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South West Loop: Day 12

Margaret River, Australia

Darko had his day all planned, he was going to have a lie in and spend the afternoon on a wine tour. Ohhh no, we liked him and wanted him to come and play with us. We dragged him off to the caves for the morning.

There are a few caves up the aptly named Cave Road but the three main ones are Jewel Cave, Lake Cave and Mammoth Cave. Its $17 each to get in or about $44 for all three, I love caves and would have done all three but the others weren't up for it and the guy at Jewel Cave said if we only wanted to do one then we should choose Jewel or Lake. Jewel is the biggest and most interesting, Lake is small and the prettiest.

Ooooh, shiny things! Lake Cave it was.


Caves

Caves


More Cavey Stuff

Darko, Me, Becky And Loody

The rest of the day was spent chilling and wishing we didn't have to leave. Margs is cool, its got a bit of a hippy vibe to it and loads of good places to eat. I reckon I could happily spend a couple of weeks here providing it was still summer and I had loads of money so I could eat some where different every night. The hostel had a chilled out atmosphere as well, sort of like Rainbow Lodge but cleaner. Yeah man, one day when I have cash Margs is on my list of places to do again along with Kal because I want to rent one of the rooms at Langtrees brothel.

I'm all class, me. Drinking goon out of wine glasses that was poured from a bottle has certainly gone to my head.


Random Margs Moment

That night we missioned it out to another free camp about 20km out of Margs. By the time we got there it was pitch black and pissing it down with rain but by some miracle we still managed to find it and huddled together in the back of my Falcon to make dinner and decide who was going to investigate what the fuck that loud, mechanical mooing sound was. We eventually tracked it down to a solar panel thingy, god knows what it was there for other than to freak out backpackers but at least it wasn't Robo Bovine.


Making Dinner In The Back Of A Sedan

Yep, camping in the middle of nowhere in the dark can do weird stuff to your imagination.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on April 22, 2007 from Margaret River, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged RoadTrip, LovinIt and SouthWestLoop
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South West Loop: Day 13

Balingup, Australia

There's not much more to see between Margs and Perth, no rocks or trees to keep you entertained, just lots and lots of beaches and it was too cold for that sort of frivolity so we decided to cut inland to Balingup for our next stop, the place where Loody did her WWOOFing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms, you work for about 4 hours a day and you get your food and accommodation. Its popular with backpackers because it counts towards your 3 months for your second visa).

But first, there was a jetty to marvel at in Busselton. At 1841 metres its the longest wooden based jetty in the southern hemisphere. Yep, that's nearly 2km and guess what? The little train was out of action because the jetty was no longer strong enough to support it.

What was I saying before about solid structures?


Busselton Jetty

After we failed to catch any fish we settled for a tin of spaghetti then started the trek to the end because they have an Underwater Observatory where you get to walk downstairs, below the sea line and look at stuff through windows that you daren't touch just in case they're due to cave in. And all this for the modest sum of $20. Yeah, it was a bit pricey for what it was, just some fish and some pretty coral but it was quite cool and the exercise meant we'd earnt the biscuits I'd got from Woolworths before.


$20 Worth Of Coral Viewing #1

$20 Worth Of Coral Viewing #2

Its not easy finding some of these free campsites in the dark, ok? The roads are often unsealed and not marked on the map and the directions are sometimes vague. Ok, so I nearly got us lost but fortunately loody knew the area so we gave up on the site and headed to the farm where Loody had spent 10 days and Sarah (from Rainbow Lodge) was still staying where they fed us Proper Food and let us stay at Sarah's lodge on the farm for the night.


Chillin' At Sarah's

I quite liked it there, I don't reckon I could live there too long on account of the lack of phone signal and the fact the toilet is outside and there's no lighting outside the lodge and I have an inherent fear of werewolves but half the lodge was made out of an old bus and lets face it, thats fucking cool!


Part Of Sarah's Lodge

Outdoor Dunny; Watch For Redbacks

permalink written by  Koala Bear on April 23, 2007 from Balingup, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged RoadTrip, LovinIt and SouthWestLoop
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South West Loop: Day 14

Bunbury, Australia

If ever there was a town that suited a statue of a big mushroom, Balingup is it. Its a tiny litte hippy town with not much to do but you can kill a few hours there just checking out The Cheese Factory (has nothing to do with cheese), the Magic Mushroom Bakery (nothing to do with magic mushrooms), the Exotic Tree Park (exotic meaning English) and the various little craft shops.


Exotic Trees

Magic Mushroom Cafe

We spent the morning there then headed up to Donnybrook for an hour of Tai Chi, stopping at Kirup Tavern for a bottle of the lethal Kirup Syrup. Me and Loody have had this before at Rainbow although Loody doesn't remember too much about it because that's the kind of drink Kirup Syrup is. You can only get it in this one place, possibly because it might be illegal in several countries.


Amnesia In A Bottle

After the most surreal Tai Chi ever (the class was taken by a dead woman from beyond the grave using the miracle of VCR. What, like they couldn't have got a new instructor?) it was onto a pay camp in Bunbury so we could do laundry and at least pretend we remembered how to be clean.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on April 24, 2007 from Bunbury, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged RoadTrip, LovinIt and SouthWestLoop
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South West Loop: Day 15

Jarrahdale, Australia

One of my favourite things about Australia is the sheer amount of public holidays they have, any excuse for a day off, they even have a day off for the Queen's birthday and we don't even do that in Britain. However, public holidays are only any use if you actually have a job to take a day off from so ANZAC day (25th April) kind of passed us by.


