Mum's Visit, The Ox & South West Roadtrip!

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

Hope all is ok back in England and you are enjoying the crisp weather!

I have SO much to tell you as the last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind but i'm going to try to condense it! I dont want to bore you, i know i can go into way too much detail, but also we spent about 3 hours getting pics on the other day which cost $17 EACH!!! So i better get on with it!

As most of you know, Mum came out to see us for 2 weeks in Fremantle which was absolutely brilliant!!! It had been about 5 months since i left and i was just SO excited to see her! We got a hire car and picked her up from Perth airport (she was very jetlagged!!!) and took her back to the chalet we had found for us in Fremantle. She really loved it and we had a lovely 2 weeks doing the touristy stuff that me and Sar had been saving to see with her, we spent alot of time at the lovely beaches (Cottlesloe, South beach & Coogee beach), watched some fantastic sunsets, had a look around the shipwreck galleries and the Fremantle Prison. In her second week here we bought our lovely old banger, a 1977 Volvo Estate called the Ox!!! He aquired this name through his previous owner (James - who i worked with in Moliets 2 summers ago) because of the number plate. James decided to spray paint 'OX' on both sides. He has a massive dent in the passenger side meaning the rear passenger door doesn't open and the passenger door has to be opened from the inside. The boot doesn't open but me and Sar rigged up a little devide with a piece of string (creative thinking yea!) and sorted that little prob! He has a really cute little sun visor thingy which i LOVE and so much character! We spent some time with mum cleaning him out (stinking boys had left sand/crumbs/dirty pots & pans everywhere!) and making curtains which we attached to teh inside of the car with velcro so that we could sleep in him! HAHAH!! We set up up as our little home as money is getting tight and we wanted to take him on a roadtrip of the South West but hostels are ridiculously expensive here!

We took Mum back to the airport in the Ox and it was a very sad goodbye but i just feel so lucky that she was able to come out and experience some of this amazing trip with me! (Thank you so much and miss you every day Mum!).

We took Ox for a service and got the basics done and off we went on our roadtrip! We were very scared about sleeping in the Ox to start with - scared that we'd be accosted by some strange man in the middle of the night or that some horrible insect would get inside and we'd have nowhere to sleep and be left out in the middle of the night in our PJ's in the middle of nowhere! But - we got used to it and got some strong bug spray to keep spiders etc out and we actaully felt very safe him him! We purchased an airbed - smaller than single - you can imagine how cramped it was! Now, i'm not joking, we REALLY didn't expect him to get us all the way around and back to Fremantle!! Every day he seemed to be making a new noise and every day as we went to start him up we were praying we started! We would give him little pats to say well done when he'd gotten us to the next place!

So we started off in Albany - about a 6-7 hr drive from Fremantle and it was GREAT!! We loved being on the road in the Ox!!! Although we didn't dare go too fast (the drive belt is very old and apparently could snap at any time!! HAHA!) so we had a few strange looks and caused many a tail back on the roads but we didn't care! We had our ipods playing and the windows down (as you would expect - no air con) and just drove and drove!!

Albany was lovely, WA's first town, settled in 1826. It is surrounded by wineries, a beautiful coastline and lovely beaches and from July onwards you can see humpback and southern right wales coming to teh area to breed! We were out of season of course but would have loved to see them (Sar has a wierd whale obsession).

In most places we stayed on camp sites which had a campers kitchen (so we could charge stuff etc) and toilets & showers but there were a few times when we just pulled up at a random beach and slept there and we stayed at a few national parks which were amazing!

Albany kind of reminded me of Pai in Thailand as it was surrounded by huge mountians and amazing scenery. There was a real country town feel here! There's no paid parking in the city OR traffic lights! Lovely! We took a historical drive to Mt Clarence which has amazing views of Albany and a huge monument symbolising something to do with Australia and New Zealand but i'm not sure exactly what - there was a tribe of pensioners who all clambered out of a coach just before we got there so we couldn't get close!

We also went to the wind farm which was great. Mum - you know i'm not a fan of wind so i didn't last long here but the tourist trail here is fantastic.! You walk through some bushland to the magnificent coastline between sharp point and hanging rock. Me and Sar were breathtaken. The sea was this amazing turquoise colour, i think my favourite colour ever! We also went to Frenchman Bay and stopped at 'The Gap & Natural Bridge' - 2 natural features carved from ancient granite by the forces of nature! The gap has a 25 meter sheer drop to the ocean which is spectacular to look at as the waves come crashing in!

We drove to teh Salmon Holes but saw no salmon!! And then on to Cosy Corner - you aren't supposed to camp here but we did - in the Ox of course. We had a little scare this night as some wierd surfer dude came up in his car asking if we wanted to go for a drive on the beach - we wouldn't go away and we were convinced the idiot would return in the middle of the night and try to capture us! We had it all under control though - if he did turn up - i had our kitchen knife by my side (passenger side doesn't open so he'd have a job getting in Sar's side anyway! HA!) and sar had our penknife and i would go straight for the horn and get the other campers attention!!! A nice lady said we could wake her up if any probs anyway!!

