Beautiful Queensland (4)

The following morning I was miles better and was ready to explore Cape Tribulation a bit more. More walks to the beach, etc. It is the only place in the whole world where two World Heritage Areas meet - the rainforest and the Reef (at high tide). It is a magical place, no bigger than a quarter of 1% of the total landmass of Australia but with 50% of its wildlife !!!! Amazing !!!

We never saw a cassowary again but still relished the memory, especially as more and more people told us how lucky we had been to see one so close.

At 11am we decided to head back South as we wanted to have lunch in Port Douglas (and browse through some more shops). I bought more post cards (visual stuff, my kind of stuff) and Janet was still looking for some pretty jewellery and Xmas gifts...

We then continued South and reached Mareena again where they have Granite Gorge, a special place where the rock wallabies still have a stronghold (they are almost extinct everywhere else in Australia). We got there at 3pm and couldn't bring ourselves to leave before 5pm. We were... in love, all over again. These little critters are just as adorable as all the other similar 'roos that we'd seen and a few females (who looked too young to be mothers already) had a few joeys popping their heads out of their pouch. But far too young to be out of the pouch yet (they had no fur and looked bald - not the prettiest little things though I did take a few great shots of them with their little faces out). We had a ball... we saw 4 coach loads of Japanese tourists come and go in 30mns. They were only 10mns and had to dash back on the coach... after a session of intense photographying. One little boy was totally transfixed by the kangaroos. They too grab your hand quite firmly when you put roo food in it. Some positively enjoyed being stroked whilst others were a bit too shy. We saw about 25 out of the 150 they have. They are still wild (though you wouldn't think so) and will still other things during the day... in fact, they were very 'shallow' as they only wanted to befriend you when they could smell you had food !!!

I then went to have a swim in a natural swimming hole (made a bit deeper thanks to a man made weir) and when I came back, we had no food left and they didn't even look at us. We were gutted... and pleased at the same time, as it's best for them not to be too dependent on humans.

We then enjoyed a drink overlooking a superb vista, spreading for miles... all the Japanese tourists had long gone, it was so peaceful. Just Janet & I and a few beautiful birds (including the pink cockatoos). More photo ops. We even saw many Ulysse butterflies (vivid blue) when we were driving around... another visual treat.

Everywhere you go in Australia dogs are banned, even on a leash. I have no idea how people can have pets here, you cannot take them on any walks in the National Parks, etc. It seems a bit of a shame. Not sure why that since nothing has rabies here.

After a rushed meal (30mns, no more) we had a quick look at a platypus viewing platform, but to no avail. We then went on a nocturnal tour that we'd have booked starting at 7:30pm, as a desperate last attempt to see the Lumholtz's tree kangaroos (they look SO cute, like the sloth in the Ice Age ! That kind of face, if you know the one...). As they are so elusive, we thought we'd enrol the help of an expert who sees them 80% of the time...

We spent 2 hours with torches and binoculars looking for them, in vain. It was SO frustrating as we knew it was our last chance, maybe ever, unless we come back to this particular area, to see them. We did see many possums though, and they were totally adorable. We spotted 15 coppery brushtail possums (all brown and fluffy, and who tend to sit around on their trees as if they were waiting to be told off, real cute) and, cuter still, our award winner for the day was the green ringtail possums (again, supposedly quite rare we managed to spot 7). They are grey with a white stripe around their eyes and long eye lashes (a bit like the rabbit in Bambi!). They looked so cuddly, and can form a perfectly round ball when they sit in a certain position. We even saw a few with their joeys on their backs ! I have no idea how the little fellows managed to hang on when mummy was going high up because their fur are so silky, you kind of expected them to slide down any minute... but no, years of practice I guess ! It was a great evening regardless as it was just like a treasure hunt, looking for 2 red eyes in the dark (it's the only way you can spot them, you have to find the reflection on their retinas). They were 4 of us and it was a true case of 'all for one and one for all' as whoever found a creature felt really proud as their findings would benefit the whole group and provide great enjoyment !

Driving back to Cairns took us 1h20 and poor Janet was brain dead on arrival... We have now checked out of our hotel and I've only got 5mns left and have to see Janet very shortly at the pier for lunch. We're flying to Hong Kong in 3 hours. I cannot afford to bring much back, maybe a couple of photo books on rainforests and reef by Peter Lik (we saw another stunning gallery in Port Douglas, the guy is truly massively talented... ) and that's it.

I cannot imagine being back in London in 24 hours where it will be dark by 4pm. I cannot imagine facing the jet-lag where we will be +10 hours in our head... by lunch time on Monday it'll be bed time for me already... ahhhh...

There's always the next venture to look forward to... we'll keep on planning to keep going till then.

Beautiful Queensland (3)

Well, when I last wrote I was about to have my dinner... very nice it was but our order wasn't exactly what we had ordered. Being very French when the occasion arises, I queried this with the waitress who didn't seem to take the hint that I was after a discount when she presented us with the (over priced for what we had) bill... Not being one to be easily deflated when it comes to discounts or complaints, I took this up further with management and they scrapped both items off the menu altogether. Our $50 bill ended up being just $10... much more reasonable... and we even had an extra treat as a long nosed bandicoot even came into the restaurant to the amusement of all guests - but not to the staff's. Janet was well impressed, she said she was too British to do that... though, she did remember the lesson well and used it later on in another similar situation also got a discount on her own merits. So, there you go my other British friends: take heart... whenever you are justified, speak up ! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain... and you do benefit the businesses involved by giving them a chance to improve, honest!

After a good night's rest and a yummy breakfast overlooking the beautiful & tranquil river we made Mossman Gorge our first stop. It is a renowned swimming spot, lots of crystal clear swimming holes, etc. but the water was almost too shallow (many rocks showing). Still the water seemed to be a lovely soft green and there was lots of ferns and moss around the banks to make it look very lush. We were told by a guide there that it was a very speical place with an incredible variety of plants and flowers - up to 18 different wild orchids in this park. We ran out of time to walk the 1h30 trail and headed up North to the Daintree instead. We drove till we got to a recommended spot for cruises. Most cruises will try to find you crocs (some can be up to 7-8 meters long, eeek) but I was mainly interested in birds & flowers... Still, as the only time we could do the cruise was over lunch, it was all a bit quiet, but relaxing anyway.

After that we drove a bit more till we reached a wide river that could only be crossed over with a 'moving platform'. They could take about 5 cars and 2 coaches and with ropes you were pulled to the other side. Both times we were lucky and the platform was almost ready to go when we arrived - total fluke, otherwise we would have wasted yet another 15mns, a small but significant amount when you have SO much to see if in just a few hours.

Janet had read in Lonely Planet about an ice cream shop that had produced up to 3,000 different flavours from exotic fruits and we just felt we had to try this. It was probably the most popular place we visited with cars and cars piling into their lovely cark park (tropical garden settings) to try the flavours of the day. They had 4: mango and coconut (standard) but also wattleseed and blacksapote. The latter was very brown and a bit like chocolate but not quite as nice and wattleseed tasted a bit like 'rum & raison'. I totally loved it. I even asked for another generous scoop. To think that I may never taste this ever again in my whole life made me feel quite sad... One of the other things we never had time to do but really wanted to do too was to go to one of their local farms to try out the local tastings of local fruits they had a list of about 40 that I had never even heard of that were too fragile to ever make it to the local markets or supermarkets, but you could enjoy them 'on site' and they'd tell you all about them, etc. Sounded fascinating and just my kind of thing as I love trying all sorts of new flavours, but it'll have to be for next time ! Whenever 'next time' is....

Janet then thought she'd have lunch on the beach and we were looking for a small cafe but got lost and ended up down a track road that led us to the Cow Bay beach instead of a beach cafe. We thought we'd wasted some precious time (5kms there & back) when I suddenly spotted a cassowary on the side of the road, picking at things on the ground, almost right by my side... I was like 'Look !!!' but by the time we stopped the car and reversed the tall bird had made a dash for a bush and Janet only managed to see the back of him with this blue neck sticking out. We were SO excited... We had been told that they are very rare and didn't hold much hope of seeing one at all, the only ones who the sightings tend to be in car parks (where they can hang around waiting for food if some idiots had started to feed them) or by the side of the road. Once they are in the forest, they could be a few meters away from you and you just couldn't see them anymore, they are so well camouflaged (despite the distinctive blue neck) that they simply become invisible to the average person. So, talk about 'a blessing in disguise'.

We tried to repeat the experience over the next 24 hours by having our eyes peeled into the forest, trying to scan back and forth as much as one can when you go 40-60km/hour but, to no avail. Every time we got out of the car to have a look at a beach I was a bit skittish I have to say as these birds are magnificient but can be deadly. They have 3 powerful claws on their feet and they tend to attack and throwing themselves forward, with their claws towards their opponent's belly in an attempt to disembowel them.... great ! A guy told us he was attacked by one once being on a bike, the bird followed him and really tried several times to claw him but he managed to get enough speed to escape its wrath without a scratch. They advise everywhere you go NEVER to approach them, never to run away from them and to always walk away from them backwards with your rucksack in front of you to protect your gut as it's what they will aim at! I was seriously nervous whenever we heard the slightest noise... whereas I never felt any fear looking for tigers or jaguars because I know they are less likely to attack. But the cassowary is the forest's most important ally as it can disperse more than 100 seeds of trees and without it, the forest and all creatures who rely on it will die. Hence it is absolutely vital to save this bird and some books said that there was only 50 left in Queensland... another stated 1,200. I'm not even sure how one does a census like that to be honest... these birds travel so fast, how would you know 'this' one is not the same as 'that' one? Their habitat has been shrunk over the years because humans wanted more farmland (same old) and we've constructed more roads across the national parks for tourist and commercial purposes... so, the few that are left constantly need to cross roads to look for mates or more food, hence you have to be so careful when you drive. They have actually tried really hard to help the birds survive, they have warning signs everywhere on the road, posters in all the tourist shops ('be cass-o-wary') and they even have lots of bumps/sleeping policemen to force people to slow down to 40km/hour.

