More interesting than a washing day

The weather has turned slightly and its not as warm or sunny as the last few days we even had a touch of rain. We took the opportunity to have a bit of a lie in and do some housekeeping. We did some much needed washing although Lloyd found three pairs of boxers that he hadn't worn yet. Worryingly he didn't bring that many to start with.

To pass the time while the clothes were drying we took a walk to Flat Rock on the north end of Augusta. On the way I was attacked by a giant ant, he was so big he looked like ten ants wearing a giant ant costume for Halloween. Lloyd would say that it wasn't much of an attack more it just standing there and me freaking out. He found it funny but if it had been a banana I would have been sympathetic, and bananas don't bit. The remaining 1km bush walk was walked on tip toes hoping not to see any more of these monsters. The destination of Flat Rock was exactly as you expect a large flat rock, but was actually pretty cool as its on a bank that gives you awesome views of the river.

We walked back through the posh end of Augusta admiring the massive houses, each with an unbroken river view. We treated ourselves to a fish and chip supper although fish is crazy expensive in this town so we had squid rings and a bit more salad to go with the chips.

Who brought him along

Blackwood river

Flat Rock

Dinner

Parrots

Shonky Bikes but a good day

So the hostel we are staying in has free bikes and we planned to take them over to a nice bay about 20km away, then we hoped to head back to visit Cape Leeuwin lighthouse which is about 7km south of Augusta. When we checked the bikes out and had a ride on them we felt that 20km on the road wasn't possible as they were rusty in many places and had dodgy brakes. Oh and the gears didn't work properly, also Janines seat wouldn't go down so she was uncomfortable. We made the best of it and headed for the lighthouse as its a smaller road and much of it had a cycle track. It was hard going in the heat and hillier than we expected. Despite this we made good time and had a look around the lighthouse area before chilling out with a deserved cold drink. The lighthouse is at the point where the Indian and Southern oceans meet and apparently you can see the currents colliding on a stormy day, we couldn't! Janine then had a moment as she was "attacked" by a flying beetle (it was massive apparently), as I tried to calm her down it landed on her neck, she didn't notice and only freaked out more when it flew off. Anyone watching would have thought she'd seen a snake or on day release.

We took our time on the way back, partially due to some big hills and partially to have lunch by the Blackwood River and next to the Turner Street Jetty, which amused me even if Janine didn't immediately get the connection (Turner is my middle name for those who don't know).

This afternoon we have chilled out around the hostel, sitting in the sun reading and listening to music. This was only disturbed by what can only be described as a form of Tourettes which is brought about by the pesky flies who have taken a liking to our sun cream. They are seriously annoying trying to fly into your face all the time!

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

Checking out the view

Janine getting arty

Tourist alert

Pelicans come into land

My middle name

Janine finally got a big salad for dinner

Holding onto the moon

First full day on a beach

After the late nights in Margaret River we enjoyed a lazy morning before heading to the beach. It's a bit of a walk but worth it as it's along the coast line. When we got to the beach it was pretty much empty and huge. We spent a few hours there chilling out and working the tans. As you see from the pics we are not successful yet! Late we walked further along the coast and found another beach, this was more crowded as it was next to a caravan park. We still managed to find a secluded spot called Granny Pool which was a small natural lagoon and perfect for a slash around and Janine did a handstand. On the walk back we found this awesome truck with a Batman picture on the side.

Not sure if Batman was ever the Master of Disaster

Rocking a T-Shirt tan, just

Margaret River and beyond

G'day! We travelled to Margaret River on Wednesday afternoon and checked into a cool hostel close to the town centre. We wondered around he town which is full of cafes, restaurants and artsy shops. After a quick beer we returned to the hostel and met two Aussie guys who had checked into our dorm. They were Perth locals and had come down for a couple of days, we decided to grab a crate from the bottle-o and after polishing them off headed for some famous Margaret river food......pizza! Have say it's better than anything pizza express have turned out. We had a nice evening hanging out with the guys and they were both well travelled and had some great stories.  

Thursday we hired bikes for the day and rode along the river picking from a variety of tracks. One route meant we had to cross the river which Janine was a little nervous about. I have to add  the pictures don't do it justice it was deeper than it looks. The whole route along the river was teaming with wildlife from birds to lizards and insects. For the afternoon we rode out to Preverly beach near the mouth of the river. Along our route Janine pointed out a kangaroo farm (my first roo spotting in oz). We had a chilled lunch on a secluded beach watching local surfers catch some pretty big waves. The ride back started with a large hill so by the time we dropped the bikes off we were pretty shattered and had planned a chilled evening. This didn't pan out as our new dorm mates had checked in and were really friendly Swedish guys, off to the bottle-o again. Even they had planned a quiet one as they'd been on a bus for 5 hours. Turns out you cant have a quiet one and we sat on the balcony hostel till late hanging out with a load of people from the hostel. 

