By Steve Catanach
After a short 7-hour flight we touched down in Perth, Western Australia, one of the worlds most isolated capital cities. Being the size of Western Europe and with a mere 2 million people, it is little wonder that the state is wonderfully unspoilt with virtually no tourism development.
The main reason for our journey was a visit to The Stacey's: hostess with the mostess Jan and Ray, a 60s boxing legend and crooner. Living in Wannaroo, 25km from Perth, provided a good base for the city as well as a lovely rural retreat, complete with backyard swimming pool! Staying with the ex-pats answer to Delia Smith meant that there was many a homemade cake or wholesome meal to be eaten so we made sure we never ventured too far!!!
Perth itself is a great vibrant city, basking in sunshine that seems never to stop, the climate being its best asset. Buzzing yet relaxed, there's no better pastime than catching the rays on the hilltops of Kings Park, much needed after our east coast adventure. Kings Park is beautiful and serene with the springiest and best kempt lawn imaginable, with beautiful botanical gardens complete with the most spectacular views of the city centre. Naturally whilst in "laid back" Perth we also made obligatory visits to Fremantle, with its quaint olde world cafe strip, and Cottesloe, the latter of which was awash with torrential downpours.
Michelle, disappointed at having only spotted two snakes in the Australian wild (one of which was dead), was soon in for a surprise. "Steve! Steve!" Janet
screeched early one morning. Throwing on my clothes at lightning speed I ran to her rescue, only to discover that a deadly brown snake was in the house! Luckily for me she had already locked it in the cupboard by this time. There it remained until two Steve Irwin lookalikes came to our rescue later that afternoon. Crikey, that was close!
With full fat reserves (thanks Janet!) and a newly hired Britz campervan, an upgrade to the good old hippie, it was one again time to hit the road. Knowing it had to be a bit of a whirlwind tour, covering over 2000km in 6 days, we spent the first day driving 600km east, our first stop being Coolgardie. A dusty old town, the empty streets were wide enough to turn an old camel train. In 1892 shortly after gold was first struck upon, the town reached a population of 16,000. Today it remains a ghost town, but a welcome toilet break before heading to our destination of Kalgoorlie.
Kalgoorlie is a raw frontier town at the epicentre of the richest goldfields in Australia. Hot and parched we hit two of the wild west style pubs for our first glimpse of the 'skimpies': scantily clad barmaids wearing little more than a bra and g-string, pulling the amber nectar for the thirsty miners [they're braver than I am, says Michelle].
After a morning visit to the very interesting Goldfields Museum (boy i wish we could have sneaked out with one of the gold nuggets on display) and a first hand view of the SuperPit, a huge open cut gold mine measuring 3km by 1km and 300m deep, it was time to venture south for a sunrise visit to Cape Le Grand,
near Esperance. Cape Le Grand, with its blindingly beautiful silky white beaches, backed by aquamarine seas, did not disappoint, despite being a ten year wait for me to visit! With the water barely warmer than a polar bears bath and too cold for a dip we settled for porridge with a view, before partaking in a 2-hour walk from Lucky Bay to Thistle Cove, the latter of which threw up an extremely large whale bone (not so lucky for the whale!).
After driving along the Great Ocean Drive, WAs answer to the The Great Ocean Road (though nowhere near as scenic), we travelled a long and mostly featureless 500km, stopping overnight in Ravensthorpe, a one horse town with emm.. just a pub and fortunately a caravan site, before arriving in Albany for a visit to Whale World. Not quite the Aussie version of Sea World with acrobatic Orcas, Whale World is a former whaling station turned museum. It has remained almost untouched since the day it was closed (minus the blood and gore), the photos on display providing a stomach churning glimpse into this barbaric trade that existed until as recently as 1978 - shocking! A couple we met later on our journey mentioned that they could still smell the decaying stench when they visited the site some 25 years ago.
Heading a little further west we stopped off at William Bay National Park, or more specifically the magical green pools with mirror glass sea, for a sunset dinner before turning in for the night at Peaceful Bay.
A morning drive to Walpole-Nornalup National Parked proved beautiful, despite the unsuccessful whale watching, before stumbling upon D'Entrecasteaux NP which was a real treat. One of WAs untouched, unspoilt gems. Such coastal beauty in one place and a photographers dream. And what better way to end the day than an afternoon Emu. Not the feathered variety but an ice cold WA bitter. Ripper!
Winding country roads, surrounded by forests of tall karri trees and quaint timber towns took us to Busselton, where we walked along the much photographed (and rather rickety) jetty, before heading back to Perth via the colourful, leafy town of Bunbury.
Having given the van a quick wash, a desperate attempt to remove the signs of our gravel track driving, which was completely banned in the vehicle and binning the much needed map, we got lost en route to the Perth depot and, rather typically, missed the return deadline. Luckily, returning the van first thing the next morning, the staff were kind enough to let us off the $150 late fee - luck was on our side!
With our two month all Aussie adventure almost over, the last 2 days in Perth were spent dusting down the backpacks, swimming in Janet and Ray's gorgeous pool and eating them out of house and home! Western Australia is, in my opinion, totally underrated and has by far the best beaches in the whole of Australia, rather like a hundred Whitehaven beaches! With our journey to Singapore just around the corner, it goes without saying a special thanks to Dazza, Toni and John, Peta and, last but not least, a sad farewell to Janet and Ray, the latter of whom serenaded us with some 60s tunes on his guitar. Goodbye to our second home.
