Western Australia

Ahhh….Yes a big ahhhh. 

Nathan at Smith's beach



 We have been at our second home exchange in Yallingup, Western Australia for a week now. I realize now there was much anticipation in arriving here. Ever since we arrived in Australia, Western Australia was the only place with great weather every day. Just like Huatulco, MX the weather is boring, 35C and clear everyday, as we like it. Then we were anticipating it a lot more as we moved around every 2 days for 3+ weeks, just to stay put and unpack. We really enjoyed touring around and seeing so many people and places, but it was time to settle in. This left southern WA with some big shoes to fill  and our expectations have been met! The weather tried to follow across the country at first and when we stayed in Perth we heard the same thing ‘the weather is never this poor here’. There was even a cyclone predicted. Well that dwindled and we ended up with a thunder storm and a few days to adjust to the heat and here we are at Boring! Yayyy.

I wish I could say that for the rest of the country. With more natural disasters everyday it seems. A huge cyclone in northern Queensland, dangerous high temps in Sydney and now I heard flash flooding in Melbourne yesterday. We have seen too many news conferences addressing the nation since we have been here!

Yallingup and Perth are so different from the other areas we have visited and the locals are proud to be so different. Much more quaint and quiet and it is much hotter and drier. There are fewer plants from home here. The temperate plants have disappeared and the mediterranean ones have appeared.

The town we are in is a small surf town kind of like the size and remoteness of Britannia Beach. There is a store/ post office/coffee house/gear rentals/etc, a restaurant, and a hotel. The area around here is the area for the Margaret River wine tours, so everywhere we go we pass a few wineries, a brewery and a few artisan shops. We have turned into a few and plan on many more!



Our view to Cape Naturalist



We have a big beautiful house on the hill overlooking the surf beach and Cape Naturalist National Park. The views are fantastic and everything is close. The area is really only 3 blocks of houses and quite a few are vacation homes for people in Perth. We are 7kms from a nice small town of Dunsborough. That is where the grocery store and all the amenities are. I also discovered a raw/whole foods restaurant. Yummy!



Nearr the top of Wardanup Mt



Nathan has been asking to go to daycare for weeks now. We had to wait until we were set up somewhere. So here we had him set up in a place in town for 2 days a week. We are all grateful for the break. He is very tired when we pick him up and Tom and I have a chance to get out and do a few things at regular speed. First day we went out and did a hike up the local ‘mountain’ behind our house. More hill like, it was just a 2 hour round trip.

The first morning here, we had parrots, a raven and a kookaburra show up on the deck looking for a treat. What a treat for us! They come back everyday and I think it is the same kookaburra that returns. It will eat out of our hand and poses for a good picture. They are carnivores and we save a bit of steak or hamburger to feed him. We haven’t heard any laughing around here, it must nest further away because we did hear them in one place we stayed and they go crazy in the morning and evening with their crazy laugh. And they are loud!  There are a lot of the grey and pink galahs around also, but they travel in big packs and we have been warned to not feed them or they will quickly multiply to 50 birds. A good warning.

Well that is where we are at now and I will catch you up on the previous few weeks of traveling next. I am not good with chronological.

Cheers,



Lana

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