Monday, 20 August 2012
QLD, NSW, NZ, VIC, SA, NT, WA... Did you get all of that!?? .... Basically Australia and New Zealand!
G'day!
Sweet! Righteo! But. Ay. Such is life! What's happening? Fair Dinkum. How's it going? Schooners & Midis. Ah true! Sweet as! Arvo. Pom. Barbie. Bonza. Too Easy! No worries! Strewth. Crikey! She'll be right! Walkabout.
Catch ya
Get used to hearing these kind of phrases! We head back to England tomorrow! How crazy is that!?
This last week has been a bit of a blur...well for Haz anyways. Nick has been "chilling out a little bit" as usual....meaning lounging in the sun reading all day :) erm... Not all day actually!! There were times when I had to do something productive! Like ?? ..... Go for a run!! Hahaha
Haz was kept very busy Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Fremantle completing a JNCC certified MMO (Marine Mammal Observer) course. They were very long days, but well worth it, especially getting high credit! Basically the qualification means Haz can be hired by contractors/government to go offshore on board vessels doing seismic work/explosions/pile driving etc, in order to spot marine mammals and advise on mitigation measures. All good fun, even though the course was very stressful! Got to meet some nice people and make good contacts.
There have been quite a few days of sunshine which we have been able to enjoy, just to soak up the rays and try and get a bit of a tan before we return to the UK! Yes it is actually winter here at the moment, so no sun all the time!! So apart from chilling out.... soaking up the rays..... reading books... going for walks... we've done quite a lot of organising ready to come home - certainly not going to get to the airport in the same mess like we did in Sydney on our way to New Zealand! :)
We took one last trip to Fremantle at the weekend to enjoy some of the quirky shops and markets, and a nice coffee and cake to finish it off! :)
We will probably make this one our last blog :(
Tomorrow, the 21st August 2012 we'll be jetting off back to the UK, to start another adventure! :)
We've had an absolutely incredible time. Some of our favourite moments:
- Bungee jump in Queenstown, New Zealand
- Sky diving 14,000ft, Hervey Bay
- New Years Eve fancy dress Party!
- White Water Rafting, River Valley, New Zealand
- Cuddling a koala, Hamilton Island
- Australia Zoo, Mooloolaba
- Hail Creek Mine ... " oh my god I'm freaking out!!!"
- Busselton Jetty/ Albany/ The Pinnacles
- Diving in Cairns and Byron Bay
- Of course Byron Bay
- Franz Josef Glacier Hike, Franz Josef, New Zealand
- Residents in Brisbane
- Step into the map.... Sydney tourists!
- Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island.... The Penguin Parade!
- The Rock Tour, Alice Springs
- Black Water Rafting, Waitomo, New Zealand
- Whale Watching, Kaikoura, New Zealand
- Seeing Seal pups and Hectors dolphins, New Zealand
...... The list is endless, it's been an absolute blast!! We're sad to be leaving Australia, but very excited for the many adventures ahead :)
See you all soon!
Nick & Haz .... Haz & Nick.... or however we've signed off over the last 10 months! Hehe
Xxxx
Saturday, 11 August 2012
The lonely state...WA
Perth and Western Australia!
Well we survived the flight from the Red Centre to the West Coast (by the way, had a great view of Uluru and Kata-Tjuta from the plane!).
So we're staying with one of Nick's friends from cricket, Carl, and has made us very welcome in his home Innaloo! Sorry no, IN Innaloo! No giggles thank you very much! Innaloo is a suburb 7km north of the Swan River (apparently the better side of it too!) and not too far from Perth CBD. When Carl met us at the airport he took us for a tour of all the most interesting areas in Perth and the surrounding suburbs.
We've had a few little trips during our time in WA, along with meeting up with a few mates,be it for evening drinks, breakfast, lunch, dinners, hockey games, road trips or general chit chats :). Some of our little trips have included the following:
* Joondalup Golf Resort- driving around in a golf buggy, looking for kangaroos! Awesome!
* The Pinnacles- situated in Nambung National Park, 250km north of Perth. The Pinnacles are limestone formations. The raw material from the limestone come from sea shells in an earlier epoch rich in marine life. These shells were broken down into lime rich sands which were blown inland to form high mobile dunes.
