The February Oz Archive
We proudly present to you - the Feb Oz Archive. Here you can find all updates made from Austrailia in the month on February 2002...
~ 01/02/2001 - stu ~
~ 02/02/2001 - Bhav ~
~ Poetry Corner - stu ~
~ 04/02/2002 - Marie!! ~
~ 13/02/2002 - Julia ~
~ 13/02/2002 - stu ~
~ 13/02/2002 - Bhav ~
~ 23/02/2002 - Julia ~
January Archive March Archive Murray Walker April Archive May/June Archive
Stu...
Hello everyone - I hope life treating you all well....
We have our van back now - she starts pretty much first time now and takes hills a little easier. During our extended stay in Denham we visited Monkey Mia - a small beach resort (nothing but a beach, a few shops and a cafe). Monkey Mia hosts the worlds largest research centre for dolphins - mainly due to the fact that dolphins have been coming to the shore line for years. Originally the camp site at Monkey Mia sold fish that you could use to feed the dolphins, but this led to a hundred or so dolphins competing for food... Soon the dolphins became reliant on the tourist hand outs and gave up hunting their natural source of food. As soon as the tourist season was over - the dolphins starved and their young could not look after themselves. There were also instances of tourists getting bitten, mainly due to things like dropping fag butts down the dolphins blow holes or teasing them with the food.
Now there are rangers there that give the dolphins a small treat sized feed in the morning and afternoon thus forcing the dolphins to hunt for food as well. We did not get to feed them but while swimming I had some come real close. Later on Bhav joined me in the water and they come back - knowing that animals tend to home in on him, Bhav made for the shore while people walked down to see the dolphins. Sure enough - one dolphin picked out Bhav and went for him at a startling rate. B, not having his glasses on, had no way of distinguishing a dolphin from a shark - and let out a (what is now becoming his trademark) fantastic girly squeal. As the dolphin swept past Bs legs he was a true picture of terror - the 8-12 year olds (that were getting into the water) found it highly amusing - and so did I.
Just to put things into perspective though, I have to say Oz has some scarey wildlife. The dolphins were followed everywhere by a group of Pelicans - these birds are pure evil, they look mean and snap at you if you get in their way (big bloody beaked freak birds). Further down the beach was a small hut that had some huge spiders living in the rafters - I have to admit to edging round the side just in case they fell onto me.
The next day was set aside for myself and Bhav to watch the royal rumble (WWF) in the pub all afternoon with a few tins of beer. Unfortunately both the pubs in town did not have satellite TV and therefore the day was lost. I left Bhav in the pub with Marie and got a all you can eat lunch at the hotel with Jools. After a hour of solid eating and drinking we head back for kip out of the sun dropping in at the pub only to see that Bhav and Mer had mysteriously disappeared.
About six hours later, Julia and I were wondering where they were - of course, they were smashed (Marie especially) beyond all belief. When we found them we asked Mer what she had been getting up to she replied, 'we've been doing everything', and preceded to dance round her pool cue to the old Kyle track, 'The Locomotion'. Bare in mind that we were in a locals half pub half bookies place and she was only waring her bikini with a loosely woven top on - she was attracting quite a lot of attention from the fishermen at the bar. Later on when Bhav asked her to pass him a CD, she let us know that the Darbey portion was fine and that other dinner parties may give you more courses - but it's simply no contest in her eyes (which at this point were completely bloodshot). To some up, Marie had lost the plot completely leaving it with the fishermen no doubt.
After picking up our van we moved on up the west coast to Carnarvon. After having some much needed fast food we crashed out quite early - nothing much to report other than some big bugs and some dodgy reports of people beating each other up with metal baseball bats (we swiftly moved on).
From Carnarvon we went to to Coral bay and managed to get some snorkeling done. The only way to describe it would be breath taking - not just because a wave would often fill up the only connection our lungs had with the surface, but because of the brightly coloured coral that homed so many different types of fish. The coral was bright blues and purples, the blazing sun showed up every small fish to a huge stingray through the completely clear blue waters. The sun also gave Jools the classic burnt Brit abroad look, which she took not to well it has to be said - calling herself some sort of lobster in a bikini...