After our big thrill we kept driving North, passing lots of banana and sugar cane plantations and high mountains with shrouded mist on the top. It was like a see of green, the Emerald Coast really. It reminded me of the Caribbean's in that sense, even the light was amost fluid. But as expected in a rainforest area, we had several showers a day and could never go far without an umbrella. There were many colourful flowers too... entire trees covered in red bloom... just an arresting sight.

We also enjoyed a board walk among mangrove trees, which was relaxing. Janet had never seen mangroves before and she'd have never gone on a walk that didn't have boards as she has a real phobia of leeches. I never think about them much until she reminds me.

By then unfortunately I was starting to feel very out of it because of another migraine starting and so instead of going down to Port Douglas (which I just couldn't face - another 2 hours back on the road) we checked into the Fern Hotel in Cape Tribulation. I thought I'd been there before, but didn't.

We immediately went to enjoy the outdoor pool. I counted about 25 species of trees and palm trees surrounding it, it was lovely. Quite warm water too. AND we were surrounded by flying foxes (i.e. bats with fluffy cream faces and long brown bodies). We also had a whole colony right by our bungalow. They are supposed to be 'friendly' and we truly didn't expect to see them bickering at 4pm. I assumed that all bats were nocturnal but these guys were quite active... Well, they mainly stayed on their trees, hanging upside down in a cocoon shape as they do, but quite a few were fighting or cuddling and it almost looked from a distance (we'd lost our binoculars by then - we've lost LOTS of things !) that we saw some mothers and babies interact or feed. They were actually quite cute and every time one of them would fly over the pool it was like being in Batman ! :) It's not often you can observe wildlife so close whilst having a good swim !

I then made the mistake of going to dinner and ordering what I thought was going to be a plain tomato soup but it came full of double cream. That was more than I could handle by this point and it didn't last more than 30mns in my stomach... I got worse and worse as the evening dragged on, could not even stand candle lights and had to be in bed by 9pm. I had planned to call my mother, to write lots of post-cards, update my blog, I had to write it all off. Unable to stand any light at all by then. We could have fed some turtle in the pool of the restaurant where we went as they wanted to give us some turtle food, but absolutely nothing appealed to me anymore, I just wanted my bed and total darkness. I still feel it's better it happened to me than to Janet though as I have no idea what we would do if our 'driver' had been out of service the way I was that night, boy.... no fun. And no-one has ever heard of a blind driver, right ? It is the one thing you definitely you cannot do with your eyes shut !!! The owner of the restaurant felt so sorry for me (he gets migraines too so totally sympathised) that he gave me 2 super dooper tablets which seemed to help - but only after I'd spent a good 10mns in the bathroom suffering !!! But it was a case 'no pain, no gain' if you know what I mean. I felt instantly better afterwards though I still wanted my bed ! Janet was very mumsy and happy to nurture, bless her.

We had planned another fun packed day after that and just had to get better...

Beautiful Queensland (2)

We started our day at 7:30am but didn't get to leave before 9am regardless... the b&b owner was going to go to Wales some day and Janet gave him lots of great tips... She is FAR more chatty than I am, if I leave her alone 5mns to go ahead and take a shot, she will have almost always found a fellow British tourist to chat to, swapping tourist tips, etc. Whereas I completely blank everybody out and don't even notice half of the people who cross our paths. Yesterday on the waterfall tour she kept saying 'oh hi again' to a couple who seemed to go to the same spots we did but I never seemed to remember their faces ! I think I'm suffering from (yet another) acute case of anti-social behaviour, hum. Though I don't think that this is the kind that would earn me an ASBO I still feel thoroughly ashamed of myself at times...

Today we thought we'd try to get to Silky Oak Lodge early to make the most of the money we'd spent on it, and so we knew we'd need to leave Youngburra (the colonial town where we stayed) by 2pm. This left us with 5 hours to enjoy the Crater Lakes regions... but no sooner had we got in the car that it started to rain quite heavily. This was SO annoying as we were heading for Eacham Lake which is supposedly the nicest in the area. Janet being more philosophical than I am (I put this down to the fact that she's very British, so: much more flegmatic) figured that we might as well walk the rainforest trail all around the lake since we couldn't really do anything else. None of us are really into museums and though the lake colour was now dark grey instead of lovely blue, it was better than driving around endlessly doing nothing much. She was right and it was well worth it. We both valued the exercice... and we got to see yet another kind of kangaroo, a musky 'rat kangaroo' this time. They are pretty much like... rats and don't really hop but for some reason that escape me, they come under the kangaroo species. We had seen a photo of one earlier at the Info site stating that we might be lucky to see them hence we knew what they'd look like. We were thrilled ! It doesn't take much to make us happy ! :) Granted. But we do share a love of fluffy and cuddly creatures... and some of the Australian Wildlife books here are full of amazing photos of so many other creatures that are equally cute and that we had never heard of before. We keep saying that we'd need to spend at least a whole year here to do this continent justice. Did I tell you that we're already planning to return in about 2-3 years'time ? Time, Fortune and Good Health permitting ! On that walk we also saw new birds we hadn't seen before and... a python sleeping on a rock by the lake. Thankfully we were high up on a board walk so were looking down on him. In fact, we first assumed he was dead because I've never even seen a snake snooze on a rock in the rain, I always assumed they were sun-worshipper. But we were told later that pythons have had to get used to rain if they choose to live in a 'rain' forest and that the stone will have absorbed the heat of the day (prior to the rainfall obviously) and so they will make do with that.

After Lake Eacham we headed for Lake Barrine, which is just 5kms up the road. I had cruised it 14 years ago and vaguely remembered the beautiful coffee shop (gorgeous exotic flowers around the grounds) and the pelicans. This trip to Queensland has actually been a great exercice to test my memory... and so far I'm not doing brilliantly but in a way it keeps me excited about 'tomorrow' as it's like rediscovering it all over again.

We had an early lunch whilst we were waiting for the next cruise to start and enjoyed a lovely table overlooking the lake. A brush turkey even tried to steal our food (ugly things they are -and all over Queensland- so I haven't taken a photo yet - God, I'm so shallow in some ways !!!). It was a pleasant cruise, very relaxing, with just the two of us. So we could pick the best seats ! We saw many turtles (our guide would throw meat in the water as they enjoy that most) and cormorans and two pelicans who kept following us with their beaks wide open, talk about putting on the guilt trip ! They also had some gorgeous purple water lilies which you don't often see, but I never got close enough to take a decent shot, even with my 300mm zoom lens from the deck area. I was most disappointed.

We went back via the Fig tree area trying one last time for tree kangaroos but didn't see any. It is SO frustrating to be 'so near and yet so far' as you will not find them anywhere else in the whole of Australia.

Night has now fallen and the beetles are still singing their heads off. Janet's just returned and is all excited because she saw a beautiful bandicoot right by our tree house, not phased at all by her presence, and I've just spotted a ghecko on the wall by the computer ! Gheckos aren't massively cute either BUT are really useful to keep the insect population under control so we'll welcome them anytime (so long as they don't leave droppings in our suitcases !!!). Oh, the joys of the Wet Tropics...

By the way, talking of creatures and all, I need to make 4 amendments to one of my last post. (a) Rabbits are found in Australia (we've seen a few since I wrote this) but are not found on Kangaroo Island at all. (b) The food I fed the wallabies was good for their stomach by the way and not some rubbish that us humans eat (Janet & I are very strict on that and would never feed them anything they are not supposed to have not to encourage wildlife to beg - it triggers unnatural and eventually agressive behaviour). They sold bags of 'roo food' at the Wilderness Lodge, which was a great idea. (c) Forgot to say too that female kangaroos can raise 2 joeys at once, a few months apart and she will produce 2 different types of milk. One teat will have milk for the more mature joey whilst the other teat will produce milk that a younger joey would need instead. How about that ? Makes ours really boring in comparison ! No ?! (c) koalas' skeletons are designed so that they can wedge themselves in branches quite comfortably (this is why if you & I tried to sit the way they do, we'd have soon have a sore bum... since we were not meant to live on trees).

Voila... I'd better sign off as dinner is almost ready. It'd better be good, I'm starving ! Tomorrow we'll be driving to Cape Tribulation... again, tons to do on the way, we'll have to be massively selective. Everywhere we've been we've felt we could have benefitted from one extra day pretty much... Still, we're not complaining. Honest ! We do realise that we are incredibly fortunate to enjoy so many natural wonders here.

Beautiful Queensland (1)

Well, I'm currently sitting in the fantastic reading lounge of the Silky Oak Lodge, the computer (free internet, yipee) is overlooking the Mossman river which is currently very shallow (= perfect, by my books). Sound of running water is soothing my ears and as night is falling they have just lit up candles all over the lounge areas and restaurant (no window in the restaurant area, totally open to the sounds of nature, high up on wooden stilts). It's just really nice. Our room isn't as big as we'd thought and we certainly wouldn't have paid the full price for it but we have a great bathtub with spa jets (that Janet is currently enjoying whilst I'm writing this) and we have a CD player with ambience music (sounds of the sea, etc which is a nice touch). We found the most beautiful kingfisher sitting on a branch just off our balcony (with hamac, of course). And we've just completed our usual 20 lengths in the pool (again, glorious, surrended by fern and palm trees, blends in beautifully with its environment) so we feel we've earned our dinner - in 90mns' time. Janet will soon enjoy a glass of wine whilst reading the international news in the comfy reading lounge (lots of newspapers to choose from). We do feel blessed... and though I thought I'd grab this spare hour to update you on the last leg of our ventures, even if it means making you a bit green sometimes. We do appreciate your emails ! :) Especially as we're both starting to feel the dread now the countdown has started (down to minus 3 days before D-day, Departure day, ahhh).

