Updated on 1st October 2001

The first day in Perth was spent doing some necessary odd jobs, like changing flights, getting booster shots and most importantly some warm clothes as the local high temp was a chilly 18C !

Rottnest Island, just off the coast of Perth, was where we saw our first marsupial - the 'Quokka'. We spent some time cycling round the island, it was a bit too cold to swim or snorkel on any of the fabulous beaches. Returned via Freemantle where we spent a night to suss out the scene and the local markets. Picked up our rental car the next morning in Perth.

We spent the next two weeks, doing a crazy amount of kilometerage (sic) trying to get all the high spots covered. Drove south to Margaret River and did a winery tour at 'Leeuwin Estate', then to the 'Bootleg Brewery' for some ale; their slogan 'an oasis of beer in a desert of Wine'. Beautiful countryside and beaches/breaks (for all the surfers!). There are some pretty amazing caves around the area we visited one, Jewel Cave, which opens up to a huge cavity and goes 42 meters under ground with some weird and wonderful formations.

We carried on south to Augusta to see some whales. We were lucky enough to spot both whales and dolphins from shore, however we decided to take a boat out the next day to see them up close. Well as close as we could get as they kept swimming in the opposite direction as fast as their giant pec fins would carry them.

The southwest corner of Western Australia is famous for its huge hardwood forests - Jarrah, Tingle and Karri trees - they are a type of Eucalyptus and grow to 60 to 80 metres. Tingle trees over time buttress their trunks at the base and eventually, aided by fires, they hollow out. These can be big enough to let a car drive through! We stayed in a town called Walpole, from there we were able to climb the Gloucester tree (Paul), 61 meters high - it used to be a fire look out; we did the 'tree top' walk in a Karri forest on a specially built walkway high in the canopy.

Battling the cold, we continued on to Albany, a nice old colonial town. From here we headed back up north hoping for some warmer weather, stopping along the way to climb Castle Rock in the Porongurup National park. Beyond Perth our first main stop of interest was Kalbarri, a quiet seaside town near the national park, which has some spectacular river gorges with good walking trails. Continuing north we next stopped off to meet the famous dolphins of Monkey Mia. There's a good newly opened visitor centre. As predicted 3 dolphins appeared for feeding in the morning and they quickly left when all the fish were gone!

Next stop Coral bay (Ningaloo Reef). The weather was really good here as we had entered the tropics again. We both had ear infections so we couldn�t go diving. We did a bit of snorkelling and viewing the reef through a glass bottomed boat which was fantastic. Its time to head south again we make a stop in Cervantes to see the Pinnacles for sunset and sunrise. Return to Perth, after approx. 5,000KM driving.

We fly to our next stop, Ayers rock, or as it is known nowadays, Uluru. We stayed in the Y.H.A in the resort town of Yulara, a purpose built place to keep the impact of tourism away from the rock, itself. We saw the 'Olgas' (Kata Tjuta) a rocky outcrop 60km away, as well as the rock itself. We respected the wishes of the local aboriginal guardians and refrain from climbing the rock but instead do the base walk around it. We were in the minority as we watched a trail of ant-like tourists stretch up the side in the distance.

We fly on to tropical Queensland's tourist town, Cairns. 'Between the reef and the rain forest' as the tourist slogan goes. We visit both, snorkelling the great barrier reef and visiting the Daintree rainforest near Cape Tribulation as well as a Night walk in the forest near Cape Trib. Margaret enjoyed her yoga on the beach. We saw some crocs on the Daintree River on the way back.

We bought a Greyhound bus pass to get us to Melbourne. Our first leg was from Cairns to Townsville where we caught the ferry to Magnetic Island. Cousin Frances Quane lives there and kindly put us up for a good few nights. We had a great time bush walking, swimming, snorkelling, relaxing, throwing boomerangs and enjoying some fine home cooking.

On to Airle beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday islands. Did a fun cruise around for a few days combined with a couple of dives and a night dive. Then on to great Keppel Island near Rockhampton for some more bushwalking, snorkelling and lazing on the beach. From there to Hervey bay and Fraser Island. It�s the largest Sand Island in the world and all access is via 4wd vehicles. Ours was an 11-seater land rover defender soft top - great! Well at least when the sun is out and it�s not too windy. We do a great tour of the island, seeing all the lakes, creeks, rainforest, beach headlands and knockout scenery. After this 3 day trip we did a whale watching trip where we had 2 curious humpback whales being really friendly and checking our boat as well as "pec slapping" trying to soak us with water.

On to Noosa heads where we stay in the woods near the river and spend a day paddling (badly) up river to a lovely historic local pub for lunch and then paddling down again (even worse) afterwards. More bus to Brisbane where we spend the afternoon and evening before leaving for Byron Bay. There we did another scuba dive and next day hiked up Mt Warning in record time before catching a 23-hr overnight bus to Melbourne. There we were the guests of Deirdre, Michael and Annie.

We saw lots of the sights of Melbourne including the city trams, St. Kilda's, the Yarra River, the Botanic gardens. On day trip we drove to Sovereign Hill, an old goldmining town/museum and the next day to the Great Ocean Road, which is famous for scenic coastline with cliffs, surf beaches national parks and sea cliff features and shipwrecks.

We left Melbourne for Sydney and took in some sights on the way, Wilson�s promontory, a beautiful National Park where we did some Bushwalking. We also saw the Lakes, 90 Mile Beaches, Snowy mountains and Tumut Hydro Power station on the way to Sydney.

In Sydney we have taken in the sights while staying with Paul�s' friends - Ken, Shantie and little Chaia in the northern beaches suburb of Dee Why. We have seen the Harbour, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We have enjoyed the views from the revolving restuarant on the top of the Australia Square building. We have seen Hyde Park and the Botanic Gardens, Darling Harbour and Neutral Bay. We have seen the stars and planets from the observatory and watched the surfers on the point at Dee Why. We saw the Blue Mountains from the road to Wisemans Ferry where we picnicked on a spring bank holiday weekend. We have eaten well in multicultural Sydney (and Australia in general), Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian as well as great home cooking! Looking forward to doing lots of outdoors activities in NZ where we go to next to work it all off!