When Tim started planning a trip for the first part of November, we never intended on including Australia. In fact, we originally thought that we might try to go to the Philippines. Fortunately, God nudged us in a different direction; unfortunately, there was a terrible tragedy that occurred in the Philippines during the time we were on our trip. Meaning we would have been in the Philippines at the exact time the devastating typhoon occurred. God protected us, but I realize that there are/were thousands of victims and we are praying for them all.
On the 28th of October, I left Indiana and arrived in S. Korea the 29th; Tim and I departed for Western Australia (WA) on the first of November - not much turnaround for me, but in the end it didn't really matter! We had such an amazing time on our trip to WA and Indonesia that my lack of sleep and adjustment to the change change was pretty far from my mind.
Day 1: We left the evening of November 1st for Kuala Lumpur for a brief layover and then on to Perth, Western Australia. We arrived at around 0530 in Perth and by the time we got our luggage, the car rental was open so we got into our little silver bullet of a rental car!
 |
| Going to Australia! |
 |
Silver bullet rental car, haha, but the passenger side is actually
the driver's side in AU. That takes some getting used to. |
 |
| Tim driving on the wrong side of the car ;) |
 |
| Forget deer...here it's all about kangaroos! |
 |
| And no "yielding" you must "Give way"! |
After getting turned around a couple times, adjusting to driving (or riding) on the opposite side of the car and driving on the left side of the road and Tim had to adjust to driving manual but using his left ha to shift - every time we got into the car it was my job to remind Tim to stay on the left - and getting used to the odd signs, we made it to Scarborough Beach which is supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches in Western Australia. It was a perfect introduction to our visit to WA! We sat on the beach after getting a quick breakfast to-go and watched the surfers ride a few waves.
 |
| First stop: Scarborough Beach for breakfast |
 |
| Successful wave ride! |
 |
Somehow while on the beach, I lost my phone but this nice
bloke found it! He picked it up almost immediately and
we had a nice little chat :) |
 |
| Even if nothing else is open, the beach is! |
After finishing our breakfast and feeling like we saw a sufficient amount of surfers tumble in the waves, we directed our car to Kings Park and Botanic Garden, a beautiful park full of plant-life from the various regions of Australia - it was very cool to see how diverse Australia really is. And we just looked at plants! Very cool but even more gorgeous with all the flowers blooming as it is springtime there this time of year.
 |
| Beautiful! |
 |
Boab Tree - 750 year-old tree! It was moved
3200 km to where it stands in the Botanic gardens.
Quite a tree, and very odd looking! |
 |
| Memorial flame at the gardens |
 |
| Downtown Perth stands behind us |
 |
| View from the Gardens of downtown Perth |
 |
| Panoramic! |
After checking out Kings Park and Botanic Garden, it was finally late enough in the day to check in to our hotel in downtown Perth. From our hotel, we could see a large grassy field where an event was obviously going on. As it turned out, there was a Color Run starting in that park! If we would have known about it, we may have participated, but it was still fun to see all the participants tie-dyed with vibrant colors after the conclusion of the race.
 |
| View from our room at the Goodearth Hotel in Perth |
 |
A small sampling of some of the participants
after the Color Run in downtown Perth |
Our hotel was only a few blocks away from the Perth Mint and Tim was just biting at the bit to check it out. As most of you know, Tim has dabbled in buying and selling coins and some of the first coins he bought were from this Mint. We heard the history of the Mint and even saw the process of making a gold bar. Very interesting! We were shown exact replicas of three of the largest nuggets of gold found.
 |
The front of the Perth Mint.
No photography was allowed within the buildings. |
 |
| Tim holding one of the gold nugget replicas |
We wanted to experience the Swan River Valley to its fullest and we heard that the best way to do that was to take a wine tour. The Swan River Valley is absolutely lovely, and it is full of wineries big and small. For our tour with the Swan Valley Tours, we went to two wineries, enjoyed some wine-tasting, cheese sampling, and some tasty chocolates! After all that we took a two hour cruise down the Swan River back to downtown Perth. It was a beautiful day and we really felt like we got to experience the natural beauty of the valley all in less than a day!