Coral bay was fantastic, but we wanted to get moving so we could meet up with Derek and Carole Chaney in Para during the weekend as it was going to be a bank holiday (Australia day). First we moved on up to Exmouth hoping to get out and celebrate a bit on Oz day (the Saturday). Unfortunately the town was much smaller than we had hoped and there was nobody in it! The first caravan park we visited only had about 2 vans, one tent, us and two emus.
Emus - what a pain in the neck they are. The must inquisitive birds around - you just can't get rid of them. Sitting down for a nice ice cold beer (it is very hot up North this time of year, around 40 degrees), the bloody things their peering over your shoulder. You have to bear in mind that these birds are as tall as me and are very powerful. At one point I was coming back from the shower, wondering where everyone had gone, when I realised that an Emu had forced the other three into the van. Of course, the emu was wondering what they were doing and was therefore circling the van sticking it's head into every open window. If you beep the horn, the stupid bird will walk to the front of the van to try and figure out where the noise was coming from. After chasing the thing away (while making some sort of stupid high pitched noise) we sat back outside the van and of course the dam bird sees us back out there and has to come and see what we are up to.
The next van park had a pair of Emus as well, but as an added bonus - lots of kangaroos as well. It's the first time I've seen a wild one on the outside of a TV, what a weird looking creature. They don't let you get too close though and can't half cover a lot of ground with one single hop.
From that park I visited the worlds only kerosene powered lighthouse. This thing was in it's original condition , being built in 1906 in England and then shipped out to Oz. Good views, interesting machinery - but after walking up that dam hill to see it and there being no lager available at the top, I could not wait to get back for a drink.... I must drink about a litre of fluid an hour at the moment, Oz sure is thirsty work....
We set off for Paraburdoo on Sunday morning - it was about 550 KM and there was just the one stop. When I say just one stop - that's all it is, a service station surrounded by desert. If we had not filled our jerri can before setting out we would not have made it!! The van only does about 230 KM to the tank...
So we eventually did make it to Paraburdoo - the town is a lot greener than my preconceptions. Derek and Carole are lovely people, there is a striking resemblance to my Dad which took a little time to get to grips with. I think Derek agrees after I showed him a picture of dad.... There is another Robert Chaney coming to Oz in February (Dads cousins son, but not Dereks son..??!!...) - and who knows, we may get to meet. It would seem that the Chaney family grows ever stronger - I am starting some plans for world domination. Are you thinking what I'm thinking Pinky? What, catfood makes a good substitute for cornflakes...?
Nicola, Leanne and Donna - If you are reading this, g'day to you all. If you fancy a beer any time drop me an e-mail (chaneysrule@roadtrip2001.net). We are all heading back to Perth before moving East, have you been to the Mustang bar in Northbridge before??...
One of the coolest things I have ever seen is Dereks Moke. It's like a mini without any sides or roof (photos will follow) and it has a WA registered plate which simply says, 'CHANEY'. Derek took Bhav and I for a Paraburdoo tour in it - we got to see pretty much everything, including a monster truck the size of my old flat in Portsmouth. Paraburdoo is an Iron Ore mining town, purely built up to support the workers of the mine. It has everything from schools to swimming pools and from a bank to a go-kart track but, because the town is reliant on the mine to provide work - the population is dwindling as the mine streamlines/downsizes. Derek and Carole are moving to Perth within the next few months as well and the town that once hosted 2300 people is now down to just 900.
- It the Poste!!!
It is quite sad to see a town that has so much character loosing its population and therefore loosing its lifeline. The parks are not kept as green, only the primary school remains open and sport clubs are shutting down. Saying all that - Derek and Carole, with the support of Lesley and Graham made us all feel very welcome and did not stop the flow of beer and booze unless we begged them. We all even got to look around the locomotive trains that pull out 230, 105 tonne carriages. The train is about 2km long and you need 2 4000BHP locos pulling at the front and one pushing at the back to get the monster moving.
We'll soon be heading off back down south following the inland route to Perth. Another week or so of hard driving - but I think we all enjoy most of it...
Luv to the Family and friends - Stuart
Bhav... (A right 'wrist breaker' from the man Majithia this time, get a cuppa first.)
