Adventures on the East!

G’day all,


It’s time for my first blog outside of Western Australia. A quick word of warning though, I’m in an internet cafe with limited time and a lot to say and in addition to that, I’ve got a bad neck/back which I’ll get into later so I don’t know how good this blog will be, sorry!


So, when I last left you, I had just returned from an average road trip down south in WA, after that there wasn’t a lot to write home about of my last week in Perth apart from one day. On the 20th of November, I met up with a friend and we went to a ‘wildlife reserve’ where you’re given the opportunity to hold/cuddle a koala! As you can imagine, Alex (my friend I was going with) and I were pretty excited about this because of how cute Koalas look! We weren’t disappointed by the koala cuddling but the rest of the reserve was awful and I quickly forgot the amazing koala experience because of it. We got about 15minutes each to hold and at the same time feed a gorgeous little koala called Jackson. He was so cute and extremely soft, it was a little like holding a teddy bear or a new born baby, it was a truly amazing experience. However, what followed it was far from ‘amazing’. We walked around the rest of the park and quickly noticed what a bad condition the park was in, it seemed as if they only cared about the koalas and not about any of the other creatures there. Most of the cages or pens that the animals were kept in were filthy and many of the animals looked mal-nourished and some injured. To be honest, I was quite annoyed and pissed off (excuse my French) about this all and left the reserve pretty soon.


That evening, I took Dilip uncle, Ina aunty and Beni out for dinner to a lovely Thai restaurant just as a small toke of my appreciation for accommodating me for the past 5months or so! The next evening (my final night in Perth) I went with Dilip uncle and Ina aunty to one of their family friend’s house. It was a pretty good evening and for all those that care, I haven’t lost my touch at Mario Kart Wii!!! On the 22nd of November, I departed Perth with Alex for a city on the East called Cairns and that is where the real adventure begins…


On the 23rd of November, we landed in Cairns at 4am and walked out of the airport to feel 26degree heat, yes it was that hot at 4am and to the astonishing news that Spurs had just beaten Wigan 9-1 (thanks Chetan and Nihal)! We had to hang around the airport for 3hours waiting for our transfer to the hostel, I’m so glad Alex was there because I would have got so bored without her! When we got to the hostel, we were pretty exhausted and just wanted to rest but we were told our rooms weren’t ready yet, so we went and had some breakfast and sat by the pool for a few hours waiting for the first bus into town! We headed into town at about 9am and wondered around it, I have to say that I was pretty unimpressed by Cairns which the Aussies regard as one of their liveliest cities! After a few hours of aimlessly walking around town, we got some lunch and headed back to the hostel and waited for Alex’s friend Hester to join us (she was on a later flight from Adelaide). Our first night in Cairns was pretty low-key as we were all knackered and had to be up early the next morning. We went for a few drinks in town then a couple more back at the hostel before hitting the sack!


The following day, I was up early for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. I found out in the moring that the three Swedish guys in my room were on the same trip as me, so at least I wouldn’t be on my own! We got to the port and onto our boat ‘Ocean Freedom’ and sailed about an hour out of Cairns to stop at a certain part of the reef. On that hour long journey, the scenery was stunning, but when we got to our stop, my jaw dropped. I can’t explain to you how many different shades of blue there were surrounding us and pictures really do not do justice to the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef. We went snorkeling for about an hour an a half and it was an incredible experience. I saw so many different fish and the actual coral is amazing! I kind of regretted not doing a scuba dive course and diving on the barrier reef, because that would have been one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done! I could have spent ages in the water (apart from the sound of my own breathing underwater was beginning to make me feel like Darth Vader) but we had to get out to go on a tour around the coral in a glass bottom boat. This little boat trip once again highlighted the beauty of the coral and we were given some background to how the coral was formed and its significance.


Despite these amazing experiences, the real ‘WOW’ moment was to come after lunch when we sailed to an island. We got about 50meters away from this island and the boat stopped. We looked out into the sea to see a tiny sand island probably about 15metres in diameter with nothing and nobody on it. We went on a small dingy to this island and I just sat there for an hour feeling the most relaxed I’ve ever felt! It was beautiful, no other word to describe it. On the way back to Cairns, I got destroyed at some Swedish card game that my room mates had taught me and I had a pretty funny hour an a half with them! I got back to the hostel, had a shower and waited for Alex and Hester to return from their diving course. When they got back, I made them dinner and we had a few drinks at the hostel before heading off to bed for a relatively early night.


