Holiday! Part 3: Western Australia

OK, this has obviously taken too long, and I apologize for that. But, since I'm here to study...eh...no excuse... Anyway, here's the final part of a holiday that is already in the history books.

After a couple of days in Perth it was time to explore a bit more of Western Australia, so we decided to go on a combined ‘camping’ and surf safari. We borrowed Hugh’s dad’s 4x4 (firehjulstrekker), tied four surfboards to the roof, put on some ‘Rage against the Machine’ (even though we had a representative from the main ‘Machine’ in the car – Tom, sorry about this bad IR joke. Tom is American if you didn't get it) and headed south. After about 3-4 hours we reached a small town called Yullingup. Yes, it sounds really Danish, but we were still in Australia. After ‘checking in’ and unrolling the sleeping bags in our own private little caravan (in other words, no hard core camping) we were off to meet King Ocean. The conditions for surfing were not the best, but a sunset surf was too appealing to turn back.

Tempted to go for a surf...?

...Oh yes!

The following days were spent on different beaches, surfing, playing poker with cardboard chips, playing the same songs on guitar over and over again, discussing the relations between Realism and Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War (!), and basically enjoying time away from Canberra. We also went further south to a lighthouse where we got some wind in our hair.

The area around Margaret River is famous for two things, surfing and wineries; a nice combo some would say… Let’s start with the surfing. The area has something for everybody, beach breaks, reef breaks, nice round waves as well as choppy, mad waves. All this combined with magnificent sceneries is all you can ask for. One of the more interesting incidents was when Francesco managed to break a massive soft board in two… Enjoy the pictures! (sorry Fra)

Me trying to drop into a wave

Hugh is cruising on a nice little wave

Game over for Fra. We came to the conclusion that it was
better with a broken board than a broken neck...

On the last day it was time for some wine ‘tasting’ around Margaret River. Our designated driver was Hugh and he did a good job showing us around five different and very beautiful wineries. It cannot really compete with South African wineries, but close enough. We also manage to stop by a liqueur factory and a coffee ‘distillery’. In other words, a good end to a perfect expedition.

The group and a red flower...

The days went by too fast and we were, unfortunately, a bit unlucky with the weather. But as we say in Norway, “there are no bad weather, only bad clothing”, and what clothing is better than a wet suit when it rains?

As in Melbourne it was really convenient to have a local guide. Thanks Steve and Hugh for showing Tom, Francesco and me around!!

This is it for now. In a couple of weeks I'll return to the social-democratic Utopia for a little while. I hope to see ya'll there! Take care till then!

Some people might wonder how it is in Canberra as well. The next post will be about life in Australia's 'bustling' capital...