Well, we arrived back in Perth after about three weeks on the road, an an awesome three weeks it has been. I last wrote when we were in Monkey Mia and I had an interesting incident with a Dolphin.
The Van was fixed for us and touch wood it is now working fine, and our dodgy "Not Lou Carpenter" dealer has stumped up all the cash for the repairs so no great harm was done. In the last couple of days I manage to wangle my way into an Aussie 5 aside team with a couple of guys (Ditcher and Charcoal - Quality Aussie names). Remembering how bad the Aussie's are at Footie I decided that the International Goal drought had to end, and sure enough after two minutes a twisting winding run and immaculate finish led to my first goal on International water. (agreed there is no FIFA confirmation of the goal so you'll all just have to take my word for it...)
After Denham we headed to Coral Bay... This is probably the nicest beach I have ever seen. Crystal Clear Waters, the water was warm to swim in and some amazing Coral and Wildlife (Unfortunetely I missed all that cos I can't swim, but did manage to get in some shallow snorkelling which was brilliant.
We moved up to Exmouth for the Australia Day weekend celebrations. However we got there and there was nobody there... so it ended up a quiet one. We did have some incidents with Emu's who held us captive in our Van. Stu and Julia took the trek up to the Lighthouse on top on the mountain, but in that heat it was never something I was gonna consider.
Anyways after Exmouth it was over to Parabaduu to meet with Stu's 2nd Uncle Derek. It was a long 600km drive from Exmouth inland to Parabaduu. We stayed three nights where we noticed some familair Chaney traits in the two Chaney's. Derek and Carole, Thanks..... we were looked after so well for the three days and had a wonderful time. We were given a tour of Parabarduu and saw the longest train I have ever seen in my life, 215 trailers and it took nearly 15 minutes for it drive past us.
After Para it was the long drive back to Perth. Only one real thing of note was the Kilijara National Park. There are some awesome Gorges, where you can walk down to Waterfall at the bottom . The downside is that you have to walk back up which was not good in the 42 degree heat.....
On the way out of the park, Marie noticed some dust whirling around. We looked round it was a Cyclone. A really small one, but awesome all the same. Suffice to say we let it whirl past us before moving on. We're back in Perth now. Back in Air Conditioned Hostel Accomodation which is nice. A night out on the town is defintely the order of the day tonight ( I've also descovered the Spurs are live on telly tonight so thats an added bonus!)
So what have I learnt.
42 degrees is bloody hot. Once you get out of the major City (perth in this case).... all signs of human life disappear. You can drive for 200km and not see a car for ages. In fact I think I saw 5 times more Kangeroos than human when we drove. Sadly all of these were dead on the road.... They may be lovable Roo's but they don't have much in the Head Dept. and it is a real problem in Oz where they just jump out in front of Cars and Lorries... It was shock when we got back to Perth yesterday to see traffic lights. I think those three weeks in the longest I have gone in my life without seeing a McDonalds... (which was definetely not a bad thing....)
Other then that all is well. Hope everyone back home is well, I hear the weather has been a bit of a nightmare.
Take Care and Lots of Love
Bhav
This is beautiful...
run rabbit, run rabbit - run run run, before the farmer shoots you with his gun gun gun
swim duck swim duck - swim swim swim, before the farmer does you in in in
fly parrot fly parrot - fly fly fly, before the farmer causes you to die die die
dig mole dig mole - dig dig dig, before the farmer feeds you to his pig pig pig
sit perfectly still fly still still still, so the farmer can go ahead and kill kill kill
stay where you are cockroach stay stay stay, so the farmer can slay slay slay
slither over there snake there there there, so the farmer can catch you in his snare snare snare
- the chane -
Lautrec has has left the building. #Guy
Marie... (I know, I'm as shocked as you are)
Right people the time has finally arrived, and I am writing my first ever entry for the web site, having been constantly nagged by my traveling buddies, I have decided that I will spill the beans more so of their antics than mine.
Well having finally completed the long and arduous journey up to Paraburdoo/the end of the world, we finally arrived, and were greeted by Derek & Carole, along with plentiful supplies of food and beer, which after travelling for about 9 hours in the blistering heat was a godsend. We stayed at Paraburdoo for three nights and welcomed the lovely home cooked meals, air conditioned house, swimming pool (thanks to Leslie and Graeme) and proper beds. Whilst in Paraburdoo, we were also treated to a ride on a rather large train that takes the mined iron ore up to the North Coast - OK so we only went about 100yds down the track, but i'm sure it is something that we will never do again.
