Summary: drove down to Margaret River region, hung out in Brusselton, climbed around in a cave, enjoyed the wine country, found out about one more dangerous creature, fashion commentary, and wrapped up the day pretty well
We left Perth early and found that in fact some people in Australia do speed. I'll tell you, if I had the capital, I would invest in stretches of dirt between Perth and Brusselton (or maybe just the whole coast around to Albany) - it is beautiful country, near a big city, great climate. No reason there can't be 5 million people in this corner of Oz instead of 1.3 million in a few decades. Although I do hope a few more roads get widened. We pulled into Brusselton and found yet another mammoth jetty (pier) sticking over a mile into the ocean. There is an underwater oceanarium at the end of the pier, but carrying Alex 2 miles seemed too high a price for any aquarium. Thus, we hung out at an ice cream shop where we bought Alex one of those tiny rubber balls that bounce so high. He was entertained. 
Then, we went to a cave near Yalingup called Ngilgi . That's why the first picture of him is playing with a wind-up toy before we head into the cave. In a total shock to me, Alex was totally energized and after I bumped his head on the ceiling once, he was on board with doing his own walking the rest of the way. This was walking up and down and all around, sweaty and narrow spots, crawling through a really small crawlspace (good for him, a little tight for his daddy) (photo looks like rock over an Indiana Jones bridge...yeah... that is where we emerged). We went as far as 37m deep and it was not a case of a hill showing up above us, we walked down seemingly forever. Cool cave and superstar performance by the star of the show. As the guide took us there, she told a joke about how newlyweds went to the cave and Alex just busted out laughing. He has really good comic timing because he often laughs at jokes he would have no way of understanding. It is always funny because he will laugh out loud as others are grinning at a joke, then others laugh at him laughing at it. Anyhow, the cave had a good Aboriginal dreamtime story associated with it.
Most wine regions on this planet consider themselves "laid back". Now I love California wine regions, but most would only see Napa or Healdsburg (Sonoma) as laid back in comparison to nearby San Francisco. You might think it laid back if you showed up in a field, but if you are at the Organic Market or the Starbucks, it would seem more intense than say Sacramento. Margaret River is actually laid back wine country because it is also surfing country. Yalingup (sounds like “Yelling Up”) is one of the premier surf spots on coast, but it backs up not only to caves, but also to several wonderful wineries. One other thing is that there are no tasting fees. Now this has the positive effect not only of encouraging the tasting of wine at more wineries, but it also has the effect of encouraging you to drink LESS at each. If you pay $10 for 5 tastings, you are darn well going to taste your five. If you pay nothing, you have no qualms with showing up, tasting two Shirazes, and getting on your way. The wineries (and there were a couple) were all outstanding with strong whites (I only tasted Semillion and Riesling) and a good range of shiraz from bold to fruity.
A common theme in my journey has been the many things that can ruin your day in Australia. All Australians will tell me that Australia isn’t really that dangerous, but... 8 of the 10 most venomous snakes live here (or some such). Salt water crocs scare the heck out of the local Rambos. Nobody goes in the water for fear of box jellyfish. Did we mention funnel web spiders? or the taipan? (maybe) Death Adder? (not sure it made the top ten) Brown Snake? How about the stone fish? No, no, Australia is really not that dangerous, but keep an eye out for cattle or kangaroos or emus on the road. So a very helpful person working at one of the wineries had some thought (Turnstiles & Roundabouts ?... all I know is it sounded like "chutes and ladders" if a British person invented the game and their Shiraz was quite good). She said that of course Australia was really quite safe as it relates to wildlife. Oh, but I should watch out for the flesh dissolving white backed spider. "Beg your pardon?" Yet another common theme is that all truly frightening creatures lay ahead in my journey. None of these animals exclusively live in Broome and I can't stumble across them moving forward. Yes, it seems that this spider lives in homes in Melbourne (nice) and gives a normal looking spider bite in which the sore expands and can cost you the use of a limb. Forever. That is now the one to look out for. Yeah, a flesh-eating house-dwelling urban spider that just now hit my radar because of the others took up too much space. Time for another shiraz.
One point I have not commented on is that the weather (with the exception of Rottnest Island) has been mild in the Australian sense. From Cairns to Monkey Mia, 30 degrees and humid (86 for those following along at home) was a good morning temperature, but that has been the high a few times this past week. Alex and I step out of the car and we are not pushed back in by a wall of humidity. This brought to mind something that I have noticed on the fashion front (worry not, my fashion notes tend to be short). Adults wear shorts here. In Europe, whether you are in Germany or Bulgaria, no adult wears shorts unless they are within 300 meters of a beach, on holiday, and it is daytime (or they are not European). Not sure when I noticed (probably a decade later than I should have), but if you see someone over 20 wearing shorts in a European city, just ask them (in English) where they are from. Australians are not on the Euro system there (making me look marginally less odd). Let me add without indicating my preference, their beaches and pools are also not on the Euro system as it relates to females, bikinis, and tops. Not that I am looking, but I would have noticed. (that should drive at least one comment)
We wrapped up the day at a nice motor lodge in wine country - the Marri Lodge. Great guy runs it, good value for the room. We saw some kangaroos, but they were out of range when I got out the camera.
Next: Onwards to Denmark!