When we arrived in Cairns we were amazed by how busy it was after the tranquility of Brampton. I actually really loved it. All the tourist trap shops were open late (which is RARE in Australia, any smaller village and you stand no chance of buying a post card after 6pm). We even happened to pass the photo gallery of Peter Lik who is currently my fav Australian photographer. He had won many awards and had some incredible landscape shots. The kind that left me feeling I knew next to nothing about light and settings... It was just a wonderful feast for the eyes. And I'm sure he's got a website with samples of his best work if you wanted to share the feast and have a glance. Please do ! :)

We had booked a room in 'The Hotel Cairns' but it was so popular that they were overbooked. As compensation they booked us in a block of brand new apartments just 2 blocks away from theirs (10mns walk from the buzz of the city centre, fab) and this was a treat too. We ended up with an award winning designer flat (the best block in Cairns we were told by our cab driver) with a massive lounge, wide screen TV, huge sofa, balcony with chairs and table on it, and a fitted kitchen with all the usual gadgets. The bedrooms were flawless too, as was the bathroom (again, real designer stuff, beautiful bath tub). Sliding doors everywhere to maximise space. Just really well done. We even had a washing machine we didn't have time to use, etc. The pool was also very arty and the biggest we'd ever had. It was just very very impressive and it ended up costing us half what the advertised price is. I think the block was called '201 Living' on Lake Street, if you want to check their website out. We were seriously spoilt. We actually wanted to be booked there again in 2 days' time, when we get back, but unfortunately they had managed to find us a standard room at the Cairns Hotel, sigh, sigh.

The day after we left Cairns at around 9am and drove West to go to the Mareeba Wetland area (highly recommended in all the travel brochures as it's a great bird sanctuary) only to find out that the sanctuary was closed on Mondays & Tuesdays - something that none of the books had mentioned. We had therefore made a 40kms detour for ... nothing. Actually, no, I tell a lie because the journey there was quite beautiful. We climbed high up on top of the Atherland Table and enjoyed glorious views of rolling hills - something I had forgotten all about, strangely. It actually reminded me very much of Costa Rica - lots of bromelias on the trees, more fern trees, etc. We had also stopped at Kuranda on the way which was a tourist trap but great fun. Lots of quaint shops with all sort of crafts and jewels, clothes and soaps, etc. Janet was in heaven and bought yet another top. I failed in my duties to restrain her because it suited her so well. I stuck to buying more post-cards even though I still haven't written 3/4 of them ! Time fails me... again.

Yesterday we decided to focus on the waterfall circuit since I'm so keen on them. On the way we went to see the famous Fig Tree, the largest in Queensland. We were also on the look-out for tree kangaroos there. They are usually nocturnal but can sometimes be spotted in the middle of the day. We did see one run across the road quite ahead of us and a tourist who was nearby stopped our car, all excited, stating that it really was a tree kangaroo but they are so well camouflaged that we couldn't see it properly again. We expected them to be the size of koalas maybe, but they are actually quite high and have a different face from the more familiar kangaroo.

We then travelled to the most famous falls in the area: Millaa Millaa Falls which I had last seen 14 years ago. It was a bit smaller than I remembered and probably with not quite as much water as back then but it was still beautiful. The next waterfall was even better though we didn't have time to find the trail that would take us to the bottom of it - instead we made do with overlooking it which was pretty neat too. We then saw another 6 but there's no point mentioning names. I will try to send photos if any of them turned out ok. I took all of them with my tripod to (hopefully) give them a nice romantic blur where the water falls.

We ended up our tour by a fall that had a large water hole where platypus can sometimes be seen at dusk (we have lost about 2 hours of daylight since coming up North), but after 15mns, we had to give up. They are very shy and you have to be very lucky. We met a few people who told us they had seen them though. A platypus is a bit like a beaver with a duck bill in the front, if you can picture it.
On & off in the day we kept hearing the deafening sound of beetles. It was incredibly loud and someone said that they all start at the same second and all stop at the same second. Really bizarre. We'd be driving with the window down and we could still hear them.

We are still plagued with bad weather though. Well, 'bad' for us, 'normal' here I guess since this is rain-forest territory. But it was overcast a lot yesterday which was so disappointing. We even had some drizzle and shower which felt like England all over again... except that it's probably sunnier in England right now, going by the reports I've had from some of you ! We felt slightly gutted over this, needless to say. Wouldn't you ?

We ended up the day going back to the Fig Tree area by night, with a torch, trying to see the elusive tree kangaroos again, in vain. We assumed they would be everywhere, just like the baby wallabies in the fields of Kangaroo Island.... fat chance. We did see a cute possum and a bandicoot (a kind of nice looking rat) which was another two ticks in our box of wildlife spotting. Janet's 'fetish' on this vacation is to take photos of all the animal signs. Just like in the UK you'd have 'mind cattle / mind children', here you have SO many more great ones, I think she's 'collected' 6 great shots already. Our latest one today was 'mind the cassawaries'... this is their territory and if we see one in the wild we are to report it as they are becoming rarer & rarer. Sigh.

We ended yesterday with a nice meal in the historical town where we were staying and then went to bed.... having ordered an early breakfast to make the most of the last few days....

Critters: Facts & Figures

This post is just to share the fascinating facts that we heard when we went on our nocturnal walk, as promised. I figured that if it interested us, it might fascinate you too...

First of all, did you know that there were no fewer than 48 different species of kangaroos ??? Yep, and Janet & I hope to have seen 6 of them on this trip alone, in which case we'll send you different photos for you to see this for yourselves too. But only 4 are pretty large.

The biggest pest in Australia are cats and foxes that were introduced by settlers. They kill a lot of the native wildlife and things have got completely out of control. 30 million feral cats and 12 million foxes are currently out there, still trying to eat baby penguins and other critters... They had also introduced rabbits which was also a disaster as they were eating so much grass, but thankfully the goanas (like big lizards) found them really tasty and managed to save the day by eating them all ! To help the native wildlife recover they have, in many national parks, put baits of poison for foxes. They said that this has helped some endangered species recover - the native species will know to avoid the poison because they made it taste/smell like a native plant that they know would hurt them... whereas the introduced foxes do not have that knowledge and get fooled !

Koalas are adorable, as we know, but from the 16 original ones that were introduced on Kangaroo Island back in the 20's, they now have reached 27,000 ! This is a small ecological disaster as they each need to eat 1 kg of eucalyptus leaves per day and as you can imagine, 27,000 koalas means a lot of tree leaves ! In the long term the koalas could simply run out of food and starve to death as there are so few trees can feed off. There are 700 types of eucalyptus trees but the little critters are fussy eaters and only enjoy 18 of them. Phew. They will each 'own' a tree and when they have used the food reserve from their chosen tree, they will try to find another 'free' tree along the way. To do so, they will stand at the bottom of each tree and smell to see if another koala is already up there or not. Usually they will ignore all trees that already have an 'owner' but can sometimes go up and put up a fight if they feel it's a really good tree ! They sleep 19 hours, move around for 1 hour and eat for 4 hours (a bit like my Dad actually...).

The obvious solution (and the most effective one) would have been to cull half of them to give 50% a better chance of survival, but as our guide said, not one prime minister was willing to give the 'go ahead' with that due to public outrage. Their 'cuteness' had saved them from slaughter. On the other hand, it had not delayed the forthcoming disaster... the next solution was to give the pill to as many female koalas as possible... This only seems to work 50% of the time though. The females that have been sterilised have been tagged and yet some of those females have been seen with joeys on their back ! (and they would not become foster mothers, so the pills are definitely not always working). We got the chance to hear the male calling (singing love songs?) and the female responding (turning him down) and it was creepy. Both sounds were horrid but the female in particular sounded like a woman being strangled and screaming in agony. It just gave us gooseflesh.

The 3rd solution was to reallocate some of the kaolas back to the mainland but it would put additional stress on the current populations there... so nothing is as easy as it sounds. Culling is still the best option, officially, but no one is willing to pursue this.

Possums are also fairly cute and also keep joeys on their back, they have 4 different kinds.

They also have 2,000 species of bees... but none could produce enough honey for human consumption so the honey bee was actually introduced. But I never knew that there could be SO many types of bees !!!

We also observed an ant nest and our guide took a few on his hand and as they got distressed they didn't sting but sprayed him with formic acid. It really smelt it too. What was incredible with those is that depending on the temperature for the day they will gather black or white peddles (well, pieces of) and take them over their 'nest'. The black will absorb the light on cooler days, the white will the bounce off the light on warmer days. They also would pick a larger stone that had absorbed heat in the afternoon and take it down into the nest to act as a 'hot water bottle' for the night, and then take it back up in the morning. Who said ants had no brain?

At night we saw many juvenile wallabies all over the fields, they tend to stick together. Possums too. They seem to have learnt new behaviour. On the mainland you will never see them on the ground as they know they could be eaten by foxes, but on Kangaroo Island it was quite frequent as they eventually worked out it was safe here.

We were advised against taking photos of them as they are exclusively nocturnal animals and using a camera flash would hurt their eyes and eventually give them cataracts.

That's about it... I've only got 5mns left anyway so can't be much longer. We really loved Kangaroo Island. The wallabies at the Wilderness Lodge were the stars. They just loved being fed by guests and needless to say I was happy to indulge and eager to please. I was surrounded by up to 8 of them one evening.. and some were really bullies. There was a dominant wallaby that made a point to cling onto my hand and would stuff his face (I could see his cheeks wobble from left to right) and slap off anyone who wanted to eat out of my hand too. He had his little claws firmly dug into my skin, one on top, one underneath so I was unable to move till he was willing to give it back to me ! It was SO sweet... even though it was a touch painful ! :)

Righteeo... bedtime here, more as soon as time allows !