On our final night we went to the local bar, apparently called The Animal Bar because of the welcoming nature of the locals (!), had a few beers, and watched the Aussies win at the cricket. I managed to beat, no thrash Bhav at pool, and nearly got the better of some local guy but lost it on the last ball - oh well. When the time to leave the town came I think we were all dreading the thought of going back to sleeping in the van, but well we didn't really have any choice! All in all I think we were all very pleasantly surprised with Paraburdoo, having previously received gasps of horror from the various people who we told we were going there. Bigs thanks to Derek, Carole, Graeme and Leslie for your hospitality, we all had a great time.
From Paraburdoo, we decided to take the inland route back down to Perth, mainly because we had seen most of what we wanted to see on the coast, and this route would probably be a bit quicker. Our next stop was Newman, a kind of non-descript town. It was here that we realised how spoilt we had been in having air conditioning, with a night-time temperature of what must have been about 30 degrees, we did manage to sleep eventually, but I think it was a very long night for all of us.
Leaving the next day, our next destination was Mount Magnet, a small town again with little to see and do. Mind you after having had another long drive trying to avoid kanagroo carcusses on the road (you would pass one about every two minutes, although the journey was broken up slightly with the sighting of a mutilated sheep carcuss, which made a "pleasant" change), all we wanted to do was, well very little - which is what we did.
Anyway on Friday we left the outback and arrived back in Perth, all of us glad to get back to the city I think, and are now staying at the same hostel as before. Having had about three weeks worth of country life, we decided to go out on the beers big time. Tottenham were also playing Derby on the tv, however, when the full time whistle went with Tottenham unvictorious, Bhavs spirits were somewhat dampened, so he made the suggestion that we go to a strip joint (bare in mind that he has been making this suggestion for as long as we have been travelling). However once Julia, Stuart and I agreed to join him (Julia and I were curious, and Stuart probably wanted to go because he is a man which i guess is acceptable!), bhav back tracked big time and started wimpering at the thought of actually going through with his request. After about 30 minutes of bhavs whining we finally got there, and went in and saw some very skinny girl doing a pole dance to the tune of "Cotton Eye Joe". Unforutnately seating arrngements just happened to result in Bhav sitting right where the young lady performed and so he spent her whole performance begging me to swap seats, without even watching the girl strutt her stuff.
Anyway after one dance we left, Julia and I having had our curiousity satisfied and having had a good laugh at Bhav , Stuart having watched a naked lady dance around a firemans pole and had a good laugh at Bhav, and Bhav having regretted what he said and to now think more carefully about what he says in the future! Unfortunately Stuart went home after this, complaining of an upset stomach (I don't think that this was a result of the strip club though), which left the three of us to party on for the rest of the evening, and eventually ending up in what is normally a forgone conclusion, in the Mustang Bar till about 3am.
All in all a good time was had by all, and we will all be sad to leave Perth for the last time. We are now preparing for our trip down to the south west, where hopefully we will have the chance to do a spot of wine tasting, and there is even talk of us looking for a bit of work whilst we are down there, although we don't want to overdo it!
So there you go, my first update to celebrate three months of travelling, the scary thought being that we are now one quarter of a way through our great journey, all I can say is roll on the next nine months because they are gonna be a blast!!!
Take care all,
Love Marie
Again, like last time, we'll give Bhav a chance to defend himself. Although again, like last time, he'll just admit the whole thing. Never mind Bhav, I'm sure you saw (through your fingers anyway) many naked girls. I'm proud of you son. #Guy
Julia...
Dear all - how is everyone?? As you can see from the title of this mail, we are now in Margaret River, famous for it's numerous wineries....there's just no hope for me really!!!!
