Advance Australia fair!

So like I said, Mark and I decided that we'd had enough of Ireland and all of it's trappings, so we decided to head to Australia on the working holiday (*hah!*) visa.
The destination was Perth, but we decided to stay over in Singapore for a couple of days en-route. Not for too long mind you, cause all our precious pennies needed to be saved so we would be able to get a place to live and survive for a while before we could get jobs for ourselves.

Our sights weren't set too high, all we wanted was a job in a shop or an internet cafe or something, it's not like we were looking to further our careers or anything, just wanted a bit of cash for the rent and beer and the like. So we arrived in Perth on the 25th of November 2001.

There are an astounding number of beautiful beaches around perth. We managed to visit pretty much all of them bar Swanboure, which is the nudist beach - I'm much to shy for that :) So here are Hillarys Boat Harbour, Trigg Beach, Scarborough Beach, and soon there will be photos of Cottesloe, which was the nicest of the lot.

We took a weekend off from poverty to go visit the incredibly beautiful Rottnest (from the Dutch for Rats nest!, because of the Quokkas that were discovered inhabiting the island when Dutch explorers landed there. They're like a cross between a kangaroo and a wallabi I think). In short they're cute little buggers, not at all like rats.

Our last weekend in Perth, we decided to go visit the Swan Valley (mostly cos we couldn't afford to go to Margaret River). We took a tour out to the Valley called the Chardonnay, Cheese and Chocolate tour, which took us to two vineyards, a Chesse Factory and the Margaret River chocolate factory that's there. It was really cool - lots of freebies :)

One of my favourite things you can only get in Perth is Roc Candy. They're these handmade sweets that taste and look absolutely amazing. Unfortunately they don't ship over seas :(.

After almost 4 months in Perth we decided to up and leave and seek our fortune on the East Coast. We decided that it would be more, um fun, to take the train across the 2000 or so miles to Adelaide, on the Indian Pacific - so called because it goes from the Indian Ocean across Australia to the Pacific Ocean.
We made a couple of stops along the way in Kalgoorlie, the place where all the Gold is in Western Australia, and in a little place called Cook which has a population of 4 (3 men, 1 woman), which is the otherside of the Nullabor Plain.

From there we decided to rest our weary bums after the 2 1/2 day train journey for a couple of days, in order to check out Adelaide. South Australia has the distinction of being the only place where no convicts were sent in Australia, and so there is a very colonial feel left from the rich settlers who lived here. It's also where the delicious Wolf Blass is made *drool*.

We arrived in Melbourne on March 29th, 2001 which was both James' Birthday, and Good Friday.

After leaving Melbourne, we decided to make the most of our remaining trip, and see as much of Australia as possible with our limited funds. We took the overnight bus from Melbourne to Canberra, arriving at Satan O'Clock in Canberra.
Canberra is technically the capital of Australia, but must Melbournites & Sydneyites will argue you on that one. It is a purpose built city in the middle of *nowhere*, so we decided a days wandering there would be plenty for us. Besides we were eager to get to Sydney. My cousin Anna was there working and she promised to be our tour guide for a couple of days.

5.Bangkok, Thailand

While we were in Thailand on our way home, we were very lucky to see the Songkran festival (April 12-15). This is the traditional Thai New Year and is a time for Thais to pay homage to Buddha images, clean their houses, and sprinkle water on their elders in a show of respect.
Well that was originally the idea, now in Bangkok it's pretty much just a *huge* water fight =) Anyone who ventures out on the streets is likely to get a thorough dousing of icy cold water (though I suspect they reserve this for the red haired westerners =) ) , all in good fun, but also very welcome in 35 degree heat. Bear in mind, you will get looks of horror from the other guests in the hotel and lots of slagging from the people working there =)

Due to flight restrictions, we had to stay over night in Rome on our way home, which was of course a terrible disaster. Not.

Unfortunately though, we had already been on a 13hrs or so flight from Singapore, travelling back in time so we were a bit shattered to say the least. Still not being ones to turn down an oppertuinity of seeing somewhere new, we forced the sleep from our minds and went walkabout in Rome.

Would you like to go back?