One more treat

Day 299

"Meadows of Heaven"

I'm in Coral Bay again! After nearly 2 years since I missed those bloody whalesharks and got the 3-year voucher card for free tour, I returned...and paradise has not looked better. Coral Bay is still totally unspoilt small little hidden gem in northwest corner of Australia. Temperature is around +35 during day and dropping to comfortable +20 during night.

Ok, but more rave(and pics) about Coral Bay on next entry, lets go back to Pemberton briefly. I noticed that I completely forgot to say what I did there...well, what can you do in small cillage with population of 590 and main economics timber. Thats right, climb a tree and drink at the pub :-) Here is the tree I climbed...

..pretty damn big btw. 61m in total and regarding safety...everyone climbs at his/her own risk but climb like that would have never been allowed to public in pussy countries like Finland ;-)

After Pemberton it was time for Margaret River, my last wine region I was about to explore on this trip.

So far Marlborough in New Zealand has easily been the best with Central Otago - also New Zealand - coming as runner-up. I was hoping that Margaret River would be able to push bloody Kiwis to 2nd place and while it made pretty strong case, after dust settled, I would have to place Margaret River 2nd behind Marlborough.

Phenomenal wines, but I think Marlborough had slightly better consistency and better value for money. For example Leeuwin Estate in Margaret Ruiver boasts to have highest rated Chardonnay in Southern Hemisphere. Yes, it was good but price tag of 89 Australian dollars is not what I would be ready to pay for it. Then again Saint Clair in Marlborough had world's most rewarded Sauvignon Blanc and guess what they charge for bottle? 30 NZ dollars(=23 Australian dollars). Saint Clair could charge as much as 50-60 NZD per bottle but they still keep the price low, gotta respect that.

Best wines of the region: Cape Mentelle as usual

...and I have to give special nomination to Voyager and the lunch they served us there. Now, how often can backpacker enjoy something like this?!?!?

...easily the best meal I have had in past 10 months :-)

After Margaret River my plan was to stop for 1 night in Busselton and walk the longest Jetty in Southern Hemisphere(2.1km long). But...as I got to Busselton and went to the jetty I was greeted only by this sign. Bugger!

So no walk in the jetty. Since it was R-Posse's birthday I decided to honor it by having good old fashion Kalsarikannit :-) ...well, tbh I walked around in Busselton and while the town has more residents than for example Esperance or Denmark, it didn't have even one decent pub.

From Busselton it was one night stopover in Perth, grabbed my new passport from sub-consulate there(now I'm seriously running out of fresh ideas to stay here longer and not go back to Finland) and after that exhilarating 17h bus journey(1200km) to Coral Bay where I arrived at 3am this morning without any sleep. Oh well, I have plenty of time to sleep after this is done. Tomorrow Manta Rays, then whalesharks, then...

Denmark...no, not the one in Europe

Day 292

"Flowers wither
Tresures stay hidden
Until I see
The first star of fall"

Was going to write this entry originally on my last day in Denmark. Well, that didn't work out because of huge thunderstorm which cut off all power from town. After that I went to Pemberton for 1 night(had to switch to Margaret River bus in Pemberton), but in Pemberton I did something I have not done once in past 292 days...I walked out.

Ok, I have stayed in many horrible hostels during my time here, but none of them was comparable to the dump that was Pemberton. Place was utterly disgusting in every sense. It was dirty, it smelled like combination of shit and mould, people living there were regular workers who kept drinking and didn't know that human beings can shower themselfs occasionally, toilet had trash bin overflowing with used toiletpapers(I kid you not, I couldn't understand or believe it myself), etc etc. Worst thing was that hostel was only hostel in Pemberton so their prices were ripoff! So I did only thing any sensible human being would do and walked out to nearest motel and grabbed a room for 80 dollars.

Thus, entry comes now in Margaret River where I am staying next 3 days enjoying wines, beaches and great weather.

Speaking of weather, winter is now closer here than summer but it certainly doesn't feel like it. Even locals are saying that weather has been unusually good and warm considering its getting late Autumn. Excluding thunderstorm in Denmark, weather in Albany, Denmark, Pemberton and now Margaret River has been outstanding. Hardly any clouds and temperature close to +30, love it!

