The Southwest- part 4

john and i had intended to have a nice dinner together that night (it was our holidays after all) but alas, when you are in hippy-ville, things close on mondays at around 3pm.

denmark is probably what margaret river was about 15 years ago. small and quaint, it has a distinctive hippy flavour (yes, yes, go ahead and comment...) but has enough cool stuff in the village for you to know that it's going somewhere. we were immediately hooked on the area. close to the bush and the beach, not nearly as hot as perth, it's hard to go wrong.

our first day in denmark involved a bit of backtracking down the highway from whence we came. we wanted to visit the tree-top walk in the valley of the giants. the giants they refer to are the karri trees. the walk is an 80m loop above ground (highest height of 40m), and was designed to keep people off the forrest floor. it was pretty neat. there was also a short walk on a planked path through some of the trees, and i mean that literally. we walked through some of the trees. it's interesting because the trees hollow out at the base, the allow for a more stable rooting. australia does things differently all the time...

on our way home from the tree top walk, we stopped in at a meadery. we learned about honey bees and john learned about honey wine (or mead) and other such delicacies. we also found a small shop selling delicious homemade sauces and salad dressings...conveniently located at the toffee factory...

the next day was a bit warmer, so we decided to get to green's pool, a rather well known beach in the area. it gets it's name because it almost feels like it's a man made pool (only freezing, salty and slightly rough in the wind). it's a small bay surrounded by rocks, allowing the water to be calm (usually) and protected. we sunned ourselves on the rocks and dipped into the turqoise-green water to cool off.

my most disappointing moment of the trip also occurred in denmark... clients of mine had mentioned that the bakery in denmark won the "best pie of 2007" at the perth royal show, which means it's really, really good. i pointed out i was a (hippy) vego, and she said "oh, that's fine. it's a veggie pie". mmmmmmm. WRONG! the pie was a broccoli and cauliflower pie, which sounded promising. but upon warming it up and cutting it open, i realized that in fact, it was essentially excessively creamy cream of broccoli soup, tucked into a small pie crust and sold for a lot of money. i ate about a 1/4 before i could take no more. "best pie of 2007"? methinks not!

ok, but honestly, the trip to the southwest was wonderful. too short, of course, but are any holidays long enough? the next day we packed up our car again and headed back to perth, where we would see ellen off to canada the next AM.

john and i have already discussed our return to the denmark region. if we had enough money, we'd buy some land because i'm pretty sure it'll boom soon, but alas, we are penniless hippies. instead, we'll go camping :)

xo

The Southwest- part 3

we left early on monday morning for the drive to denmark. and actually managed to leave on time (incredible feat for a car full of macphees!). we had no idea how long the drive and stops would take, but we needed to check in at the visitors centre by 5pm to get our keys. we decided not to risk it.

our first stop on the drive was to another vineyard: random valley. it is an organic winery we had been told to stop at by one of john's clients. they only recently opened their cellar door. we were glad we stopped when we discovered that it a- had fantastic wine (even i found a good one!) and b- it is a completely sustainable project. the winery received a government grant and built it's cellar door to funtion entirely on green energy. the walls of the cellar are filled with wine bottles, which are filled with water. it's a complicated process, but essentially warm/cool air gets filtered through at appropriate times to help keep the water temp reasonable, which therefore keeps the cellar door at 20 degrees all year. not to shabby.

our next stop along the route was in pemberton. we first had some lunch in a park, then headed to our next challenge... climbing a 60 meter karri tree. yup. how fun. there is one slightly taller tree to climb (68 meters) but it was further off the track. arriving on site, john's mom immediately went for a walk through the trees as she didn't want to watch us clamber up the tree. and not to blame her, really. you climb up on small stakes that have been planted in the tree (ages ago), with nothing but a bit of wire/mesh to one side. you circle around the tree, and if someone is coming down/up, you just share the tiny stake with them and hope it holds. but the view from the top! amazing. it overlooks a lot of greenery and farms, but it was neat because we were above the trees. the gloucester tree (as it's known) was used as one of 8 "fire watch" trees back in the day. it was a lot of fun, though the nervous little girl climbing up ahead of me and down before me, kind of stressed things out a bit.

back on solid land, we continued on until we hit denmark, got our keys and settled into our rental. it didn't look so hot from the outside, but was remarkably nice inside and only a short walk into the village....

