The Australian Wild West

We departed Perth in a hired car, heading toward the southwestern corner of Australia for further explorations in the state of Western Australia (WA). The first part of our drive took us nearly 300 miles, through forest and bush, on skinny, winding roads, to the small hamlet of Denmark, located on Wilson's Inlet. We stayed in a fantastic chalet close to Ocean Beach. The weather was somewhat similar to summer in SF, with cool temps and misty skies, but that didn't dampen our jolly spirits. We toured around the area, visiting coastal National Parks, which were everywhere. We hugged a rugged coastline dotted with huge granite boulders and calm, greenish pools of sea water. The town of Denmark is tiny, with only one small street of shops and cafes, so we "home cooked" our meals in our country cabin's kitchen - something we've not done in months. We saw the iconic kangaroos and wallabies (smaller roo's) from just outside our kitchen window ("boing-boing").

The road trip continued, and our next stop was to be the tiny timber town of Pemberton. Along the way we stopped at a high-in-the-sky Treetop Walk. This was quite an engineering feat in itself, a walkway over 400 meters high that soared above the canopy floor and reached the tops of the giant trees (hence the name "Treetop Walk"). The narrow walkway sways back and forth while you look down, and across, at humongous Karri and Tingle trees, both types of giant Eucalyptus tree that grow "down under." Later that day, we stopped at a cute beach cove were we saw 4-foot tall pelicans that allowed us to walk right up to them (see pic). We continued the journey through the southern forests, where more large trees and green under bush lined the roadways. Once in Pemberton we checked into a cabin at the local "caravan park," which is a more traveler-friendly version of what we call an RV park back home. Caravan parks have affordable cabins for rent, complete with bathrooms and kitchens, and are set-up with all the supplies needed. We spent two nights in the sleepy town, exploring the area, which is packed with more National Parks, hiking trails, and large "climbing trees." There were adorable little parrots, locally called "28's" for their calls, which apparently sounds like they're saying "28" to some of the Aussies. These were also very friendly birds, especially when we had seeds in hand. As you can see, they landed all over us!

Leaving the inland forests behind, it was finally time to hit the beach! We traveled through more rolling countryside, kanga's and large emu (like an ostrich) on the sides of the road, to the town of Margaret River, which is an area known for world-class surfing beaches, famous Aussie wineries, and hundreds of deep, limestone caves, and we experienced each of these aspects of town in due course. Margaret River is quaint and friendly, with lots of surf shops and cute boutiques. We got more food supplies at the market, then headed 8 km east to the beach side village of Prevelly, where we've been staying in a beautiful home. Originally, we'd booked the studio cottage out in their backyard, but the owner's (adult) kids had to move back in to the cottage, so we were given the option of staying in their large and lovely home, while they took a few days of holiday time away to visit friends in a town up the coast. Our house is a 5-minute walk to the local beach, so once settled, we quickly grabbed the beach gear and headed to see the giant waves and soft, white sand. This is really a spectacular and rugged coastline, and we were so happy to have sunshine and pleasant weather for our visit.

We spent one sunny morning lazing on snow-white sand, playing Frisbee at a beautiful, nearly deserted beach, and then explored "Mammoth Cave" that same afternoon. It featured some downright amazing stalagmites and stalactites, and several huge chambers, deep within the cool earth. We topped the day off with an Aussie wine tasting at a sprawling vineyard called Xanadu, and then had a tasty pizza with a bottle of freshly purchased bottle of wine at our new home away from home in Prevelly by the sea. Today we're heading around more coastline toward the beach town of Yallingup - for more waves and wines ...

stay tuned!

Australia: Perth-lings

We experienced a bit of "culture shock" upon leaving Thailand, and all it's strange magic. Arriving back in to the Western-world, it took some adjusting and switching of gears for the Australian "leg" of our 3-month journey. We flew in to Perth, the capital city in the state of Western Australia, which is in the southwestern corner of this island continent, and found an apartment-style motel on the banks of the winding and massive, Swan River. For 3 days we explored as much of the city as we could, mostly on foot, but also by rail. Our visit converged with "Australia Day" (Jan. 26) a 3-day weekend holiday, which is a huge and festive national event.

Perth is a sprawling, clean, and easy to maneuver city, and like many cities here in OZ (that's "Aussie talk" for Australia), practically everything, except for restaurants, shuts down at 5PM, quite a contrast from SE Asia, where everything really starts to happen after the sun goes down. We did heaps of walk-abouts in the downtown area, and also took a fabulous, long walk to (and through) Kings Park, which is the largest urban park in the world - even bigger than NYC's Central Park! We enjoyed the beautiful botanical garden, and a tree-top walkway that had great views of the Perth skyline, as it's perched high on a hillside overlooking the city.