Brampton Island, (2, 3, 4)

I'm now back in Cairns where I can update my blog at leisure... Our time there was ok but a bit disappointing because they had some mild tropical storms with quite strong winds and it really spoilt the fun as you couldn't really snorkel properly since the water was all choppy = murky. We were so unlucky as they said it was really unusual for that time of the year. It was SO frustrating. Janet was getting more depressed by the day... she had been SO looking forward to this stop-over but never once pictured it in the middle of strong winds !

So we spent most days hiking around the island instead and made a point to walk between 3-12 kms a day, which was nice as we usually had lovely views of all the beaches - though their true beauty only showed in sunny conditions.

We did have a bit of a go at snorkelling (I even went on a safari snorkelling boat trip) and we saw turtles, rays and some interesting soft & hard corals but nothing like what I'd seen off Heron Island. No way near as many fish either.

The greatest fish we saw (in terms of personality and size and colours) was 'George'. George was a stunning 90 pounds wrasse with a little hump on his head and lovely blue skin with green stripes. He was so tame. The staff would go and feed him off the jetty, every morning at 9:30am on the dot, and he was there 5 days out of 7 and would just take the bait out of their hands. Wrasses are a bit like ... dogs... in the sense that they like being patted. Sometimes a girl from the resort will go down the stairs at the jetty and just sit in the water and he will come on her lap and she will stroke him for a while and he really enjoys it. I had no idea that fish could be as keen on patting as dogs ! But we saw it with our own eyes. George has got 8 wives will you believe and when he dies, the more dominant female will turn into a male over 48 hours and her skin will change from silver to blue & green. How incredible is that ??? Nature is truly amazing...

I was thefore saddened to read in 'Time' magazine, on the way back here, on the plane, that a multinational report says that "by 2050 we will have reduced the world's finny population by 90% - and yet half of what we catch is discarded !" There will come a time where buying tuna, swordfish or salmon will simply be unaffordable and reserved for a priviledged few. We really have abused our power beyond what's acceptable and done 'too little, too late'... SO sad.

Outside that, on the positive side, we really enjoyed our lovely lunches from the restaurant balcony which had the most glorious views of the resort beach... with palm trees in the foreground and all sorts of blues in the water, not to forget the sand strips that made lovely Z patterns. I took some fab shots from there. We were often greeted by colourful lorikeets (all colours of the rainbow - literaly). Purple head, yellow neck, red under their wings, green on top of their wings, etc. Amazing little birds who quite enjoyed sipping the guests' orange juice every time they were not looking !

Our other treat was to see a few wild kangaroos. There were always about 20 hanging around on the golf course at dusk but Janet & I often walked to the jetty (1.5 km away from the resort) at dusk and spotted 2 families of grey eastern kangaroos (the 'Skippy' type) incl. with joeys. As usual, every time I didn't have my camera with me we'd see them, and when I didn't, we would. But Janet managed to get some cute shots of them by the railway line - because to get to the jetty they also had a small railway for guests who didn't value the exercice as much as we did.

They also had some decent in-house movies that we could watch, 5 movies a day at different times. So we killed some time doing that... not ideal but once it's dark, what do you do ? I'm not an avid book reader and I had little energy left by 9pm. Probably because I'd usually over-eaten a bit. The cuisine was 5*, truly memorable. It was actually the best part of it all for me - well, you know how we French like our food... The quality was superb and the buffets were quite lavish with lots of choice, so we made sure we made the most of that as it was all included in our pre-paid package, hey.

I didn't get to try the jet-skiing after all, which was gutting as it looked SUCH fun... but it was $250 for just 2 hours and I just could not afford that. Janet is so sea sick she could not have shared the ride with me otherwise we could have gone half but in this instance we were not compatible... besides, I'm sure I could do this for half the price in South America or Asia... so I'll wait till I can get a better deal. I enjoy new experiences but I hate being ripped off... hum.

We also saw a few interesting birds but not as many as I'd hoped. Many white cockatoos but from a distance only.

Our next destination will be exploring the North end of Queensland.. something I already did with Bruce some 13 years ago, almost to the day, so it'll be interesting to see how much I can actually remember. Whilst at the resort they had a brochure on other Voyage hotels and I fell in love with a photo of their Silky Oaks resort in Port Douglas... tree houses overlooking a river with lots of palm trees... totally lush. Totally luxurious. We called them on the off-chance they'd have late availability and they did ! They actually will reduce the $700/night room to half price as we booked last minute. Fab ! Can't wait... all the 'trip advisor' reports said that 'words could not describe how utterly beautiful this place is'... Having just checked their website the pool alone looks amazing ! We may even stay 2 nights if there aren't too many bugs -- as Janet is really not happy with any cockroaches (one of her phobias). Bugs don't bother me too much, unless they can give me malaria. I'd rather have a cockroach any time for that reason !

Let's just hope Queensland will be more rewarding than Brampton. The problem with beach resorts is that you are SO dependent on the weather AND sun for a good time. The sea turns grey when it's overcast which is just becomes like England then ! (well, slight overstatement here). Whereas the Rainforests always look stunning come rain or shine. So, hopefully we will have saved the best for last !

All will be revealed in due course....

Brampton Island

Well, today we arrived on Brampton Island and I got to experience my first helicopter flight which was rather neat. We had beautiful weather and I was seated at the front so it was great to do a few aerial shots of us getting to the island. It didn't have the amazing reef formation that Heron Island had but it had some great colours and endless beaches so it was still quite striking.

We were blessed with glorious sunshine (at last!!!) and felt this was starting to feel more like a holiday - I am still not very tanned since I have been wearing between 2-5 layers most days ! Rather mad since Europe is almost warmer right now...

Anyway, even though we have got a package where our meals & room is included everything else is 'extra' and costs an arm and a leg. I won't be using the internet again for the next 3 days basically because I just cannot afford it, it's insanely expensive. As is a 90mns guided walk ($30), a boat trip to go on a snorkelling safari ($40) etc. etc. I wouldn't mind trying to go on a water bike, as I often see them ride the waves on that and it looks great fun, but I hadn't dared ask for the price yet. Still, it'd be a new adventure as I've never had the chance to try this YET, so I am well tempted.

At low tide the beach looks even more striking as you start to see all the beautiful white strips (sand strips really) that contrasts with the turquoise blue... I'd seen many aerial views of the Whitsundays and it really is beautiful. But I worry I might get a bit bored on this island as post cards are too expensive (and I didn't stock up, not due to lack of forward planning but due to my being SO picky with post cards that I couldn't find any I liked enough to send) and internet is outrageous... so it leaves with eating (lots of buffets and yummy food), swimming (2 pools and as many beaches as you've got fingers) and sleeping. I guess it's what I shall have to call 'being forced to chill out'... and indeed, there are far worse places where one can get stuck ! I will NOT complain... I just wish the Reef was nearer. We went for a quick swim today (and you are only allowed to snorkel 2 hours a day no more due to strong currents, so they have to tell you when it's the safest time) and there wasn't much reef there to look at - a few interesting fish and a few soft corals but no coral formations yet (I guess I'll have to get on the boat for that). BUT I did swim with a turtle. I really wanted Janet to see it too (she was so keen) but every time I managed to find her I'd turn round and Janet was too far for me to call out to her. So I'd try to follow the turtle but she soon out-swam me... though she didn't mind me too much for a good 5 minutes. They are so lovely, it's always quite special to swim with them - as with seals, dolphins and anything that we wouldn't find in English waters basically.

The world is truly full of wonders. I can only hope that some of you will get the chance to come over here too. We were told that Lizzard Island was probably 2nd best for snorkelling (after Heron Island) so I think we might do that next time... probably in 2009 or so...

Life's a beach... (at least right now). I cannot tell you how much I dread going back. We are now officially over half way through our holiday and it's like... can't face it.

Kangaroo Island - last day

Hi again,
Sorry for the delay in continuing this journal but time has been rather hectic and internet access rather scarce. But thanks for all your most welcome emails...

We didn't see as much as we'd hoped on our nocturnal tour but found out lots of fascinating facts about the various animals - which I will relate in a few days, no time right now. But the thing that did spoil it for me was that I was dreadfully cold the whole time. I was wearing pretty much everything I had in my suitcase and it wasn't enough. We were told it had dropped to 6C which is probably no worse in England. I was gutted. We were told that Spring had been inexistent on the island, they had had winter temperature and the drought of summers! Worst possible timing. We did see a mother koala cuddling her little joey and they both looked SO cute. He was the smallest one we'd seen. And didn't even seem very scared at all. They were quite low down too which was very rare as usually mothers go quite high up for safety.

Anyway, on our last day we went back to the Visitor's Centre and saw 'Dafty' again. We call him Dafty because he seems to be the only kangaroo on the island who stands by road side and who does the 'day shift' - and begs food to visitors when all others are asleep. Saying that, he did smell our roo food a mile off so maybe he wasn't so daft after all. We had grown very attached to Dafty and still miss him. He looked a bit unkempt but was so friendly - and quite soft to touch.

We went on the Snake Lagoon walk and... there was nothing to see either. The river had vanished too. Instead of gorgeous streams we were faced with rocks and stones... we turned back 3/4 of the way as it seemed pointless to carry on. Another disappointment.

We then went to the caravan park where they also have wild koalas and only managed to see a handful, but it still felt like a game. I managed to spot a mother & joey again, and she ended up so high up on the tree (they are good climber) and then went out on a limb to reach some young eucalyptus leaves... boy, Janet & I couldn't watch. They were both swinging in the wind like there's no tomorrow, we were willing the little on to hold tight onto mummy's back... phew. Torture to watch. But they were fine. Must be used to it... what do we humans know, hey?