The Southwest- part 2

after a chill day in margaret river, john and i woke the next morning and decided to do a hike up the north part of the cape-to-cape trail leading out of gracetown. it was quite a picturesque hike, high above the rocky shore on our way north. when we decided to turn around, we headed down to the shore and clambered over rocks the entire way home. made it a bit more exciting.

that afternoon it was a bit overcast and drizzly, so we all headed off to see the caves. there are 3 major caves that are open to tourists near margaret river. being in a bit of a time crunch, we decided to only attempt one and chose lake cave. it was a good choice.

the entry into lake cave involves going down some 300 stairs into the doline (which is essentially part of the cave thousands of years ago, but fell open and is now a large hole like structure). we met our guide at the base of the doline and continued the walk down into the cave. the entry way was probably 3/4 meter wide and required you to duck as you walked in (even me!). but it was worth it. the cave is simply stunning. my pictures will do no justice, but it was amazing. the water in lake cave is steadily decreasing, and they expect that it'll be dry in 20 years or so. the lighting in the caves was exceptionally well done and emphasized all the neat bits the guide was discussing. what i find particularly interesting is that this cave was discovered by a man, who rapelled down the doline by attaching a rope to a tree, then going into the tiny crevasse on his own, with nothing but some candles to light the way, in chest deep water (at the time). goodness! i would not be so brave.

the next day, we had a bit of sun, so after heading into margaret river again for some errands, we hit the beach for a few hours. but before leaving the region, we had to hit up a few more vineyards and an oil factory. all were successful ventures and we have aquired a large amount of wine and some delicious oils because of this.

on monday morning, we packed up the car again and headed due east for denmark (no, not the country...)

The Southwest- part 1

the week of 10-17 january, the macphees, ellen, john and i packed up our (rented) subaru wagon and headed down to the southwest. and only 30 mins behind the scheduled departure time, which is actually 1.5 hours early in macphee time...

our drive to the south had us stop in bunbury for lunch - a rather non-exciting town about 1 hour south of perth. it is apparently known for it's "beautiful beaches" but i think between the 5 of us, we have seen some of the most spectacular beaches out there, so it was nothing special. it did however, provide us with a location for lunch.

we continued the journey via busselton, famous for the ironman (and 1/2 ironman) and it's 2km long jetty. the jetty was actually the reason we stopped by. at 1.9km long, it is the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. a small chunk of it got broken off during a major hurricane a long time ago, but the rest of it still stands. it costs money to walk it, but you feel like it's ok because well, it's kind of neat. you can pay more to do the "underwater observatory" to look at fish and such under the jetty, but we opted not. having snorkelled with the best of them, we didn't think we'd be missing much. i will point out though, that the jetty does have a small trolley that runs the length, for people who are "unable" to walk. thankfully it wasn't working the day we went. at about 1.5 meters wide in some areas, it would've been a tight squeeze to say the least.

from busselton, we headed to our final destination for the first few days of the trip - gracetown. gracetown is a small village of approx. 400 people or something like that. it has a "restaurant" and a general store, and that's about it. it's nestled into a bay between cape augusta and cape naturaliste. this is important for later reasons. in gracetown, we stayed at a holiday house loaned to us by one of john's many wealthy clients. i use the term holiday house loosely. this house was probably more then twice the size of the place we live in freo. it was stunning. 2 storeys, all open plan. 2 bedrooms upstairs with a fab bathroom and windows along the entire length, allowing for unobstructed views to the northwest. downstairs had 3 more bedrooms and a whole other living room and bathroom. rather self-sustainable really. along the entire outside was a large patio and a patch of grass out front. it was truly a fantastic place to have a holiday.