Morning came and he didn't come!!! phew!! and we got out of the Ox and were greeted by the beautiful beach and perfectly calm sea! We went for a swim and then got on our way! No shower of course but i'm kinda getting used to that!!! :) STINKER!

We set off for Denmark - a longer drive than expected (everything takes twice as long in the Ox!) and once again - we LOVED it!! We drove through hours of beautiful forrest and ended up in Denmark - a real country town! It is apparently one of WA's pretties towns and i definately would agree! It is surrounded by lush forests and some seriously amazing beaches. We drove up to Mt Shadforth to the lookout over Albany & the coastline. I had been havign problems with my tooth again so had to find a chemist for some painkillers which seemed to take up the whole day! We had a look at Greens Pool - probably one of the best beaches i've ever seen - crystal clear water and rocks which shelter this little cove making it so still and calming. I want for a dip but Sar was a bit scared (we'd heard shark stories!) the water was absolutely FREEZING!!!

We left here for Walpole where we stayed the night at a little farm and wondered around the surrounding forests. This was teh closest camping place to the Valley of the Giants - Treetop Walk!!! The main attraction in the area - and it really was out of this world!These trees are over 60m high - red and yellow tingle trees - and you can walk along a canopy which sways scarily in the wind 45m high - you feel like you are walking along the tree tops! A really surreal experience and one i'll never forget. We then walked along the bottom canopy where we saw the hollow bases of the tingle trees - very strange. I cant quite remember why they are hollow but i think it's a mixture of the weather, insects attacking the dead bark and weak roots at teh bottom. This was great bcs you can climb through them and explore!The trees are absolutely huge! looking up at them from the base is very overwhelming!

After this we headed for Pemberton - one of my favourite places in Oz so far very strangely!!! With a population of just under 1000 i was shocked at just how lovely this place was! We drove for hours again to get here - i was finding the driving very theraputic (when Ox was behaving himself)!!! It was taking my mind off my toothache and looking at the long open stretches of road and the scenery really calmed my mind! We stayed at a lovely little campsite in town with a cool little campers kitchen - we decided to give the sightseeing a miss that day and just wandered around town and bought some cider and chilled out around the ox in our foldable chairs and ate cold beans etc... as you do..!! and we took a LOVELY shower here - i'll never forget it! We hadn't had a proper shower in a few days - i reckon i spent about half an hour in there!!!

The next day we went to see the Biccentinial tree in Warren National Park but the gravel road was too much for Ox and his poor suspension so we turned back and went to the Gloucester Tree. It is a huge 65m tingle tree in the middle of a forest which you can climb up on these precarious little metal poles forming a spiral staircase going up and around teh tree! Me and Sar were petrified when we got half way up! There was no safety net at all and nobody on the lookout to check the number of people up there at once (maximum of 6 - very hard to tell how many are up there from the bottom!). There were 2 people on their bloody way down when we were 3/4 up and they had to pass us at about 50m!!! It was so scary! Me and Sar were clinging to teh tree for dear life! But the views from the top were just spectacular... it was such a surreal feeling being right at teh top of the tree and feeling it swaying in teh wind - we probably didn't pick the calmest day for it! Wish Mike had been there - there is no way he'd have made it to the top!!! (sorry Mike!).

So after that little adventure we made our way to Nannup - a small village in the Blackwood River valley with a population of only 800! It was lovely and sweet but we did get a strange feeling that everyone knew each other and were all talking about the banged up old Volvo with 'Ox' written on the side being driven around their little village by 2 blonde girls! Nannup is home to the Nannup Tiger but it is so rarely sighted now that is has become a kind of legend! We took a trip to a nearby national park hoping to stay there the night but there was absolutely nobody there! we stopped for lunch and after hearing a few strange noises from the forests we decided we'd be too scared staying there alone (and convinced ourselves a Nannup Tiger would appear) so we took a look at a lovely little lake (we were told we could swim in it but it hada fuzzy film over it and had a striking resemblance to Danson Lake so we opted out) and decided to make our way staight to Margaret River.

Margaret River is just brilliant! Forest on one side and superb beaches on teh other. Loads of world-class wineries (Dad you would LOVE it here!) and breweries, chocolate factories, bushtucker tours etc! U can do a wide range of water sports and of course, surfing is excellent here. The town is lovely with loads of little bars & restaurants (which of course we had to steer clear of for financial reasons!), lots of lovely shops and dive and surf centres and loads of little boutique shops & bakeries & bookshops! We stayed a few night on Contos Campsite - part of Leuwin National Park which was fantastic - we saw our first Kangeroos here! They would come out right up close to us as we were sitting around teh Ox!!! Caves Road i think is my favourite road i've ever come across (ok that sounded wierd!) but it's such a lovely road to drive down in a quirky little car - over 50 wineries at the end of little dirt track turn offs, breweries, art galleries and just the lovliest scenery! We tried to escape Contos early a few times to avoid the ranger but were caught... damn!!! But only had to pay $6.50!! What a bargain for such an amazing experience! Beats paying $30 for a night in a hostel!!!

