Paul and Vicky go bush. (01Apr.03)

Yes we are still alive and traveling around Australia!! Here is a brief update on what we've been up to so far.

Left Sydney 9 Jan and went up to Lake Macquarie, Melbourne then Tasmania for formula windsurfing (Paul and Phil on their large boards and large sails).

All three places were windy, but Hobart had to be the maddest - there were massive gusts of wind and the direction seemed to change by 180 degrees - very challenging sailing conditions - and lots of potential for dummy spits.

Even the mildest mannered windsurfers had hissy fits on the water. Paul and Phil both injured themselves - Paul twisted his foot on day one and Phil cut the bottom of his foot open on his fin on day 3. Both of them out of the racing. Tassie was great - even though the walking we'd planned to do did not happen (bit hard with two cripples) - we ate lots of scallops, including Tassie specialty curried scallop pie and drank a fair bit of booze. Beautiful place - lots of road kill on the road however - they leave it there for the Tassie devils to eat - poor old devils are crap hunters so

without the road kill they'd probably be extinct. I made Paul do the fairy penguin tour at Bichenor so he could escape having to do it on Phillip Island.

After Tasmania back on the ferry to Melbourne - a few days to sort ourselves out then we waved goodbye to Phil and Jess (our cat now living in luxury with Phil eating loads of tuna) and went down to Wilsons Prom. Did a walk - in the rain - typical Victorian weather - boiling hot then freezing cold - tried to windsurf at Sandy Point - speed track - but we either got there when there was no water, or missed the wind! In an attempt to get warmer we headed off down the great ocean road to South Australia. The great ocean road is magnificent - real James Bond type road hanging on the edge of

Australia with lots of twists and sharp bends - the van loved it!! The 12 apostles and bay of islands (all rocky stacks and arches in the ocean) were amazing. We stayed on the great ocean road at Wye River and had dinner in the pub overlooking the ocean.

Got into South Australia (no warmer!) and stayed at Beachport - supposed to be a big fishing port for lobster, etc - hmmm lots of boats but no fish.

Water was a beautiful blue colour and Paul went windsurfing at Lake George - large inland lake salty and shallow. The water was bright green - runoff from the land and quite safe according to the locals - looked very toxic to me. Anyway it was blowing hard so who cares!

Next stop Adelaide (via Boggy Lake - popular windsurfing spot for SAS). Not enough wind for Paul but I had a go - water was murky and full of cowpats - lovely!! We stayed in a campsite at Adelaide that was right on the beach.

Adelaide is very pretty and fairly wealthy - lots of bit houses and fairly posh people. This was our first taste of windsurfing shops (once left Melbourne) so Paul took advantage and bought a wave board. We then rushed down to the beach and off he went sailing through the surf. We both windsurfed in Adelaide - me at the nice calm shallow part and Paul at a waveier bit. Paul became quite friendly with the windsurf shop man who convinced us that we should be in WA taking advantage of the waves and wind - so we took his advice and decided to head west - via the wine regions of course - bought some great wine in the Clare Valley - was so nice to be drinking nice wine for a bit instead of Chateau Box!

We took three days to drive across the Nullarbor (well, from Adelaide to Esperance of which only a 'small' part is the Nullarbor proper) - was a fairly incredible experience - very, very desolate. Part of the way is about 30m from the cliffs and there are some lookouts on the way - you really feel like you are on the edge of Australia as they are vertical, 70m high and with the waves crashing below is quite a sight. We managed to avoid the kangaroos, emus, camels and road trains - all a hazard in this part of the world and got to Esperance. Esperance is a good wave sailing location - it also has beautiful blue waters and sandy beaches. It is typical of what you expect Australia to be like. We went on a boat trip to see the seals and sealions and camped in the national park at a place called Lucky Bay. We hooked up with another couple (windsurfers - very good wave sailors) and they and Paul went for a sail at Lucky Bay in the waves. The sand was bright white and so fine that it compacted down - we drove right along the beach. At Lucky Bay we had Kangaroos surrounding the tent.

Albany was our next stop - second oldest town in WA - massive harbour. We did some walking here and Paul windsurfed. We also went to the old whaling station - now a museum and took the tour - very graphic descriptions of how they processed the whales. Both of us felt very, very sick and were convinced that we could smell whale oil.

After Albany drove to Margaret River stopping off in the great southern forests where we did the tree tops walk - 600m above the ancient Karri trees on a walkway that sways (it is meant to!). Camped in the Warren national park - only us and 3 Germans - and then Paul climbed part of the way upone of giant trees (75m high and sways - no way I was going up it!).

