Down south in W.A.

Having exhausted Perth and Fremantle for what they have to offer, I decided to follow everyones recommendations and head South. In the end I decided to hire a car, which was the best idea as everywhere is relatively close together if you have your own transport but a nightmare if you don't. Something like 90 per cent of the population of Western Australia (the largest state by double all the others) live in Perth. So going down south is ultra quiet and pretty much ultra deserted. However the area has alot to offer as far as beaches and wineries go. My main plan was to go down to Margaret River to experience some of the best surf breaks that Australia has to offer and then go to a few of the tourist attractions down there, and being a bit of a wine connoisseur since my days working the wine aisle in Tesco's (um... yeah ok) I was also keen to check a wine tour or two out :-) . The car I had rented was a brand new Toyota Sedan, 1.8 automatic, air con and CD player , and it made the trip down ultra pleasant. On the way down I had a massive emu jump out in front of the car as I was driving through one of the natural parks which was pretty surreal, not something that you seen back in Bucks. I fortunately didn't hit it and kept my $400 dollar damage excess intact. My first stop was Dunsborough where I decided to spend my first night. The place was dead with 3 old guys in the local pub but it did have this really cool shelter thing by the bay which I thought was about the only cool thing . This was actually my first hostel of the trip and my guide book described it as "spartan" which was an eloquent way of saying dead. I think there were about 3 people in the whole hostel. I did meet a nice Dutch/American girl who worked there as I was leaving the next morning (annoyingly!!). I then made the short drive over to Yallingup , famous for its surfing break and also home to one of my favorite surfers Taj Burrow (unfortunately Taj wasn't it the line up that morning). It was a nice spot but again very quiet. If you lived here you would be bound to be a good surfer as it seems there is bugger all else to do. I visited a few breweries (unless its a wheat beer they all taste the same over here) on my way down Caves Road to Margaret River. When I arrived in Margaret River I did the done thing and went straight to a spot called "Mainbreak"/Surfers Point which is the famous surf point here and where they used to hold a round of the World Championship Tour. Some of the biggest waves outside of Hawaii have apparently been seen here. Everything is bigger, heavier and more dangerous that many other spots I have ever seen so I decided to go and get a refresher surf lesson from a local shop. It turned out they didn't have any group lessons so the guy did me a deal on a 2 hour private lesson. Next morning at 8.30 am I went surfing with the coach, Dave, and had the best time. As it was only us I could start at the level I was already at and progressed much quicker that I could have expected. I spent the next couple of days totally stoked in the water, using copious amounts of the trusty white zinc cream on my face to avoid another episode of burning my face off, which I only semi succeeded at. There are so many top beaches and surf breaks here littered all along the coast for about 200 km's.

The next day I went on the "Wine for Dudes" wine tour in Margaret River. Its aimed at people my age and not a bunch of old's who want to buy crates of the stuff so it was a great atmosphere from the start. We stopped at four wineries over the day and tried everything they had to offer. You've not been to Margaret River unless you've got a shot of the vines, so here's mine . During lunch I asked Kat our "tour guide" how easy it was to get work in a winery and when she said she could sort it out for me, I seriously spent a few moments considering it (I could surf in the mornings and afternoons and then work during the day I thought) but I decided it was more of a future option as I really need to get myself round and see the rest of Australia. After another days surf it was time to move further south to Augusta, which is ultra quiet, full of fishermen and it is close to Cape Leuwin which is the most southern point of Australia. It is here where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet . That evening I met two other british travelers Jem and Chris in the hostel I was staying at. After realising that they were wanting to do the same thing as me over my final two days we embarked on a fairly mammoth road trip back to Perth. With only two days until my car had to be returned in Perth, we had alot of distance to travel. So early next morning we set off with the objective of reaching Albany that evening. First stop was the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse (the only real reason was to get a photo at the famous sign where the Southern and Indian oceans meet), then the Jewel Cave (one of a series of natural underground caves just south of Margaret River , home to one of the longest hanging stalactites in the world or something.., it was pretty interesting though ) then we made the mammoth journey over to Pemberton to the Glouster Tree (didn't have time to climb it but here is me standing in front of it ) then we finally made it over to Walpole to the Valley of the Giants Tree Top walk. The girl I was sitting next to on my flight over to Perth rated it as THE thing to do in W.A. so we thought it was worth a stop. Basically you walk at tree top level (40 meters up) along a suspended walkway in this giant national park forrest. It is pretty amazing and the views are awesome . After you finish you walk past loads of giant trees where the centre had been burnt out in bushfires, meaning you can get in them - and even walk through them . We spent about 20 minutes trying to to get the "deepest in a tree" picture we could find (being careful to avoid the Redbacks) and just generally broke all the rules . Brit's abroad and all!!

After another brief stop at Ocean Beach in Denmark on the way (pretty nice hey), we had finally made it to Albany after around 5 hours total at the wheel and a day of full-on sight seeing. We stayed for the night here before the 5 hour drive back to Perth. Albany again is pretty dead even though it is the second biggest town in Western Australia, again full of bloody fishermen. But we still managed to fill the jukebox in the local bar that night with a load of rock and punk songs that got the pissed old boy locals grovin'. Next morning we made the brief foray down to Albany's main attractions the Natural Bridge , the Gap and the Blowholes. Risking death to bring you these photos you can just spot Chris and I on the bridge if you look hard enough . After a long walk in 39 degree heat to the natural blowholes, the only natural blowhole that was firing that morning was Chris's. However there is some pretty stunning coastline down there to be seen. Its pretty cool . The next thing off the coast from here is Antarctica ! Its

As we made our way up the largely deserted bush Albany highway all the way to Perth, tanking it along wanting to make what is a 5 hour journey as short as possible, I got clocked doing 150 kph (97.3 mph) in a 110 kph (70 mph) limit by a police car coming towards me. After being pulled over, the next 10 minutes were spent praying that the cop didn't arrest me as he was threatening. I think if I had been Australian I would have indeed been behind bars for dangerous driving. Instead he slapped me with a $250 (£110) fine which I have not yet paid and am in a moral predicament whether to or not (as I am now in Victoria - a totally different state). All the cars I had been overtaking were probably cracking up as they caught me up to see me sidelined by the law, the other two found the whole situation equally hilarious. By the end of the trip, as we approached Perth I had driven 1,550 km's over about 5 days. It was good to be back, but it was time to move on to Melbourne. However in between arriving back in Perth and leaving for Melbourne, all hell broke loose as Fiona (who I was staying with) was evicted from the gallery she owned and managed thanks to a stupid landlord. So I spent two days helping move out (more heavy manual labour) which was not something that I was expecting, but I was glad I could help.