We also went back to the koala sanctuary hoping to see the mother & joey again low down but she had moved up by then so we never got to take any more decent shots. In fact, we only found about 5 koalas out of 20 this time, so it shows that every day is a new day.

The rest of the day is a bit of blur because I ended up with a migraine so spent the whole day in the car just trying to relax and get better. We skipped the animal park (where you have your photo taken with them) since we had already done lots of that outside enclosures - i.e. much more special.

By 5pm we got to Kingscote and found out the pelican feeding was going to be on. So we made a point to see that. It was actually great fun. The guy was so used to them and vice versa, he could really wind them up big time. He entertained us for 15mns and there must have been about 45 pelicans watching his every move. Quite something. They are beautiful birds and glide quite gracefully when they land on water.

We ended up in Penneshaw for dinner, in the same place where we'd stayed before and made a point to go back to see the Little Pinguins as they are SO very very cute. It was like our 'best of' day when we went back to do all our favourite things. It was cold again, which did spoil some of the enjoyment, so after 30mns we felt we had had enough.

The next day was nothing special at all as we travelled 12 hours to go from Kangaroo Island to MacKay (in Queensland). We started on the 8:30am ferry, then had a 2 hour coach drive to Adelaide, went to town for lunch again, back on a plane to Brisbane, then to another, and then on a cab to get to our hotel 30mns late (our plane was late coming in). We were quite shattered on arrival, but at least the weather felt warmer (24C at night instead of 8-10C, thank God).

But it's always worth it in the end to get to more incredible places... and Australia has certainly no shortage of them at all....

Kangaroo Island, more treasures (3)

We had planned to have a 'movie night' last night (we have a great apartment with a DVD player and you can rent DVDs for free) but we were both a little bit too tired to bother...

We got up at 8am to grab a superb breakfast and decided to head for the kaola viewing area as our 1st treat. Just 5mns up the road, in Handson Sanctuary are a line up of eucalyptus trees where you can see between 15-20 kaolas. Again, you put your $2 in the box and can enjoy the walk for as long as you like. Well, we were there over an hour. It was great fun, on the line of 'spot the koala' game. I won at this one. I managed to spot about 80% of them, including two mothers with their babies. These were the sweetest. They were either on their back on clutched tightly on their chest, cuddled up in their arms. They truly are like teddy bears. Most were fast asleep (as they do) but we saw a few on the move, and one even came right down to the ground before hopping onto another tree to eat fresher leaves. The tree he had chosen was no more than 2m high which was fabulous as we all got superb close up instead of framing their derriere most of the time. We had a ball. They were just SO cute... Australia seems to have lots of animals that are 'too cute to be true'...

After that we went to the Armital's Arch where you have a colony of NZ seals. You couldn't get as close to those (and they were not quite as cute, as they were brown) but they looked very playful. We were very cold there though as the wind was really strong.

On the way we stopped to take a look at the Remarkable Rocks (the ones features in all the travel brochures and website). They are amazing rock formations that started being sculptured 500 million years ago. We took some fun shots inside some empty stone balls... quite unusual landscape. Well worth a stop.

After that we went to the Visitor's Centre to enquire about the Platypus Waterhole walk and found a mother kangaroo with her joey. He was obviously 'freshly off the pouch' and still suckling. She let him suckle patiently for ages. It was such a lovely sight. We also spotted 4 more edchinas on the way, including a little one who was busy digging a hole by the road side... maybe looking for ants to eat? We were just 1 meter away from her for a good 10 minutes and she never minded. Others can be exceedingly shy and tend to head back for the bush as soon as they hear you get out of the car. We even saw a snake on the road...

But no platyplus. They are very very shy and they usually advise about 3 hours to catch a glimpse of them. We tried our luck for 15mns, by the pond that was supposedly the best for sightings, but to no avail.

We saw more wallabies and kangaroos though. One was right by the side of the road and wouldn't move. We therefore had to stop the car to give him 'right of way', but he was so indecisive. Janet said he was 'as daft as a brush'. Someone had obviously fed him once and he probably assumed all drivers would give him food. I also took a stunning landscape shot (at the golden hour I may add) with 2 silhouettes of kangaroos hopping around (the same mother & joey). It looked just perfect. I really hope it turns out !

Righteeo, must sign off... dinner is beckoning (and it's good so I can't rush it ! it'd be a shame), Janet is waiting. We still have to go on a noctural guided walk tonight. Hopefully we will learn more about this fascinating environment.

PS - have had no time to proof read so please forgive my mistakes ! TOO much to say and too little time....

Kangaroo Island Wonders, day 2

We decided to sleep till 9am (they stop serving breakfast at 9am, can you believe it ? No sense of decent timing for tourists, esp. for those coming from Perth - i.e. 6:30am in our heads, no thanks) and then went out to explore the nearest beaches. We even climbed the top of Prospect Hill (don't bother, if you ever got there, it's 20mns up and down and the views aren't great). The beaches have got more seedweed here and are more rocky... the water colour is also not quite as amazing as off the mainland as it can be quite overcast. The temperature is not amazingly warm for Australia and we tend to wear our fleeces every day - NOT quite what we had in mind when we set off... If anyone tells me that November is the warmest month in the UK for years (as October was), I shall become very annoyed ! :)

The other thing to bear in mind when you travel around Kangaroo Island is that very few places serve food at all. So, unless you are prepared with a sandwich (and we were not), chances are you will eat lunch at around 2pm or later. Sandwiches are also massively over-priced so this holiday is ending up costing us an arm and a leg (+ national park entrance fees everywhere you go... some work with an 'honesty box' but since we are honest girls, we bother... this is when I know the French in me has died down a bit, 25 years ago, I would have probably thought 'what the heck!'... but being older and wiser.. and 'Britter', I know now that our funds will be used to improve the parks and protect wildlife and so will not be wasted).

Anyway... we even tried to go to Murray's Lagoon, recommended by everybody for having up to 1,000 different species of birds... and what did we see ? Next to nothing... the little blue wren and that's about it. The lagoon was... no more. It had disappeared in the drought. Unfortunately for us, we had picked one of the worst years... and this is not even summer. They are all desperate for the rain. We feel sorry for all the animals too... God knows where they can get their fresh water supplies (penguins, I forgot to say, are ok because they have an internal system whereby they can squeeze the salt out, but no other creature is as fortunate).

The highlight of our day was therefore to spot 2 echidnas on the side of the road (alive!), they are so cute. They are the equivalent of our hedgehogs but have a longer nose and beige and black spikes (to match the colour of the bush, obviously). We were told they were quite rare but we've seen quite a few - again, Janet has become our 'Edchina Spotter Extraordinaire' as she has a knack for spotting them. She says that when you drive you constantly scan and look for different textures. She even avoided running over a kangaroo that decided to cross the road just in front of us. She is super careful. We saw about 25 carcasses for 1 live roo which was a bleak reminder that not everybody cares as much as we do...

We then went to Seal Bay where they have the Australian seals, golden and white colour (when dry). We were allowed to walk on the beach with a guide and get as close as about 5 meters away, which wasn't bad with my zoom. They looked really gorgeous, especially the little pups (about 6 months old). They constantly wanted to suckle. Females get pregnant every 17 months and do all the work - the guys just plant the seed ! Disgraceful really.... when they come out of the water they tend to roll in the sand endlessly to warm up and to try to get rid of sea lices.

Before settlers arrived there were 1.5 million seals off the Australian coast, but their numbers have now dropped to 10,000. Back in 1802 a French captain, Nicolas Baudin was already writing to the governor of NSW to beg him to issue an order to protect the seals as he had noticed the numbers were declining rapidly already. As one quote read near the Seal Centre 'We repay our debt to the ocean by replacing 1 ton of fish with 10 gallons of crude oil and 900 tons of rubbish'.

There was also a sad write up about how the first settlers kidnapped Aboriginal women to survive, since they knew where to find water, food, how to cook the food, how to fish, etc. and they used them as sexual partners to raise their children and 'thanked them with cruelty'. This really upset me all day. I just cannot imagine what these poor women must have endured.. and I guess their husbands got slaughtered if they stood in the way.

After that, we drove over to the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Retreat (which, thankfully, was not damaged by the fires of 2 days ago) and just enjoyed watching the many wallabies that come over to interact with children and anyone who cares to feed them. They have up to 25 of them.. and you can have your dinner (gorgeous food) on a wooden terrace outside. The wallabies sometimes come right to your table to beg for food. We even saw 2 possums before going to bed.

For a first day, we've done really well... the next day was going to get even better still ! :)

Kangaroo Island Wonders

I have tons to tell you and only 45mns before dinner - assuming the wallabies don't come any earlier tonight otherwise Janet will come and get me as we've already bought the roo food to give them, a must, you understand.

Our journey from Perth to here was actually pretty painless. We had a 2h15 flight only, watched a movie, and before we knew it, we had landed and there was an extra +2h30 on our watches. We are now +10h30 ahead of the UK. So, with 3 hours to spare we hopped on a bus to explore Adelaide's town centre... which was only $3.80 for a 15mn drive. Janet bought a great shirt, a dress and a sparkly bracelet in the first shop we found (suddenly the bargain bus ride didn't seem like a 'bargain' anymore) and after that we had to take it easy since we are already over the limit on our luggage. Thankfully Rex Airlines let us get away with a bit more...

The flight over to Kangaroo Island was again painless, a 30mn hop... perfectly blue skies but the island did look very dry from the air.... very yellow. They have actually had a shortage of rain for the season and are really feeling it.

As soon as we landed we spotted some gorgeous pink cokatoos (whose proper name I've already forgotten) but that surely spelt exotism to me... It was dusk when we landed (7:30pm) but still very light... It seems that because we are the furthest South we will be on our holiday we have gained 2 hours of daylight which is brilliant, especially as we had a 50km drive with a car hire to make it to Penneshaw (we landed at Kingscote).