The next morning (25th November) I was up early again to go on a tour into the rainforest just outside of Cairns. I was picked up at an un-Godly hour by our Rastafarian tour guide who turned out to be a very funny and friendly guy! Our first stop was at a tree called the ‘Cathedral Fig Tree’ and it has to be one of the strangest trees I have ever seen (Ill try and put a picture up but if not, have a look on my facebook pictures). From this tree we went on a small walk into the rainforest and as all of you probably know by now, I’m horrifically scared of snakes so the whole time I had my eyes wide open and my legs ready to sprint incase there was one slithering around near us! The rainforest itself, was pretty amazing, there are so many different types of trees and plants and they combine together to create some spectacular scenery. Other highlights of the day include stops at a volcanic lake, a huge hole in the ground and a few waterfalls. However, the most exciting moment of the trip was a visit to the waterfall where Peter Andre filmed his video for ‘Mysterious Girl’… I know there are some of you going on to youtube now to have a look at the video. As annoying as that song is now, at the time I know all of you reading this loved the song and I know the girls reading this probably loved Peter Andre’s 8pack and his curtains! That same waterfall is also where they film the Timotei Shampoo adverts where the girl emerges from the water and creates a rainbow effect with the swish of her hair, so being a proper tourist, I tried to re-create it myself! After this excitement, we got to the hostel where a couple of us would be spending the night while the others headed back to Cairns. The three of us who were staying went Platypus spotting and saw too before having dinner, some drinks and heading off to bed.


The following morning, we had a bit of a lie in, well it was a lie in compared to the silly times I had been getting up the previous few days! We had a big breakfast before starting our day of adventures. The day began with what was meant to be an 18km bike ride but it got cut short by about 9km because of me. After about 9km, there was a downhill section and I can't really remember what happened at all but the German girl behind me saw it all... She said I took the corner fine and was going down hill fine but then my back wheel hit something on the road she thinks it may have been a stone and I lost control of the bike and came off it. I hit my head so hard on the road that the helmet (not just the plastic outer casing but the hard foam too) actually broke on the impact. Luckily I didn't black out or anything but the girl said I was lucky to not have a head injury considering how hard I hit the ground. I escaped the accident with just cuts on my arms and elbow and I was taken back to the lodge to be patched up. They had to cut me out of my t-shirt because some of it was stuck in a cut. Once I had been patched up, I decided to soldier on and continue with the day thinking that the damage was only cuts and bruises.


We went for lunch and then headed to the depths of the rainforest to see some beautiful waterfalls, that you would never be able to find without a tour guide! Following this, we went canoeing but because of the cut on my elbow, I just sat in the canoe while our tour guide paddled the canoe by himself. We stopped off at a small stream where the water level dropped dramatically and we found a special rock that when mixed with water creates a paste which the aboriginal people use as a face paint. SO inevitably, we had some fun with these face paints before heading back to the hostel and then on the hour long journey back to Cairns. The whole time, I was feeling fine, just a little sore and when I got back to Cairns and the hostel I was staying at, I had a couple of drinks with my Swedish mates before heading to bed.


The next morning, I woke up and couldn’t get out of my bed because my neck and back were in so much pain. Eventually, I forced myself up and got ready to go into town to find a doctors and buy a new camera as mine was destroyed in the accident. Thankfully I had cancelled the white water rafting that I was scheduled to do that day, because there is no way I would have been able to do it! In the morning I saw one doctor who told me that I probably just had bad whiplash but he’ll refer me to another doctor in the afternoon. I killed a few hours in town before seeing this other doctor who scared the life out of me when he said there is a strong chance that I may have fractured my neck and he sent me for an X-ray. However, when I came back from the x-ray he had gone home and as I was leaving Cairns the following day, I would have to wait until Monday (today) to find out the extent of the damage. In the evening, I went out for dinner with my Swedish mates and then a couple of drinks to num the pain. We got back to the hostel and played some card games which I was much better at than the day on the boat!

(Im running out of internet time so I’m going to have to rush this final bit)…


On the 28th, I woke up in more pain but I was leaving Cairns to begin the journey down south on the East coast. I got onto the Oz experience bus and our first stop was at a beautiful section of rainforest which had a very calm and relaxing stream. From here, we went to a small town for breakfast and a briefing on how the Oz Experience Buses work. We drove for about an hour more until we got to our next stop a crocodile farm. I was sitting near the front of the bus and when we pulled up at the farm one of the staff from there got on a bus with a snake around his neck. He could immeadiately tell I was scared so he came right over to me and was about to put the snake into my lap before I swore at him not to! After this heart stopping experience, we went around the farm and the staff fed the crocodiles in front of us. They were crazy, they got into the croc cages and angered the crocs so that they would chase them around the cage! At the park, they also had dingos, kanagaroos and birds that we were allowed to feed and hold!