We had a great laugh finding funny shaped rocks, taking cool pictures, doing press ups and planks on the rocks and enjoying the sunshine :). Oh and we saw our first wild emu on the road trip to the Pinnacles!
*Albany- two day road trip, this time down south! We saw an awesome giant Ram, apparently the town's main attraction, called Baart. He is 9m high, 13m long, 6m wide and weighs 4 tonnes, and is about 27 years of age...... one hell of a fibreglass ram! Bet you have never seen a ram that big! Wagin... now there's a place to visit!!
In Albany we went up Mount Melville for fantastic 360 degree views over Albany. We saw Princess Royal Harbour and the wind turbines over at the sand patch. Then we went up Mount Clarence, bit of a workout climbing all the steps! At the top we could see the port and harbour and out to the islands (Breaksea and Michaelman's) and King George Sound. We also went to Torndirrup National Park, which is on the south coast of Albany. "The Gap' is a 24km drop to the sea. Nick decided to make Carl and I very nervous by standing stupidly close to the edge.... with no barriers and very strong winds! (ooops!). The "Natural Bridge" is a huge granite suspension which is bridge-like in shape. Pretty cool to look at! The "Blowholes" are crevasses in the granite, stretching down to sea level far below. With each wave the holes blow air and water up the channel out the top creating a burst of spray and a very loud droning whoosh! On the trek back up to the car, we kept a close eye out for any whales on the horizon. Thanks to Haz's keen eye we saw, very briefly, a humpbacks fluke splash! Very exciting and reminded us of New Zealand! :). After a long day, we both decided to treat ourselves by getting an Indian takeaway.
The following day we headed off in a different direction, obviously back towards Perth but don't ask us the road we took! It was a great route, enjoying the scenery and stopping at various lookouts. We stopped briefly in Walpole Nornalup National Park, which is famous for its Karri and Tingle trees. We then stopped in Pemberton, which is a very pretty timber town. The biggest attraction are the truly magnificent trees- the Karri Giants! We visited the Gloucester Tree in the Gloucester National Park. At over 60m tall, the Gloucester tree towers above Pemberton and is probably WA's most famous Karri tree. It was a fire lookout tree which foresters maintained a regular lookout from. So in order to appreciate the fantastic views offered from the lookout lodge located 58m up the tree....we first had to climb it.... On attempt number one, Nick vanished from view pretty much straight away leaving Carl and Haz climbing slower and slower until we reached 1/4 of the way and decided to turn back because the rain was making it more scary to climb! Meanwhile Nick was already up the top and peering over the edge to see what the hold up was! Attempt number two, Haz braved the slippery rungs, no harness or safety lines whatsoever and climbed the 58m to the lookout point. phew! Well done Haz :) The views were well worth it of course, but then again we had to go back down again, and that was probably just as hard as it was when going up! A great trip down to Albany!
*Fremantle - A few trips to Fremantle or Freo as the locals call it. A quirky little place which reminded us a bit of Byron Bay but with out all the surf and the amazing beaches.... so not really like Byron Bay at all i suppose! Freo is a small coastal town with a very relaxed hippy-like vibe to it. The first place we visited was the round house, which is the oldest building in WA - built in 1830. The Freo markets were pretty cool, and we both enjoyed walking around the harbour in the glorious sunshine.
Hopefully when we get money back from the tax man we can visit Freo again and instead of window shopping, buy some nice things!
* Haz's Birthday - Another year older and yet still mistaken for being 18! ah well, i suppose in 20 years it will be a good thing to look 6 years younger than actual age! We took a trip into Perth CBD and had a good look around the city which was nice. We also paid a visit to the Bell Tower overlooking the Swan River. It was a chilled and relaxed day, and great to receive birthday cards all the way from home wishing me a lovely birthday :).
*Kings Park - There have been quite a few lovely sunny days recently so we have tried to make the most of them. On a few occasions we have ventured to Kings Park which is the largest inner city park in the world! But also, has lovely views over Perth and the Swan River, and is a perfect spot for lazing in the sun with a good book.