Anyway, starting from my last mail......we left Perth (hungover - again!!) on Tuesday of last week to travel down to Bunbury, about 2.5 hours away from Perth. Apparently this is the second largest inhabited town in Western Australia, but honestly there was not a right lot to do and it was a strange, almost ghost like town. However, we amused ourselves on Tuesday evening by going ten pin bowling (apart from the ten pin bowling club, we were the only people in there!!)....where I won the first game and scored a strike!! Bhav was adamant it was a world championship game, words he wished he could eat when he rolled in last in the first game!!!! He didn't manage to win the next game either, and the girls were truly victorious that night with Marie winning the second game. We know how to handle our balls!!!! (sorry Mum!).
Anyway, we didn't get up to much on Wednesday (honestly, I don't know what people do there - the town has a population of 24,000), but did go to see Spy Game on Wednesday night...cool film and Brad Pitt rules!! Robert Redford looks really old though.....I was paying attention to the plot aswell, honest!!! On Thursday, we went out for Pizza and a few beers in the evening....the pubs were pretty good, although never let Bhav take you into a club you don't know.....he assured us there was a place that looked really good, and when we got in there, there were only about 5 people in there, and the flyer said 60, 70 & 80's music......hmmmmmm, suffice to say, we had a drink and then left quickly. I do worry about Bhav sometimes!!!
On Friday, we were up pretty early and on our way to Margaret River - about 100km further down the coast. M/River is a great town with loads of nice shops and cafes. The pubs are good too.....always the sign of a good town!!!! So good in fact that we stopped for a pub lunch on Saturday before going to book a tour at the Tourist Bureau....the tour was called Bushtucker tour and involved Canoeing, Caving and tasting traditional bushtucker....all for a bargain 40 dollars (about 16 pounds)....roll on Monday.
Sunday arrives and we thought we might go and explore a cave (there are over 300 caves nearby, and there are 4 huge ones that are amazing)....all fine, until on getting out of the van, I slipped down the step and fell on a pair of shoes...thus twisting my ankle. Way to go Julia, and bloomin' painful. Thought I was ok, til about 30 mins later when I started to feel sick and just about got to the bathroom, before the world went black and it was all I could do not to pass out on the floor.....all from just spraining my ankle - doh!!! It's gone a lovely shade of green now, but no real harm done as I had it checked out at A&E and they said I had just badly sprained it. So the caving was out for that day, but we had met someone the previous night that we knew from a hostel we had stayed in near Perth, who worked in a winery and suggested we go up on Sunday when he was working for a bit of a wine tasting session. Tasting wine does not require effort for a sprained ankle, and the wine even helped take the pain away (funny that!!). George was very generous in his wine tasting portions and as we tasted about 12 red and white wines in total, we were fairly merry on our way home. We bought some of the wine that was on special offer and had it that night with our BBQ. If anyone see Aurora Unwoooded Chardonnay at home, definitely buy some, it's really nice.
Anyway, due to me being a pleb and spraining my ankle, we had to move our Bushtucker tour to the Tuesday, so I spent Monday with my foot up in the air and ice on it, in preparation for the tour. We were up early on Tuesday and about to leave at 9am, when (as per usual it seems), the van wouldn't start.
Seeing as we had charged the battery the night before, it was a bit strange, but it wasn't even firing so something is definitely up. However, Stuart worked his magic and we finally got on our way. The Bushtucker tour started at 10am and after getting kitted out with life jackets and oars, we canoed up the river. Nothing too strenuous (well, not for me and Stuart as Marie is a bit of a demon canoer, and was paddling away!!) and it was quite amusing watching Bhav in another canoe (they were only 3 man canoes)....he didn't have his glasses on but he was sat at the front of the canoe as the guide....hmmmmmm......!!!!
After a bit of canoeing, we came ashore and started on our bushwalk. One of the first things the guide says was be careful of the wildlife, there are a number of snakes and lizards around. Bhav, at this point, is going "noooooooooooo, nooooooooooo" ........he's not so keen on the snakes you see!! Anyway, this bushwalk was quite a tough one for me with my ankle, especially as we had to climb a rock at one point!! But the walk led us to the Pioneer Cave where (after another difficult climb!!) we went in and saw some amazing stalagtites, mites and loads of other formations. It's amazing to see some of these caves, especially as this one comes with so much history...signatures of the local family inside, a story of 4 French teenagers who got lost in the cave for a week. Tried to take some photos, but the light was really bad, so not sure if they'll come out.
