Roadie to the North

There is only one semi-made up for to use for this trip: Bogan-ville.

This was only further clarified during our decadent crayfish supper at a local tavern in Cervantes. If it were Canada everyone would be wearing plaid shirts and sporting hockey hair, but this is Australia and they have their own distinct look. It could be a cross between surfer and rancher with hints of homeless person. Just kidding, but we gotta' razz Australians for something.

Lancelin is famous for its sand surfing and we enjoyed a few moments climbing the dunes. From Lancelin to Cervantes we saw lots of wildlife including lizards, emus and kangaroos. We made it to the Pinnacles in time for sunset, but were lucky enough to realize that though the town touts its sunset tourist attraction you're hard pressed to find a meal after that time. It was definitely a meal worth waiting for. 

The next day we checked out the stromatolites, though not as famous as those at Shark Bay. If you're not a geologist these are pretty boring, we get it, they are just circular piles of rocks to most people. Later on we ended up in the monastery town of New Norcia, which was really interesting. A long line of Spanish, Italian, Irish, French and English monks and nuns ended up in this small town 2 hours north of Perth. Lots of historic art and it's most famous for the bread and olives. The bread disappeared faster than you can imagine...

Red Bull Air Races

Perfect weekend for the Red Bull races! All of Perth was buzzing with the noise from aircraft of all types. Qantas had a 737 do a few laps of the city and got to see a Harvard in the air again. The races were pretty amazing to watch. Times are calculated on speed and penalties ie. if you hit the pylon or aren't perfectly horizontal or vertical through particular gates. We finished our last evening off before going back to work with a nice non-Australian BBQ at a friend's house.

Vietnam-Same Same But Different

Ahoy Hanoi! I managed to pry myself away from Dave long enough to have a visit with my good friend Caroline, who had stayed with Dave and I for awhile in Perth. Don't feel too bad for Dave, he gets more stressed out when I'm in Perth armed with a credit card then in a third world country.

There is proof yet again that world news is grossly over-exaggerated ie. the time that tanks overtook Bangkok when the government was overthrown. Most Thai people didn't really ever know about it. Again the typhoons that hit Vietnam were extremely localized and I had nothing to worry about as I landed in Hanoi on Oct 1st.

Caroline and I got busy walking the markets and catching up on the past couple of months away form each other. We watched an indoor water puppet show, really interesting, though I fall asleep. We hopped on a sleeper train that night and headed up the mountainous region of Sapa. This area is famous for the local hill-tribes who are unfortunately relegated to making their living selling to tourists. They are good natured and high spirited, even without buying anything they still joked around with us. We signed up for a 2 day trek...so did 200 other people, but we soon developed a familiar group of trekkers each going our own pace.

Our group stayed at a "home-stay" that was more luxury than I expected and completely unlike the homes we visited in the area. Caroline and I spent some time in H'mong houses, which could easily be compared to small barns. We were more than happy to spend a few dollars for those who were gracious enough to let us visit with them. Most people were busy cutting rice, Caroline and I helped with the sorting process and realized quickly that we weren't very good at it.

Back to Hanoi after our trek, we slept well that night and turned up at the tour office in Hanoi at 7am ready for Halong Bay. Unforunately, we were told that our trip was canceled due to the weather and we had to find another activity. We decided to take a bus to a place called Ninh Binh and take our chances with the rain. We toured the temples, caves, rivers, parks and other interesting tourist sites without any rain. We stayed our last night in Hanoi in luxury ($18 US) room charge and I flew out the next day. I was expecting a good long nap on my flight, but I had several seats of engineers and geologists around me who were flying back from work in Thailand. No one shut up the whole flight! Good trip. I'm awaiting a DVD of Caroline's more professional photographs.

Great White Sharks and Albany

Now that Dave and I are finally settled into our apartment we have re-established ourselves as tourists. Life at Jundee has been pretty quiet and we're now quite comfortable in our positions here. It's wildflower season (spring) and the most beautiful flowers are blooming. The local wildlife is starting to appear and it won't be long before the snakes and lizards start appearing. Unfortunately, it's starting to heat up during the day and it won't be long before a 45 degree day is normal.

(Clockwise from Top Left: Sea Lions basking, a friendly Quokka, Dave with our sweet ride "The Puke Cruiser", and Henrietta Reef)

We have been keeping ourselves busy in Perth, getting to know the neighbourhoods and hanging out with our new friends. This past week we (specifically, me) finally worked up the courage to go for a dive. Everybody knows that I have an outlandish fear of Great White Sharks even in fresh water. After visiting the aquarium, I learned that scientists had tagged several sharks and found their migrational routes went right by Perth for all of them. So I was not too excited for diving, but as most divers will tell you, all that goes away once you are down there.

It was a particularly windy, turbulent and cold day even for winter/spring, but Dave and I toughed the boat ride out to Rottnest Island (directly west of Perth). However, the ride out ended with me curled up around a metal post on the floor of the boat a pale shade. After a couple of hours resting on Rottnest with a cup of coffee we were ready for a dive. There were mutiple swim throughs and a good variety of colourful fish. Now that we're more comfortable in the cooler waters, we're set to take on better sites nearby.

(Barry on the Land Bridge with Stef and I safe up top, one of the "Blow Holes" where pressure forces water through an unnoticeable crevice)

(Barry's skink, Dave and I posing at Salmon Beach).

(Having a beer and picnic at the beach, 70% of Albany's power is wind generated!)

On the weekend, we headed down to Albany with a couple of Canadian friends, Stef and Barry. Albany is on the southwest coast of Western Australia and well-known for whales, rock formations and giant Tingle trees. You can drive a small car through some trees, but there aren't many of those trees left. It was a lot of driving, but a roadtrip with good friends is never dull. Even Trivial Pursuit can get out of hand!


(Dave and Stef nervously walking among the tree tops, inside a Red Tingle tree, Barry for scale on a tree knob).

Striking Gold!

Not so much striking gold as idly watching it be poured. Every once in awhile we're allowed to go watch the gold being poured at Jundee. We had to go through security, but I'd really have to compliment a thief if they could make it with a 30kg gold bar through the desert alive or even off the property.