Western OZ

In Ozzieland, now. It is very hot and dry here: mid-summer. We spent the last week in Western Australia, which is the country's largest state. It is absolutely massive (more than 5 times as large as Texas), mostly desert-like outback, and its capital city, Perth, is the most isolated large city on Earth. It is close to nothing! We liked Perth. It reminded us of cities in California: palm trees, plenty of sun, cool at night, not very densely developed, many pedestrian malls and pretty parks. We have been having a hard time adjusting to Australian prices, especially after spending more than 3 months in Asia. We are finding the prices to be similar to those in NYC! Two beers in a no-name pub costs between $15-18 Australian, which is about $10-$12 U.S. Needless to say, we haven't visited many pubs! But we have visited some vineyards; Australia is chock full of em'.

After spending two days in Perth, we rented a car and headed south. The country was gorgeous and we spent our first night in a posh town in the best Western Australian wine region, called Margaret River. It was like the Napa of Western Oz. The owner of our hotel recommended we go to a place called Wino's down the road for a drink and dinner and we were waited on by an American. She was in Australia for a year, bar-tending at Wino's, and her boyfriend was working as a chef there. He had previously been a chef at the renowned Acqua restaurant in San Francisco, so we knew we were in for a treat. The coast from Perth down to Margaret River is absolutely gorgeous. The water is light, clear Carribean blue in the shallows and deep, Pacific blue in the breakers. And surfers and surfbreaks are everywhere, despite the fact that shark attacks on Australian surfers is on the rise.

From Margaret River, we drove south-east to the region around Pemberton, where we stayed for two nights. There are many National Parks in the area, which are home to Australia's biggest trees: giant eucalpytus species that reach more than 200 feet. We visited three national parks, took a couple of great walks, and Joe climbed some giant trees, which had been fitted with narrow foot pedestals up to the canopy, nearly 200 feet above us. I skipped that activity! (I got up to about 20 feet, looked down, examined my unreliable flip-flops, and retraced my steps). During a hike on the second day, on a trail where we saw no one for hours, we came across a big patch of red, guey, liquid-type stuff. And both of us freaked out and thought: blood! We had just seen a picture of a missing person (a backpacker from England) at the hostel we were staying and jumped to conclusions. We took pictures of "the scene," picked up giant sticks to be used as weapons and started to hot-foot it out of there. About 30 minutes later, we saw another red liquid patch on the trail and saw that it was sap, leaking from the giant trees. Overactive imaginations!

We returned our car in Perth and the next day got on a two day train ride through southern Western Australia, some of the most desolate country imaginable. The land is flat, there is sparse vegetation, and nearly no animal or human life for vast stretches. The sunsets and sunrises were amazing. The train stopped twice during the journey and at the first stop, we got out and wandered around in the mining town (we went to a karaoke bar with some fellow train passengers and they tore the place up- such good singers!) of Kalgoorlie. The second stop, Cook, was 500 further miles from Kalgoorlie (and Kalgoorlie was the closest town to it). It had a population of 4 people, and its main function is to service the trains that stop there. It was perhaps the hottest place I'd ever been, about 118 degrees at noon. And there were so many flies! It was mind-boggling to imagine living there- a stranger existence than perhaps any other I have ever witnessed.

And now we are in Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia. It's a pretty city and feels more urban and established than Perth. There is wine-country and beaches close-by here, too, which we plan on hitting up in the next couple of days before heading to Melbourne.