Customs through Perth was amazing! I even checked "dirt" on our entrance card because I forgot to clean the bottoms of my cycling shoes, and the woman still waved us to the green arrow! None of our boxes got searched, we cruised right through the go line. Yes! Poor Ryan still had to spend 3 days in our tiny hostel room, but I'm guessing we probably would have been checked had we not been prepared. Isn't that the way it always works? Our friend Azza was waiting outside the doors to welcome us to Perth. Thank you, Az! We spent the first 10 days, (wow, I can't believe that was 10 days!) with Az and Curl and could not have had better hosts. These are two of the most fun and kind people we know. They opened their house, entertained us and introduced us to their wonderful group of friends. Having such a close knit group of friends, which of course was great to see, made me miss my friends and family even more. Traveling is extremely wonderful and we so fortunate to be able to live such extraordinary experiences, but it is difficult at times to be so far away. So yes, if you are reading this, chances are I probably miss you. Probably:-)
Arriving in Perth, we were given an opportunity to work in a warehouse. Heck yeah! Lucky us to have such a flow of opportunities to continue on this amazing lifestyle. We worked during the days and stayed busy at night. I don't know how Az and Curl do it, but they are some of the busiest people I have know. I'm pretty sure we had somewhere to be each night, and this was a normal occurence for them. Impressive. We drank, ate, chatted, drank some more, chatted, ate, and repeat. We even had our first taste of kangaroo. I was initially skeptical, but let me tell you, kangaroo is delicious! It is similar to buffalo meat, overcooked can be gamey, but cooked just right is tender and tasty! Throw on spices and then the bbq. Super lean, full of protein and a small amount is all that is needed. We plan to have more kangaroo in our future.
Spending the first 10 days with Az and Curl, we then moved homes and met another wonderful couple, Leon and Karen. Now, we had never met Leon and Karen but we had heard great things, #1 being that they love wine. Perfect for us as we too are wine lovers. The four of us hit it off instantly and spent our time away from work cooking meals and drinking the spectacular wines from Western Australia. We were definitely spoiled and had a blast doing it! We also have a friend from Boulder who just moved to Perth this past summer and got to spend some time with her. Seeing Amanda in Australia was a touch odd simply knowing how far away we are were from "home", but it just seemed so natural. She seems so happy and truly living the life. How can one not love Perth I guess? Great restaurants, tasty wines, a bustling city, clean, nice people, and the ocean is just a short drive.
We were constantly busy in Perth. Two of our weekends we were fortunate enough to spend some time on Roland and Penny's (the owners of Sea to Summit who truly embrace life and live it to the fullest. They are a blast!) new 65 ft. power boat. Yes, you read that correctly, 65 feet of utter luxury. The back deck even has a remote control that dips down into the water. If we wanted to kayak but didn't feel like actually getting into the water, we could get ourselves ready on the deck and then be lowered into the water. What?! Genius. We took one trip south to Mandurah and spent another long weekend at Rottnest Island snorkeling, kayaking, relaxing, playing on the beach, etc. They sure know how to live!
Before arriving to Perth, we knew we wanted to explore the area via bike as that is our only means of transportation. Over dinner and many, many bottles of wine (actually, I think it was the night we consumed copious amounts of wine and proceeded to throw them on the grass, which is included in the pictures), Penny suggested we take the 80 series Toyota Landcrusier, which is a staff car for the company, instead of riding our bikes. We jumped right onto that idea and could now cover way more land as everything in Australia, especially Western Australia, is so spread out. And lucky us, Roland and Penny decided to join us. New adventures. Great company.
Ryan and I in our truck and Roland and Penny in theirs, we headed east out of Perth and began our outback adventure. Camping in the outback is not like camping in the states. The days are spent mostly in the car, off-roading most of the time, and the nights are spent sitting around an enormous campfire and sleeping in swags on top of the car. Simply amazing to be laying down on top of the truck looking up at thousands and thousands of stars. No people, no lights and total wilderness. This type of camping is a far cry from cycle touring: a comfy thick mattress, a fridge and even a outdoor shower with hot water. Does it get any better? This was all completely new to us. We drove all day, stopping for walks in remote places, looking for aboriginal art in caves, then lunch, drive some more before looking for "the perfect" campsite" as the sun was starting to disappear. "The perfect campsite" meant somewhere off the road/track in case any other cars came through (which I think happened once) and good back lighting for the fire. I'm not quite sure I understand how to find good background lighting, but they did always pick perfect spots.
We had our routine down after night 1. The guys would park the cars, start unloading and dig the fire pit while Penny and I searched for logs. Starting a fire might have been the most simple task of all. After the pit was dug and some wood was in, we could push the scraps on the ground into the pit and light for maybe a second or two and we had a raging fire within minutes. Unreal. We now understand how and why Australian bush fires start and spread so quickly.
The biggest annoyance during this trip was definitely the mass number of flies. Flies like I have never seen. It was like they multiplied overnight and then went and told all of their friends. At some points we would have 50+ on our backs, swarming our head. We have included some pictures to provide a visual. This would start in the morning, one time 4am, and last until dusk. I think I have gotten over my "annoyed by one fly" syndrome. But nothing a headnet and some screens around the awning for breakfast and lunch couldn't cure. Once we headed south and got closer to the water, the flies were more or less nonexistent.
The most entertaining and unique experiences we had while in the outback was winching the cars out from being stuck. Now, Roland loves toys and has pretty much every implemented toy possible on the car, so getting stuck isn't life or death. A huge drop into a mostly dried up creek, steep up with deep sand and a slight turn did now allow for the cars to make it up themselves. Roland and Penny's car had an electric winch on the front which is controlled by a handheld device. Simply fantastic. After wrapping the winch around a small tree (it was the biggest one around), we three stood far back while Roland steered from inside the car with his head bent down, blocked by the wheel, fearing the tree would break loose and come through the windshield. Although we could hear the tree cracking as if in a tornado, it held up and the car slowly but surely got itself out. Ryan then took a stab at the obstacle, but again, no luck. We used Roland and Penny's car to winch up ours and we were off. It was extremely excited!
Heading south and making our way through national parks to the town of Esperance, we drove on deserted beaches that were sometimes occupied by relaxing kangaroos, watched surfers and just embraced this desolate part of the world. We even fished a few times, walked on the beaches and had lunch in some of the most beautiful spots. Eight days later we found ourselves back in Perth in time to break down the bikes and get ready for flight across the county to the east coast, Queensland.
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