Up north in 'Lano'

We're now in Lancelin and have survived a storm that tore away at least 6-10ft of the coastline, and somehow our new tent is still in tact.

After our last post, we explored more of Denmark and discovered that the place is totally beautiful (in particular Lights beach), that roos hang out everywhere, and that you should never walk the bibbulman track (about 1000km of walking trail from near Perth to Albany) in spring/summer as the flies get up your nose, in your mouth, and generally make you want to throw yourself off a cliff into the sea! We had tried to walk to greens pool but after sampling wine and beer at the local brewery (nice beer garden in the vineyard, but we found midday drinking in the heat made us feel pretty rough) we discovered you could drive to the pool so we did just that before leaving Denmark and had a very pleasant swim in the sheltered lagoon, where Phil realised he was pretty unfit at swimming and couldn't keep up with my old lady-style breaststroke!

Following Richard's excellent itinerary, we moved onto Albany, and straight away drove down the flinders peninsula and visited the natural bridge, "the gap", and some blowholes. Apparently they've found proof that the rock on the coastline there matches that of those in Antarctica, as the two were once joined however many millions of years ago! The gap was pretty spectacular with he ocean rushing in and out but unfortunately not enough swell to make the blowholes perform. After all this hard touristy travelling we chilled out on frenchman's bay, an isolated relaxed place where we swam and sunbathed, bliss.

The next day was a bit grey so ideal for visiting the whaling museum (after testing some more local cafes of course!) which surprised us by being totally fascinating. We must have spent about 3 hours there, and whaling was only banned in 1978 so it all felt so very real and recent.

As we had to return our camper by midday that meant a very early wake up (4.30am) for the 400+km back to Perth but it was pretty stress free (I wasn't driving!) as the roads are so empty. We had a fight with the rental place as to the cleanliness of the van but eventually made our way back to Richard our ever generous host, and then out for our first sign of a social life since we got here - Liss and Dom invited us over for supper!

L&D live in a nice flat in Maylands and we spent all night drinking Dom's homebrew and picking their brains about living in WA (they've been here for nearly 3 years). The advice was much appreciated, and we chatted until the early hours so stayed the night... Unfortunately the homebrew didn't agree with Phil though so it came back up again the morning after...

We walked off phil's hangover at the local street 'festival' (complete with local school recorder group) before heading to Anaconda (like Millets) where we spent enough to keep them in profit for the next 3 years - so thanks Mum and Dad (Hazel and Cutter) for helping us kit ourselves out with some decent camping gear! We decided a 4x4 plus camping gear would best for our weekends away rather than a van (Phil just wants to justify a 4x4). Then we finally managed to go windsurfing!! Liss and Dom very kindly lent us some kit and we went off from Pelican Point in the city - it was pretty amazing windsurfing with the city skyscrapers in the background. I got a bit creeped out by being bitten by something on my toe (I'm telling myself it was a crab) but other than that it was so good to get out on the water.

We've now been windsurfing again this time in Lancelin ("Lano") as it was too windy to use the surfboards we'd hired, so we got a cheap deal from Werner who has a van of kit for hire on the beach. Also randomly bumped into someone Phil went to uni with (Nick) and his girlfriend Sarah who invited us over to dinner which was lovely. We have some friends in Perth!
Now on our way to Yanchep national park as the storm still hasn't subsided so wasn't looking great for windsurfing, apparently they have koalas...!

Margaret River to Denmark

After sampling the wine we went down to the windsurfing beaches in Margaret river and sat on the cliff top to watch. It started off with mostly surfers then as the wind picked up kiters went out and once it was too much for them the windsurfers took over. There were some pretty good guys out including Scott McKercher (world champ a few years ago). The launching spot looks interesting, about 2m wide gap in the reef to launch and recover from!

Also managed to hire surfboards near yallingup and get a surf lesson. It turns out we're not half as good as we thought we were! They had us on foam boards relearning to pop up. 

From yallingup we traveled further south through some forests that went on for ever and stayed in some very remote towns. 

We're now in a place called Denmark, where we saw our first live kangaroos as a family of three hopped across the road in front of us. Becks was then primed with the camera and we saw some more again in a field but still not quite close enough. We then turned up at the campsite to find the place swarming with them. Plenty of pictures to follow no doubt. 

Other things we've also done in no particular order are:

Go to the most south west tip of Australia where the Indian and southern oceans meet. Lots of flies there.

Climb the 75m Dave Evans tree, nice views.

See plenty of parrots. So tame they will sit on your shoulder, not ours unfortunately but some kids that were feeding them.

Find plenty of deserted beautiful beaches.

See dolphins.

Going to a honey farm where I located the queen bee amongst all the workers.  A great personal achievement.