Public transport is great in Perth, and one day we took the train to a couple of cute, nearby, white sand beaches, for some "beach time"- and then traveled onward to the groovy suburb of Fremantle, which is a hipster, artist enclave just south of Perth proper. In Fremantle we walked around the town and the waterfront area (which is reminiscent of SF's Fisherman's Wharf - only with much cooler shops), and befriended a transplanted Italian street vending bead and jewelery salesman named Max. Later in the day we met a local couple, Peter and Maggie - who bought us beers at the Sail and Anchor brewery (a great afternoon with some fun, new friends)!

Our final day in Perth was Australia Day (a day of national pride), and we kept hearing that there would be tremendous chaos, but in actuality we've never seen such a well-behaved group of 300,000 people gather together to celebrate. Earlier that day people began setting out chairs, blankets, umbrellas, and "eskies" (Aussie-talk for ice chest), in order to secure their viewing spots for the evening's main event, a fantastic firework display over the Swan River. Our motel was perfectly situated for the gala, and all we need do was walk across the (closed to traffic) street, and stroll through a green field to the river's edge. We watched the sky light up over the city, cheered with the exuberant crowd, then made our way homeward at the evening's end - a very festive and colorful time in the city of Perth!

Southern Thailand: Lazing on Koh Phangann

We spent the final week of our Thailand/SE Asia leg of this journey on the island of Koh Phangan, close to Koh Samui, in the Southern Gulf of Thailand. This proved to be an excellent decision, and we based ourselves at the beachside village of Haad Yao, a beautiful little cove with a soft, white sand beach, surounded by jungled hillside. There we found a groovy, hip vibe, and a fun and funky social scene. We scored a wonderful beachfront bungalow that was not overly modern, but more "Thai-style," and featured a gorgeous sea view from the large, private balcony. We proceeded to spend lots of time on our deck, reading, playing games, drinking cocktails, and watching the world go by and the sun set into the sea.

Most of our days were spent doing very little other than sunning and reading on the comfy lounge chairs on the sand, just steps from our bungalow's front door. There were occasional beach walks, raft floating, and snorkeling just offshore, and of course a few magical, seaside beach massages for ridiculously reasonable rates! In the evening, the sunsets were fantastic, and the best restaurant on the beach (The Eagle Bar) was a short stroll. The cook at the Eagle's restaurant was famous for his "off-menu" dishes and his Thai-style curry was simply amazing. The other nearby eateries all had casual, beach decor - with plastic chairs, paper tissue for napkins, colorful, twinkling lights - and menus with some rather comical English translations.

Almost immediately after checking in to our Sunny Bay Bungalow, we were surprised and delighted to recognize a friend from home, Ruby, who was sitting at the hotel beachbar, and was also staying at these same bungalow's. We spent many "happy-go-lucky" moments together in our little piece of paradise, lounging, drinking cold beers, and enjoying the high-life. We made heaps of other friends in the area - Kim from NZ; Simon, Julian, and Suzanne from the UK; Mona and Ahne from Denmark; Amy, Amy and Steve from the USA; and fun groups from Germany and Cyprus. This spot was very conducive to meeting like-minded fellow travelers.

One fine day, Ruby joined us on a day of island exploration via jeep, to see some other beaches and snorkel in the warm, sparkling, ocean. In the later afternoon we had a lovely lunch at a picturesque fishing village, then visited a colorful Chinese temple with ornate Buddha images and fantastic temple architecture. That evening the 3 of us went out to a fancy dinner at a fantastic spot called Fusion, where an actual chef prepared beautiful, Asian-fusion plates for us - yum yum!

A high note of the stay was watching the Obama inauguration (in real time), late that night at a beach party hosted by some fellow Americans (one from SF). We celebrated and were joyous with hope for our new president and how the world will now view us. There were many other "high" notes as well, and Stevo now has a new nickname - "Stoney" - which he happily lived up to.

Deb's maternal grandmother passed away while we were here (a short time ago), and we honored her life and spirit by sending a handmade, "flower boat" offering out to sea with a special blessing.

Thailand has been very, very good to us this time around, and we hope to come back again really soon. Today we'll leave SE Asia behind and move into the next leg of our journey - Western Australia here we come!