Today we had a nice walk along the river before checking out of the hostel and jumping on a bus to Augusta. Our new hostel is amazing, it's almost like a hotel. It seems a lot quieter so a chilled evening is on the cards. We had a quick stroll along Flinders Bay spotted some cool birds including some pelicans. 

Margaret River

Margaret River - should have pushed him in

I don't want to get my feet wet

Lloyd didn't care! 

Roo sizing us up

Preverly

Flinders Bay, Augusta

Beer then wine every things fine....

Today we went on a wine and beer tour of the South West. Its a pretty small producer in comparison with the East coast or France but still plenty of wineries to check out and sample their wines.  Our tour guide was really good and the group was a good mix of nationalities. We met a a really nice British couple who lived in Perth, his parents had sailed to Australia from Cornwall on their yacht to visit. Not a bad life if you can afford to do that!

The tour consisted of 5 vineyards, a lunch, a chocolate factory and a cheese factory. The final stop was a brewery just to add to the mix. By the time we got to lunch we were glad of the sit down as we had seen 3 wineries already and polished off more than our fair share of wine, port and liquors. A favourite for the whole tour was a strawberry liquor mixed with ginger ale, not very Aussie but still nice. Lunch was a series of Australian bush fair, Crocodile and Kangaroo meat, and random things like bush tomatoes and bush limes. The Roo was excellent, much better than the previous times Lloyd had tried it and yes I even tried some. Lloyd thought Crocodile was like pork and wasn't really a fan. Surprisingly I preferred the Croc to the Roo.

We leave for Margaret River tomorrow, this is the foodie capital of the South West and is also the starting point for some giant tree and some cave tours.

Good Legs?

Not A bad end

So we had a £7 beer

We left the lovely Bunbury Dolphin Retreat backpackers to head further south. Our first stop is Bussleton. It's not the most exciting place but its handy for a beer, cheese and wine tour which we will do tomorrow. Making the best of it we took a walk to the longest jetty in OZ we missed the train to the end so passed on waiting around for it in the pending rain. Instead we went for a beer, I picked the beer and turns out it was a bit pricey. $11 each to be exact. It was nice but not sure it was that nice! Probably head for a quick bite to eat and then try and get to know now some of the other people staying here.

Oh and Janine found salad cream in the supermarket!

Off to Bunbury we go

Today we left the city and headed for the south west. Our first stop is a 2.5 hours train ride south of Perth in a town called Bunbury. The train ride flew by as we are now accustomed to long journeys. Bunbury is famous for its dolphins and certainly lived up to it. We took a walk through the town and along the beach and saw a few of them swimming in the bay. Not bad considering some places will charge a fortune to see them. Hopefully we will see a few more tomorrow morning before we leave town. Our hostel is a really nice and friendly, only a few rooms and no workmen making the place messy.

Colin will be pleased to hear tuna pasta is on the menu this evening!

Best Curry Ever

So I mentioned we were going for a curry what I didn't say was that Janine was up at 5 looking at places to eat in the rough guide to oz. This place is a pay what you want vegetarian Indian buffet and is incredible. Seriously if you are in Perth look it up it called Annalakshmi.

Pretty successful last day in perth

Today has been highly productive while also getting in some quality tourism too! Early morning we went to the Fremantle markets which are pretty cool although similar to many foodie markets now in the UK. Lots of nice stuff to taste, I settled on the greatest sausage rolls in world. There was also the usual hippy stuff and more interestingly some aboriginal art.

We headed into Perth and booked our buses for the next couple of weeks. We were stunned when our estimated price was way off the actual price, luckily it was cheaper! This afternoon we have had a nice walk around the city, I managed to get Janine in another Apple store. We have just had a nice walk along the water front and will be eating dinner in an Indian restaurant run by a monk and volunteer chefs.

Off to Bunbury tomorrow morning hopefully we will be able to see some of the dolphins its famous for.

Rottnest Island

I think we are still on NYC time as both of us were up very early. So we took a 7.30am ferry to the famous Australian holiday destination of Rottnest Island. A former prison island that became popular in the 1920s for its white sandy beaches and unique wildlife. The ratty looking Quokka is the most common local resident and you cant travel more than a few meters before you see one. There are no cars on the island so the best way to get around is by bike. We cycled around in the 25 degree heat stopping at coves and bays and view points along the way. Finally a refreshing dip was needed although the water was much colder than expected. After a lunch from the only Subway in Australia to serve pizza (we had a sub!) we took a walk to a lighthouse where we found a baby venomous snake, Janine freaked out. After that excitement we relaxed in The Basin for the afternoon. This is a natural rock pool which is perfect for swimming and has just enough beach that its not too crowded. The ferry ride back to Fremantle was eventful as we saw many humpback whales going through their annual migration. 