Anyway, after walking back to the canoes (and me nearly tripping over a blue tongued lizard), we had a bushtucker picnic...kangaroo and emu meat, grub pate (or worm paste as the guide put it!!), fruit chutney and flowers that are edible.......I am sure that if you were in the bush and were starving some of this stuff would be great, but for now, I'm quite happy to stick to traditional food!! The kangaroo and emu tasted a bit like beef, and Marie really like the grub pate - the thought of eating a grub was enough to put me off the taste!!!
There followed a race back to the beach in the canoe, all with the intention of winning a bottle of wine. Marie, Stuart and I were on a mission and only narrowly missed out on winning......thwarted by the winners as they kept rowing into our space. Whilst waiting for the rest of the canoes to come in, we noticed Bhav and his crew hadn't come in yet....in fact the only boat we could see was upside down, and yep, you guessed it, it was Bhav's boat....he was in the water, bless!!! It had to happen to someone, but a shame for Bhav it was him. So we had to take him for cake afterwards just to make him warm again.......any excuse!! So, it was a really good tour, and would definitely reccommed anyone who comes here doing it...if only to taste the kangaroo and emu.
So that's us....not up to much today, although we have just found out it was Pancake day yesterday and we are not impressed at having missed it, so are going to the supermarket to buy provisions to make ourselves thoroughly sick on pancakes tonight!!!
Hope everyone is well, write soon!!
love, JULIAxx
The last few nights in Perth consisted of some cheap drinking games, twister and some bad dancing in a near by pub. 'twas a good laugh - but it's good to be back on the road again again again...
After Perth we went to Bunbury, very nice and all that. We had fun in one of the best van park swimming pools we've seen so far, went to watch Spy Games (highly recommended). After being let into an over 30s night (gutted) and Julia showed us who was boss at the 10 pin bowling, we headed further down south.
Margret River -
Wine Wine Wine Wine - Wine Wine Wine - Wine Wine Wine Wine - Wine Wine Wine .... mmmmmmmm
We've spent a few days here so far and I can see us staying a while longer. Margret River has loads to do, including wine tasting in one of the many Wineries (yes, apparently that is a word), picking a cave to visit on cave road - some spectacular sights to be had apparently, or just chilling out on the beach. So far we have done some wine tasting thanx to George (a bloke we met in Scarborough earlier) for sorting us out with the extra large measures. Other than that we have done not a lot - mainly due to Julia twisting her ankle up pretty bad, me lopping the end of my thumb off (just a bad cut really), Bhav coming down with a sore throat and Marie... well just being a skippy.
- 2 days later...
We did manage to try out some canoeing the other day as well as a short bush walk and a bit of cave going. It was quite a touristy thing really - but good fun. We all paddled down Margret river with Bob the guide (typical Ozy ranger look), myself, Mer and Jools in one canoe - Bhav had to join a bloke and kid in another 3 man canoe. After hearing about the flora and wildlife around the river - along with some history, we did a short trek to a cave mouth. Julia was having a bit of trouble with her ankle, but did not complain once and proved her point that blokes have a far lower threshold for dealing with pain.
The cave was only small, a steady 18 degrees C inside, dark, wet and smelly.... Yes - it was great, the rock formations that have been forming for 10's of thousands of years were spectacular and the sheer fun of being in a place that has no light what so ever made it even better. I'm definitely going to try and persuade the others to check out the other caves around this area before we go - as my Mum will always testify to, I've always been destined to live in a cave.
After the cave we headed back to the canoes and tried out some 'bush tucker'. Kangaroo, Emu, worm paste (some sort of grub pate), all sorts of berries and goo made out of plants. I did a Barrett - just stuck it all in a bit of bread and rammed it down. Others picked at it and tried to smile, others just ate bread and berries.
Getting back to the van involved a heated canoe race - Marie (who was a canoeing machine up front), Jools in the middle making the odd splash and me at the back, soaked from Mers scope up and over action - trying to steer.
After the first minute of mad paddling by everyone - the pack opened up and we were in second place. A couple in front were holding us off using Schumacher tactics (block and ram). If I was up front - those two would so have been rolled over, but Marie was far too sporting in my view and let it go (so unlike her).