*Perth Zoo - A trip to the zoo to visit our friends the Koala, Roo, Orang-utan, Lemur, Gibbons, Penguins and true aussie animals of course the elephant and giraffe. A really good day chilling with the animals. Not quite as good as Australia Zoo (back in Mooloolaba...we just like saying the name) but still pretty fun.
*Mundaring - Afternoon trip to the Weir - a dam which is basically Perth's water supply. It was pretty cool to see - quite impressive really. This trip was also the first time we saw a joey pop its little head out of its mum's pouch! There must have been about 3 or 4 that we saw! So so cute.
*Busselton - Another trip down south, this time not quite as far as Albany. Busselton is of course yet another coastal town known for its 1.8km long jetty set over the stunning waters of Geographe Bay. The heritage listed Busselton Jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. We walked all the way to the end of the jetty in the gorgeous sunshine, enjoying the scenery and the birds (sea gull chicks, cormorants, gulls, pelicans) and fish along the way. What better way to end a walk in the sunshine with a scrummy ice cream!
In between all our little trips we have of course been hooked on LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS.
The Aussie commentary obviously cant be helped, its nothing like the good ol' BBC but its been fantastic to watch never-the-less. Team GB have excelled and no doubt inspiring many. Fingers crossed they manage to squeeze another few medals out in the last few days!
That's it for now. So far in WA we have had a lovely chilled time as you can see. We have been going for nice runs around a nearby lake as well so no slacking on the fitness front - particularly with all this sport on TV!
We haven't got long left in Australia now! Only another week or so can you believe!? But we will log off for now, and speak soon :)
Haz and Nick x x
Well we survived the flight from the Red Centre to the West Coast (by the way, had a great view of Uluru and Kata-Tjuta from the plane!).
So we're staying with one of Nick's friends from cricket, Carl, and has made us very welcome in his home Innaloo! Sorry no, IN Innaloo! No giggles thank you very much! Innaloo is a suburb 7km north of the Swan River (apparently the better side of it too!) and not too far from Perth CBD. When Carl met us at the airport he took us for a tour of all the most interesting areas in Perth and the surrounding suburbs.
We've had a few little trips during our time in WA, along with meeting up with a few mates,be it for evening drinks, breakfast, lunch, dinners, hockey games, road trips or general chit chats :). Some of our little trips have included the following:* Joondalup Golf Resort- driving around in a golf buggy, looking for kangaroos! Awesome!
* The Pinnacles- situated in Nambung National Park, 250km north of Perth. The Pinnacles are limestone formations. The raw material from the limestone come from sea shells in an earlier epoch rich in marine life. These shells were broken down into lime rich sands which were blown inland to form high mobile dunes.
We had a great laugh finding funny shaped rocks, taking cool pictures, doing press ups and planks on the rocks and enjoying the sunshine :). Oh and we saw our first wild emu on the road trip to the Pinnacles! 
*Albany- two day road trip, this time down south! We saw an awesome giant Ram, apparently the town's main attraction, called Baart. He is 9m high, 13m long, 6m wide and weighs 4 tonnes, and is about 27 years of age...... one hell of a fibreglass ram! Bet you have never seen a ram that big! Wagin... now there's a place to visit!! 
In Albany we went up Mount Melville for fantastic 360 degree views over Albany. We saw Princess Royal Harbour and the wind turbines over at the sand patch. Then we went up Mount Clarence, bit of a workout climbing all the steps! At the top we could see the port and harbour and out to the islands (Breaksea and Michaelman's) and King George Sound. We also went to Torndirrup National Park, which is on the south coast of Albany. "The Gap' is a 24km drop to the sea. Nick decided to make Carl and I very nervous by standing stupidly close to the edge.... with no barriers and very strong winds! (ooops!). The "Natural Bridge" is a huge granite suspension which is bridge-like in shape. Pretty cool to look at! The "Blowholes" are crevasses in the granite, stretching down to sea level far below. With each wave the holes blow air and water up the channel out the top creating a burst of spray and a very loud droning whoosh! On the trek back up to the car, we kept a close eye out for any whales on the horizon. Thanks to Haz's keen eye we saw, very briefly, a humpbacks fluke splash! Very exciting and reminded us of New Zealand! :). After a long day, we both decided to treat ourselves by getting an Indian takeaway.