Not a bad day for a 5 year anniversary

We started the day with a walk round Fremantle where we are staying. Its a smallish town just outside of Perth. The weather was hot, 24 degrees and a shock considering we had no summer in England! Then we got the train over to Perth for the afternoon. Walking round much of the central part of the City, including a walk over to Kings Park and a set of 242 steps called Jacobs ladder. There were countless joggers running up and down it as we wandered down looking a little out of place. After more walking round we settled on finding lunch in Northbridge which is the foodie centre of the city, unfortunately we got distracted by a big screen in a park playing music videos, before we knew it it was 3pm and we couldn't really call it lunch any more. As its our anniversary we are heading out for a nice meal, maybe some seafood which is meant to be excellent in Fremantle.

Missing a Tuesday

We have been traveling for ages and still not arrived in Perth. The flight from NYC to LA was fine but when we reboarded in LA there were problems which delayed us. Then when we landed in Sydney the pilot parked too far from the gate, they couldn't reach the plane with the air bridge, doh. After a frantic run with our bags we missed our transfer so have had to wait for 6 hours for the next free flight. No harm done and the time not being on the plane had been used well to plan other parts of the trip. Oh and we caught up on Homeland, amazing!

Last Day In NYC

Its the last day in the Big Apple, we had a long lie in after the weekends activities. Once we endured the joy of re-packing our stuff we went for lunch in an awesome little pizza place on 9th avenue. Then we took a long walk through Central Park, watching squirrels fight, the horse drawn carriages and the millions of joggers.

Off to the airport now so we wont write anything for a couple of days, its 22 hours to Sydney!

Lazy Pancakes

So to extend from our blog yesterday we went out for Heather's birthday. We went to a lovely wine bar for some cheese and of course wine! Then we headed to Brooklyn to meet Heather's and Josh's friends, we went to a rave in a warehouse. Pretty cool venue and nice to get over the  east river to see what Brooklyn is like. We had a great night watching Josh dance and some random guy in leopard print doing yoga moves on the dance floor. Ended up getting back around 5:30am, smoked salmon cream cheese bagel in hand. Needless to say it didn't last long. 

Today has been a very lazy one but we went for the most perfect brunch! As you can see I had some scrummy pancakes!! Went for a walk around time square. Later we're going to Ellen's Star dust diner (recommended by Carrie and James) really looking forward to it. Classic 50's diner but the waiting staff all sing show tunes.......so excited! :) 

Central Perk

It's Heathers birthday so we had a lazy morning with a late breakfast. Then we picked up some bikes and rode around Central Park, stopping off to see a few sights including the Imagine memorial to John Lennon, a few lakes and a castle. After that we went for lunch at the legendary Katz deli but it was so busy we decided to find somewhere else. In the end we hit on a great pizza place on the lower East side. To walk off the pizza we went along to Chelsea market for a wine tasting and then up to the High Line. This is the old commercial railway that has been converted to a public park. On the way back we saw a car crash and loads of people leaving ComicCon, all dressed up as anime and comic characters they were pretty distracting and may have caused the crash.

Doing Science and Art

Started off the morning with a big breakfast then onto the Museum of Natural History. The Planetarium is amazing, really interesting and randomly is narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. Other than that its pretty much like the Natural History Museum in London.

After a walk through Central Park and some massive sandwiches for lunch we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its incredible and totally worth spending the time seeing as much as you can.  It can be a little overwhelming since there is so much but if you pick a few things you want to see then you won't waste time walking round stuff you don't want to see. There is also an amazing roof top where there is an art installation. At the moment its an exhibit called Cloud City by Tomás Saraceno unfortunately for Lloyd this wasn't anything to do with the Cloud City from Star Wars.

In the evening we went to the bar which McClaren's bar from How I Met Your Mother is based on. We had a few beers and watched Josh's baseball team the Cardinals win in the playoffs.

Lots of walking, seriously so much walking

Beautiful weather today, clear blue skies all day. We started the morning visiting the 9/11 memorial. Its a fantastic monument to those who lost their lives and to those that survived. It will be an impressive site when all the new buildings are finished.

We spent the rest of the day walking round much of Manhattan island. Through Soho and Tribeca, Greenwich Village, up to Union Square and Grand Central Station. Then round the Chrysler building, onto the UN and back to 5th avenue and Central Park. Somehow Lloyd managed to guide us to 3 Apple stores en route. The conclusion is that they are very similar even if though they look very cool from the outside.

This evening we went for sushi near the Rockefeller Plaza then headed up the Top of the Rock to see the night time views. Its amazing on such a clear night and definitely worth doing in the evening. On the way back we took a slight detour to Times Square lit up in all its neon glory, and made it onto one of the big screens. A pretty amazing day all round, lets hope the weather holds up.

Day Two, Meeting Lady Liberty

Today we have seen some of the sights you associate with NYC.  First it was a ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The weather was pretty British so it was hard to see all of Manhattan on the way out but it cleared up on the way back. Both are very interesting, especially Ellis Island where you get a real insight into how people started a new life in America. We also went up the Empire State Building just as the sun was setting. Pretty amazing view especially since the weather cleared. A day of sight seeing has wiped us out, so a chilled night with Heather and Josh is in order.