Bob & Jan Green RTW

Having hired a car we set off for another long journey (280k)south down the coast - this time the west coast to Margaret River.

Having gone slightly wrong (yes it was my fault of course!!!!) we happened upon Rockingham! If Perth was a corner of heaven, this was heaven itself!!!! There were beatiful houses overlooking a wonderful beach with a sand bank out to Penguin Island which you could walk on and another nearby island which was home to a seal colony. We abandoned the journey for a while to enjoy a walk over to see the penguins - the Little Penguins are the smallest of the species and very cute too!!

We got back on track and continued down to Margaret River, arriving before the kangaroos come out to play (they appear at dusk to play on the roads!!!) and booked into a lovely townhouse apartment complete with double spa bath (!!!), balcony and barbecue.

The next morning we were up early (well early for Jan!!) and headed off to the limestone caves nearby. The first cave we stopped at was a self guided cave which required hard hats, torches, ropes and a lot of wriggling through narrow tunnels, so we decided to pass on this one!! We then visited three other more manageable caves, although each one had hundreds of steps down (and back again obviously!!!). Each was very different but all were magnificent and our tour guides were amused us with their interpretation of the many rocks and features there, giving them names etc. Below is our picture of the "camel"!!

Following the caves were the wineries (yes, we sampled their produce of course!!) and then on to watch some expert surfing on a nearby beach. As we drove back into the town it was kangaroo time and we stopped to watch a group in the fields by the roadside. We then had the pleasure of cooking our own meal on the barbecue of local prawns, lamb and steak - delicious! This was washed down with a bottle of local wine and followed by a spa bath - but that's all the details you're getting!!!!

We have now come back to Perth and are settled into Miss Maud's Swedish Hotel - our home for the next 7 days.

Yesterday evening we spent a relaxing day on nearby Cottesloe Beach and in the evening we went to the WACA for a 20/20 match between former Australian and English Test cricketers. This was very entertaining especially as England won!!!!!

Unfortunately the real thing starts tomorrow, so back to reality for us!!!!

We have now arrived safely in Perth and have been so busy we have not managed to fit in an update of our blog until now!!

Perth is a beautiful city!!! We spent two days in a hotel near Kings Park - the largest park in the world. It is magnificent and has breathtaking views over Perth and the Swan River. We spent an afternoon walking round the botanical gardens and the treetop walk and sat and watched the fountains perform!!

We have also been on a tram round the city which was brilliant - gave us a good idea of where everything was and a very interesting as well as lighthearted commentary about the history of the city!! Gerry the driver was a font of knowledge - we think he must have one of the best jobs in Perth!!! We have also been to the Perth Mint, the Museum and the Swan Bell Tower (one of the largest musical instruments in the world). For a city so remote it has many of the "largest in the world" to its name!!!

We also spent an evening at Gloucester Park watching the harness racing. Very entertaining watching the horses and the tiny carriages with a rider perched on them!!! Bob did quite well at the betting, even though he didn't know to begin with what he was doing (the lady at the Tote Desk seemed to think this would be no barrier to doing well!!!). In fact he did do well (surprise surprise) and managed to win enough to pay for the evening!!

We then spent a day in Fremantle - going there by train (very quick, cheap and on time!!!) and returned by ferry - again with a commentary of what we were passing. The view as we came up the Swan River to Perth was amazing!! Fremantle was interesting, with a big working port and a harbour full of wonderful yachts. There were also two indoor markets with lots of stalls to wander round. We even found a micro brewery near the harbour and felt it our duty to sample the local produce - its a hard job but someone has to do it!!

We have also been hashing with the Bridges H3 group which meets at the local bowls club. Quite a low key hash but very friendly and welcoming. They are having their 800th run next week and have invited us along to the run and the celebration meal afterwards!!

Having spent several days exploring Perth we are now on our way down south to visit Margaret River, its wineries (once again, we will feel obliged to sample the local produce to keep you fully informed!!!), and the local caves!!!

More to follow!!

Sorry to all our readers for the lack of communication, but we have been on the road and to the back of beyond - literally!!! Uluru (or Ayers Rock) is in the middle of nowhere!! We arrived from Sydney and booked into our hotel in the morning, had a wander around the complex and our first view of Ayers Rock in the distance. For the evening we had booked the Sounds of Silence Dinner where we were taken into the Outback and wined and dined (again!!) watching the sun set over the Rock. It was another spectacular evening and even though it was cloudy we managed to see and have a talk about the night sky as well.

We were back to our hotel by 11.30pm, but then up again at 4am (for those of you who know Jan well you will know what a struggle this was!!!) for the sunrise!!! We were again taken to a viewpoint and watched the sun rise with breakfast cooked over a camp fire. We were then taken up to the Rock and given a tour and history of the area. All extremely interesting and spiritual.

It was then back to the hotel for our transfer to the airport and flight to Perth, arriving early evening just in time for a swim and dinner before collapsing into bed to catch up on our beauty sleep.

Just a quick update to say we have made it the 1200km down to Sydney. Unfortunately internet access is not so readily available, so you will have to wait until we reach Perth for a full update!!! Suffice to say we have eaten and drunk well on our way, including a tour round five wineries in the Lower Hunter Valley 150km north of Sydney, including lunch at a brewery!!! Famous names nearby were Lindemans, Rosemount and Tulloch, but we went to the smaller boutique wineries which proved to be very interesting. We are now off to Uluru and Ayers Rock and again we are not sure of internet access, so watch this space!!!

PS: Just because we are not there, the cricket seems to be going well!!!!

Well, Brisbane is a lovely place ..... we have really enjoyed exploring it and have now been on the City Cat river ferry up and down the river . We have also met up with Bob's Great Aunt Mary and some of her family and had a lovely meal out with them. Mary's son David and daughter-in-law Jo had travelled over 80km for the meal - the Australians don't have the same concept of distance as we do. They think nothing of a couple of hours drive for dinner (or a hash)!!!!

The cricket??? I said don't mention it!!!! No, actually it was very entertaining if you ignore the result!! The Gabba is a very modern stadium with all the facilities you could wish for and apart from the issue we had with what sort of bag we could take into the stadium and the "Fun Police" throwing out anyone who looked like they might be enjoying themselves we had a good time!!

After the first day we were very hot and tired as our seats were right down the front in the blazing sunshine, but on the other two days we had seats at the back in the shade and a better view looking down onto the pitch. We received a lot of abuse (mostly friendly) from all the Aussies surrounding us but managed to give a bit as well!!!

On the day we didn't have tickets for the cricket we went down to the South Bank where they had a big screen by the lagoon (the Aussies certainly know how to do things in style) lazing by the beach and in the water watching the cricket!!!

We have now hired a car and set off tomorrow to drive down the coast to Sydney - a distance of over 1000km - a lot for us but nothing to the Aussies!!!!