We did pass a few carcasses but didn't really see any 'live' animals that night. Poor Janet was terrified at the thought of hitting anything at all, especially little penguins (the smallest of the penguins species) as they are known to wander down the streets at night.

We checked in as fast as we could, grabbed a nice dinner (the guy from the car hire had kindly called our hotel in advance to ask them to leave the kitchen open for us as we'd be arriving 90mns past closing time) and headed off to the Penguin Centre for the Penguin Tour.

This was a super treat... we were totally taken by them. This is the breeding season (it lasts a few months) and we saw many chicks that were just 4-6 weeks old, they still had the 'duvet' type of feathers all over their bodies and looked just totally cuddly... but they do have razor shape beaks. The poor mothers often had twins and had to keep one under each wing to feed them. The mothers go out into the sea to fish all day and return at night to regurgerate (is that the word?) and pass the food onto the chicks. But the chicks compete for food and just both try to get the mother's attention at the same time (they are not Brits, they have NO sense of queuing or waiting for their turns). The father does his part and will also go out and help, he also builds the nest and will share half of the incubation period too. Actually it is such a strong partnership that if one of the parents die the remaining parent will find it impossible to bring back enough food for the two chicks to survive and will usually abandon them unless they are close to being mature enough to cope alone. It is was also sad to see some chicks whose parents had 'disappeared' trying to get food out of the other mothers... The said mothers would only focus on their own chicks and let the others to starve - she would be able to smell which chicks are hers. It seems heart-breaking but I guess nature knows best. We even saw a little chick with a bald patch on his head (he had probably been fighting with another) and again, the loss of waterproof coating on that patch would probably mean certain death once he entered the freezing water.

We could have watched them all night, the way they walk, the way they look. True soft toys on the move. I didn't realise they had SO many feathers (blue). There are about 2,000 penguins around Penneshaw, they come year after year to breed in the same burrows, they have 5 times more feathers than normal birds and are entitrely 'waterproof' but for their flippers. The pairs who get together usually mate for life unless one dies and then the other can 're-marry'. What amazed me the most is that penguins pretty much do everything on water but raise their chicks. Because of bubbles of air under their skins acting as mattresses they even sleep on water, between 1 to 4 mns at a time, no more. They can hold their breath up to 1 minute which allows them to dive as far down as 69 meters.

We had a thoroughly enjoying time... and the next day was going to get better...

Denmark to 2 Peoples' Bay

This will be my last update from South Western Australia which has turned out to be an amazing beach destination - we are talking pure white talc powder sand vs dazzling blue kind of beaches. Just as visually striking as the ones I saw in Thailand or the Carribean's - take my word for it since I'm so picky. They leave me speechless every time... and it does take a lot to blow me away since you do become more and more blase the more seasoned a traveller you are. But this is quite something, every corner you turn offers different perspectives.

This morning (after hosing down the car to get rid of the dust from the Sterling Range) we set off to Frenchman's Bay (how could we miss that?) and stopped at The Gap, a place where a natural bridge occurs among huge rocks. The rocks are similar to those found in Antartica which means the 2 continents were definitely one millions & millions of years ago. They said that the two same continents still grow 5cm apart every year.

This wasn't my favourite place as the water colour was a darker blue... but we then went to Emu Point which had a lagoon on one side and the sea on another and this was very shallow water and idyllic again. Very soft pastels... the ideal spot for a picnic (tables and all...) but Janet wasn't hungry yet - she's more sensible than I am... I tend to eat whatever you put on my plate so long as it's veggie. So we then proceeded to 2 People's Bay which is a nature reserve with many mammals but the weather kept on changing every 5mns. It seems to have been the pattern the last 4 days... a bit gutting. Here we are in glorious Southern Australia and we are having to eat our sandwich in the car park of the most amazing beach, inside the car obviously, waiting for the downpour to finish. Again, the pattern is usually 15mns when it gets really strong and then clear blue skies. So we pretty much just had to sit and wait for that silver lining... Sure enough, almost 15mns later exactly we could admire Little Beach in its full glory. It even had similar rock formations to the ones you'd see in the Seychelles, large smooth 'balls' of rock and a perfect crescent shape... very secluded. As usual, not ONE person around... We have seen beaches after beaches that looked breathtakingly beautiful and were completely empty - not one footprint. They do say that a lot in the guide books and this is definitely true, we have witnessed this with our own 4 eyes. Why that is a mystery...

We reluctantly had to leave by 2:40pm latest though as we still had 5h to go back to Perth and didn't want to drive too much by night - dusk sets in at about 6:15pm here. But at least we felt we had had a good morning, though if we'd have an extra 2 or 3 days we could have driven all the way to Esperance, something that Janet really wanted to do ... it's supposed to be THE most beautiful beach in Southern West Australia... which seems hard to imagine since everything we have seen has been spectacular. We were thinking of how amazing it must be for children who are born in this country to enjoy so much space and fresh air and have such incredible natural playgrounds. Upon leaving the National Parks we also saw a whole bunch of black cockatoos on a dead tree right by the road, and Janet ('kangaroo spotter extraordinaire') managed to see another colony of wild kangaroos in the distance. Our 2nd lot today as we had gone to Peace Street this morning, opposite our b&b. We were told that they reside in areas cleared for building new houses as they enjoy the tall grass - easier to hop and hide than in the forest I guess. It was really sweet to see their little faces pop up from time to time and their ears tune in to the sound of our voices and their nostrils move to see if they could smell us too. They are all very shy though and you cannot get real close. The mothers with the joeys in particular are very protective so we didn't want to upset them either. We just kept a good distance and enjoyed watching them hop with our binoculars. As we said, it still seems surreal to see so many of them free when we are so used to thinking of them in zoos in Europe.

We then did the 3rd leg of our triangle back to Perth, via Mt Barker again (didn't even stop - no point), then onto Kojonup (we were advised to stop in a nice coffee shop for a break- which we did) and then onto Fremantle, South of Perth. 1,600 kms all in all (over 1,000 miles). Not bad, hey? 'Mad' is the better word I guess... I know, I know... Janet did remarkably well actually and asured me she wasn't too tired... Whereas I seem to still be a bit jet-lagged and tend to need to doze off for about 30mns every afternoon.

Actually, whilst in the coffee shop we saw a book on Australian birds and it seems that the tall bird we saw in the Stirling Range was not an emu but a cassowary which was even more remarkable. According to the book this amazing bird only lives in Northern Australia but we both remember the blue neck and I'm sure it had a red crest on top too. I had seen a very similar type of bird in the Bird Park in Brazil, one from Papa New Guinea which had similar height and colour but a bit bigger overall, they had said on the fence's board that it was the most vicious bird on the planet and had been known to seek out and kill men who came on his territory as it had a powerful beak and feet. Hence when we saw some that looked very similar in Warren Park I wasn't too keen to get too close in case they were cousins (they definitely looked it) and could hurt us. Mother always says 'be careful when you take your photos, don't take chances for the sake of a good shot'... and her words of wisdom echoed in my head !

We then got back to town as we needed to grab a bite before bed time and to get more money too (money does go very fast as food is about the same price as in the UK and a lot of petrol is needed for long distances... plus b&b prices are also higher than I thought) but having tried 3 ATM machines and getting 'transaction cancelled' 3 times, I soon realised that my bank must have blocked my card ! This would have been a worse disaster if I'd travelled alone. Still, I couldn't be relying on Janet's cash forever more, especially as we are off to Kangaroo Island tomorrow for 4 days with more things to pay for. Had to call my parents to get my sister's work number, who in turn gave me Barclays' 24H helpline. Phew. They sorted me out within 2mns - indeed they had blocked my card due to Hong Kong being a 'hot spot' for fraud. Hum.

So, that was the last bit of panic for the day. Thankfully you can buy these special phone cards here where you get 500 minutes of international calls for some $10 which is well worth it as we can keep in touch with our families more regularly. The time difference works great as we are too busy to call before 8pm and by then it's lunch time in Europe.

Time for bed now... long day tomorrow. It's great that we have internet access in the b&b where we are staying tonight. It means I can update this without depriving Janet of much needed sleep (if we go to an internet cafe or if she has to call her dad from a call box we always stick together as even though we might think it looks non threatening we have been warned that the Aboriginal people can cause some trouble and we should be careful). Better safe than sorry.

On this note, off to bed ! Bisous, Sylvie x

Fremantle to Pemberton

Well, our drive down to the Southern Coast wasn't the easiest of days. We set off at around 8:30am from Fremantle and I had only managed to grab 4 hours' sleep that night.... so to say I was tired was an understatement but I didn't want to lose half a day catching up on my sleep - too much to do ! We had wanted to try and swim with dolphins and were told the Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunbury was the best place as they come to the shore and you can snorkel and interact with them - they even take the more experienced swimmers out to the sea. It was Janet's only option as she can get terribly sea sick on any boat/ship and this would have meant not having to board one at all. Unfortunately, we were also told that over the last 3 weeks they came in at 8am, and sometimes stayed till 10am.... which was just too early for us to get there on time. We were not able to get to the car hire place before 8am (when it opened - then we had to get a cab to get there) and it was a 90mns drive from Perth.

We went to the centre anyway, just in case, as they are wild dolphins and can sometimes come back later, but they didn't. Saying that, the write ups on the board indicated that only 4 males, a female and her calf came to the shore regularly when travel books had led us to believe that up to 100 bottle nosed dolphins came here. Plus the weather was pretty bad, colder than yesterday and the sea was too rough to go in. All in all not the picturesque shore featured in magazine and not the experience you'd dream of...