We left Perth early and found that in fact some people in Australia do speed. I'll tell you, if I had the capital, I would invest in stretches of dirt between Perth and Brusselton (or maybe just the whole coast around to Albany) - it is beautiful country, near a big city, great climate. No reason there can't be 5 million people in this corner of Oz instead of 1.3 million in a few decades. Although I do hope a few more roads get widened. We pulled into Brusselton and found yet another mammoth jetty (pier) sticking over a mile into the ocean. There is an underwater oceanarium at the end of the pier, but carrying Alex 2 miles seemed too high a price for any aquarium. Thus, we hung out at an ice cream shop where we bought Alex one of those tiny rubber balls that bounce so high. He was entertained. 
Then, we went to a cave near Yalingup called Ngilgi . That's why the first picture of him is playing with a wind-up toy before we head into the cave. In a total shock to me, Alex was totally energized and after I bumped his head on the ceiling once, he was on board with doing his own walking the rest of the way. This was walking up and down and all around, sweaty and narrow spots, crawling through a really small crawlspace (good for him, a little tight for his daddy) (photo looks like rock over an Indiana Jones bridge...yeah... that is where we emerged). We went as far as 37m deep and it was not a case of a hill showing up above us, we walked down seemingly forever. Cool cave and superstar performance by the star of the show. As the guide took us there, she told a joke about how newlyweds went to the cave and Alex just busted out laughing. He has really good comic timing because he often laughs at jokes he would have no way of understanding. It is always funny because he will laugh out loud as others are grinning at a joke, then others laugh at him laughing at it. Anyhow, the cave had a good Aboriginal dreamtime story associated with it.
Most wine regions on this planet consider themselves "laid back". Now I love California wine regions, but most would only see Napa or Healdsburg (Sonoma) as laid back in comparison to nearby San Francisco. You might think it laid back if you showed up in a field, but if you are at the Organic Market or the Starbucks, it would seem more intense than say Sacramento. Margaret River is actually laid back wine country because it is also surfing country. Yalingup (sounds like “Yelling Up”) is one of the premier surf spots on coast, but it backs up not only to caves, but also to several wonderful wineries. One other thing is that there are no tasting fees. Now this has the positive effect not only of encouraging the tasting of wine at more wineries, but it also has the effect of encouraging you to drink LESS at each. If you pay $10 for 5 tastings, you are darn well going to taste your five. If you pay nothing, you have no qualms with showing up, tasting two Shirazes, and getting on your way. The wineries (and there were a couple) were all outstanding with strong whites (I only tasted Semillion and Riesling) and a good range of shiraz from bold to fruity.A common theme in my journey has been the many things that can ruin your day in Australia. All Australians will tell me that Australia isn’t really that dangerous, but... 8 of the 10 most venomous snakes live here (or some such). Salt water crocs scare the heck out of the local Rambos. Nobody goes in the water for fear of box jellyfish. Did we mention funnel web spiders? or the taipan? (maybe) Death Adder? (not sure it made the top ten) Brown Snake? How about the stone fish? No, no, Australia is really not that dangerous, but keep an eye out for cattle or kangaroos or emus on the road. So a very helpful person working at one of the wineries had some thought (Turnstiles & Roundabouts ?... all I know is it sounded like "chutes and ladders" if a British person invented the game and their Shiraz was quite good). She said that of course Australia was really quite safe as it relates to wildlife. Oh, but I should watch out for the flesh dissolving white backed spider. "Beg your pardon?" Yet another common theme is that all truly frightening creatures lay ahead in my journey. None of these animals exclusively live in Broome and I can't stumble across them moving forward. Yes, it seems that this spider lives in homes in Melbourne (nice) and gives a normal looking spider bite in which the sore expands and can cost you the use of a limb. Forever. That is now the one to look out for. Yeah, a flesh-eating house-dwelling urban spider that just now hit my radar because of the others took up too much space. Time for another shiraz.
One point I have not commented on is that the weather (with the exception of Rottnest Island) has been mild in the Australian sense. From Cairns to Monkey Mia, 30 degrees and humid (86 for those following along at home) was a good morning temperature, but that has been the high a few times this past week. Alex and I step out of the car and we are not pushed back in by a wall of humidity. This brought to mind something that I have noticed on the fashion front (worry not, my fashion notes tend to be short). Adults wear shorts here. In Europe, whether you are in Germany or Bulgaria, no adult wears shorts unless they are within 300 meters of a beach, on holiday, and it is daytime (or they are not European). Not sure when I noticed (probably a decade later than I should have), but if you see someone over 20 wearing shorts in a European city, just ask them (in English) where they are from. Australians are not on the Euro system there (making me look marginally less odd). Let me add without indicating my preference, their beaches and pools are also not on the Euro system as it relates to females, bikinis, and tops. Not that I am looking, but I would have noticed. (that should drive at least one comment)
We wrapped up the day at a nice motor lodge in wine country - the Marri Lodge. Great guy runs it, good value for the room. We saw some kangaroos, but they were out of range when I got out the camera.
Next: Onwards to Denmark!
1 comment:
Here comes the comment....
the bikini was an inside joke, so to clarify - women in Europe find it a waste of sunlight to cover themselves where not absolutely necessary...
Hun, there is a contradiction between the statement "I am not watching" and the observation that females are on the American system... how would you notice unless you watch?
looking forward for the pictures
Post a Comment