We left the crocodile farm and continued on our journey to Townsville. We picked up some more people from a place called mission beach and these guys were big football fans (although they supported Darlington) so we played a footballer naming game. They were astonished with how many footballers names I knew and I think they were a bit annoyed with the random European ones I was naming! Anyway, the journey passed quickly and we soon got to Townsville. I don’t really know how to describe this place but I’m just going to say, don’t go there!!!! The hostel was like a council estate and I carried round all my valuables with me, even to the bathroom!


The next morning I was up early again to get on the Oz Experience bus heading for Airlie Beach. We drove straight to Airlie Beach whilst playing some games on the buses. We got to Airlie Beach late afternoon and then in the evening, everyone on the bus arranged to meet up at a bar for dinner and some drinks. I was commended on my beer drinking ability by two Irish guys that were with us. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that my New Years resolution (starting when I return from Australia to the UK) is to stop binge drinking, meaning that I’ll have up to 3pints, but after that I’m not going to drink any more. The bar shut early and I went off with the Irish guys looking for a club, we walked into one but 5minutes later we were out of there again. Airlie Beach is meant to be one of the party hotspots in Australia but if that is true, I’m extremely disappointed! It was so over-priced and full of kids on ‘schoolies month’.


Today, I decided to get my back and neck sorted out seeing as I had a free day. I went to the doctors and she had a look at my x-ray. She said luckily the damage wasn’t too bad or too serious but it will cause me some discomfort over the next few months so just be careful with it! Basically, I hit the ground so hard coming off my bike that my neck and spine are now slightly out of line with eachother, but not too much to be a serious back injury!


Anyway, I have very limited time left and I want some dinner now! Sorry for how rushed the end of my blog is, but everything in Airlie Beach is over-priced including the internet! Tomorrow I get on a boat for 3days around the Whit Sunday islands which are home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world!


I hope all is well, I’ll be back home before you know it!
Mihir

Exams are over, now the real fun begins!

G’day all!!

The last time I left you, I had just had a fairly alcohol filled weekend away to Rottnest Island and I had exams right around the corner. Since then a lot has happened so prepare yourselves for a pretty long blog entry!

On the 28th of October, I went into uni to get some work done considering I had an exam in 5days time. I had an extremely productive morning and then a much slower afternoon and I was then rescued when I met one of my friends in the library and he suggested going to the ‘Tav’ early (we were going there later for a study abroad leavers Barbie) for a drink or two! So Cameron and I began drinking at 4pm and then the others slowly came along and the drinking continued. The leavers do was really good, we got free good food (and for once the veggie and meat was cooked separately), we got to drink and we got to catch up with people before exams! I had a long chat with some of the study abroad staff and promised them that I would be back to visit UWA within the next 5years, so I better start saving for another trip to Australia!

The next ten or so days weren’t very exciting, they consisted of lots of revision and even more procrastination including visits to the travel agents to enquire about trips that I knew that I could not afford and gardening! I don’t like to say how I think exams went because I feel that whatever I say, I’ll just be tempting fate and so I’m just going to say that I think they went ok!

After my second and final exam on the 6th of November, I went to a travel agent in Northbridge (an area in Perth) which had been recommended to me by several friends. The travel agency specialises in backpacker trips around Australia and New Zealand, so I thought a visit there would be useful. There is so much to do in Australia and New Zealand, and before I went in, i had a huge list of possible things that I could do, but as soon as I started talking to Emily (the woman at the travel agency) everything changed! I ended up spending a very entertaining three hours there and I came out of it very deep into my overdraft but extremely excited about the two months I had ahead of me! I have a wonderful itinerary planned; you’re going to have to read my future blogs to find out exactly what I’ll be up to!

The next day, still buzzing from the prospects of my travels, I decided to enquire about a tour around the south west of Western Australia. I ended up finding a great deal that left in two days time, so I went ahead and booked it and that’s what the majority of this blog will be about! However, before I was to embark on this trip, I went with Ina aunty, Dilip uncle and Beni to go and see some Australian national plants that they were interested in buying called ‘Black Boy or (the politically correct term) Grass Trees’. Now this may not sound very exciting to you, but these trees have fascinated me since I arrived in Perth. They come in all different shapes and sizes but only grow 12mm a year, so as you can imagine, they are quite exclusive and pretty expensive, but definitely worth it!