Margaret River was excellent - did the bush tucker wine tour - brilliant but ended up buying some dodgy wine - I suppose everything tastes good after a few wineries! We also went to a yoga class which was full of very flexible women - we could hardly walk afterwards. Margaret River has some amazing surf breaks - the famous one being Main Break at Surf Point - very dangerous windsurfing spot so we just watched the local experts from the cliff tops - very impressive. We also went to Bunbury and Busselton and Dunsborough where we found some nice sheltered areas for me to windsurf in.

Next stop was Perth where we stayed with Lisa and Chris and their new baby

Tom. Had a fantastic time and it was lovely to spend some time with them again - Chris allowed us to sample some of his cellar - very nice and gave us a box of Willespie Wine (the vineyard that he works for) - he was horrified that we had been drinking Chateau Box and was even more horrified to find that we were drinking out of plastic glasses! I had a windsurfing lesson and had to buy a harness - oh joy. We went to a cable water ski place - on a light wind day and Paul did some surfing.

Headed north next via Lancelin (revolting, with a beach covered in rotting seaweed), Jurien Bay - campsite was next to fish factory so stank and settled in Geraldton. The day we arrived there was some wind and then we had 8 days of full on blasting days. We drove out to Coronation Beach (north of Geraldton) which has some great waves. They have started to tarmac the road, and the place that we had the car crash in last time we were there now has a safety barrier! We also had Rock Lobster from a dodgy restaurant but sold the cheapest fish - hmm now we now why but at least we'd satisfied our cravings.

Next stop Kalbarri - place with beautiful gorges where we did a few tours - a trekking and canoeing tour where we walked down into the gorges and climbed out (literally) - a sunset boat tour and went sand boarding on the dunes and boarded down the largest sand dune in the Australia (so they claim

- Stockton Beach?)! We met a couple from Perth and one set of their parents here. The father in law poured massive Pimms which he fortified with extra gin and was very efficient at refilling wine glasses. Paul had a major hangover the next day. We also played Boules with them and Mr. Raven was the champion.

Next on our trip we went to Shark Bay/Monkey Mia and stayed at a place called Nanga that was very dusty but had a large spa heated by an artesian bore - every night we had a spa and beer - luxury. Shark Bay is a world heritage site and is absolutely beautiful - clear water, white sand and very, very salty. Windsurfed at Denham - nice and shallow and I have become comfortable in the harness - major achievement for me as it has taken me along time to get on with it!!! Went to Monkey Mia and stood in the water whilst they fed the dolphins and then went out on a 60 ft catamaran to see the dugongs. Dugongs are pretty hard to spot but we saw 5 or 6 - one very close to the boat. They are fat and brown and very cute. On the way back we had to shorten sails and Paul (because he had been talking nautical terms) got to steer the boat - he loved it (this was a refitted ocean racing cat and quite exciting even in tourist mode)! Our guide reckoned he saw a 3m tiger shark which we tried to find again, but did not see it (hmmm).

Shark Bay is full of tiger sharks apparently, but luckily they are so well fed that they don't bother to eat humans! They also come close to shore as just off the jetty a baby dolphin was eaten about a year ago - something to put off the tourists!

We are now at Coral Bay - Ningaloo Reef. Coral Bay basically exists for the tourists and is relatively quiet (but just about the busiest place we have been so far) at the moment, with reef just off the shore. It is also windy

so Paul has sailed over the reef - I went snorkeling - and we both went for a snorkel today just off the beach and saw loads of coral and hundreds of fish. Breathtakingly beautiful. Next stop is Exmouth where we will go snorkeling with the whale sharks - can't wait - then Broome for Easter. WA is an amazing place and is vast - driving on the roads is just like being back on the Nullabor again - 3 hours of flat, scrubby land until you get to anywhere - and that could just be the next roadhouse.

The van is mostly behaving. We had a fag lighter put in at the side of the driver’s seat before we left for powering the fridge in the back. It would appear that because it was mounted in the metal it made a better earth than the main battery earth. In Esperance we ran out of petrol and after refilling from the can, we had to turn the engine over for a while to get the petrol to run through again. The high current for the starter running through the proxy fag lighter earth lead melted the insulation off the cable and clouds of white smoke came from under the driver’s seat. I couldn't get out quick enough. Having a ball and look forward to catching up with you all in July.

Lots of love

Vicky & Paul