So where was I...? Last entry was from Esperance so from there I headed to Albany in a comfortable 6h coach journey. Only stayed in Albany for 2 days, technically only 1 full day since coach arrived there quite late in evening. Albany is funny place. 400km north is Perth which statistically has 300 sunny days in a year, Albany has statistically 300 rainy days a year. Luckily I got one of those 65 sunny days, rented a bike and drove 30km to see some of rugged coastline and natural wonders near Albany.

So in total I cycled little over 60km, no wonder I was quite sleepy already at 8pm :-)

Next I headed to Denmark, small holiday town and hippie community about an hour from Albany. Denmark is also known for its amazing wines. It's truly hidden gem among wine regions in Oz. Not many know about it and they produce some of the best wines in country. Other attraction in Denmark is it's amazing beach, called Ocean Beach.

Hostel I stayed was nice little house with relaxing family atmosphere so we all spent most of the day together in the beach trying desperately learn how to surf...didn't work out at all for me :-(

21 days left now which is exactly 3 weeks. 1 week from now I will hit the paradise again for 1 more treat before I really need to move my thoughts back to home and Finland. Weird...days are constantly getting shorter here, but when I get to Finland, days will be so much longer...

Esperance

Day 287

"Take the road less traveled by,
Leave the city of fools."


Western Australia, I sit in this gorgeous 5km beach. Sky is blue, water is turqoise, sand is white silica sand and temperature closing 30. I look around and...one question pops into mind, where is everybody?

That is generally a question most tourists would ask in Western Australia. It's paradise, but there is no one here. You can have big 10 mile beaches all for yourself from sunrise to sunset. Some say you need people around you to share experiences. Well, I prefer to have these experiences without 100 screaming british teenagers who flock the east coast of Oz. West coast is my paradise and I'm glad backpackers haven't found it yet.

Past 5 days I have now spent in Esperance, little holiday township on southwest coast. Esperance was actually just voted as 2nd best holiday town in whole Australia beating popular tourist towns like Broome and Byron Bay(winner was also small fairly unknown place in NSW).

This town is not for duracell bunnies allthough there is stuff to do here, but mostly days are spent in one of the several stunning beaches this town has to offer relaxing and recharging batteries.

...or hanging around in Tanker Jetty watching Sammy The Sea Lion showing off.


Funny incident happened few days ago...it was saturday and I rented a bicycle from my hostel. Just as I was putting on my bike helmet I caught a glimpse of something red inside there. I looked more carefully and...it was Redback spider. Now, we are talking about world's 2nd most venomous spider here(most venomous being Funnelweb mostly found in east coast of Australia). If this would have happened to me 9 months ago I would have freaked out and had mild heartattack, but...I guess I have just gotten way too used to everyday dangers and abseiling spiders that I just started to poke it a bit to see if it was alive...yup, it was alive :-) Gave the helmet to hostel owner who cleaned it, put it on my head and on to the road without thinking too much about it.

I did go diving the other day as well. It was my dive number 19 and I think it was first time I didn't really enjoy the dive. No worries, when I started diving they told us that there will be dives I will not enjoy, its certain. I guess I have been lucky to have 18 dives I have enjoyed so far and only 1 dive I didn't. One of the problems with the dive was that I got overdose of CO2 from my air tank(I think) which results in massive headache. It didn't last long though but it was painful for 30mins.

What else? Saturday night was also big party night in town so I went to check towns only nightclub with couple of girls from hostel. Its funny...I always end up spending evenings with bunch of girls being only guy among them. Not that I am complaining hehe. It was ok night, crowd way too young for me though(19-20).

Tomorrow I'm off to Albany and then down the coast towards Margaret River. I have now booked almost everything I still need to book in coming 4 weeks. Won't give me lot of options to take sidetracks but I think atm I just want to get rest of the trip sorted and then just chill...enjoy time that I still have here without stress, like holiday.