our first night there involved having dinner and taking a short walk around the village. the next morning i went for a run and discovered some of the beaches and found bits of the cape to cape trail (from above. it's an 80km trail i think). later that day, we took the short drive into margaret river, aka "the wine region". luckily, only 10 mins away.

that day was spent walking around maragaret river, which i can only describe as a small ski town but without the ski hill. very cute, very upmarket because of what it is. fab restaurants that cost and arm and a leg. you can tell it used to be a hippy village until it was taken over some 40 years ago and turned into the centre of wine country. yes, only 40 years ago they planted grapes in the southwest of WA. they now win awards for some of the best wines in the country and are making headway around the world. we also hit up the margaret river chocolate factory, but it is somewhat over-rated. you can't really do much there except buy expensive chocolate after waiting in a line for half and hour. the day ended with a quick trip into the madfish winery. the largest in the southwest and one of john's enjoyed wines.

more to come...

Australia Day!

so here's an interesting fact i discovered while i was checking some info before writing this post. i was about to tell you that on january 26th in such and such a year, australia declared itself an independant country. but in fact, it did not. it was on january 1st 1901 that such an event occurred.

what did happen on january 26th 1788 was the british claiming australia for their own (only the eastern half. the west was dutch). seems surprising to me that they celebrate australia day for when the settlers first came over instead of when they officially became the commonwealth of australia in 1901. but whatever. australians don't always make sense to me :)

not that it matters now. what matters now is that january 26th is australia day. a day described by one of amy's coworkers as "you know that show cops? that's australia day". what a nice thought.

we decided to embrace australia day this year, as last year john and i had barely stepped off the plane. we celebrated in typical australian style: we hit the beach. amy and i donned red, white and blue bikinis (by mixing and matching existing bikinis) and i had a flag sarong. john and eli had their red and blue boardies and bandanas were wrapped around their heads. we played cricket on the beach, ate aussie rolls (vegemite and cheese in a cinnamon roll style...thanks ellen!) and got covered in sand because it was so darned windy at the beach. we listened to the triple j top 100 songs of 2007 (an annual event we were told is a big part of australia day) though we were thoroughly disapointed that "muse" took out the song of the year (by only 13 votes over silverchair- fyi great album).

after the beach, we returned home to get cleaned up and waited for our friends to come over. we had a bit of a back yard barbie. there were prawns of course.we ate pavlova for dessert, an australian specialty. we celebrated the fact that our friend diana is now an australian citizen. we popped dozens of party poppers (fab!) and lit some sparklers for the event. the night finished off with a mixed doubles ping pong tourney (in honour of the australian open being played in melbourne right now).

we heard the fireworks in freo, but were unable to attend them as our friends have a one and a half year old son who was sleeping soundly in our bedroom. but that's ok, because it's not about the fireworks. it's about the friends and the good times. and there were many, had by all!

xo

an aussie year!

a year ago today john and i walked off the plane, a bit bleary eyed and worse for wear, ready to start our new life in australia. hard to believe, isn't it? we've had many new adventures and experiences, good times and harder times, that it hardly seems possible to have only been here for 12 months.

i thought that we would just let you know some of the interesting things we've learned and discovered whilst here (much like the 6 month review, but hopefully more informative). because really, i've been trying to keep you updated on our daily lives already. so, here goes...

things we've learned:

