Chopper On Tour

Western Australia and back to Melbourne (and back to Perth)

So...onto Perth. Right now it's worth putting a few things in perspective... Western Australia covers 30% of the Australian continent (almost as big as India) butit has less than half a percent of India's population!! That's nuts! Nearly all of the 1.8million people in WA live within 200km of Perth and the rest are nearly all inhabiting the incredible coastline.

Anyway.. I arrived in Perth at stupid O'Clock in the morning so it was time to get some shut eye and catch up with Drew and Janie at a decent hour on Monday as they had the day off due to the Labour Day public holiday in WA. For those of you that don't know, Drew is a great mate of mine that I met at university in Newcastle and it was Drew whose wedding I came over to Perth for in May last year, but this time around I had a bit more time to actually see the place! So Monday morning comes around and Drew and I head out for some brekkie whilst Janie heads off for a run and cycle in preparation for the triathlon she signed herself up for at the weekend (nutter!). After briefly reacquainting myself with Subiaco (the suburb of Perth where Drew and Janie live) Drew and I headed off to Fremantle in his brand spanking new Cherokee Jeep where we had a nice stroll and caught up some more over a beer at the Little Creatures Brewery. It was then time to catch up with Janie's mum and dad, Ray and Sheila over in City Beach where their truly incredibly generous hospitality kicked off. Drew and I took the dog down the (nudist) beach for a run around and we got back to Ray and Sheila's in time for the beer and snacks and time to catch up with Paul and Audrey (Janie's brother and his wife). After a pretty long day we headed back to Drew and Janie's beautiful apartment in Subi for some dinner while Janie's sis, Sally popped over. It was then off to Bedfordshire for Chopper as I had to be up early on Tuesday to get somne touring booked up.

Tuesday I headed over to Northbridge in Perth to see if I could get myself booked onto a trip down to Albany and the Margaret River. It just so happened that there was one leaving Weds morning at 7am returning Friday evening, which couldn't have worked out better really as I could get so one of the most beautiful parts of Oz and back in time for Drew's 30th birthday party on Saturday evening.... So job done! A quiet night for me as we briefly headed down to the Blue Mussell restaurant that evening for some errrr... Mussells and then off to Bedfordshire again ready for a 6am start to get me over to Northbridge for the tour bus.

Weds morning I arrived at the backpacker tour bus place in very good time and a steady stream of other traveller types started to arrive, and I noticed a definte pattern emerging.... namely that they were all female...What a shame.. So yes 7.30am came around and we were all ready to head off, that'll be me and 11 ladies..
So Day 1 we headed out of Perth to our first scenic stop for a cuppa tea at Dawesville before arriving at Bunbury at the Dolphin Discovery Centre, where I did actually see a dolphin (about half a mile out to sea). We headed off to Busselton to get some lunch and then onto Meelup Bay for a swim. Meelup Bay was a truly beautiful spot, and there was nobody there! incredible... We then headed to the famous surf spot at Yallingup, part of the Margaret River region proper. Then we shot off to Canal Rocks where we did I spot of climbing and watched as the Indian Ocean battered the rocks, a very calming experience. Then just before the end of the day we headed to Surfer's Point at the Margaret River, home to many an international surf tournament. We then got to our accommodation at The Inne Town backpackers... I was given the shittiest dorm that side of Sydney which was apparantly the dorm for the long-termers, hence the shit EVERYWHERE. So I went to see the boss and rather politely told him that I was going for a walk into town and I would be back in 25 mins and when I got back I expected him to have made a bloody good effort at at least revealing my bed and the floor. So off I went into town for some fudge tasting at the Margaret River Fudge Factory, and yes I returned to see him frantically hoovering the dorm and putting clean sheets on my bed. It's truly amazing what a raised voice can do sometimes... That evening I headed down the pub for some nosh with a couple of irish lads, Liam and Graham, had a cracking evening made even better by the talent contest in the pub I recall one particular act that was so shit that everyone in the bar headed outside, and bear in mind that it was pouring with rain!!!

Day 2 we were up and gone by 8am and headed towards Cape Leeuwin, past Augusta to see where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. From there we were in the magnificent Karri country through Pemberton. We then stopped for lunch at the huge Gloucester Tree, which you can climb if your balls are large enough.. But at 61m high and a distinct dislike of heights I decided to head off for a scenic walk instead with some of the others in the group. Then off to the Valley of the Giants - the Ancient Empire & Treetop Walk. Here there are gigantic tingle trees which you can walk amongst, but you do it from the treetop walk canopy. Although pissing with rain it was a magical experience, and made even better when we came back down and I saw my one and only Quokka!!! What a cool creature that is. And naturally I bored the shit out of everyone by going on about it for the rest of the day, and they were gutted as they never saw one. Tree theme now over, we headed to Greens Pool in William Bay and then for a walk over the Elephant Rocks before heading through the beautiful town of Denmark and onto our hostel in Albany. It was then dinner down the pub and a few games of pool and 'local' watching, a very fun pastime when you think that the gene pool might be on the slack side.

Day 3 was dominated by the remarkable coastline of Southern WA. We went to the Blowholes and then onto the Gap and Natural Bridge (see my photos) before heading to Middleton Beach, an amazing spot where I played some Aussie Rules with the driver. (football by the way, not fighting) We then went via Mount Barker for some well earned wine tasting here. Then there was plenty of sleeping for the 4 hour drive back to Perth.