Back in the west

Day 283

"Soon I will be here no more
You'll hear my tale
Through my blood"

This day has special significance. After this day I will only be going to places I have already visited. Kalgoorlie was last "new" destination on this trip. So 1 month left, thanks to insanely strong euro I am well below my budget and now going to familiar sights...it's holiday time :-)

Last sunday I left Adelaide and South Australia. I have little regrets that I gave SA - 3rd biggest state - only 6 days, but it was matter of choice between SA or WA and even though WA is already familiar to me, I still wanted to spend most of the time I have left in WA. Train journey from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie was just as horrible as I was fearing. Benches were incredibly uncomfortable so I couldn't really sleep at all and my arse hurt like hell the next day.

Most of the 26 hours train traveled we crossed area called Nullarbor Plains, which is basically one big limestone where no trees grow. Nullarbor is huge area, twice the size of England and 4 times size of Belgium! During trip we stopped at small service station called Cook.

Cook was peculiar place. Back when Indian Pacific was built 1917 they established town of Cook in middle of Nullarbor next to train line. They planted hundreds of trees and hoped to make an actual city there. They had established a water source by bumping it from underground river 90m below surface. Well, in the end Nullarbor defeated them and now Cook is ghost town with permanent population of 4 people.

Monday evening I finally arrived to Kalgoorlie, headed straight to my hostel and slept for about 12h :-)

Kalgoorlie is mining town, with true frontier and wild west atmosphere. Men working in massive mining pits, going to bar after work to drink beer and in the bar your normal bar staff is replaced by "skimpys", which are seriously hot girls dressed only in underwear. Yes, only in their underwear. To add to this, Kalgoorlie has unusually many working brothels which offer - get this - brothel tours for tourists!

Hehe, because of my backpacker budget I skipped brothels(I did!!) and spent all the evenings at Wild West Saloon drinking local beers and drooling over the skimpys with all the other men. Atmosphere there was so relaxed, skimpys were tons of fun and had absolutely no problem working there and having all the men staring at them. Also there were no security problems there. For some reason Kalgoorlie doesn't attract any tourists, so on both nights I was only tourist in the bar drinking with local miners. Btw. I also learned that it impresses tough guys like miners lot more to tell them that I work in forestry industry cutting down trees, than tell them I work in an office programming software... ;-)

Today I'm heading down to coast again and to Esperance where I last visited December 2006. I can only hope they have forgotten my karaoke performance there...

Kangaroo Island

Day 279

"Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Australia..."

Ok, thats not how John Denver's "Country Roads" originally goes but thats how I feel now. 6h from now I will be in Indian Pacific train heading towards Kalgoorlie, Western Australia through Nullabor Plains. Journey is scheduled to last 26h. Let's hope there are no hiccups since there is absolutely nothing in Nullabor Plains, no towns, no villages, no gas stations, no water sources,...nothing.

I arrived to Adelaide last monday evening. On tuesday I didn't do much, walked around the town which is funny how artificially it has been created. Central city is one mile long and wide square with parks surrounding the square. In center running from south to north is King William Street. All streets running west-east(or east-west) direction end at this street...because nobody is allowed to cross the King, for real! So if street starts from east end it ends at King William Street and on opposite side it gets new street name. Center of all is Victoria square.

Ok, enough about Adelaide, its not really that interesting city. Wednesday morning I headed to Kangaroo Island - third biggest island in Oz - , which is located 15km of the shore about 2h drive from Adelaide. This was to be my last multi-day tour in Australia(most likely) and it was just awesome! Definetly one of the better tours I have had on this trip.

First of all we had only 5 people - myself included - in our tour which I always consider bonus. It's nice to share things with people, but not with 20+ other travelers. Less is better. Second, our guide was fantastic. From all the tour guides I have seen, our guide - Pete - was propably the best. He was fairly young(25) and had lived in Kangaroo Island quite a while so he knew lot of hidden gems in Island that no one else knew about. Third, Kangaroo Island was awesome place. I was expecting lot more developed and populated island, but as it turned out, Kangaroo Island is very sparsely populated with lot of natural wildlife everywhere.

So on our first day it was hot, really hot. Temperature got to +36 in some of the places(and that was in shade!). Heat didn't really bother me, I prefer extreme heat to extreme cold anytime. Basically we drove southern side of the island all day stopping at Australian Sea Lion colony to watch some surfing seals:

They were literally surfing! Check out the boy at the backround in that pic. No wonder they are called "Australian Sea Lions". I jokingly said that next step in their evolution is that male Sea Lions start to bleach their hair...to which Pete replied: "Actually males have white spot on top of their head already". True aussies :-DD

Next stop was also pretty cool, sandboarding at place called Little Sahara. I already did this once in NZ but this time we got boards instead stupid slow sledges so it was lot more fun. Check out this vid of me riding down :-)

After sandboarding and all the sand in our hair and body it was time for refreshing swim at islands gorgeous beaches.