Awwww
We spent $5.50 to go and feed some kangaroos at the Big Swamp Wildlife Park in Bunbury because roos are really cute in a Could Gut You With Their Bare Hands kinda way. They have loads of other things to stuff full of grain once you've gotten bored of snarling at the small children who try and take your roos off you. They have emus, goats, parrots and the most disturbing looking chicken in the world that looks like its brain escaped through a small hole in its forehead.


Me, Loody And A Roo

What The Fuck??


Dooooooom!
Later, as we neared Rockingham we started to freak out, there were so many cars and so many people, we weren't used to sharing our space with people, it'd mean we'd have to behave ourselves. We were sort of thinking about heading to another pay camp that night, with us being so close to Perth we didn't think there's be too many free camping options but the book didn't let us down and we ended up near Jarrahdale, a nondescript place but we didn't care. It was our last night before we were forced back into civilisation so we set up camp in a rest stop way out in whoop-whoop and cracked open the Kirup Syrup.

The rest of the evening was spent laughing until we hurt and making stuff out of wax and matches. It was on this night that we learnt that making nipple moulds out of tea lights can actually be quite painful.


Bexster And A Fingerful Of Wax

Tea Light Nipple Mould. Ouch.

Man, who'd have thunk it?

permalink written by  Koala Bear on April 25, 2007 from Jarrahdale, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged RoadTrip, LovinIt and SouthWestLoop
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Big Things #20

Donnybrook, Australia

The Big Apple in Donnybrook, Western Australia has been brought to you by the wonders of digital zoom on account of the fact its been closed to the public for years and you can't get anywhere near it.


The Big Apple

Well I'm sure its vastly more impressive up close.

Sure of it.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on April 24, 2007 from Donnybrook, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged BigThings and SouthWestLoop
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Big Things #19

Balingup, Australia

The Big Mushroom suits Balingup, Western Australia down to the ground.


The Big Mushroom

That's all I'm gonna say in case they stop smoking dope long enough to file a lawsuit for making drug related insinuations.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on April 24, 2007 from Balingup, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged BigThings and SouthWestLoop
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Not Exactly BIG Now, Is It

Brunswick Junction, Australia

The Big Things Website, ( http://www.bigthings.com.au ) lists the Cow On The Corner in Brunswick Junction, WA, as a Big Thing so we dutifully rocked up for the obligatory photo shoot.


Cow On The Corner

Not particularly big now, is it. In fact it's distinctly Cow Sized.

Not ones to pass up an opportunity we spent a few minutes molesting anyway it causing a local in a ute to drive past shouting, "Get off the cow!"

Oh come on, what the fuck else are you meant to do with it?!

permalink written by  Koala Bear on April 25, 2007 from Brunswick Junction, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged Bollocks and SouthWestLoop
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Home

Perth, Australia

You know when you want to spend your first night back just getting your shit together, settling in and generally having a quiet one then you go for One Pint and the next thing you're at some random new gay night in a part of town you never knew existed slurring into your over priced beverage and sucking helium from balloons until you have to sit down before you fall over while onlookers tut and shake their heads?

Yeah?

That.

So that Thursday is how the Perth weekend began.


Friday
The entire time I was in Perth I never went to The Rise on account of the fact my Friday and Saturday nights were spent running around Connections stealing peoples ice cubes (you have no idea how possessive people get over their ice cubes) and shouting at folks for attempting to pole dance off the outdoor heaters. Gutted. The Rise is awesome, pure duff duff music til the wee hours, glow sticks and all kinds of shiny things to keep you entertained, I could easily have spent far too much time and money here.


P-A-R-T-Y

Becky, Ashley (My Barman) And Loody

Apart from a quick excursion to Connies to say hi to a few people this is where we stayed for the night and danced until my glow stick arm ached.


Saturday
The worst people to ask for things to do in a city are the locals because they never do the tourist stuff. Seriously, ask me what there is to do in Manchester and I'll stare at you blankly and wave vaguely in the direction of the nearest pub. Ask me what there is to do in Oxford and I'll probably laugh at you and give you directions to the train station with instructions to get the next express to London.

So this is how me and Loody ended up at Perth Zoo with Emily (a mate of mine from Connies) because according to Emily there's nothing else to do in Perth.


Rhino Arse

Lanky Yellow Things


Meercats. Everyone Loves Meercats

Cute In A Big N Ugly Type Way

Ah well, its a none stressful way to spend a couple of hours wandering round like a slack jawed imbecile because you still haven't slept yet, it gives you an excuse to buy souvenirs and its pretty big an all, you get yer $17 worth.

Night time and it was down to Connections where I completely over did it and had to get Swoop to remove me from the club. I'm sure I had a good night, I just can't remember right now.

Yeah yeah, I know this is a brief account considering I didn't sleep for over 50 hours but hey, details currently evade me.


Letting Go
It was good to be back in Perth, I love this city so much, its the only place I've been where I could call home and could see myself spending a good few years. Damn these foolish immigrations laws. I'm never going to be able to live here, I have nothing Australia wants and no way of getting it. I miss Perth so much it hurts but I don't think going back again will be a good idea as much as I'd love to, I need to let go now and just keep the memories I have. Always forwards, never backwards. It was so hard to leave last time I was reluctant to spend another weekend here but it was good to see everyone again, everyone from the club, Mark who I worked with at Dexion, whoever was left at Rainbow and Swoop.


I Love This City

Saying goodbye is hard enough, its even harder trying to explain to people who don't travel why you have to say goodbye when you blatantly want to stay.

Just because it hurts it doesn't mean it's not for the best.

permalink written by  Koala Bear on May 1, 2007 from Perth, Australia
from the travel blog: Sod Off Great Big Mission Round Oz
tagged LovinIt and SouthWestLoop
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