-no matter how big you think australia is, it's bigger
-aussie english has components of north american and british (chips=fries and chips)
-kangaroos will never stop being cool
-on that note, dead kangaroos smell worse then anything i've ever smelled on the road
-walking barefoot is totally acceptable EVERYWHERE, even grocery stores and shops
-cleanskin wine (3$/bottle) is quality wine that vineyards don't want to label
-getting absolutely hammered on a sunday afternoon is normal, even encouraged
-main highways in WA are the equivalent of highways in northern ontario...
-an aussie-mite roll is surprisingly tasty (think cinnamon bun with vegemite and cheese)
-free to air tv provides good quality programming for no cost (grey's, csi, etc)
-australian tv shows are just as bad as canadian tv shows
-the mini-mullet and the el-camino (ute) are excessively popular

things we love:

-BYO at almost every restaurant
-triple j (one of the national radio stations)
-aussie music (both popular and indie)
-the beaches (and that they are 5 mins from our house)
-the cool ocean breeze that turns a 40 degree morning into a tolerable afternoon
-sunsets on the west coast, looking over the indian ocean
-wearing a bathing suit all day on the weekend
-aussie rules football

things we hate:

-bundaberg rum
-the cost of living
-WA drivers
-the fact that pedestrians DO NOT have right of way
-the flies! the orifice seeking flies!
-shops closing at 5pm
-no campfires at campgrounds and shoddy "caravan parks"
-sand that gets everywhere!
-aussie "bbq"s, which are essentially flat pans with no lid, thereby increasing your cooking time and causing grease to pool

things we miss from home:

-normal chip flavours
-tide to go (hint hint)
-traditional music from pei/cape bretton
-canned blackbeans
-marshmallows, graham crakers and s'mores
-the real, lush looking green of the forrest and grassy areas

things we wish we had here:
-family
-friends

miss you all!
xo

aqwa

yes, i spelled it like that for a reason. last week, the 6 of us went to AQWA, the aquarium of western australia. it was an interesting aquarium to visit because it was only sea life from the west australian coast (which, i must add, is huge). you basically follow a path around the aquarium (think ikea) and travel from the very southern tip of the state and work your way up past perth to the northern most area. a neat set up, actually.

the aquarium has a walk-through tank where they have a few great whites, fish, turtles and rays living. we spent quite a bit of time in there. i thought it was pretty neat to look up and see a great whit swimming above me. by "neat" i mean "i'm not in the tank with them and i would freak out if this happened in real life whilst i was in the ocean". they also have diving in that tank. so tourists (and locals, i suppose) can pay money to dive in the tank with all those creatures. i think you can snorkel as well. no thanks. no thanks.

another cool feature from the aquarium is that they have a "touch pool". which is exactly as it sounds. it is ok, and in fact encouraged, for you to touch the fish and other sea life in the tank. i don't much enjoy doing that (though i did contemplate touching the sea cucumber) but amy plunged her hands in and picked up a starfish.

outside they have a tank with seals in them. apparently the breed of seals in WA are among the rarest breeds of seals. they weren't doing much exciting stuff for us, like playing with balls or jumping, but we were able to go down and see the tank a bit more close up. as well, there is a "ray lagoon" where they have a variety of different rays. unfortunately, it was hard to see and as it wasn't a tank, you couldn't go underground to get a better look.

the downside to the visit to the aquarium is that they have an entire area called "the danger zone" where you learn ALLLLLL about the deadly poisonous sea creatures the inhabit australia and, more specifically, WA. yes yes, we learned all about the box jellyfish (can kill you in 1 minute), the stone fish (also 1 minute), the sea snake, the cone shell, etc. etc. don't worry though, there are anti-venoms for most dangerous sea creatures...assuming that you know you got stung or bitten, that you get out of the water fast enough and find a surf lifesaver who, you can only hope, will be carrying said anti-venom for that specific bite/sting. yeeeeesssss, it's very encouraging to know that they have anti-venoms...

overall though, our trip the aqwa was a lot of fun. we laughed at the silliness of the seahorse which looks like weeds, the oddity of purple starfish (not very camouflaged in my opinion) and the ridiculous fact that we purposely moved to a country that houses most of the deadliest creatures in the world... gotta love decisions!

xo