Returning to Australia felt like coming home after a holiday. With the help of a serviced apartment in Perth, we were able to do our laundry, indulge in a bubble bath and get ourselves refreshed and ready to continue on with our travels. The fact that we won’t have that feeling or opportunity again until we actually return home in a couple of months’ time is both unnerving and exciting.
We spent our first day in Western Australia exploring Perth. We walked down to the esplanade; saw the famous Swan Bells; visited Heirisson Island, where we met our last couple of kangaroos; looked around the Crown Casino and walked back via McCallum Park and the South Perth Foreshore.
Late that night, we spontaneously decided to hire a campervan for early the following morning in order to do a road trip down the West Coast.
The first stop on our trip was Denmark, where we did the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. We walked through a forest of impressively huge tingle trees and had a lot of fun pretending to be on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (Because we’re massive dorks.)
Within the same park, we were also able to do the Ancient Empire Walk. My advice to anyone planning a trip to the Valley of the Giants would be to do the Ancient Empire Walk before doing the Tree Top Walk, as it is a little underwhelming to do afterwards.
Our second stop was in Pemberton. We went there with the intention of climbing the Gloucester Tree, which is a giant karri tree in Gloucester National Park. However, because it is winter in Australia at the moment, it was absolutely chucking it down with rain when we got there! We waited for the rain to stop in the car park with cups of tea, pots of noodles and games of cards, before venturing out to take a look at a very wet, very cold and very desolate Gloucester Tree. There are signs around the tree stating not to climb it when wet, as it is unsafe. Being a naturally cautious person, this was enough to put me off from climbing a 58 metre high tree with nothing for support but slippery metal pegs. (Even without the rain, I have a hard time understanding how this tourist attraction has passed health and safety regulations, and an even harder time believing that nobody has ever fallen and died whilst climbing it!) Unfortunately for my resting heart rate, Nick is not so cautious of a person or so easily deterred by signs. He was halfway up the tree before I could even open my mouth to say “health and safety regulations”. I was very proud of him for making it all the way to the top of the tree, and even happier that he made it all the way back down again in one piece. Nick has said that it was very scary at times but was quite the accomplishment and the views from the lookout point at the top were stunning.
The penultimate destination on our whistle-stop tour of Western Australia was Margaret River. In Margaret River, we visited Mammoth Cave and went for a wine tasting at Flametree Winery. After our wine tasting, we checked into our last ever Australian campsite, where we sat by the ocean and shared the bottle of wine we had bought from the winery.
The final stop on our road trip was Fremantle. From there, we got the ferry to Rottnest Island so as I could tick something huge off my bucket list: to meet and take a selfie with a quokka! I absolutely adore quokkas and have done ever since I stumbled across them online when I was a teenager. I think they are absolutely adorable and, as Rottenest Island is one of the only places in the world where you can find them, it was a must-do whilst we were in Australia. They were so unbelievably cute and lived up to all of my expectations. My only disappointment was finding out that you aren’t able to touch them, as it can make both them and you very unwell if you do. It took all my reserves of willpower not to give them a little stroke or cuddle.
Rottnest Island itself is very beautiful and we picked a very good day to go, as it was the only sunny day in an otherwise rainy week. Whilst there, we walked up to Pink Lake and visited the Wadjemup Lighthouse, but mostly we spent the day just soaking up as much quokka time as we could. We only went for a day trip but there's a lot that can be done on Rottnest Island if you have the time to stay there a little longer. A lot of people hire bikes as the best way of seeing the island and, in the warmer months, you are also able to take part in water activities such as snorkelling.
Our flight to Auckland wasn’t until late in the evening; so, we spent our last day in Australia exploring Perth city centre. We had dinner in the city before heading to the airport and, of course, our last ever Australian meal had to be a chicken parmi!
I am very proud to be able to say that, over the past year, we have now officially visited all eight Australian states and territories! Australia has definitely had its ups and downs but I will be taking away lots of amazing memories and learning experiences from our time spent living in the land down under. Now that it is finally time to bid Australia farewell, I will leave on the parting words of Eleanor Shellstrop: “Get me out of this trash country where everyone’s either a criminal or a spider.”
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