We therefore kept going all the way to Pemberton, which was about 5 hours away. It meant a lot of driving and very few places where to stop but it was the only way to see some of the parks in South Western Australia. The guide book we had bought recommended 2-3 weeks to take in this beautiful area, and we had only allowed 4 days ! AND, I may add, you waste 1/4 of your time getting there and back, but it was better than nothing. We keep saying that we can always come back one day and do it at a more leisurely pace... We passed many quaint 'villages' (one main street) that looked almost identical to the ones you'd see in the USA. I guess it's because both countries are fairly young and both have so much open space? Almost no houses here has 1 or 2 storeys, it's usually all one level with acrres of land around it.

We eventually reached Gloucester National Park which is famed for a tree that is 40m high. They have put a ladder next to it and there is a viewing platform at the top. This was not for the faint-hearted and we only got 1/5th of the way up and came down again... Even though it gets dark at 6:30pm here by 5:00pm the light can be too dull to take great shots if it's overcast but thankfully I had my flash gun as we saw lots of colourful birds, mainly the rosella 'something'(all colours of the rainbow) and others that were parrot like and very green with a yellow ring around their neck and even some dark purple cookatoos (spelling?). It is always a treat to see them fly in the wild and we actually saw more hanging around the car park than in the forest.

After that we had to look for a b&b as we had not booked anything for the night, as we didn't know where we'd end up. The one we had set our heart on was already fully booked but the lady was kind enough to let us admire the fairy wrens in her garden. We had been looking out for these stunning cobalt blue birds all day (famous in this area) but had not really succeeded till then. She called around for us and found her a great place up the road, the Kajamarri (after the many marri trees, very tall with white bark) which was very very spacious. We got a 'last minute deal' and got it half price and it had a studio on the ground floor and a large double bedroom upstairs with a balcony. The owners were also very nice and had the cutest little dog, Buster, who was like a crossed white poddle and wanted to be friends with everybody - double treat!

After a nice meal in town (they do have lots of great restaurants here, not not much choice for vegetarians, it has to be said), we retreated to our base and tried to get a good night's sleep. There were no shops open past 5pm so I couldn't log on at all....

Pemberton to Denmark

The next morning we thought we'd focus on exploring the region so that we would cut the driving hours in half. We were told to go to Beedleup NP to see the waterfall, but it was a bit disappointing as it didn't rain a lot lately so there wasn't as much water as there should have been. Wherever we went they had superb facilities, really well built tracks, sturdy bridges over water, etc. And they even had a local FM100 station that broadcasted pre recorded information on the park so that you'd know more about the flora and fauna and history of the place.

We then drove onto Warren NP which was our favourite for the day. Again, hundreds of these beautiful trees... they looked so atmospheric that they reminded me of paintings in chidren's fairy tale books. We saw some wild flowers in the forest but again, not as many as there would have been mid-August. We had arrived at the end of the Spring when I really thought we'd timed it to be early. The big thrill of the day is that we saw some emus ! We saw about 10 in a meadow and Janet assumed we'd found an emu farm till 3 suddenly crossed the road in front of us, about 10mns later, in the middle of the forest... we exchanged glances, wondering if they had managed to escape.... till someone told us later that no, there were wild emus, Australia's largest native birds. Emus are as high as ostriches but these ones had a blue beak and a different face, I had never seen any like that before. I tried to take a photo but my camera couldn't focus fast enough as they soon headed deep into the folliage and then we lost them as they were so well camouflaged.

Warren National Park has got a lovely quiet river flowing through it and we really wanted to hike by its banks but it started to rain on & off which spoilt the fun. We'd sometimes get to gorgeous spot and would have to wait a good 10 minutes for the sun to come out again so I could take decent shots where all the different shades of greens would be highlighted in the trees. Though I also took some in low light with my tripod and I just hope they won't look too dull - one of the downside about not having switched to digital is that I cannot check results till I am back in the UK. Janet's digital is 5 years old and very basic and she's hardly taking any photos as she feels her camera cannot cope with most difficult light conditions and she cannot adjust her settings. We will try to make it to an internet cafe at some point and add some shots to this blog if we can... no guarantee.... we both have no clue how to do this so would need to ask for help !

We stopped back in Pemberton for lunch (having completed a loop) and I had a divine vegetable korma quiche. We always try to eat outside when we can as the temperature remains fairly warm, even in the rain. They also have lots of quaint craft shops that Janet loves so much...

After that we headed down to the coast and did a treetop walk up to 40m high in the air, above some 300 year old marri trees. Great views from the top.. but not many birds. Still, there was hardly anybody so we could take our time and really enjoy it. It was just a slow incline all the way up and then down again, very civilised, not scary at all though sometimes the sturdy structure swang a bit in the wind.

We also walked around the Alley of the Giants, The Ancient Empire walk I think it was called... just as nice in a different way as sometimes trees can actually look far more impressive when you look up at them instead of down on them. Again, the trails were beautiful done, with lots of board walks to stop people treading on the trees' roots as they felt it helped them recover more quickly. They even have some woylies in this park which ressemble quokkas but are usually nocturnal so we didn't see any. But they had a poster explaining that after 75 years of foxes and cats being introduced in the park, by 1975 only 3 populations of woylies remained. The biggest recovery project was then started as the woylies had to be put on the 'endangered species' list. In March 99 42 pairs of woylies were introduced here and as they can breed rapidly they are now off the list - success !

We really enjoyed spending an hour there, the smell of the forest alone was well worth stopping over for. It had a hint of peppermint and lemon, and fern and freshly cut grass. You just wished you could put the air in a bottle and breathe it back in polluted London. By the time we had finished, we realised we were very low on petrol. And believe me, you do not see petrol stations very often at all here... thankfully we were only 12kms away from one otherwise we had visions of sleeping in the car... Janet even considered jogging to the next village as she's a faster runner than I was. We had the 'no petrol soon' symbol flash up for a few miles, having no idea how far the car would go on 'empty' as we didn't know it at all. Thankfully, we found a station that was open... then could not work out at all HOW to open the petrol tank cap... it wasn't twist, nor turn, nor push and twist... the lady in the shop had to come to our rescue. Thank God she knew otherwise I am not sure what would have happened next... There was a button on the side that you had to push... why that, don't ask me, it was baffling ! We are still passing very few cars wherever we go... this is one place where I could drive. I haven't seen ONE round-about yet... amazing. Janet even gave me an 'emergency' driving lesson in using an automatic car because should she get bitten by a snake one day (perish the thought) I'd have to get going and get some help as we could waste a long time waiting by the side of the road till we could flag someone down.

We hadn't seen as many kangaroos as we expected considering they are hundreds of them (but then we also only saw about 15 quokkas on Rottnest Island -18kms long- and they have 12,000 !!!). I saw one live one, Janet saw4 dead ones - by the side of the road. We even heard the story of a guy who had been killed by one... He was driving past a car who had hit a kangaroo, the dead kangaroo was flown up the air, landed on his car boot, went through his windscreen and killed him with a whipslash. Geeee... so we are ultra careful because most roos have a death wish and can pretend to go back in the bush and then jump on the road again right under your wheels.

We eventually reached Denmark which we thought was a good base for the night. Again, we tried to get to a b&b that was recommended in our Lonely Planet book, but the lady had just taken the last booking on the phone. It was the most gorgeous b&b with a fabulous terrace overlooking majestic views of the forests... as we parked in her car park, right on her lawn were 15 wild kangaroos too ! Our first proper sighting of wild kangaroos - ever (Janet first wins at 'who spots the first wildlife' game). We had seen wallabies on our last trip, but kangaroos are much higher. We even saw a mother with a joey in her pouch - Janet was totally taken by it, her first sighting of one. There were also lots of kokaburras flying around (my fav Australian birds - very cute but vicious).

Again, the lady who owned the gorgeous b&b offered to call around to find us a room (we had passed about 5 b&b with 'no vacancies' signs on. She found us The Grange up the road (opposite an alpaca farm ! They have many around here - more wildlife, I'm not complaining!). The lady who owns it is from Yorkshire (the nicest 'Australians' we have met on this trip have pretty much ALL been British). She recommended a nice restaurant just across the road, which was great as Janet could enjoy some wine without needing to drive again - plus we never like to drive at dusk in case we hit more wildlife as it's peak time for them to come out.

The guy at the car hire place had assumed we both liked wine and said we'll enjoy going round all the countless wineries with wine tasting facilities (this is the top area for vineyards)... Janet pointed out I never drink alcohol, so he said 'great, you can drink for two and she can drive then'... to which she had to point out that the flaw in the plan is that I don't drive either ! :) It is a bit of a shame I have to say... Having to do all the driving can make her mentally exhausted by the end of the day, though she does enjoy it at the time... since there is zero traffic 99% of the time the only worry is hitting wildlife...

Denmark to Green Pool & Stirling Range

The next day we decided to explore the coastline as we had been advised to take a look at some of the famed beaches... Our first stop was Ocean Beach which blew us both away. The beach was one thing (very white sand, very beautiful blue) but what seduced me the most was Wilson's Inlet which went out to the sea. The inlet was the width of a small blue river, crystal clear and pretty much the same colour than the rivers I snorkelled in, in Brazil and not much deeper than 1.5m. I was totally taken by it... the river then became gradually so shallow that it looked like a lagoon with soft green colours... and when a surfer used his board to cut across it, it looked like he was floating on air. I really wanted to swim in it as it looked SO inviting but time prevailed. We really wanted to go to the Stirling Range to see the wild flowers and we had also been advised to go to Green Pool further along the coast (a famous beach with natural rocks around it that formed a pool sheltered from waves).

On the way there we stopped at Light Beach which was even more beautiful. You could see that there would have been carpets of flowers a few weeks earlier, from pinks to purples to blues and yellows... and there were just enough of them left for us to realise how much we had missed out on by not planning our trip 2 months earlier --- saying that, who wants to go Australia in July/August when it's supposedly the hottest months in Europe? Seems a shame... but we were so taken by this that we kind of made a pact to come back in two years' time at the best time and explore a lot more of just Western Australia over 2-3 weeks (still a bit mad since the average person would do it in 2-3 months, but better than 3 days ! right ?).