 |
| Houghton Winery |
 |
| Wine sampling at Houghton |
 |
Just had to include this photo! Locals are welcome to picnic
for free on the Houghton Winery grounds and
apparently show off their Bentleys! |
 |
| Our touring bus for the day |
 |
| Second winery: Lancaster Winery - small but gorgeous |
 |
Trying cheeses while pairing wines with some of our new
Aussie friends |
 |
We learned many new things but here's one I thought I'd share:
rose bushes are planted at the end of the rows of grapevines
because roses are sensitive to the same illnesses as the grapes so
if something is wrong with the roses then the grapes could be
affected soon thereafter. White roses with white grapes and
red roses with red grapes; so clever. ;) |
 |
| Tempting, very tempting, a chocolate Australia. |
 |
| Our river cruise boat |
 |
| Tim enjoying the beauty of the Swan River |
 |
The cruise included live entertainment!We were serenaded
by an Aussie crooner :) |
 |
Friends We made while on our tour: John and Gail from
Queensland, Australia. They were traveling around AU
for 8 months when we met up with them! |
 |
| Had to put this in here: Tim can still do his side handstand |
The first night we were in Perth we visited the town of Fremantle, but I thought I'd group all the photos together so as not to confuse. Fremantle has a Market on the weekends so we got experience some of the local fare and see some locals do some shopping, and do some shopping ourselves. The market had the local flower hung from the ceiling to celebrate the beginning of spring. The flower: straw flowers as we know them in Indiana, but the Aussies called them Everlastings. Very interesting!
 |
| View of the market outside |
 |
| Chocolate covered strawberries inside the market |
 |
| View of the "Everlastings" inside the market |
After seeing the market, we ventured through the streets and saw some beautiful Australian architecture. For dinner, we chose the brewery Little Creatures. It was anything but little but it had great reviews and it was delicious food and a fun atmosphere. For dessert we walked down the street and found, duh duh dah duh! Kiwi gelato! My favorite gelato of all time and not very many places have it. Perfect end to a basically perfect day in WA!
 |
| Australian architecture! So pretty :) |
 |
| The outside of Little Creatures |
 |
| View from our table on the second floor |
 |
| Thoroughly enjoying my rare cup of kiwi gelato |
All of Fremantle captured our fancies and so we returned for breakfast the next morning. We shopped the market and sampled some more of the local food. Yum yum! We had a schedule to keep so that was when we went on our Swan River Valley Tour.
 |
| Busy main street of Fremantle |
 |
I think Tim looks great as Crocodile Dundee - he
didn't go for the hat, it stayed in the shop |
 |
We saw some pretty fancy cars while in Fremantle. Tim only
drooled a little bit, me too ;) |
 |
We figured out that this is what Aussies' trucks look like - to
me they all look like the style of El Caminos because they're
basically cars with truck beds! |
The day after our Swan River Valley tour, we got up early to check out the Fremantle Prison. Our tour of the prison was full of educational facts about the prison used up until the 1990s! Once again, quite interesting :)
 |
| Prison yard and our delightful tour guide, Andrew |
 |
| View inside the prison |
 |
| Looking in on the solitary confinement cells |
 |
When the prison was being closed, the prisoners were allowed
to paint the walls and the art work was fascinating. |
 |
| No! Not solitary! |
 |
Tim and I were selected to demonstrate how whippings were done ;)
I think I enjoyed the demonstration more than Tim did. |
I'd heard that Cottesloe Beach was beautiful so on the way to our next destination in WA, We stopped to check it out briefly and see Indiana! Well, to see a restaurant called Indiana :)
 |
| Cottesloe Beach |
 |
| Indiana! |
 |
| The backside of the restaurant, Indiana; right on the beach! |
Next stop was Rockingham! We were pretty excited about this because of Penguin and Seal Islands. We took a boat to see the seals - not safe to go to the island - and on the way we saw dolphins playing in the water around us. We stopped at Penguin Island and saw the adorable Little Penguins! They live naturally on the island but they hunt off the island or sleep and hide during the day, so we got to see the Little Penguins that were in captivity because they could no longer live in the wild on their own. We saw the captive penguins get fed and heard a little talk from one of the workers on the island. We even learned that the Little Penguins in captivity were captive due to an injury or being born into captivity, and that they were introduced to fish in their small pool to see if they would fish for them; turns out, they wouldn't even get into the water for fear of the live fish! Hence why they remain in captivity. The Little Penguins are the smallest penguins in the world and it was adorable to see them! We even spotted one sleeping under a bush in the wild on the island! After seeing the feeding, we walked along the paths on Penguin Island and just took in the beauty of the afternoon before heading on to Busselton where we stayed for the next 2 days.
