields - wheat or rye? Strange looking fruits later discover are "gumnuts". Fruit of the Marri tree (a variety of eucalyptus). See number of birds don't recognise but most startling was green "parrot" with predilection for throwing itself in front of fast moving vehicles. Later identified as Australian Ringneck (or "28") parrot - 28 because of the sound of its call. Also see what believe are magpie larks and type of grouse. Get very hot in car even though outside air temperature cool.

Windrose B & B located just pass Denmark on road to Ocean Beach. Directions work fine. Owned by German couple Matt and Ann Ramrath with children Ronya and Lotte and large dog Fritz (who is determined to wrestle with Pete whenever he gets the chance!). Four themed ensuite rooms - ours is Ocean. We are the only guests. Lovely spacious room with private entrance. Breakfast room in main house with tea and coffee facilities, fridge & microwave. A$90 per room per night (~A$2.7 = £1). Matt and Ann very welcoming and we chat over cup of tea. Very knowledgeable on local area and provide tourist maps and recommendations. Pete asks about AC power adapter before realising that US adapter we are carrying has rotating pins that fit. Coincidence or cunning Aussie plan? Anyway Pete feels a bit stupid for a while. Ann and Matt kindly offer to let us connect the laptop through their server. Decide to leave until next day when we have had a chance to get everything up-to-date.

Head back to Denmark to laundromat, and evening meal. Eat at local hotel, and buy a couple of bottles of wine at Bottle Shop / Liquor store to take back to Windrose. Sit and drink bottle of wine with hosts before turning in.

Tuesday 3^rd December 2002
Intend to not travel too far today and after good breakfast, set off to the beach. On the way see kangaroos just off road. Visit Ocean Beach and get first sight of the Southern Ocean. Still breezy and out to sea looks pretty choppy with horizon broken by wave crests. Beginners surfing class in the waves. Move on to Light's Beach, which is at end of "gravel" road. Not sure about this as car hire specifically excludes unmade roads and this one fairly rough. However, beach is good and Bibbulmun track passes through. The track is a bush walking trail from Perth to Albany.


Back to main road and on to Elephant Cove & Rocks and Greens Pool. Elephant Rocks are great - looks like elephants will accompany us everywhere on this trip. Some kind of Cosmic Karma! Aren't many safe bathing places along the coast here because of strong currents, but the pools at Elephant Cove and Greens Pool are OK. Too cold for us to swim. Apparently good for snorkelling. Party of school children on beach and in water at Greens Pool, but fair number are wearing wet suits. Walk along the beach for some distance. Very peaceful, apart from school not many people about. Seem to be here before start of summer season.
Afternoon drive along Shadforth and Scotsdale scenic roads. Nothing very special but see a number of impressive trees. Stop in Denmark to get ice creams and take some pictures before returning to Windrose. Trees are Karri trees (eucalyptus again). See "Splendid Blue Fairy Wren" on verges.

Glyn buys some "bubbles" for the girls which amuse them for a while. See Kookaburra in garden at Windrose. Ann invites us to join them for some barbecued sausages, kangaroo steaks and pasta salad which we accept. As we sit down, two friends arrive who join us. Gary Muir runs local tours, and friend Lucas (Austrian) is walking some of track. Realise we had seen Lucas earlier at Greens Pool! Gary is the raconteur and amuses us. We show him pictures of Torridon on the laptop and he enthuses. He's visiting Scotland next August and we have invited him over. Whilst we are eating two "customers" arrive - a German couple who are promptly invited in to eat with us after they have been shown their room. Matt and Ann are very homely and before we know where we are Glyn is helping with the washing up and Pete is solving some of Ann's computer problems!

Wednesday 4^th December 2002
First stop at the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. This had been billed as a major attraction to the area and we weren't disappointed. Set in a forest of Red Tingle trees the walk comprises a series of prefabricated metal walkways between pylons topped by viewing platforms. Gradually rises to 40m above forest floor and is accessible to wheelchairs. Gives new perspective of these huge trees. See lots of birds including Western Rosella (lorikeet), Australian Ringneck parrots (28), white breasted robins and red-winged fairy-wrens. After the tree top walk is adjoining ground level walk which is equally interesting and allows us to get "up close and personal" with the trees, including hollow ones that the path passes though.

Press on towards Margaret River. Make a detour in Shannon National Park to follow a Tall Trees drive. Clever provision of guided tour by tuning car radio to 100MHz. Eight different short range transmissions at selected locations. Pictures of Black Boys (black stumps with grass growing out the top). Other notable plants are varieties of Banksia with spires of flowers from growth similar to Mahonia. Short stop at Beedalup Falls.
Keep heading west and north. Realise that it is still a long way to go and have to drive more steadily. Discover that by some quirk of evolution the Ringneck Parrots here attempt to commit suicide by walking steadily across the road oblivious of oncoming traffic. Spot some Emu's in fields by side of road, decide must be farmed. Apparently can get Emu pies at Bunbury WA. Eventually reach Margaret River after 5pm and decide to eat before going to B & B at Cowaramup. Old Bakehouse B & B very nice (A$95 per room per night). Again we are the only people booked in. Masses of room in private quarters and shared use of lounge, breakfast room, verandah and courtyard. Breakfast room with tea and coffee making facilities, cafetieres, microwave. Lounge with books, games and TV. All very organised and clean. Even car cleaning materials! Alison is quite different to Ann at Windrose. Quite formal but very nice. We discover there is a child and dogs but we are unlikely to see them. We take a walk around Cow Town before bathing. It is really quite cold.

