To the end of the earth...or at least Australia

We've been pretty busy again since our last post and I'm liable to missing a few things out but here goes.

We left Adelaide and took a pretty non eventful flight to Perth except for the chance to view a rare, and famous, comet in the sky and the next morning set about exploring Perth.

It's quite a small place really but strangely we struggled to get our bearings and can only put this down to the time difference between Perth and Adelaide (1.5 hours back). However, we did manage to make our way to the Swan river and view the millenium bell tower, housing the second cast of the bells of St-Martins-On-The-Fields and listen to them being rung.

We then headed out on the train to Fremantle and wondered around for a bit looking at the listed buildings, some of them are nearly 200 hundred years old, can you believe it :-), we alos enjoyed a picnic while looking out to sea.

The next day we enjoyed a river cruise along the Swan river and spent the rest of the day performing chores such as doing the washing and going to Woolworths for some food (Not very exciting but we thought we'd better show you it's not all fun and games).

After our day of chores we thought we deserved a treat so guess what? That's right, we went on a wine tour of the Swan Valley but this one was a bit different as it included a trip to a chocolate factory, yum yum.

We got up early the next day and picked up a hire car and headed south for six hours to the town of Augusta at the south west tip of Australia. On route we stopped off at the Dolphin centre in Koonbanna and for some supplies in the main resort of Magaret River.

Augusta was a one road town but a nice quiet place and probably one of the nicest hostels we've stayed at, as the room had a TV, Fridge, Kettle and even a toaster. Plus, a really good river and sea view. Once in Augusta we spent time exploring the local sites such as Cape Leeuwin where the Indian and Southern oceans meet, Magaret river itself and again we managed to fit in a local winery before heading back north to Perth.

After a night in Fremantle, rushing to get the car back on time and enjoying a very nice beer or two at the little creatures brewery (thanks for the tip Ad) we headed out on the ferry to Rottnest Island. Rottnest is an interesting place and I couldn't help but keep calling it the Isle of Wight of Perth - which is basically what it is except a totally differnt place, not a tea house in sight.

It has pretty much banned cars from the island so we were once again on bikes and enjoyed a 15 Km Island tour where we came across some Qukkos (A cross between a rat and a kangaroo), a very black lizard and some more seals. The island is also blessed with several dozen lovely beaches and bays. Unfortunately, the island does not have air con so we pretty much melted for two days in the forty degree heat and our now back in Perth recovering.