Now enjoying some honey mead and contemplating our plans for the next two weeks. Becks is due to start work on 3rd December, I'm still waiting to hear about my job and most crucially our windsurf kit is still on a ship somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Road trip down South

After a very pleasant day yesterday cycling around Rottnest Island (only to discover the not-so-elusive quokkas right by the entrance and restaurants), we have now picked up the van and after discovering a problem picked up a second van and headed off down south with bacon sandwiches provided by our fantastic host.

A 3hr easy drive south got us to Yallingup where we saw whales migrating south for summer off of Cape Naturaliste, saw plenty of beautiful white sand/turquoise sea bays, and picked up some tasty meat which we then cooked up on the communal campsite BBQ - such a great idea!

I had details of my offer for work through so it's all falling into place and after a bit of misunderstanding it looks like Phil will be sponsored on my visa, so he can go off and apply for any job that takes his fancy! Also checked with a friend employed by the same firm but in Melbourne and it seems we've had similar offers so that's reassuring.

Now enjoying a bottle of scuttlebutt Margaret river Shiraz - "very drinkable" according to wine connoisseur Phil.

Tomorrow we're planning on jumping in the sea and drinking more wine, probably in that order. Richard (our ever so generous host) has written up a 10 day itinerary for us so we've got our journey all mapped out, so not much to do but chill out and soak up the sunshine. We're finally managing to relax now I think!

5 days in Perth!

So far we've been here 5 days but feels a lot longer, as we've been running around like (albeit slightly lazy) blue-arsed flies trying to get all of the 'personal admin' out of the way: we now have a bank account, a mobile phone (get in touch if you want the number), a travel card, know the public transport system pretty well, and have visited some top spots close to the city already! Oh - and it look like I may have a job!

Had a meeting yesterday with a recruitment consultant who basically told me I was highly unlikely to get sponsored on the back of a 6 month temp contract, and advised me whatever offer I got from pee-dubs was likely to be the best I could get... Mildly depressing, but at least I do have an offer and that should give us both more options, not least because Phil should be able to get sponsored on my visa, so the lucky sod can have his pick of employers as he isn't restricted to a temp contract! Although I can't complain as chances are he could end up earning more (engineers are more highly sought after)...

Spoke to my boss-to-be this morning and still no details of my offer, and I get the feeling they're going to get as much out of me as possible for as little as possible, but beggars most definitely can't be choosers, and if it means we don't need to panic about finding work then it is most definitely worth it!

Anyway, back to more fun topics, we've already visited King's park in the city (largest inner city green space in the world I think), and been to a museum (on day 1 no less!) that Phil likened to Sevenoaks museum - yes, that impressive. We took our time getting there, but have finally made it to some city beaches (south beach in freo and cottesloe beach) that are about 20mins on the overland train (a speedy efficient tube-like service) from the heart of the business district! Seen some kitesurfers and windsurfers, and there has definitely been some wind which has kept the place pretty cool despite the sun, but we don't have our kit yet so not getting too excited.

I think I need to be careful in this place - we've already had 2 ice creams in 2 days... which may have been 2 of the best ice creams I've ever had in my life, due to the heavy Italian influence there seems to be in fremantle. The food is outrageously expensive but is also very good (and the wine is pretty damn good too) so maybe our "active lifestyle" may be more food-oriented than originally planned...

And continuing a theme, we've now hired a campervan from 15th-24th November before I have to start work (possibly on 26th) and we're planning on driving down to Margaret River to do some serious sunbathing/ wine tasting / snorkelling / holidaying before we start the boring bit (work).

So - first impressions: everyone seems very friendly and welcoming, in particular the lovely Richard and his family who have practically adopted us and have been so generous; there are quite a few 'red-neck' types, reminding us of the film 'idiocracy'; the weather is beautiful but deceptive - whilst it may be warm and sunny by day, in the evenings if you're still dressed like a stupid British tourist (i.e. vest and shorts) it can get near hypothermic in the evening with the sea breeze blowing in; the train system is prompt, clean and never that busy; there are parrot-like birds just casually hanging out in trees in the city; the city itself is all new and shiny but only a couple of blocks away there are quite shabby looking houses that look quite outer-suburb-y yet are a stones throw from the CBD (central business district); and there is a slightly 'local' feel to the place given its isolated nature.

Overall, it seems like an amazing place to live and work, but with a few little quirks - quite a few of the Brits here don't seem to necessarily like Aussies (and I'm sure the feeling is mutual!), and I've already heard some casual racism/homophobia... Sunshine and incredible beaches make up for a lot though, and the city itself is pretty exciting, so looking forward to living (if not working) here!

Still don't have wifi so can't post pictures yet, but will in due course.

Love from us xxx

And we're off!

Whilst the title of this blog might be slightly misleading (we haven't packed the tandem), we're off on our journey Down Under, and hopefully will use this blog as a place to collate all our photos and updates for anyone interested to keep up to date with!

Thank you all for the many goodbye drinks, good luck cards, fireworks, last minute accommodation, etc - the list goes on, and we are incredibly appreciative!

Getting a bit nervous, but overall just very excited... will keep you posted...