The following day (9th November), I had to leave the house at 5.50am to get to the mini bus on time. I got there early, and the mini-bus arrived shortly after with our driver and tour guide for the next three days Shauna, way too wide awake for that time in the morning. However, we had to wait for almost an hour for two girls who were to become known as Team Germany for the obvious reason that they were from Germany! Anyway, the girls arrived and we departed down south. I was once again sitting in the front (as I was on the Monkey Mia trip) which meant I had to stay awake the whole time, but it turned out to be a wise decision with our driver being an incredibly interesting person!

After about an hour and a half of driving, we got to our first stop which was just for a toilet break and a chance to get some food and/or drink. However, the stop turned out to be a little more eventful for me. Shauna introduced us to the ‘Weet-Bix (the Aussie version of weetabix) challenge’ and the unlucky first victim was me. The challenge is to eat a Weet-Bix without any milk or any liquid on it, so just dry, as fast as you can. This may not sound particularly difficult to you, but believe me it’s bloody hard and pretty disgusting! You take one bite out of the weet-bix and your whole mouth just dries up and the weet-bix gets stuck to the inside of your cheeks, tongue and teeth making it impossible to chew and then swallow! It took me 3minutes and 7seconds to finish it, which i thought wasn’t bad until I heard the world record is 48seconds and then after the three days it turned out mine was the worst time out of the 12 of us on the trip! If you think it’s easy, I think you should try it, give me a bowl of warm milk and but three weet-bixs in it and I will devour it in under 90seconds but give me one weet-bix and no milk and it will take me over double the time!

After my abysmal effort at the weet-bix challenge, we headed to our next brief stop which was the Taurt Tree forest. Taurt wood, is extremely tough and very good for making tables etc, however, because of the usefulness of the wood, all of the forests apart from this one were cut down worldwide, meaning that this is the last remaining Taurt Tree forest in the world! After this stop, there was a stop at yet another ‘world exclusive’, the town of Busselton which is home to Busselton pier, the world’s longest wooden pier! Unfortunately, the pier was under-going some renovations so weren’t allowed to walk the full 1.8km pier, but the colour of the sea that the pier is located on was truly amazing!

The next stop was our stop for lunch where we stopped in the middle of nowhere at a place called Bush Shack Brewery. This brewery was tiny and I can’t imagine them making any money considering their location but it was home to some extremely interesting beer. These interesting beers consisted of Lemon flavoured beer, Cola flavoured beer, chocolate flavoured beer, cream soda flavoured beer and many more. I had a pint of each of the ones I mentioned apart from the chocolate one, and I have to say that they were all very tasty and pretty refreshing too! I especially liked the cola one even though I don’t like Coca Cola! A few pints later, we departed from here and headed off to some limestone caves. Being a geographer, you would expect me to be fascinated by these, but to be honest, the cave was a little disappointing and it was extremely humid in there!

The next stop was at yet another geographer’s paradise; it was at a place called Canal Rocks, which are metamorphic rocks that provide significant evidence that India and Australia were once joined to each other as part of the super continent ‘Pangaea’. These rocks were truly amazing, not really because of the rocks but because of the way the rough sea was crashing against them providing some true ‘Kodak moments’ (see below). Feeling energised from the sounds and visuals of waves crashing against these rocks, we headed off to a winery called the ‘Flying Fish Winery’. I’m no wine connoisseur but I have to say that these wines were nothing more than mediocre and the woman serving us told us nothing about the actual wines! When we got back onto the bus a little disappointed, our tour guide told us that this winery is one of the few that lets ‘backpacker’ tour groups in but she promised we would go to a much better on one the final day!

To get rid of the memories of our disappointing wine experience, we headed off to the Margret River Chocolate factory which had loads of free samples. I love my milk chocolate, but the white chocolate that they gave out here was to die for, it tasted even better than the milky bar white chocolate! I wish I had taken some of the free samples with me now! Feeling a little livelier now, we headed to Augusta where we would spend the night. We first went to the Lighthouse there which marks the point where the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean meet. The plan was to watch the sunset there but unfortunately the clouds ruined it, so we left and went to the hostel!
When we got to the hostel, we had to make dinner and I was allocated the task of making mash potato. I had never made mash potato before that night but I had an idea of how to make it and it turned out to be ‘the smoothest mash the group had ever eaten’ – their words, not mine! So don’t worry boys in the flat, my cooking skills are still up to par! After dinner, we sat around having a few drinks and I then had a very interesting conversation with one of the guys on our bus who was a detective! I’ve always loved watching police shows such as The Bill and so I asked him all these questions which he has probably been asked a million times, but it was entertaining for me!

