Perth, wine, Bum Burners and a hell of a drive..........

Seems like a million days ago we where in Perth now but hopefully the memories are still fresh enough so I can get them on here!

We were lucky in Perth that our good mate Steph from Shags in Darwin (who had recently moved there) had said we could park our chubby van on her drive for the time we where there. New circle of friends ready and waiting, 30 minutes from the city, and no rent! Boom.

Our new home with Will and Eric!

Perth is a really cool place. Really pretty, fab beaches, good city centre, great weather. Kind of reminded me of Sydney but on a smaller scale.
It's Coffee and Sushi central too so was a good place for me!

A purpose built old London looking street in Perth though I thought it was more like York

Perth from the Botanic Gardens

 We spent a week in Perth seeing the sights and one of my favourites was going to Fremantle Prison.

"Fremantle Prison was built as a convict barracks in the 19th century and remained in continual use until 1991. The Prison was a place of hangings, floggings, dramatic convict escapes and prisoner riots. Inmates included imperial convicts, colonial prisoners, enemy aliens, prisoners of war and maximum-security detainees." 

It was a a pretty eerie place although Wal said he thought he would be quite comfortable as he would be fed, have a bed and could just be left alone in his room to draw all day. Hmmmm.......

Wal happy in his new home.

Psycho Nazi Dawnie

After our day in Prison we then went on a Ale Trail around Fremantle, lovely but extra sore head the next day!

Little Creatures Brewery

Over the weekend in Perth about 15 of us headed an hour up the coast to Lancelin where you can go sand boarding. It's really weird to see all the massive white sand dunes that seem endless. We arrived a bit late in the day to get straight on it so instead went to the pub. Always a good alternative option! Then it was back to the 2 man tent (which we managed to squeeze everyone into!) for more beer and dancing with Steph near the beach.

Tent Booze!

We did manage to get to do some sand boarding the next day which was pretty awesome even through the endless fight with the sand blowing at you and the mighty dunes you have to climb up!
I was finding sand everywhere for weeks after!

Wal managed to stand up longer than anyone!

We also got the camper stuck in the car park which amused me no end. As sand was everywhere it was hard to judge when it got thick and we just got completely stuck. We ended up getting pushed out by about 15 Chinese people (all of which came from 1 van??) along with the help of a tow. Luckily as its quite a busy place most people had 4x4's and where well prepared for things like this!

Oh dear......

On the way back from Lancelin we visited a spot called Moore River which was cool. The river ran almost into the see but a small sand dune separated them. Very pretty.

Moore River

So after a fab week in Perth we headed back on the road and started by going to Penguin Island.
It's a tiny island that you can walk around in about 20 minutes and it's really pretty. You can actually walk over a dune that's about half a km to get to the island but as I'm such a lame swimmer I didn't want to so we got the ferry instead. We saw the mini penguins getting fed and swimming around and we had a bit of a snorkel over the reefs, sat in some caves and had a pretty nice little Wednesday!

Mini Penguins.

Where's Wally????

You can see the sand dune you can walk across........but I was too much of a wuss.

After Penguin Island we headed down to Esperance which was a bout a 10 hour drive. It's pretty much a place on its own in the middle of absolutely nowhere but has really amazing beaches and blue blue sea. It was too cold to get in the water but was just worth it to see them.

One of the many lovely beaches in Esperance

The beaches in the National Park are known for their Kangaroo's that laze about on them. I think it was maybe a little too cold for them but they did come nosying around the campsite and one joined me whilst I was cooking in the camp kitchen.
We also did a trek up Frenchman's peak. A massive mountain. I'm the worlds worse climber but I did pretty well I think! By the time I got to the top though as well as being knackered I was dying for a pee! Luckily no one else was around so I can claim 'I peed at the top of Frenchman's peak!.....and it was good'.

I peed at the top of there! Ha!

After Esperance we had to drive the longest most boring roads ever.......about 10 hours a day and for 3 days solid! The only interesting thing I have to say about that is we got a puncture and had to change the tire. Woop Woo.

Hmmm.....right laugh this road was!

So after the longest drive in the world......EVER! We arrived at Barossa Valley near Adelaide. Home of Jacobs Creek and many other good wines! Me and WalWal seemed to enjoy the wine!

Wal enjoying the vino!

Next stop Adelaide. We never actually planned on really visiting Adelaide but I'm so glad we did as it was a really lovely place. Good atmosphere and just quite a cool city. We only spent an afternoon there as we wanted to get to the little town of Handorf on the outskirts.

Wally and the biggest Santa in the world in Adelaide

 Handorf was formed by German settlers around 1839 and it's till got a real German feel to it.......meaning lots of good beer and sausages!
We had a good day drinking lots of beer and eating lots of nice food and got to try Handorfs famous 'Bavarian Bum Burner' Sausage. Very tasty.

Tasty at night, ouch in the morning..........

Wally found his special place.

So it was a time well spent around Adelaide and it was time to set off on the last leg of our Aussie tour. Driving down to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road.

It was pretty amazing, the first part was where you saw a lot of the rock formations like the 12 Apostles, and London Bridge. All very cool but for me the driving part was much more exciting.

Me and the 12 Apostles

Wally drove us through a really great National Park, lots of tall trees, really green, and amazing winding roads. Lots of wildlife too and we even had to stop on a hill as a Koala and its baby were taking their time crossing the road.
The countryside in Victoria is very English looking and sometimes it was like being in Yorkshire (but without the rain). Really pretty.

Gotta look closely but that's the Koala and its Baby crossing the road!

Victoria or Yorkshire??

I took over the driving from Apollo Bay (mainly cos I was jealous of the fun Wal was having and bitter after having to drive the 90 mile straight road!) and the drive after then to Torquay was awesome. All winding coastal roads and along cliffs. Loved it.

Perfect Drive!

So over 10,000km and 5 weeks later we have arrived in Melbourne. It's been an amazing journey, I'm shocked that Bob Hoskins got us here in one piece, (truly amazed as he's shit!) we have seen some fantastic places, some weird places and come across some pretty weird people along the way.
So now it's time to try and get back to reality again in Melbourne.......................