The following day we headed off in a different direction, obviously back towards Perth but don't ask us the road we took! It was a great route, enjoying the scenery and stopping at various lookouts. We stopped briefly in Walpole Nornalup National Park, which is famous for its Karri and Tingle trees. We then stopped in Pemberton, which is a very pretty timber town. The biggest attraction are the truly magnificent trees- the Karri Giants! We visited the Gloucester Tree in the Gloucester National Park. At over 60m tall, the Gloucester tree towers above Pemberton and is probably WA's most famous Karri tree. It was a fire lookout tree which foresters maintained a regular lookout from. So in order to appreciate the fantastic views offered from the lookout lodge located 58m up the tree....we first had to climb it.... On attempt number one, Nick vanished from view pretty much straight away leaving Carl and Haz climbing slower and slower until we reached 1/4 of the way and decided to turn back because the rain was making it more scary to climb! Meanwhile Nick was already up the top and peering over the edge to see what the hold up was! Attempt number two, Haz braved the slippery rungs, no harness or safety lines whatsoever and climbed the 58m to the lookout point. phew! Well done Haz :) The views were well worth it of course, but then again we had to go back down again, and that was probably just as hard as it was when going up! A great trip down to Albany!
*Fremantle - A few trips to Fremantle or Freo as the locals call it. A quirky little place which reminded us a bit of Byron Bay but with out all the surf and the amazing beaches.... so not really like Byron Bay at all i suppose! Freo is a small coastal town with a very relaxed hippy-like vibe to it. The first place we visited was the round house, which is the oldest building in WA - built in 1830. The Freo markets were pretty cool, and we both enjoyed walking around the harbour in the glorious sunshine. Hopefully when we get money back from the tax man we can visit Freo again and instead of window shopping, buy some nice things!
* Haz's Birthday - Another year older and yet still mistaken for being 18! ah well, i suppose in 20 years it will be a good thing to look 6 years younger than actual age! We took a trip into Perth CBD and had a good look around the city which was nice. We also paid a visit to the Bell Tower overlooking the Swan River. It was a chilled and relaxed day, and great to receive birthday cards all the way from home wishing me a lovely birthday :). *Kings Park - There have been quite a few lovely sunny days recently so we have tried to make the most of them. On a few occasions we have ventured to Kings Park which is the largest inner city park in the world! But also, has lovely views over Perth and the Swan River, and is a perfect spot for lazing in the sun with a good book.
*Perth Zoo - A trip to the zoo to visit our friends the Koala, Roo, Orang-utan, Lemur, Gibbons, Penguins and true aussie animals of course the elephant and giraffe. A really good day chilling with the animals. Not quite as good as Australia Zoo (back in Mooloolaba...we just like saying the name) but still pretty fun. 
*Mundaring - Afternoon trip to the Weir - a dam which is basically Perth's water supply. It was pretty cool to see - quite impressive really. This trip was also the first time we saw a joey pop its little head out of its mum's pouch! There must have been about 3 or 4 that we saw! So so cute. 
*Busselton - Another trip down south, this time not quite as far as Albany. Busselton is of course yet another coastal town known for its 1.8km long jetty set over the stunning waters of Geographe Bay. The heritage listed Busselton Jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. We walked all the way to the end of the jetty in the gorgeous sunshine, enjoying the scenery and the birds (sea gull chicks, cormorants, gulls, pelicans) and fish along the way. What better way to end a walk in the sunshine with a scrummy ice cream!
In between all our little trips we have of course been hooked on LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS.
The Aussie commentary obviously cant be helped, its nothing like the good ol' BBC but its been fantastic to watch never-the-less. Team GB have excelled and no doubt inspiring many. Fingers crossed they manage to squeeze another few medals out in the last few days!
That's it for now. So far in WA we have had a lovely chilled time as you can see. We have been going for nice runs around a nearby lake as well so no slacking on the fitness front - particularly with all this sport on TV!
We haven't got long left in Australia now! Only another week or so can you believe!? But we will log off for now, and speak soon :)
Haz and Nick x x
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