The following morning (10th November) we had an early start leaving the hostel at 6.30am. Our day began with a 2hour drive to our first stop and I spent that journey trying to keep myself awake to give the driver some company whilst everyone else slept. Our first stop that day was to see and climb a Bicentennial Tree. These can grow up to 70metres in height and before the days of helicopters, they were used to spot bush fires. At this particular tree, there was the opportunity to climb to the top of it which was 60metres high up. I was so up for climbing to the top until I actually got to the tree. I think all of us were shocked by the way we had to climb the tree and most of the group decided against attempting to climb it, but I went ahead to see how far up I could go. The climbing mechanism was literally a ladder of giant nails that stuck out of the tree and spiralled upwards (see the picture below). There was a wire net on one side but nothing to save you if you lost your footing and slipped through the rungs. I climbed to the first platform (25metres up) with relative ease and I wasn’t really scared. I stopped there to take some photos and then I decided to go further. I must have climbed up about 5metres further when I realised how high off the ground I was and I was still only half way to the top. At this point, I gave up and climbed back down the tree. Most people did the same thing although two of our group did make it to the top and said it was an amazing view but coming down was extremely scary!

From the Bicentennial Tree, we stopped in two small towns for some lunch before heading to see some more tall trees in the Valley of the Giants. The Valley of the Giants is home to the famous Red Tingle trees which are also found in Yosemite National Park on the West coast of the USA. These trees are famous not only for their towering height but also for their strange holes in the base of each tree, with some of these holes being large enough to drive cars through (see below). The Valley of the Giants also has the world’s highest tree top walk which peaks at 45metres at which point you are up in the canopy layer of the trees. The views were spectacular from up here and it makes you appreciate how tall these trees are!

We left the forests and headed for the coast line to see some more amazing landscapes. The first stop on the coast line was to a place called Elephant Cove. Elephant Cove, is a small cove where there are huge metamorphic rocks at the seas edge which strongly resemble a herd of elephants walking into the sea, these rocks were quite amazing! (see below) Next door to elephant cove was a beautiful enclose beach (I guess it is another cove) called Green pool. The colour of the water was beautiful and it was so peaceful in this section, the perfect place for a swim!

After spending about an hour in this relaxed environment we went to ‘The Gap’ which was the last part of Australia to be joined with Antarctica. The way the rocks have been eroded by the sea was pretty cool, the sea had formed a bridge of rocks from one cliff to the other. The sea was once again quite rough so the waves were crashing against the rocks with brute force. From the Gap, we headed towards the town of Albany which is the second city of Western Australia, where we would spend the night. We got to Albany and headed straight for the pub, which was an uncomfortable experience. When we walked in, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned around to look at these tourists walking into their local. The pub was full of local builders in there for happy hour but they weren’t too happy to see us. It was just like when someone unexpected walks into the Queen Vic in Eastenders! After a pint, we decided to leave and go to the bottle shop and just drink at the hostel instead, a wise decision I think!

On the final day of our tour, we had another early start, and at this point I regretted staying up until a stupid hour to hustle some French people at Poker! We left the hostel and headed to the coast again to a spot called ‘The Blow Hole’. This was a coastline of metamorphic rock, but there were certain cracks that you could sit on and when a wave crashed against the coastline it would release pressure and air sending a weird sensation through your body. This was fun for a few minutes but it got a little annoying after a while. However, while we were sitting there we saw whales swimming in the distance which was very exciting!

We left the Blow Hole after about half an hour and headed to a place called Castle Rock. To get up to Castle Rock, we had to hike for an hour and a half through the bush on a mountain. It was exhausting work and despite the clouds being low, the view was incredible, which made the walk well worth it! We spent about 20minutes up at the top before coming back down and heading to Castle Rock Winery which was considerably better than the previous winery we had been to! We had some lunch before heading home on a long but very entertaining journey. Once again, I had to stay awake the whole journey but I was talking to Shauna about travelling and then about our passion for Africa and African people. The last leg of the journey was slightly less cultured but equally entertaining, when we played ‘guess that theme tune’ on the bus. The theme tunes Shauna played ranged from ‘saved by the bell’ to ‘Jaws’ and I was surprisingly good at guessing them!