Anyway - we took a wine tour here - splashed out a little as this was something i really wanted to do here - we had been living off cold beans, cold spaghetti, crispbreads, peanut butter and pickled onions for about 2 weeks and were promised a gourmet lunch - we were SO excited about it!!! However - it wasn't anything of the sort. Bread & pate, olives, sundried tomatoes and salami. Still nice but hardly the 5 course meal we were hoping for !!! We had such a great day though! Went to a few wineries for wine tasting, a cheese factory and chocolate factory and then 2 breweries!! We met a group of 5 aussies who were so lovely and kind to us! They were staying at Yallingup and having a sort of reunion as they had met on a Contiki trip to Europe and were splashing out a bit! They invited us back to theirs were me, Sar and the girls (Michelle & Penny) made an absolutely fantastic lasagne and drank way more than we should!!! But - we got our hot meal after all!!! :)

We stayed 2 nights in Margaret River on a Farm - well ... Ox stayed 2 and me and Sar only 1 and we stayed with the aussies on their huge comfy sofas on the 2nd night!!! SO nice to be able to stretch out in bed again!!! The farm was v strange... a working farm but they had no work going. They had over 2000 sheep and were all very close knit! Was a great little area though!

There is so so much i'm missing out here - like me and Sar needing the toilet in the middle of the night in Pemberton and squatting outside the back of teh car and Sar getting bitten by some mysterious insect - it swelled up to the size of a tennis ball - seriously!! And us swimming at Margaret River just before a shark was spotted and a sting ray came right up to the beach!!! I just cant fit it all in here and you MUST be getting bored of me by now!!

So just quickly - we loved Margaret River - were going to stay for some grape picking but they didn't start until 2 weeks time and we didn't want to hand around so decided to move back up to Freo. Another of my favourite beaches ever would be Rivermouth at Margaret River - beautiful.

So .. on our way up to Freo we drove through Yallingup and its stunning vineyards to Dunsborough. This place looked so lovely but we didn't stop - would have been a good stop for some watersports! We also went through Bussleton which was a lovely looking town. We arrived in Bunbury that day and LOVED this place!!! Spent a couple of days there but my tooth was getting so bad we just had to get back up to Freo to get back to the dentist. We stayed at a little caravan park with a swimming pool which was nice - went to the Dolphin Discovery centre but didn't actually see any dolphins! On the way to Freo we went through Mandurah - very very nice but very expensive here - the houses were amazing and it was such a pretty place. We got some fruit and ate it down by the river only to be attacked by tons of seagulls!!! HA!! We also went through Rockingham which was nice - saw some pelican thing out in the water which was ummmm... the highlight here!!

So - back in Freo - we've sold the Ox :( to a couple of young Canadian lads who suit him very well!! They kinda remind us of Bill & Ted if u know what i mean. So they are taking him on a roadtrip to Melbourne soon - good luck to them! Me and Sar spent one night on South beach sleeping for free before we sold him but were caught by the ranger and threatened with a $100 fine if we did it again!!!

So now - me and Sar are borrowing Bill & Ted's 5 man tent and are staying back at Fremantle village on the campers site!! Naturally they dont worry about a mattress or duvet cover (ARRRGHHH!) so we are sleeping wearing literally ALL the clothes we can fit on and lying on the hard floor!! It gets VERY cold at night! We can also hear everything that goes on around us so have purchased some ear plugs - definately reccommend them for camping!! i cant hear a thing!!!

I had my tooth seen to yesterday - thankfully didn't have to have another root canal but he said it will prob need it in future - what a lovely man he is!! I get so scared of dentists but he was brilliant! I have some antibiotics incase it starts to hurt but now we are all sorted and ready to head on up north!

We have booked on a 10 day tour up to Broome - things seem to change so quickly! One minute we were posting an ad on gumtree asking for people to share a campervan up to Darwin - now we are booked on a tour with 20 strangers up to Broome!! I love how we never know what is around the corner!!! I am so excited about this tour - just some of the things on the agenda are Monkey Mia (where the dolphins swim right into the beach and you can feed them), Ningaloo Reef (where we are going to snorkel and ... DIVE!!! yes we are doing a dive at Coral Bay on the Ningaloo Reef and we are so excited!! Whale sharks are spotted here frequently between feb & march - some are 18m in size! i think i'd die of shock if i saw one of those coming after me! but they're harmless and that would be out of this world to swim with one!, Sandboarding and the Pinnacles Desert!!! We are dangerously low on money however so need to get on the job search as soon as we get to Broome. I'm quite looking forward to it actually for some strange reason!! Wont be able to do my beauty as everywhere seems to want permanent staff but hopefully on the east coast i will do.

So - you are all up to date!!! Sar is fine and really enjoying herself! We are missing you all loads - i cant believe that next week i have been away for 6 months... thats half of my travels gone ....!!! ARRRGH!! it went so quickly! But i've had the time of my life and new adventures are around the corner!!!

I'll keep you posted and speak to you soon!!!

Love, hugs & kisses...

Ems xxxx