I'm not a beach fan but I have to admit that the colours were truly mesmerising. Janet was just in her element... she "could have spent the whole day there with a book"... I could have spent the whole day there with a Notebook !

We then headed into the mountain range via Mt Barker (a boring place, but good enough to buy a sandwich as there were no coffee shops in the National Park). We were told that the trails could handle 2 wheel drives but it was a bit of an overstatement as we had to go real slow... It took us 1h30 to cross the 42kms range and we didn't even think it was worth it. Save for the ONE emu we saw who almost tried to commit suicide in front of us, and TWO large lizzards, that was it. Pretty much all the wild flowers had died already so the colours were all green with red soil tracks. They looked like the Scottish Highlands or Drakensberg in South Africa, or other similar landscapes... pretty enough, but not as spectacular as the coastline. We could not even be bothered to go for a hike ! I think I only took 2 photos, say no more...

We then got back to Denmark just on time to see the same colony of roos in the land nearest to our b&b. They live on this patch we were told (75 of them, though you usually only see groups of 15-20 max) so it was like going on a safari, at dusk with their heads and round ears sticking out of the tall grass. Tomorrow morning we will aim to see them again before our long drive back to Perth (well, 4h30 with the shortcut in the middle - dead boring route we were told, not much to see but rapeseed fields).

In the morning we will therefore try to explore the coastline around Albany, we were told that there are a few quokkas there... but mainly incredible scenery... All of this will depend on the weather though. You can get 4 seasons in one day here (just like the UK in that sense) and it can be overcast on & off... The moment the clouds come in, the whole sea colour becomes dull instead of striking and we both lose interest ! I managed to take 2 rolls of beach shots over the last 5 days and I'm not even a 'beach' fan as I said, so ... say no more. This is as beautifu as the Caribbeans... but without the palm trees (the ones they have in Western Australia are only about 1m high, with very black trunks and a fluffy head, as if it had had a bad hair day !).

Righteeo... gotta hit the sack now... LONG day tomorrow and even longer the day after (2 planes with 3 hours in between... leaving Perth at 10am, not getting to Kangaroo Island before 7pm). Some days are write-offs, it cannot be helped when you deal with such phenomenal distances...

Quokkas Delight on Rottnest Island

Hello again,

Well, we've had an amazing today... totally mind-blowing on the visual front. We got the 8:30am ferry onto Rottnest island and hired a bike (good exercice me thought... and easier to stop for photo ops instead of using the bus -- the 'hop on & off' bus only stopped at some key points and only came back 1 hour later ! NOT great if you just want to frame a shot and go !). The last ferry back was 4pm which seemed a shame - the Australians seem to think it's still 'too cold'... whatever... To us Brits (or fake Brits as the case may be), this was boiling. The proof being in the pudding is that I have come back looking as bright red as a lobster though we were covered in factor 25. Na !

We started the day there by having a lovely breakfast in a little coffee shop overlooking the sea... I had a berry blitz and a stack of pancakes. It may seem like a lot but since we didn't actually have time for lunch, it ended up being a blessing.

Anyway... I'd recommend Rottnest to anyone who comes to Perth, there's hardly any traffic at all (come to think of it most of Australia doesn't have any traffic at all - at rush hour this morning we saw 3 cars ! I swear !). It was a little bit hilly, just enough to make it painful on the calves... simply because we turned down the offer of a mountaineering bikes because we both hadn't cycled properly for decades and didn't even know how to change gears ! So I had to cheat and walk the steepest hills.... ( not as good to tone up my butt but a lot more enjoyable, believe me).

There was a 'quokka tour' run by a volunteer which was at 1pm... appalling time (we need to have a word with the marketing people) as it would have meant biking 8kms to a fab snorelling point and then cycle straight back (out of breath) with the HOPE of seeing a quokka, when any quokka with half a brain would SURELY be fast asleep during the the hottest time of the day ! I mean... Everywhere you go in the world they never ever ever ever (and that is a true absolute) run wildlife spotting tours between noon & 2pm because they know full well that the animals will enjoy a siesta instead. So, with this in mind, we thought we'd enjoy a leisurely swim instead of rushing back for probably nothing... Saying that, we were torn as you don't find quokkas anywhere else but on Rottnest and its neighbouring island and it was a case of 'today or never'... and Janet & I both love cuddly creatures.... and the post cards of the quokkas did have a massive 'cuddle me' appeal. We were told that we might find them on our own as they usually approach tourists to beg for food (same sad story the world over).

So, we biked off into the heat of the day, it was 11am by the time we got our bike ready, queued for helmets, etc. and we decided to follow the coastline to head for Little Salmon's Bay, supposedly the best spot for snorkelling. The journey was as amazing as the destination though.. I mean, seriously scenic. And make that a double capital S. WOW. EVERY corner you turned was a picture because the shades of blue were constantly changing, from deep blue to turquoise blue to soft blue... and eventually to soft green. I will always say that I am a rainforest person more than a beach person, but I was seduced and enthralled just as much as Janet (who is our beach specialist - she actually bought a gorgeous framed photo for her bathroom).

When we reached Little Salmon Bay there were only few people in the water. It did feel pretty cold to start with but you soon warmed up when you started to swim. As I am a stronger swimmer than Janet I was able to go about 400 meter out in the sea and see some incredible soft pink corals... like massive cauliflowers, but all pink. And a few fairly big white fish (no sharks though!) but I never saw the dolphins or turtles that are frequent visitors in this area. The fish life was 1/50th of what you'd see on the reef, I think I only spot 4 or 5 different species but the underwater gardens is what made the area magical. The sun was shining so bright that the visibility was great ! Another huge bonus when one snorkels... but of course I'd forgotten my under water camera at our b&b. Oh well... I guess we'll have more photo ops when we hit THE Reef...

At some point we stopped to catch our breath and drink a bit more water and within 1 minute a family of quokkas came to inspect our bags. It was like 'wow'... we therefore felt we had taken the best decision by not going back in a rush to go on the 'official' quokka tour. We went mad on photos because we saw a mummy, daddy and joey quokka and of course they are even cuter still. No wonder they were first mistaken for rats... they have a long tail just like them but unlike rats, you'd want to take one of these to bed and keep one as a pet forever more. I was drooling.... we were both thinking 'these are some of the cutest things I've ever seen'. They seemed totally unafraid of humans, and just as the lady had predicted, they would try and inspect our bikes and bags... of course we stuck by the golden rules and didn't give food or water and most people who eventually stopped to take a look too were also pretty good. You would be fined $50 on the spot if you are caught feeding wildlife, which is great ! I just hope they do fine people and not just threaten too. We also saw a few more nearer the ferry point, and every time we would squeak with delight ! :) She actually spotted them ALL ... I was useless today !

We then finished a loop by the coastline and caught our 4:15 ferry regretfully. Staying overnight might have been a more sensible option (for another time) as there is SO much to do you wouldn't know where to start.... but tomorrow beckons with more ventures ahead...

We'll also wave good bye to the gorgeous jacaranda trees (purple flowers ALL over) that make this area SO much more beautiful.... I'd better sign off, dinner time now ! Janet is waiting....

PS - I forgot to say yesterday that when we landed we also saw the cutest dog who was doing his job sniffling luggage for 'quarantine' (they are SO hot on having absolutely no fruit or meat product into Australia). Of course, I'd forgotten to take some dried fruits (a snack I got on the plane) out of my suitcase.. well, he soon smelt that out. Amazing ! We were quite taken by him... I'm just glad that it didn't lend me a fine or being thrown into jail because I had forgotten ALL about it !!!... and if so I wouldn't be writing this, hum.

Beautiful Perth

Well, as expected, we didn't grab as much sleep on the plane as we'd have liked (too hot for me, too uncomfortable for Janet - as you know, it's impossible to stretch much in economy).

So when we got off the plane and then onto our bus shuttle to Fremantle (a suburb of Perth), the first thing Janet suggested we did was head for bed ! By then it was 9:30am but thankfully there is NO time difference between HK and Perth as one flies straight down... After a shower to de-stress and a blanket to snuggle under I was back in dream land in record time. Shows that maybe I need to learn to slow down when I travel alone as I did need that sleep ! We had put our alarm clock to wake us up for 12:30am and we were both fast asleep when it went off. We both could have slept all day I think, but then it would have meant not being tired enough to sleep tonight...

We debated as to what to do next, whether to explore Fremantle or Perth but as Fremantle was pretty 'dead' (hardly any shops opened at all) we soon got on the train to Perth, for a couple of dollars (great value for money) and 30mns later we were in the centre of it all. Perth has got a river that runs through it but it's not very obvious to start with, but once we had found it, it was very scenic. Beautiful blue skies made the scenery quite serene. We found a pretty little walk by a small lake - in the shape of a boomerang and found many cormorans, snake birds and even pelicans on it. It was just lovely to be so close to wildlife already.

We went up the hill top for a view over the city but both agreed that the views by the lake were actually nicer. It has the same 'scenic' quality as Sydney I'd say and lots of great shops, but as today is Sunday, they all closed far too early for us to browse much.

We're now going to head back to Fremantle on the train, grab some dinner and have an early night as we have a 7am wake up call tomorrow to make it across to Rottnest. We have seen many postcards of the quokkas and beaches and they look fabulous - both, the quokkas and the beaches --- amazing crystal clear turquoise waters, just as lovely as on the Reef. Snorkelling will be a must !

The weather here is about 27-29C so very nice indeed. We missed a shower whilst we were sleeping, so, so far we ain't doing 'too badly'... long may it continue !

More tomorrow, if time permits.... moi x