After an awesome few days down south in Western Australia, I had two days in Perth before going south again to Margret River for one night. Those two days were a complete contrast of each other. Both of them were meant to be productive but the Thursday (12th November), I spend more time drinking first in the pub with a friend and then in the pub with Rooshabh, Dilip Uncle and Ina aunty than I did getting things done. The next day however was far more productive; I bought my backpack for my travels and I sorted out and posted the things I had to send back home such as books and excessive clothes. They’re being shipped back, so i reckon I’ll get home before they do!

On Saturday (14th November), I had yet another early start for a two day, one night trip to Margret River but this time I was joined by one of my friends. Unfortunately we were given a tour guide who was on his maiden tour, and he turned out to be a pretty poor tour guide compared to the previous ones I’ve had! Our first stop was at a reptile park, which I was pretty unimpressed about considering my horrific phobia of snakes! After about 10minutes of walking towards the doors and then deciding against going in, I went in and saw lots of snakes, a crocodile and a couple of lizards. I was feeling quite comfortable and calm in there until they took a snake out of its glass cage at that point, I was out of the building faster than Usain Bolt off the blocks! After this heart-racing experience, we went to our second stop which was a bird sanctuary. This sanctuary had hundreds of different types of birds within it of all different colours and sizes. We had lunch here and then went to an amazing winery called Xanadou Winery. There were quite a few wines there that i could quite happily drink with a meal! Our final stop of the day was some limestone caves, after the last caves I went to a few days earlier, I wasn’t too keen on it but these caves were a lot better and a lot more fun with us having to wear helmets and carry torches around.

After the caves we headed to our hostel and all of us on the trip were pretty disappointed by the tour so far, largely due to our tour guide knowing nothing about any of the places we had been to and his lack of communication with the group. We had dinner at the hostel and then we began drinking. I ended up getting ridiculously drunk because after about 9 bottles of beer, the Swiss people on our bus decided to bring out some Red Label Jonny Walker and forced me to have some with them! After a few glasses of whisky and coke, I thought it would be a good idea to get a few beers and sit in the ‘Shed’ which was basically an outdoor shack on the beach. My intention was to finish the beers and then head to bed, however I finished the beers and fell asleep there. I woke up to the sound of rustling in the bushes nearby and I opened my eyes to see the sun was up! I got up, got some water and went to bed at 4.45am!

I woke up a few hours later, still a little drunk and worse for wear which probably wasn’t a good idea considering we were going to be on a boat for three hours to go whale watching! I had some breakfast and we then headed to the beach where we would get on the boat for this whale watching experience. We got on the boat and luckily for myself and several others, the sea was pretty calm! After about 5minutes on the boat, we were joined on our journey by two dolphins, but they quickly got bored of us and left. For the next two hours or so, we saw loads of whales at least 20, but all they would do is come up to the surface and show their humps (they were humpback whales) and go back under the water. They were also all pretty far away from the boat, so everyone was a little disappointed when we were told that it was time to head back.

On the way back, we saw a whale in the distance ‘breaching’ which is when they propel themselves out the water and then land back in the water creating a huge splash. We headed towards this whale, and when we stopped the boat near it, the whale came right up to our boat and brought two of his friends with him. For about half an hour the whales circled our boat coming up to the surface and showing us how big they actually are. Everyone was running around the boat looking to get the best picture possible. I have to say that this half an hour, was a truly incredible experience and it made the whole trip so worth it. Whales are amazing creatures and the size of them is astonishing! I highly recommend whale watching to anyone who is interested in them! After the whale watching experience, we had some lunch on the beach before heading home via the chocolate factory.

Although the second of my two trips down to the southern region of Western Australia was pretty disappointing apart from the whale watching experience, the southern region of WA, is easily one of the most beautiful regions of the world that I’ve seen!

I’m now in my final few days in Western Australia and I intend to have a relatively low-key few days before I head over to the East for an action-packed 8weeks of travelling! There are lots of you asking when I’ll be home, I’ll leave the date as a surprise but as much as I would love to stay in Australia for much longer, I’ll be home early in 2010! This maybe my last blog for a while as I’m not sure how often I’ll get access to a computer to write blogs! If you don’t hear from me much over the next 8weeks, don’t panic, I’ve probably just been extremely busy. If you hear about me on the News, then you should be worried!

I’ll try and be in touch as often as possible but for now, it’s off to the East coast!
Mihir