Purple cauliflower anyone?

Perth

We ended up spending three weeks in Perth, as we had to get the van fixed and had to work for a short while to top up our funds. Perths a great city (the only real city in WA) and we had a good time looking around the parks, beaches and markets. The weather was pretty wet and cold, but thankfully the two best sunny days were on our birthdays. When we first arrived in Perth we were really excited about getting to a big city as we had been driving for so long in the middle of nowhere. But shortly arriving at the city we were starting to get stressed out, as the van broke down on us twice in the first week and a half - thank god for the RAC/AA. Adam luckily got work straight away for the first week and I had to short out the van, then we both worked for the last 2weeks, both in different Ad agencies just down the road from one another. By the end of our last week, we both had really itchy feet and desperately needed to be back on the road again.



We left Perth last Saturday (23) and headed South through some sweet like towns, Rockingham, Mandurah and Bunbury. The weather was pretty crap but we were happily singing along to the local radio in the van and trying to drive as far away from the city as possible. On the way down we heard that Evermore (a kiwi) band were playing a gig in a small town on the coast, so we thought why-not and aimed to reach the town early evening. We had heard one of their songs advertised on the tv promoting a new American drama series called 'Jericho' ( a new copycat nuclear bomb version of 'Lost'). The gig started at 8.30 and consisted of 4 bands, including Bob Evans and Evermore. It was a good evening and fun to see a gig for a change. To polish of the evening we then rolled out of the venue and straight into our van outside, parked in the 'Best Western' Hotel carpark- very classy for us backpackers!



The next morning we headed South to the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse where we strangely bumped into an English couple that used to own Brucie a few months before us. They seemed really attached to him and kept peering through the windows and pointing out all the little things they had bought for him along the way. The guy even offered to buy it back form us, but he had no chance.



Anyhow, we continued to drive further down south to a small town on the South/West point of Oz, called Augusta. On the way we drove through the Maragret River Vine yards and visited the disappointing cheese factories. The best place by far was the chocolate factory, which had two large barrels of 'Help-yourself' chocolate buttons - needless to say we took full advantage! Later on in the afternoon we stopped off to do a 1hr tour of the Jewel caves, which were absolutely stunning.



As the weather was really wet and miserable we decided to stay in Augusta for the night and to drive to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse the next morning. Sadly the weather didn't get any better and we ended up getting soaked as we walked around the Lighthouse and looked out to the Southern and Indian Ocean meeting. We then spent the rest of the day driving in the rain.

This morning (Tight-Ass Tuesday) we woke up early in our outback bush rest area on the side of the highway and drove upto the Valley of the Giants, which is basically a brilliant elevated walkway through the tingle tree tops.





After the walks through the valley of the Giants we drove towards Denmark and stopped of at an amazing beach called the Green Pools - absolutely amazing. Now we're in Denmark and there's pretty much sod all to do here, so I guess we're probably going to jump back into the van and head towards Albany. Soon the Nullarbor crossing...

*** BIRTHDAY GIRL DOWN UNDER ***

Hey everyone, sorry we've been a bit quiet recently but we've been hard at work in perth.

So yesterday was Alexia's 25th birthday, and as she had spoiled me rotten on mine, I figured I'd better do my best to return the favour. We started the day with breakfast in bed, Two big egg and bacon sangas to get the day started, we even splashed out on a fresh loaf of bread!!!



After breakfast Alexia open her cards from her family, and was very suprised to find she had cards from the Mitchinson's as well! She also got a couple of presents, a CD she's been after, and three iced mochas! not much I know, but we are on a budget!



Next we headed over to Subiaco (or Subi as the locals call it) to have a look round the shops and schmooze around the weekend market. Lex bought a lovely ring (after spending about an hour deciding which one she wanted! Her nanna longway very kindly donated some money to our cause, and lex wanted to get a nice memento of the trip. We then headed over to the city, and booked into a hostel for the night, before a bit more window shopping in the centre of Perth. The day was perfect, blue sky and sunny (around 22C).






In the evening for dinner we went out for a pre-dinner glass of wine in a lovelya teppanyaki bbq at a japenese restaurant, it was great fun with the chef stood right in front of us cooking our dinner with lots of tricks and karate style moves!









After dinner, on the way back to our hostel and feeling alittle tired after a bottle of wine, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea and a good giggle to try my hand at an acade dance comp....why...? Who knows-must have been the wine!



I had an absolutely brilliant and unforgettable birthday down under. Thank you to everyone back home for your lovely messages, calls and cards, it helped the day feel that much more special. Adam was also the perfect boyfriend and spoiled me rotten all-day.

*** BIRTHDAY BOY DOWN UNDER ***

Well Adam's finally turned 27 last Sunday and we had a brilliant day down under. After a lazy morning at our caravan park just outside of Perth, Ad stayed in bed whilst Lex heated up the barbie and cooked him a huge full on English brekky; hash browns, bacon, sauage, eggs, toast and beans.



After brekky he opened a few cards from Lex's family and a silly birthday pack for the both of us from Tina. It was brilliant, inside were birthday napkins, balloons, candles and silly decorations!



Then came the big surprise, a pack full of birthday cards from everyone back home. The look on his face said it all - he was so surprised and i think it really made his birthday! That was a brilliant way to kick start our great sunny perfect day. But first of all Ad really wanted to sort out poor old Brucie, who's been playing up a bit recently and not starting in the mornings. So he spent his birthday morning, with his head under the bonnet!



As a treat we booked ourselves into a new hostel in the city centre, so that we could go out for drinks and dinner without any worry. As we arrived at the hostel, there was a 'lazy sunday beach pub trip,' just about to leave, so we threw our stuff into our room and joined a minibus of other backpackers (4 Irish and 1 Scotsman). As we drove to the beach everyone sang happy birthday and we spent the whole afternoon chilling out with a few pints and watching the sunset over the beach.





We then headed back to quickly change and walked into Northbridge for a fantastic evening meal at Siena's Italian restaurant, a lovely birthday treat from Dawn. (Cheers again kiddo!) The restaurant was perfect- it had a great atmosphere with a one man band in the corner to serenade us! Ad had a fantastic steak fillet in a peppercorn sauce with sauteed potatoes and salad and Lex had a prawn and chicken dish. It was amazing and a great way to finish a brilliant day.