 |
| Heading towards the boat that took us to Penguin Island |
 |
So many birds on Penguin Island! This
guy was pretty funny |
 |
Pelicans - we learned that a group of pelicans is called
a squadron; learn something new every day :) |
 |
| Sightseeing on the boat |
 |
| Dolphins playing around our boat |
 |
| Such gorgeous sights |
 |
| Seals vying for the best sunning position ;) |
 |
| Seal Island |
 |
| One of the big boys catching some rays |
 |
Little Penguins! Some of the little guys in captivity,
apparently perfectly happy there. |
 |
| So cute! |
 |
| Gimme some fish! |
 |
This is the only glimpse of a wild Little Penguin
we saw - sneaky little Little Penguins, haha ;) |
 |
| On Penguin Island |
 |
| Penguin Island was gorgeous - and Tim's pretty handsome :) |
 |
| Great view |
 |
Ever heard of a skink? I Hadn't until I saw one
slinking across the path and into the brush |
 |
| First sighting of wild kangaroos! |
 |
And joeys! It was so cute to see the joeys eat grass when
the mommas bent down to eat grass themselves |
 |
| I was wanting fresh fish and chips... |
 |
| ...And fish and chips we got! |
After an evening of fish and chips (haha), we decided we wanted to go on a whale watching tour. It was FANTASTIC! We joked that the three blokes that manned our boat were "Aussie rednecks" and so Tim had a blast talking to them about hunting, fishing, and guns. We saw approximately 20 whales and they even swam under our boat. We got to see whale "footprints" - the spot in the water left completely calm after a whale surfaces and then drops below the surface of the water again. AND we saw the whales under the water due to the fact that the underbelly of the whales is white and so under water from the surface we see it as fluorescent blue. Quite fascinating and such a wonderful experience!
 |
| The docks before we departed of our tour |
 |
Tim wanted to document my first cup of hot coffee...
it was chilly and the boat had limited options! |
 |
Tim was told not to touch anything but that
he could sit in the captain's chair ;) |
 |
| Woohoo! The whales were having fun |
 |
If you can see the more vibrant blue in this photo
that's a whale right under the surface! |
 |
| So close! |
 |
| Jumping! |
 |
| Why the long face, whale? |
 |
We saw all Humpback Whales but we were told there were also
Blue Whales in the waters - the largest creature in the world! |
 |
| Sitting on top of the boat - good view |
 |
The whales were calving so we got to see moms and
babies (calves). Even synchronized tail flips |
 |
In front of the longest timber-piled jetty in the
southern hemisphere |
 |
| Busselton Jetty |
 |
Black swans on the Swan River - the reason it was originally
called the Swan River |
 |
| Some lovely Australian countryside |
 |
| Kangaroos and sheep just chilling together |
 |
| More countryside |
 |
| Tim spotted this large kangaroo eating away in the brush |
 |
So used to seeing white-tailed deer in fields
but kangaroos are what you see in WA! |
 |
| *Sigh* so pretty |
 |
| Little lizard on the path |
The afternoon after our whale-watching adventure we decided to check out the Leeuwin Lighthouse and all the grounds had to offer. The lighthouse was delightful, but the surrounding paths proved to be even more breath-taking. We spent our afternoon and evening watching whales jumping in the water, hiking the paths, and taking in the incredible sunset while overlooking the Indian Ocean.
 |
| Hiking the trails |
 |
| The Leeuwin Lighthouse |
 |
Whales were jumping out of the water in synchronization!
Very cool |
 |
| More scenic hiking |
 |
A sampling of Tim's superb
photography skills |
 |
| Beachfront! |
 |
| Other side of the beach |
 |
| So fun! |
 |
| So...I'm no photographer...I'll strike a pose instead! (haha) |
 |
| Getting chilly (and windy!) while we wait for sunset! |
 |
| "Ansel Adams" - as I've dubbed him - at work |
 |
Just taking in the view - and of course
another foot photo! ;) |
After sunset, we enjoyed some Mexican food at a local restaurant - very strange eating Mexican food in Australia by the way - and then got ready for the next day when we would drive 2+ hours back to Perth to leave Australia. It was also a bit refreshing for Tim to be in a country where the people speak English as a first language and the signs were all in English after he's been in S. Korea for a year now. We had a fabulous time in WA, loved the people, and loved the gorgeous scenery. Hopefully we will get to visit again and maybe even see Eastern Australia! We decided that if ever an F-16 base opens up in Australia, we want to get stationed there ;)
Next post: Indonesia! Which was the next destination on our itinerary for November.
Until then, much love,
Nicki
P.S., check out my Facebook albums for more photos from our vacations, but the photos will be added gradually...this stuff takes time! ;)