It all came down to the mad dash - the couple up front were desperately scrambling their canoe to shore, Marie and I together thought sod this - jumped out and started to pull the canoe home. It was about ten seconds before I realised that my arm was beginning to ache, we forgot about the ankle impaired Jools who was - still in the canoe with a big grin on her face. After she hopped (literally) out of the boat, I tried to overtake the couple in front - but they were too far ahead and we missed out on the bottle of wine prize by fraction of a second.
I was sporting about it to a point, after letting the winning team know that their victory was hollow and basically void due to their scandless blocking tactics - a dreaded realisation moment dawned over me.... - Where was Bhav..?
Of course - we was bobbing up and down in the middle of the river wondering what the hell happened, where was his canoe and what on earth does he do now...
After an impressive Baywatch style rescue (they had life jackets, so nothing life threatening) - Bhavs team rolled in last. If you ask me - they should have been made to finish the worm paste.... seems only fair.
Anyway - that's all for now, take care of yourselves...
stu
And, for the defense, Bhavnit 'Crocodile Dundee' Matjithia...
To start off with me there are a couple of rumoursthat need to be addressed after a certain update of Roadtrip2001.net.
The Strip Joint Files....
1. I was not to keen to go because I was settled in the Mustang bar... and
felt that my chances were in without needing to a visit a strip venue.
2. When I got to the Strip Joint - I noticed there were people with Guns in
the toilets and thus requested Stu to join me in there to kick some arse...
3. The seat I was sitting on was very bumpy and smelly therefore I asked to
swap with Marie.
As to nopt confuse the issue... I was Happy as Larry to be in the Strip Joint and will be frequenting to with my presence on a much regular basis...
For those who don't know what I am whittering about. Check Marie's update on earlier pages.
Anyways now that that thorny Needle of worms has been cleared up .... What have been up to?
After Perth we travelled on to Bunbary... A small town with a Pop of around 20000. Not a lot going on there really... Watched a movie, won the World Championship Bowling title and recommened the other to a night on the tiles in the Reef Nightclub... However we got in and it was Over 30s night.... Sort of killed the night for us young Whippersnappers!
We moved on to Margaret River for some fun in Western Australia's premier Surf Spot. A funky place with loads to do. (2 Pubs.... bargain!). We met up with George a friend from Perth who has got himself a jop working a Wine Buff in, spearheading Wine tastings. We were there for around 45 minutes and I left pretty Bollocksed....
In the next couple of days we went on a Canoe and Caving trip where I got in Canoe with Phil and his Daughter Amanda (she was 7) from Hong Kong.... Everthing went swimmingly... We Canoed to the Caves no probs... Had a trip into the Caves... Bob the Bushman (our guide) kept us entertained... Until the Canoe trip back to base... It was a race so it was a bit fiesty in the waters... but everyone sort of made in back.... Apart from me and the Hong Kong Dudes... Yep the Canoe Capsised in the middle of the river... Bob the Bushman came over and said we have to swim the boat back to shore (easy if you can swim - pretty damn impossible if you can't like me... I tell you life jackets are called life jackets for a very apt reason!). Amanda looked a mess when we got back to dry land... I think she blamed me for the sorry situation... and I can't see her getting back in a Canoe again.... Still what can you do (never go anywhere near me perhaps!)
We also visited the Lake Caves which were cool.... Basically it was Cave with Lake in it.... Can't really explain them...
After leaving Margarte river we went to some Lighthouse (Name escapes me) but basically it where the Indian Ocean and some other Ocean (Name escapes me - I think Southern Pacific) meet.... I could swaer that both Ocean were a differant colour but it something you need to see for yourself....
Moved on to Walpole where the Bloody Van broke down again.... Bloody Aussie Fag Stealing Car Dealing Gits.... So another visit from Mark the Auto Electric Guys who check out the starter motor and got us rocking again.
Yesterday we done a 40 foot high tree walk which was cool. The best thing about is that you walk on a Suspended metal bridge that sways from side to side... well I enjoyed it....
And no onto the title of the email... In the last week or so on all the little tours we have been on there have been Snake warnings... Not something that has done my sometime fragile state of mind any good. Anyways driving to Albany ... what do I see on the middle of the road... A Snake wriigling on the road... I couldn't avoid it... so unfortuntely it was squashed by our big fat Van...
