I’m writing this sitting in a leafy site at
Walpole – near the Treetop Walk referenced by Bill Bryson in ‘Down Under’.
Since leaving Perth we have stayed in Busselton, Hamelin Bay (not to be
confused with Hamelin Pool – about 1000k further north where we saw the
Stromatolites) and now here.
But I shall devote much of this blog to our stay
in Perth and the awesome hospitality shown to us by Derick & Beth Johnston,
who we met for barely 10 minutes at a swimming pool in the Kakadu on the first
full day of our trip all those weeks (6) ago!
After stopping for a photo shoot at Scarborough
Beach on Sunday 2nd November, we turned up at Derick and Beth’s with
the dust of the outback in every pore as well as coating Molly and filling
every nook and cranny!
Their house, which they built themselves, lies
about 25k east of central Perth, in a suburb called Kalamunda. It is a lovely
sprawling 7-bedroom building with a fantastic garden – clearly their labour of
love – and boasts a beautiful creek and several fruit trees and ornamental
plants and shrubs. While we were there Derick was waging his perennial war
against the creeping oxalis (?!) in the lawn, which required him to burn off the lawn wherever he saw this
menace, then spray everywhere with some fiendish substance. Hope it works this
time!
Without going in to minute and probably tedious
detail, suffice to say that we were treated royally during our stay. This was
originally intended to be two nights, then onto a hotel in Perth and Fremantle
(‘Freo’!!!&^%£@@£!!) for a couple of nights before heading south. As it
happened, Derick arranged for Molly to have a service on the Monday and took us
for a tour, during which we were invited to return to their house after our sojourn
in the city and stay another couple of nights. We could hardly resist such a
generous offer!
On the Tuesday – Gillie’s birthday – we went into
Perth and booked into our hotel – thank you American Airlines! – with a lovely
view overlooking the city (bit like a juvenile London skyline). We wasted an
hour trying to collect our NAB bank cards, which were still in Darwin, then
went into the city. It was Melbourne Cup day and this is the signal for people
all over Australia to put their fascinators on (ladies) and get pissed,
basically for a race that lasts about 2 minutes. It started at midday in Perth,
so by the time we reached the centre everyone was in a very good mood…
That evening we ate at Jamie’s Italian, which the
girls had booked for us and secretly arranged to pay the bill – without us
knowing! What a wonderful surprise!
Pottered around bits of Perth on Wednesday, then
went to Kings Park on Thursday. This is a beautiful 1000 acre park right in the
middle of the city. Had a fabulous time there – very interesting and found out
lots of history.
We took our leave of Derick and Beth on Friday,
laden with an array of fresh produce from their garden – lemons, grapefruit,
avocados, silver beet (look it up) – all of which has to be eaten before we
reach the South Australia border, scheduled for next Sunday – shouldn’t be a
problem.
The Johnston’s rationale for opening their home to
waifs and strays like us and plying us with food, drink and wonderful hospitality,
was simply that they had been treated well by people in the past when they have
been travelling (and they’ve travelled a lot!), so are just paying some of it
back to people they meet. As we parted, Derick said: ‘just do it for someone
else sometime!’ A philosophy that would make the world a much friendlier place
if more people adhered to it.
Thank you Derick and Beth for your kindness and
hospitality. We won’t forget it.
After Perth we moved on to Busselton, via lots of
interesting places pointed out to us by D & B. A really pretty area.
Busselton lead on Yallingup – possibly the most awesomely beautiful place we
have visited. We had lunch overlooking the bay with surfers riding huge waves
(actually, mostly sitting on surf boards and watching the huge waves roll past.
That’s what surfing seems to be largely about).
Saturday to Cowaranup, near Margaret River on a
farm. Has to be said that this area is known for the excellence of its wines
and almost every winery has ‘Cellar Door’ tastings, which are free tastings of
several of its wines…
We also sampled one of the local breweries –
Bootleg Brewery – billed as ‘An oasis of beer in a desert of wine’. Quite good,
I thought. Beautiful spot with blues guitar being played as we supped. We
decided to save the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and its wares until Sunday
and were rewarded with a free tasting of a variety of chocolate liqueurs. Don’t
knock it till you’ve tried it!
Strangely enough, we weren’t too bothered about
lunch that day.
We camped Sunday night at a beautiful spot right
by the sea in Hamelin Bay. Beautiful until we got out of the camper and were
relentlessly assailed by flies, flies and more flies. You kind of expect it up
in Northern Territory, but SW Australia with the temperature struggling to push
24C?!
(Blimey this is a long one!) We were woken on
Monday by gale force winds buffeting the camper and sending our chairs
literally flying to all parts. After rescuing our possessions, we set off,
through some of the most luscious countryside, a bit like a giant version of
the New Forest without any towns and with much bigger and more trees. Miles of
beautiful forest. This part of WA is in stark contrast to anything north of
Kalbarri. Verdant and with an abundance of life and livestock.
We are currently sitting in a very quiet spot.
It’s dark, very dark and everyone seems to have gone to bed. It’s 8 o’clock. At
least the wind has dropped.
Today we went to somewhere completely magical –
The Valley of the Giants near Denmark (we got a bit lost). On the Treetop Walk,
40 metres up, we were able to walk almost above the treeline, but walking down
at forest level is stunning. These trees are very big. And fat. And in some
case quite hollow, but still thriving. A very humbling experience. While we
were there, the 11th hour struck in WA and everyone observed the
minute’s silence. Standing among these majestic natural wonders, listening to
the sounds of the forest and thinking about what the minute represents, was a
very moving experience.
A few firsts this last week. First time proper rain; first time I’ve worn socks since mid-September; first time in hoodie and jumper; first outing for the waterproofs.
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| At Jamie's Italian - before we heard about the bill! |
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| Derick and Beth with their dog Moet, and some mutt! |
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| The little mermaid at Yallingup |
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| Beer is not the answer, beer is the question. And the answer is Yes. |
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| A reference to our time in Yorkshire! |
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