Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

20th of December - Our Road Trip continues!

As soon as you head South the nature changes into lush green. Having become accustomed to the dry brown North we couldn't really believe our eyes when the landscape changed into forests and lakes. The weather was still very cool (far too cool for the season as we were told everyday) but it was dry most of the time but very windy.

Bunbury was our first stop. The jetty there is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.

We made our way down to Margaret River, a lovely wine growing region, where we spent the day wine tasting in about 5 different wine estates. We also had a 'free' tour (well, in fact we should have paid but we left our wallets in the car and said we would pay after the tour. However, who could expect that after 10 glasses of wine we would remember.... J)

We also went to a weird beer brewery where they brew chili and chocolate beer. ( I couldn't even been tempted by the latter).

The South is also known for its tall trees - in fact there is a region called Tall Timber country. There, one can also find the infamous "Gloucester Tree", a tree of approx. 70 metres which can be climbed. There is nothing that really protects you if you fall. Adventure! Therefore we had to do it! We both stopped looking down after 30 meters and kept holding on tight (especially because there was strong wind!)

On top of the tree was a viewing platform and the view from there was gorgeous!

On the bottom of the tree I got attacked by colourful parrots which all landed on my head.

Another interesting tree we have seen was the Giant Tingle Tree which had a diameter of 25 metres (!!!).

(Marc Writes)....we also visited the tree top walk in the valley of the Giants which is an amazing tree top bridge walk suspended up in the canopy of the tingle trees with a height of 40 metres.

So with Christmas approaching we started to head further South towards Alabany where we had booked our selves into a nice campsite for a couple of days (Xmas & Boxing Day). But first we made a few stops on the way. The first stop was a fantastic bay called 'Green Pool' which had beautiful soft white sands and was sheltered from the rough surf by piles of huge rocks about 50metres off shore. It was still a bit nippy down here and of course the only people half naked and swimming in the sea were Brits on holiday...hard core! Next we stopped briefly at a little hamlet called Denmark to stock up on booze and good food for Christmas.

We arrived at Albany and cracked open a couple of beers whilst we set up the tent. The campsite was great - heated pool (we needed it) hot spa and a 1 minute walk to the beach. After weeks of overcast skies and wind we woke on the 25th to bright sunshine and beautiful blue skies......JOY!

Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for breakfast set us up for a day at the beach....sweet! J So weird though to spend Christmas on the beach as opposed to being half pissed, full up and lying on the couch at home watching old movies on the tv. We rented bikes on the afternoon and cycles along a really nice coastal pathway from the campsite and into town and back. Our reward was a couple of fantastic bbq'd fillet steaks and some amazing Margaret River red wine...Man that was such a luxury after months of baked beans on toast.

Boxing Day brought a few hundred kms journey north from Albany up to a place called Lake Grace on route to Wave Rock. Wave Rock is a real image of WA which you see in all of the guide books. But to be honest it is just a rock! People drive for 4-5 hrs from Perth just to see it and then drive straight back in the same day. We took the appropriate amount of photos including some seriously touristy ones on our body boards and then hit the road.

We left wave rock and heading straight for Perth. We had arranged with Sandra & Graeme (The Australian couple who we met in Coral Bay) that we would stop by and share a bottle of wine. On our arrival at their place they told us that dinner was almost ready.....they really don't take no for an answer....we had in fact planned to cook dinner for them both. After being fed steaks and wine and after a good natter catching up we were shown to our room for the night. In true Sandra & Graeme style they exceeded any expectations and set aside an entire side of the house for us. The guys are amazing! The next day S&G took us along to a great little Wildlife Park where you can get up close to Kangaroos, Emus, Pelicans, Parrots & Koalas. We had great fun speaking with the Parrots and feeding the emus.