Good-day Mate
Hey everyone! As most of you already know we are now in the Land Down Under - Australia!! And this country does not disappoint. We arrived in Perth and spent the first week in the city centre at the YHA hostel getting everything sorted. Jet-leg kicked us big time here. We met up with Trisha (a girl we met in the Greek Islands) and she showed us a good time touring us around the city. We are extremely grateful! She even helped Sam get a much needed hair appointment. Knowing we had limited time in Western Australia before our flight to Sydney, New South Wales - we decided to do a campervan trip up the coast for 10 days.
We tried to secure a nice campervan that was on sale, but sure enough it was all booked out. Our budget then only allowed - the Hippie Van. Extremely skeptical of "her" with the purple flowers and butterflies, we learned to love "her". We named her Flow and she took us effortlessly up the coast - in style. Realizing on the road she didn't have airbags made us slightly nervous - but luckily nothing happened. The coastal towns were BEAUTIFUL. With teal and turquoise water, bright sun, white sand and coastal cliffs there was enough to keep our eyes excited. We went to the following towns: Cervantes (Nambung National Park), Kalbarri, Denham, Swan Valley and Margaret River.
We also saw our first KANGAROO. After Sam yelled out into the bush before climbing into Flow that the kangaroos needed to come out of hiding - one did!! It jumped out in front of the unmoving van and posed for the camera for at least 15 seconds. He then hopped across the road to the adjoining crossroad and stopped again looking at us inquisitively. Unfortunately all other kangaroos (and there were many) we laid eyes on had fallen victim to vehicle traffic. Poor critters. At another point in our trip we saw a lizard on the road who had been hit - we went back to try and save him but his neck had been broken. That was a massive downer on our day. RIP little lizard.
We also were lucky enough to see WILD DOLPHINS at Monkey Mia (not far from Denham - our last coastal town stop). The dolphins have been coming in for the few free fish from the locals for decades. When we were there, some of the dolphins had just had new babies - one only a week old! Adorable. We were also each selected from the crowd of spectators to feed a fish to a dolphin. It was really an awesome experience. We loved it so much that we went back the second morning to see the whole interaction again.
Our animal interactions did not end here! We saw sharks and sea turtles in their natural habitat swimming in the bay from a cliff top boardwalk. We visited a Ocean Park where an experienced Marine Biologist showed us much of the local marine life and pointed out some of the most venomous and poisonous fish. He even fed Lemon and Sand Sharks. They are incredibly graceful gliding through the water. AND at our last campsite during dinner we were visited by the river ducks. After Mike feeding them a couple pieces of bread we soon had more than 8 ducks and atleast 6 bright green parrots (parakeets). We even had them eating out of our hands!! So exciting! They stuck around, sitting on Flow and chirping away at us. We packed our bags in the morning with them around, with the ducks even drinking out of our pot of water. It was really fun! We spent our days seeing the free sites, frequenting the beaches and watching the surfers and sailers. Stove top dinners and sunscreen were a major part of our days. Isn't it RIDICULOUS that Australia - with NO ozone doesn't sell sunscreen above SPF 30. We have been wearing this everyday and reapplying and still have some intense tans in the working.
We are now done our wonderful roadtrip and spending the day at the airport waiting for our flight to Sydney - where we will spend our holidays.
We may be broke but we are two of the happiest and most grateful people in the world.
Who also miss everyone back home and wishing they were here to enjoy this amazing journey with us.
Love you all
xoxox
Hey everyone! As most of you already know we are now in the Land Down Under - Australia!! And this country does not disappoint. We arrived in Perth and spent the first week in the city centre at the YHA hostel getting everything sorted. Jet-leg kicked us big time here. We met up with Trisha (a girl we met in the Greek Islands) and she showed us a good time touring us around the city. We are extremely grateful! She even helped Sam get a much needed hair appointment. Knowing we had limited time in Western Australia before our flight to Sydney, New South Wales - we decided to do a campervan trip up the coast for 10 days.
We tried to secure a nice campervan that was on sale, but sure enough it was all booked out. Our budget then only allowed - the Hippie Van. Extremely skeptical of "her" with the purple flowers and butterflies, we learned to love "her". We named her Flow and she took us effortlessly up the coast - in style. Realizing on the road she didn't have airbags made us slightly nervous - but luckily nothing happened. The coastal towns were BEAUTIFUL. With teal and turquoise water, bright sun, white sand and coastal cliffs there was enough to keep our eyes excited. We went to the following towns: Cervantes (Nambung National Park), Kalbarri, Denham, Swan Valley and Margaret River.
We also saw our first KANGAROO. After Sam yelled out into the bush before climbing into Flow that the kangaroos needed to come out of hiding - one did!! It jumped out in front of the unmoving van and posed for the camera for at least 15 seconds. He then hopped across the road to the adjoining crossroad and stopped again looking at us inquisitively. Unfortunately all other kangaroos (and there were many) we laid eyes on had fallen victim to vehicle traffic. Poor critters. At another point in our trip we saw a lizard on the road who had been hit - we went back to try and save him but his neck had been broken. That was a massive downer on our day. RIP little lizard.
We also were lucky enough to see WILD DOLPHINS at Monkey Mia (not far from Denham - our last coastal town stop). The dolphins have been coming in for the few free fish from the locals for decades. When we were there, some of the dolphins had just had new babies - one only a week old! Adorable. We were also each selected from the crowd of spectators to feed a fish to a dolphin. It was really an awesome experience. We loved it so much that we went back the second morning to see the whole interaction again.
Our animal interactions did not end here! We saw sharks and sea turtles in their natural habitat swimming in the bay from a cliff top boardwalk. We visited a Ocean Park where an experienced Marine Biologist showed us much of the local marine life and pointed out some of the most venomous and poisonous fish. He even fed Lemon and Sand Sharks. They are incredibly graceful gliding through the water. AND at our last campsite during dinner we were visited by the river ducks. After Mike feeding them a couple pieces of bread we soon had more than 8 ducks and atleast 6 bright green parrots (parakeets). We even had them eating out of our hands!! So exciting! They stuck around, sitting on Flow and chirping away at us. We packed our bags in the morning with them around, with the ducks even drinking out of our pot of water. It was really fun! We spent our days seeing the free sites, frequenting the beaches and watching the surfers and sailers. Stove top dinners and sunscreen were a major part of our days. Isn't it RIDICULOUS that Australia - with NO ozone doesn't sell sunscreen above SPF 30. We have been wearing this everyday and reapplying and still have some intense tans in the working.
We are now done our wonderful roadtrip and spending the day at the airport waiting for our flight to Sydney - where we will spend our holidays.
We may be broke but we are two of the happiest and most grateful people in the world.
Who also miss everyone back home and wishing they were here to enjoy this amazing journey with us.
Love you all
xoxox