After a short 7-hour flight we touched down in Perth, Western Australia, one of the worlds most isolated capital cities. Being the size of Western Europe and with a mere 2 million people, it is little wonder that the state is wonderfully unspoilt with virtually no tourism development.
The main reason for our journey was a visit to The Stacey's: hostess with the mostess Jan and Ray, a 60s boxing legend and crooner. Living in Wannaroo, 25km from Perth, provided a good base for the city as well as a lovely rural retreat, complete with backyard swimming pool! Staying with the ex-pats answer to Delia Smith meant that there was many a homemade cake or wholesome meal to be eaten so we made sure we never ventured too far!!!
Perth itself is a great vibrant city, basking in sunshine that seems never to stop, the climate being its best asset. Buzzing yet relaxed, there's no better pastime than catching the rays on the hilltops of Kings Park, much needed after our east coast adventure. Kings Park is beautiful and serene with the springiest and best kempt lawn imaginable, with beautiful botanical gardens complete with the most spectacular views of the city centre. Naturally whilst in "laid back" Perth we also made obligatory visits to Fremantle, with its quaint olde world cafe strip, and Cottesloe, the latter of which was awash with torrential downpours.
Michelle, disappointed at having only spotted two snakes in the Australian wild (one of which was dead), was soon in for a surprise. "Steve! Steve!" Janet
screeched early one morning. Throwing on my clothes at lightning speed I ran to her rescue, only to discover that a deadly brown snake was in the house! Luckily for me she had already locked it in the cupboard by this time. There it remained until two Steve Irwin lookalikes came to our rescue later that afternoon. Crikey, that was close!With full fat reserves (thanks Janet!) and a newly hired Britz campervan, an upgrade to the good old hippie, it was one again time to hit the road. Knowing it had to be a bit of a whirlwind tour, covering over 2000km in 6 days, we spent the first day driving 600km east, our first stop being Coolgardie. A dusty old town, the empty streets were wide enough to turn an old camel train. In 1892 shortly after gold was first struck upon, the town reached a population of 16,000. Today it remains a ghost town, but a welcome toilet break before heading to our destination of Kalgoorlie.
Kalgoorlie is a raw frontier town at the epicentre of the richest goldfields in Australia. Hot and parched we hit two of the wild west style pubs for our first glimpse of the 'skimpies': scantily clad barmaids wearing little more than a bra and g-string, pulling the amber nectar for the thirsty miners [they're braver than I am, says Michelle].
After a morning visit to the very interesting Goldfields Museum (boy i wish we could have sneaked out with one of the gold nuggets on display) and a first hand view of the SuperPit, a huge open cut gold mine measuring 3km by 1km and 300m deep, it was time to venture south for a sunrise visit to Cape Le Grand,
near Esperance. Cape Le Grand, with its blindingly beautiful silky white beaches, backed by aquamarine seas, did not disappoint, despite being a ten year wait for me to visit! With the water barely warmer than a polar bears bath and too cold for a dip we settled for porridge with a view, before partaking in a 2-hour walk from Lucky Bay to Thistle Cove, the latter of which threw up an extremely large whale bone (not so lucky for the whale!). After driving along the Great Ocean Drive, WAs answer to the The Great Ocean Road (though nowhere near as scenic), we travelled a long and mostly featureless 500km, stopping overnight in Ravensthorpe, a one horse town with emm.. just a pub and fortunately a caravan site, before arriving in Albany for a visit to Whale World. Not quite the Aussie version of Sea World with acrobatic Orcas, Whale World is a former whaling station turned museum. It has remained almost untouched since the day it was closed (minus the blood and gore), the photos on display providing a stomach churning glimpse into this barbaric trade that existed until as recently as 1978 - shocking! A couple we met later on our journey mentioned that they could still smell the decaying stench when they visited the site some 25 years ago.
Heading a little further west we stopped off at William Bay National Park, or more specifically the magical green pools with mirror glass sea, for a sunset dinner before turning in for the night at Peaceful Bay.
A morning drive to Walpole-Nornalup National Parked proved beautiful, despite the unsuccessful whale watching, before stumbling upon D'Entrecasteaux NP which was a real treat. One of WAs untouched, unspoilt gems. Such coastal beauty in one place and a photographers dream. And what better way to end the day than an afternoon Emu. Not the feathered variety but an ice cold WA bitter. Ripper!
Winding country roads, surrounded by forests of tall karri trees and quaint timber towns took us to Busselton, where we walked along the much photographed (and rather rickety) jetty, before heading back to Perth via the colourful, leafy town of Bunbury.
Having given the van a quick wash, a desperate attempt to remove the signs of our gravel track driving, which was completely banned in the vehicle and binning the much needed map, we got lost en route to the Perth depot and, rather typically, missed the return deadline. Luckily, returning the van first thing the next morning, the staff were kind enough to let us off the $150 late fee - luck was on our side!
With our two month all Aussie adventure almost over, the last 2 days in Perth were spent dusting down the backpacks, swimming in Janet and Ray's gorgeous pool and eating them out of house and home! Western Australia is, in my opinion, totally underrated and has by far the best beaches in the whole of Australia, rather like a hundred Whitehaven beaches! With our journey to Singapore just around the corner, it goes without saying a special thanks to Dazza, Toni and John, Peta and, last but not least, a sad farewell to Janet and Ray, the latter of whom serenaded us with some 60s tunes on his guitar. Goodbye to our second home.
