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Happy New Year everyone!!!
Sorry, this is another cut and pasted email -apologies if this is repetetive..
Hope you all had a fun time celebrating the new year and there weren't too many sore heads the following morning...
Thanks for all the emails and messages on our blog, really love hearing all your news, so keep 'em coming! Will do personal replies in a mo after i've bored you all with our latest news..
I can't quite remember where I got up to last time, think it was Christmas day? Anyway, Christmas was really nice, but obviously very different to the traditional style at home, and we did miss our families and friends of course. But Will and Suze made it really special, and we went to their friends' place in the eve for BBQ seafood (I now like squid!!! Before I thought it was just like rubber bands, but this was yummy..) then a big spread of fish and salads. Of course we topped it all off with Christmas pud and cream!
On Boxing day we packed up and headed down the coast with Will and Suze (they have a camper van, and we have a friend's huge 4x4 and borrowed a tent and all the camping gear) for a summer holiday - it's neverending!! We picked up a canoe on the way from their friends' place - it technically seats 3 ppl but luckily the 4 of us were within the weight limit so we didnt have to leave 1 person behind. We went to a place right in the south west called Denmark - a really nice old-timer hippyish town (which is apparently dead and a bit spooky in winter - i can imagine) - it was really cute, bustling with nice cafes and slightly out of tune but very enthusiastic buskers! We camped at a nearby campsite at Parry's beach, and there were so many other beaches to visit while we were there - which we did, of course! There was also a few large inlets which we had a few fun canoe trips on, luckily with the wind behind us so it wasnt too much effort (we even had picnics aboard!). The water's all brown and really warm from all the tea trees lining the inlets - looks a bit strange but once we knew why the water was so brown we werent so worried about falling overboard!
We took full advantage of Paul's 4x4 (a massive Toyota Landcruiser for those of you who are interested..) and had some rollercoaster offroad adventures in search of secluded beaches - Jimmy's driving was very impressive and we only got stuck once! Luckily there were lots of people around and all we had to do was let even more air out of the tyres (i thought they were letting them all the way down and we'd never get out!) It was definately worth it though, when we got to the amazing beaches with only a few fisermen there. Lovely. The water's a beatiful turquoise blue in the shallows, then drops off to a deep blue where it gets deeper - perfect for sharks. Which reminds me...
Did you hear about the shark attacks????!!!! Luckily we weren't in Perth after Christmas - a man was out snorkelling with his son in the morning (the day after boxing day i think)at one of Perth's beaches (i think the one we swam at on xmas day..) when he got eaten by a 4-5 meter great white!! His son just heard a yell, looked over and saw a shark thrash in the bloody water, and his dad was gone! It's really scary, and sad for the family too. Apparently they havent found any of his remains yet, so it must have been a hungry shark - which is strange because apparently they don't usually like humans (marine-knowledge friends you must know more about all this..) AND they've spotted a shark (huge great whites) almost every day since and have to keep closing the beaches. Apparently there have been 2 other shark attacks over the xmas period too - one on the South coast, one on the East coast. Scary stuff.
And there we were - happily surfing and swimming away on the South coast!! No Jaws moments though don't worry mum.
Guess what - I surfed my first reef break the other day! At a beach called Yallingup - the walk along the reef and jump into the deep water hurt my feet a bit but think i was just being a wimp (Jimmy was very good and stayed with me at all times) and the paddle back in was a bit unnerving (again, being a wimp) but i enjoyed being out there!! No suprises that I didnt actually catch any waves but it was still a step (or paddle) in the right direction! Think i'll stick to the beaches in Indo though, unless the surf is smallish and safe.
Jimmy's board arrived a few days after it was lost by the way, for those of you who were wondering. I've been lucky enough to borrow Suze's wetsuit and board.
ANYWAY, we also did lots of general sightseeing and relaxing on our camping trip, and Jimmy and I did a few touristy things on our own - visited Jewell Caves (amazing big caves with impressive limestone formations in them - no scrabbling around on our knees either - a very leisurly guided walk, phew) and also did the TreeTop Walk - walkways amongst the 40m tall native Tingle trees. Very cool. Reminded me of the Enchanted Wood book!! Did anyone else read that? We also went to see a live band at a winery (they dont call them vineyards over here) which was rather jolly.
On new year's eve we went to the Denmark Tavern where the same band were playing. The food was actually quite dissapointing but it was nice to be somewhere different (and none of us could be bothered to cook around the campfire again, then wash up..) At about 11pm the place was full of locals (lots of redneck mullets in leather jackets and underage drinkers) so we decided to head back to the campsite and start up a campfire and continue the party with our 2 neighbours (a nice couple, very interesting arty types) and see in the new year with the echos of the campsite shouting "5 -4 -3- 2 -1!!!!" at random intervals. Cant beleive it's 2009!!!
So we came back to Perth on Monday, and have had a day sorting and avoiding the scorching heat yesterday (i've got my tan now, leave me alone sun!! - cant beleive i'm thinking that! But it is SO much hotter here than down south), and caught up with Ozzie Ben last eve, and today we pack for Bali as we leave early in the morning tomorrow!!!
So my next update may be a little brief if it is from an internet cafe somewhere in Indo, but I'll try my best! If not will send another long rambling one when we get back to Perth..
Keep me posted with any news from home, we do love hearing from you!
Loads of love,
Liz (and Jimmy/James) x x x x x
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