...where I again displayed my amazing acrobatics skills. 32...bah, age is only a number :-)

After swimming in nice subtropical +18 temperature water, we headed to our nightstop in farm. We did night walk around the farm to see some wildlife and hoping to catch some Kangaroo Boxing.

I guess I need to explain a bit...you see male kangaroos basically fight their entire life. Kangaroo is pack animal and in the pack there is always only one dominant male. This dominant male is only one who can mate with the girls. Naturally other kangaroos are not too happy about it, they want to get jiggy with girls as well. Only way for them to get laid is to become dominant male and quoting to words of Ric Flair: "To be the Man, you gotta beat the Man". So males constantly practice their fighting skills through their life. Most the time their boxing match is just practice but looks authentic to anyone watching. They practice and practice until some day they challenge the dominant male.

Well, we didn't see any boxing. Propably because one of the farm's wheat silos had broken and all the wheat was on the ground which ment it was feast time for kangaroos.

Next morning we woke up early. Plan was to head to Kangaroo Island's most famous sight, Remarkable Rocks, at sunrise before any other tourist buses. On way there we suffered minor hiccup...

...but Pete did amazingly fast job and after 25 minutes we were driving again. Even though we missed sunrise we were still easily the first people to see the rocks and were able to spend a good hour or so photographing the place. I was told that after about 10am and up till sunset place has constantly 50-200 tourists which makes taking photos impossible cause all you see is tourists everywhere. Place was actually lot cooler than expected, thanks to Pete again who not only showed me how to climb the rocks...

...but also showed how to take some silly and funny photos around them.

But yes, it was great to be there first and have chance to take pictures of the rocks without anyone spoiling the view.

So the day moved on after that and we went to see some New Zealand Fur Seals...

...Koalas...

...Freaks...

...Pelicans...

...and more beaches...

...until finally we had to say goodbye to each other and head back to boring Adelaide. Where we arrived exhausted at 23:00 in the evening. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow that night.

Next day I headed to walk around town and planned to finish at National Wine Center of Australia. It's only natural that when walking in small town such as Adelaide(800,000 people), that I bump into only person I know in town. So I ran into Anna, british girl from Kangaroo Island tour and we headed together to taste some wines and cheese in wine centre.

Evening I headed out to town and had plans to find nice pub and watch local team Crows battle St Kilda Saints in AFL. Unfortunately friday was some sort of University pub crawl night and town was filled with overly drunk teenagers vomiting left and right...not too appealing so I just went back to hostel and watched the game there, saved me some money though.

I had huge hopes of saturday, it was my Barossa Valley day. Barossa Valley is after all most famous and respected wine region in Australia if not even southern hemisphere. So when wines turned out to be medicore at best, I was disappointed big time. It seems like Barossa Valley is more about quantity and not quality. They produce massive amount of wine and that tends to make them more or less boring. I am sure that there would be nice top quality boutique wineries, but then again in Marlborough New Zealand there wasn't single bad winery. Every single winery there was top notch. Also, I am used to fact that wine regions are usually beautiful areas but not this time. Barossa Valley is just overly dry, lot of abandoned unmaintained buildings and trash all over. Big disappointment, won't be buying any Barossa Valley wines again.

Adelaide. Where does Adelaide rank in my list of capital cities in Oz: Darwin, Perth, Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra. Hehe, so not very well. I really wanted to like this city cause it's just the right size, not too small and not too big either. But...it is just boring and medicore in every standard. Atleast Melbourne had MCG...Adelaide has nothing interesting. Everything is just medicore. Here are some pics I took which in my opinion are very...medicore.

Now I'm off to Western Australia...can't wait to spend some quality time in my favourite State. Next 3 days I'll spend in Kalgoorlie after which I head down to southwest coast and to Esperance where I will spend entire Easter enjoying beaches during day and footy during evenings. :-)