RIP Little Fella....
We are in Albany at the moment... Basically from here it a drive along the Great Ocean Road.... Mile and Kilometre and road along the Ocean... Sound really cool but I reckon it'll get boring after a couple of hours...! I think it will take about fiver days to actually get to Adalaide where our plans sort of end... but I think from there we will go to Ayre Rock and Alice Spring.. How we do not know yet....
Anyways
Take Care All!!!!
See Ya Soon!
Happy Valantine Days and Pancake days.......
Luv Bhav
Julia...
Dear all - how is everyone?? just checking in for a quick update, before getting back out in the sun (it is actually sunny and warm today, the best weather we've had in a week!!).
Well, we left M/River over a week ago and had a funny few days. We headed to a small town called Walpole to stay over night, before heading to the Valley of the Giants for a Tree Top Walk. However, the overnight stay extended into two nights stay, as the van (yep you guessed it) wouldn't start. Great. 200 dollars later we had a clean starter motor, but still a flat battery - aaaaah!!!!! Anyway, we have now rectified the problem (touch wood) and the van is starting and being powered by a battery half the size of the old one (all approved by the mechanic, Dad, don't fret!!). So we headed off the the Valley of the Giants and undertook a 600metre round trip at about 40m above ground level - the trees were amazing - the bridge was well, moving!! Marie was scared bless her!!!!
We then drove about 500km to Albany where we stayed for a few days. Albany is quite a big town and we amused ourselves with the local aquatic centre - spa, swim and sauna most days!! We also had a much needed curry (poppadums galore!), a McDonalds and a pizza....any backpacker points I did have are now completely out the window!!! Just before leaving Albany, we headed to the National Park and saw the Natural Bridge, The Gap and the Blowholes. These are all completely natural sights that have formed as the sea has eroded the stone. The Natural Bridge is a massive bridge type structure that you can walk across (although Marie was having none of it!!) and it will eventually cave in and form a "gap". The Gap, though, was spectacular - it is a 25m sheer drop to the bottom of the Gap and the waves crash in and spray up the rock. At first, the sea was quite calm, but just before we left it was getting pretty violent and the scenes were amazing.....pretty hypnotic, despite the fact Bhav decided to climb up after Stuart and me and Marie couldn't watch his efforts for fear of "man over-rocks"!!!!
After Albany, we moved onto Esperance - another full day's driving. Passed through some pretty strange sounding towns like Jerramungup (??!!) but made it to Esperance in one piece and with the van still working (!!!). The main point of stopping in Esperance was for Bhav to find somewhere with Foxtel so he could watch the Spurs game on Sunday night - alas Esperance does not receive Foxtel. Therefore we are going to move on tomorrow. However, this morning (after getting out of bed at 6.15am to phone work friends....bear in mind, Bhav was yakking on about Harvey Wallbangers til 2am and I left him in the van feeling "very sick indeed" this morning@), I went on a mini cruise of the islands surrounding Esperance. They are a collection of approx 250 islands called the Archipelago of Recherche and they have Eagles, Seals and sealions inhabiting them. After a tour of one of the harbours on a glass bottomed boat (really good - thoroughly reccomended), I am now back in Esperance town, with a red face due to lack of suncream!!!!
Anyhow, sorry that this update is so brief, but this computer is really slow and I am trying to get all my mailing done in an hour. Tomorrow we set off on our trek along the Nullabor - for those not in the know, this has to be one of the most boring roads ever - nothing to see, although it claims to have the longest straight stretch of road anywhere (something like 100km). After a 2200 trip across the Nullabor, we will arrive in Adelaide on Friday to celebrate Marie's birthday. As you can tell it's a long trip, and we don't anticipate much civilisation, so my next mail won't be for a week or so!!
Western Australia has been great - absolutely massive thus spending 2 months here to explore it, but our experiences have been great and we'll be sad to leave. But roll on the East coast and that Sydney bridge......I'm ready for it!!! First stop after Adelaide though, is Ayers Rock and Alice Springs....we're hoping to get a balloon ride over the Rock, should be fab.
Well, take care everyone and speak to you in about a week - keep those mails coming in the meantime though!!
love, JULIAxx
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