Esperance – The Land of Sea lions and Beaches
Esperance is a quiet little town in rural Western Australia. It is home mainly to farmers and employees of it’s port, kept busy exporting Western Australia’s many natural resources. It is a small town where there is rarely a queue, but also an area of outstanding natural beauty and one to make sure you visit on your Western Australia roadtrip. Tanker Street Jetty Before the now busy port was built, ships came to the Tanker Street jetty which extends 842m out into Esperance bay. It is nice to walk along a jetty, taking in the sea breeze and the view of town on your return, but this jetty is special…
Australia’s Mental Magpies
Since moving to Australia I have been considering myself very lucky to work only a short distance from home enabling me to cycle to work each day. I often cycle home for lunch each day too. Having spent at least two hours commuting EACH day in London. This is a big plus for me and I love it. Or at least, I did, until magpie season started. Monday Morning Imagine my Monday morning state of mind when at about 8.30am I was cycling along the esplanade with the beach on my left and the calm morning waves lazily lapping the shore. It was pretty good as Monday mornings go. Magpie…
Walking Magnetic Islands Forts
Magnetic Island is heaven for walking enthusiasts. It is a quiet place anyway, without much traffic, but there is also a network of walking tracks to pass the time getting lost on all over the island. It is possible to walk from each settlement to the next in only a few kilometres, as well as to various beautiful beaches and pretty coves. We decided to explore the forts on the island. The forts were built to defend Magnetic Island and Townsville during the Second World War. There are various ruins of small buildings and the remnants of the gun positions, which apparently were always ready but never fired. It felt…
Pop into Port Douglas
Famous for being the celebrity hangout of Far Northern Queensland, Port Douglas is an interesting little town an hour’s drive North of Cairns. The town fills up from July to September when Australians living in the Southern states flee their winter weather, preferring the balmy tropics. The drive to Port Douglas alone, makes a visit worthwhile, with spectacular beach views emerging every few minutes around bends in the road. Keep an eye on the road though. The resort part of Port Douglas is built along 4 mile beach and offers accommodation ranging from backpacker hostel to pricey luxury resort. The centre of town is just a little further along the…
Expat Life – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Expat life is vastly different from visiting somewhere as a tourist. Tourists enjoy the best of places but rarely experience the difficulties that expats face. Daily life, encountering and rising to the challenges, as well as enjoying the highlights of life overseas can be very rewarding, but it can take time. The Good And now for something completely different Expats live in a different country from their country of origin. As such, those choosing to live as expats are often seeking something different. It may be different weather, a different language, or different food. It may be simply for the challenge of being outside their comfort zone. Whatever the reason,…
The most amazing dive I’ve (n)ever done
Mention Ningaloo Reef to people and their first thought is usually ‘Whale Sharks’ but divers also love the area for a special dive site called ‘Navy Pier’. The Navy Pier When I told friends I was heading to Ningaloo Reed, one friend urged me to make sure that I dived the Navy Pier while I was at Ningaloo. Now the Navy Pier doesn’t sound very excitng, does it? It is true that it is a man-made dive site, rather than a natural spectacle, but nature has a way of taking over beneath the surface. Nothing is ever simple There are several dive operators in Exmouth (the town nearest Ningaloo Reef)…
The wonderful whale sharks of Ningaloo
Armed with little more than a snorkel and my camera, I quite deliberately, went swimming with big sharks. Most of them were at least 10m long in fact and I loved it. Want to know what it was like? Read on. Where are we going? At an ungodly hour I was waiting outside my hotel for the ‘whale shark bus’ After several others came by and I was starting to feel like I was on Oxford Street, a bus looking for me turned up. It was a 20 ish minute drive out to Tantabiddi, the launch point for trips to Ningaloo Reef. From here you are taken by small dinghy…
Uluru Sunrise
At 5:30am, and against every natural wish of my lazy lazy body, I got up in the cold Northern Territory desert pre-dawn to watch the sun rise over Uluru. I wore all the clothing I had with me; it reminded me of winter mornings in the UK. I was surprised how cold the desert was, despite knowing that deserts experience extremes of heat. I made my cold and numb way through the silent campsite, in the dark, to the meeting point. I had opted to go on a tour, which is unlike me, but the price of a hire car and my lack of local knowledge made a tour a…
Seven Words
It’s all about 7s this week isn’t it? I posted My 7 Links last week and now i’m posting Seven Words. What is Seven Words? I hear you ask. Well… My friend Al’s blog is all about her life bringing up her amazing little girl, who has special needs. I spotted earlier that she posted seven words which summed up her life at the moment. Check them out here. It made me think. I have been through enormous change recently. I have lost my Dad, left a job I had for five years and moved to Australia. Which words sum up my life at the moment? To be honest I…
A Foray into the Atherton Tablelands
“Bloody Bandicoots!” my friend shouted as we screeched to a halt in the early evening pitch black darkness somewhere between Kuranda and Mareeba in Far Northern Queensland. “Bandi-whats?” I asked. A few moments of recovery and a quick explanation later, we were on our way again, this time nervously looking out for naughty eyes reflected in our headlights. Hidden away up the range behind Cairns, the Atherton Tablelands is a collection of villages and settlements set amidst agricultural land. Atherton, Tolga and Mareeba are places to get away from things, or life in noisy Cairns anyway. It is cooler up at the Tablelands than down on the coast, offering welcome…