Got back to Perth at about 6.30pm on Friday and after making it back to Subiaco Drew, Janie and I headed out for some very average mexican food. Janie made her feelings known and I think she picked up a $100 voucher, and why not. Saturday was a day full of preparations for the big 3-0 for Drew, there was beer to be bucketed, lawns to be moved, dogs to be walked and tables to be moved.. So all that done there was time for a shower and then it was party time. It was a really nice evening as I got to meet plenty of Drew and Janie's mates, some that I had met briefly at the wedding and other's a hadn't. But it really is clear to see that Drew is very happy there in Perth, and personally I think he's a very lucky lad. I do believe he had a good evening and I was very pleased that I could be there to celebrate it with him. Lord knows how his parents stayed awake as long as they did having just flown in from England, but it was a remarkable effort. Sunday inevitably was a day of clearing up and relaxation, but not for Janie as she was up at crazy O'Clock for her triathlon and even more remarkably she came away with the fastest swimming time, simply nuts and hugely impressive. After consuming lots of great food and the off glass of wine we headed off. I was very kindly being put up in Sally's spare room (Janie's sis) as Drew's parents, Malcolm and Mary had quite rightly taken over Drew's spare room. Monday was actually the day of Drew's birthday and for me anyway was another very relaxed affair as I had time to get lots of photo albums put together online and some sushi for lunch with Drew in Perth with a bit of admin to sort in time for tomorrow's trip to Melbourne for a few days of 5-star luxury and mighty fine company.... That evening Drew, Janie, parents, Paul, Audrey, Sally and myself all went to a lovely restaurant called the Witch's Cauldon for dinner and I felt like a total tool for having to leave for the airport before my main course even arrived, but I made my apologies and made to the airport......

So back to Melbourne! As you may have read by first impressions of Melbourne were not good so there was plenty of opportunities here for those impressions to be turned over. I got to the beautiful Adelphi Hotel and had to pay an extra $100 early check in fee due to it being 5am, which I was happy to do having not slept since Sunday night. Anyway, Janet showed up at about 9am and after some breakfast we headed off to explore Melbourne. First stop the botanical gardens, then a good wander around central Melbourne and then a free tram ride to St Kilda for a lovely lunch and some WA wine. I had to take a kip due to being totally exhausted and we later headed out to a very nice bar/restaurant called the Hairy Canary on Little Collins St, the cocktails and food were great but did I see a hairy canary, did I hell.
Righto, Day 2 = Zoo, and what a bloody good zoo it is... Seriously, Melbourne Zoo puts Sydney Zoo to shame, healthy animals everywhere with plenty of space. A thoroughly enjoyable trip to the zoo, where I even got some video footage of a monkey drinking his own urine - eat your heart out Attenborough! That evening we stumbled across a really amazing place called Chaise Lounge for the jazz night, if you're ever in Melbourne get your ass down to Chaise Lounge... dodgy website, but a great bar. We then found a good feed at one end of Chinatown where we polished off a bottle of vino with our monster portions of grub, then over to the Hairy Canary for a couple of cocktails.

Early start on Thursday as we headed off for some exploring... The tour took us firstly out to the Dandenong Ranges, full of lush ferns and dense forest. We then stopped at Sherbrooke Forest, home to lyrebirds, crimson rosellas, cockatoos and galahs. You could even feed them... just hold out your hand with bird seed, wait approximately 2 seconds and there's birds everywhere, hours of fun, but sadly we only had about 20 mins. From there it was time to go for ride on the restored Puffing Billy Steam Train through Australia's most notable narrow gauge railway. At this stage the rain finally subsided and we headed off to the Fergusson Winery for an awesome roast lunch and unlimited wine... very nice! From there it was off to Healesville and onto the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary for Australia's 'premier wildlife and nature sanctuary'... and you know what, it was pretty damn good, even got to see a Duck-billed Platypus for the second day in a row, result! From Healesville it was back to Melly for some fun and games. Janet was off to a wedding at the weekend and there was a pre-wedding dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant at the Crown Casino complex going down, which we duly attended. Had a really nice meal there, met some lovely friends of Janet's and to boot, I won $90 at the casino on the roulette table!!! Good work sir....
And that was pretty much my second trip to Melbourne in a nutshell... Epically better than the first, down to awesome company and a totally beautiful hotel... (that's not to say you weren't good company Dave and Chris!!!). My opinion of Melbourne has been truly transformed... go there, don't expect something classically Australian but it IS a wonderful city.
So... back to Perth on Friday lunchtime for a couple more days. Saturday really was a lovely day as we all headed out for some wake-boarding.. Now let me enlighten you here, I usually get on pretty well with most things I put my hand to, no seriously I do if it entails something physical/sporty but never have I been so totally useless at anything in my whole life as I was at wake-boarding!!! Truly pathetic, in fact incomprehensibly bad (I think you're getting the picture now, yeah?). So pride swallowed along with half the lake we headed to Ray and Sheila's farm for the night for a true Aussie barbeque and beer. I have to say that there could have been no better way to spend my last night in Australia, the hospitality was amazing. Oh and I nearly forgot about the farm itself, stunning, truly stunning. So yeah, Drew very kindly drove me to the airport first thing Sunday morning for my flight to Hong Kong.... the next adventure... which will follow shortly..

posted by Ed Beesley @ 9:41 AM