Thursday 5^th December 2002
In the morning we meet Ebony a three year old blonde dressed as a fairy! After a good continental breakfast we head south to Augusta. Along the way stop at Shell Museum. Unsure whether to pay A$5 each to go in as it just looks like someones front room but do, and are pleased to find huge collection of WA, Australian, and worldwide shells, crustaceans, and other marine bric-a-brac. Glyn determined to do more with shells back home and somehow manages to leave with a china elephant! Shell lady tells us that yesterday afternoon when Pete noticed it seemed rather dark that there had been a partial eclipse and that they had very low tides at the moment. They have one tide a day here and a maximum tidal range of about 1metre.

On to Cape Leeuwin at Australia's most south-westerly point (where Indian and Southern oceans meet) and the lighthouse. Hoping to see whales (Southern Right and Humpback) but sea is still fairly choppy and with lots of offshore rocks seems unlikely that one would notice a herd of whales unless very close. Have to wait 45 mins for next tour of lighthouse. Lighthouse itself not hugely interesting but another box ticked. However, Pete sees a whale through the binoculars leap out of the water - probably a humpback migrating south. Will look again tomorrow at Dunsborough. We have been having trouble with flies, but today they have been a plague - overcast weather perhaps. Now understand why Aussies wear hats with corks hanging off. Told will be better when warmer and dung beetle is active.

Next stop at Hamelin Bay beach which is nothing special but obviously popular later in the year for swimming and surfing. Several boats out fishing and someone filleting some good sized fish by the jetty. Place used to be used in logging days for shipping out timber. Apparently at end of 19th century London's streets were paved with karri wood from Western Australia.

Heading back north stop at Boranup furniture gallery. Magnificent wooden furniture made from huge single slabs of local timber. Would like to have bought a container load to furnish our fictitious ideal home in Scotland. Took a card in case we ever realise our dream. Website: www.boranupgallery.com.

Finally, after a tea break, stop at Voyager Wines for a wine tasting. Well the garden roses were very nice but neither of us liked the reds and they were expensive too. Shiraz grape very popular here but too peppery for our taste. Didn't stop for long, but returned to Margaret River and the ATM. Carefully calculated money needs for next day then immediately overspent by 100% on a bottle of local organic wine to have with dinner. Arranged for a platter for dinner at the B&B.

Friday 6^th December 2002
Today is spent driving back to Perth. Hot today, high danger of burning - people and bush.

Along the way stop at Dunsborough and Cape Naturaliste in an attempt to see some more whales. Southern Rights, Humpbacks and Blue whales are all seen here, but we don't have much success. A number of probable sightings but nothing compelling. Drive on to Busselton and stop at the pier - its 2km long and the longest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. How do people know that sort of thing, do they send out questionnaires? Or do you just say it and wait for someone to tell you that you are wrong. Next stop at Dolphin Discovery Centre, Koombana Bay, Bunbury. Apparently world famous site where people are visited in shallow water by groups of dolphins resident in the adjoining area. We stay for an hour or so, but no luck today. Never mind it was quite a nice spot anyway. Finally stop on sea front just south of Rockingham for a meal. Lovely spot in prosperous suburban area.

Arrive at airport about 8pm, flight leaves at 2250. Try to use Internet machine but it takes $2 and refuses to play ball. Plug laptop into power adaptor at back but no network cable to usurp.

So goodbye to Australia. What did we think of it? We were very happy with both our B&B's, even though quite different in style. Think really we are both happier in this kind of accommodation than in a hotel. In Australia we have reached a level of westernisation that renders things very similar to home. Liked the trees and the Southern Ocean - especially the Tree Top walk and Elephant Cove. The Margaret River area had less to offer in way of natural wonder and is really a wine growing region with added tourist attractions.

One or two asides.

Place names. A large number of town names where we have travelled end with UP, e.g.cowaramup. This is from the aborigine and indicates the presence of water.

Snakes. Ann and Matt told us that we may well meet snakes and we would be lucky to meet a harmless one. In fact we didn't see any but it did make us aware. The track markers on the Bibbulmun Track are snake icons and that seems a good idea as it keeps them in the minds of walkers. Generally if you make enough noise the snakes will get out of the way but particularly dangerous at this time of year as it is just warming up and snakes are sluggish. Told there are some varieties which are territorial and may attack without provocation, but not normally. Pete did think he saw a bird eating a snake by the side of the road.

Time of year. The weather is just warming up and in the next couple of weeks all the flowers will be coming out. Already some evidence of this. Right now very few tourists about so very quiet, but some places not open yet.