South West (12733km)

Margaret River

We started our trip by heading south from Perth towards a place called Margaret River. Margaret River is a popular vacation destination for local Western Australians with a ton of activities to do. We arrived the second day after camping at a rest stop just north of Bunbury. The first thing we did was visit the information center and grabbed brochures for all the attractions we wanted to do. Then we marked everything on a map and made a route. The first day we visited a Fudge Factory, Candy Factory, Chocolate Factory, a Surf art gallery and a pottery.

In the afternoon we headed to a small place called Gracetown. Krista had told us about a great beach there and we decided to camp there for the night. The beach was really beautiful. We went for a swim and Annina also did some snorkeling, but apparently there wasn't much to see. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed in the sun.

The next day we continued our route. We visited a Coffee factory before heading to where the Margaret River runs into the ocean. There was a great surfing beach and we watched the surfers while walking along the beach. It was a really nice place.

The Margaret River region is riddled with caves, with the biggest and best ones accessible to the public. There are three good caves to choose from, but each cave is $20 so we decided to only visit one. The decision fell on a cave called Lake Cave. It was a great experience. The cave was filled with stalactites and stalagmites, both huge and small, plus a bunch of other decorations I don't even know the name off. The most impressive feature was two stalactites hanging from the roof with a "table" connecting them at the bottom. As far as I remember the combined weight was 5 tonns hanging from the roof over the lake. When we reached the back of the cave we sat down and our guide switched on a light show that ran through the cave. It was beautiful.

The rest of the day we did more attractions including a Forrest Maze, a walk trough the dunes outside a small village called Augusta and Skippy rock before camping at Hamelin Bay.

While we visited Margaret River there was a cow festival on. One of the attractions of this festival was 80 cow statues placed all around the region. Each cow had different artwork painted on them. There was tons of normal cows with every type of pattern imaginable. In addition there was more creative cows, like a teacher cow and a batman cow. The latter was our favorite. It was placed over a crater with wires. Very cool!

Pemberton

After Margaret River we headed towards Walpole and Denmark. On the way we stopped in a small town called Pemberton to buy groceries. It turned out they had an autumn festival going so we decided to stay for a little while and look around. We got the chance to have a big snake around our neck while holding it's head. It wasn't poisonous, but still creepy.

On the outskirts of Pemberton is a gigantic tree that was once used as a lookout post for fires. In fact it's one of three trees that was once used for this purpose, but this one is the tallest of them. It is now open to the public for climbing. In a spiral going upwards are large spikes hammered into the tree forming a ladder of sorts. On the top, 75 meters up, is a two tonne metal lookout platform. Its name: Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree. Climbing this tree was a scary challenge. Not only do you have to look down most of the time while climbing upwards, but you can't help but notice that there is no real safety under you should you fall trough the spikes. Still, it looks harder than it really is and once you reach the top you get a fantastic view of the surrounding area. Off all the things we did on our south west trip, climbing
Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree was my favorite.

Denmark

Between Walpole and Denmark is an area called the Valley of the Giants. It is a valley filled with gigantic red tingle trees, a type of eucalyptus. They can reach 60 meters in height. In the middle of the valley is a visitor center with a tree top walk. It reaches 40 meters above ground and takes you through the top of the trees. The tree top walk was fun and exciting and in addition they also had a ground walk that took you trough the trunks of the trees. If you think trees are utterly boring, I suggest going here, as it might spark some interest.

Right outside Denmark along the southern coast is Williams Bay and the most famous attraction there is the Green Pool and the Elephant Rocks. The Green Pool is a series of rocks forming a green looking pool of ocean water, but the interesting part is the waves smashing against the rocks on the outside. It was a windy day and the waves were high which made for some great pictures. Looking at the incredible force of the ocean is a great experience. Right next to the green pool is a bay with rocks that look like elephants, hence the name Elephant Rocks. There was also a cute little beach between the rocks.

The rest of the day we spent by doing wine, cheese and fudge tasting, visiting a chocolate lounge, Denmark Beer Company and Denmark Maze. The Maze was pretty good, built around trees with bushes and grass separating the paths.

Albany

Our last stop in the south west was a town called Albany. Albany was the first place that was settled in Western Australia. We saw the Brig Amity, a replica of the ship that the first settlers came on. Mt. Clarence, a hill in the middle of the town with great views. And Dog Rock, a rock that looks like a dog in profile.

Just south of Albany is several famous natural attractions including the Gap and a Natural Bridge. The Gap is, well a gap 25 meters straight down to the ocean. On the top is a viewing platform with a great view of the waves smashing into the gap with great force. Just next to it is a natural bridge of stone which was also incredible to see. A short drive away was stony hill, with the name explaining just what it is. Here we enjoyed more great views of Albany and surroundings. That night we camped in the north of Two People Bay, another beautiful natural reserve just outside Albany.

The next morning we drove to the south end of Two People Bay to a beach called Little Beach. It was a beautiful beach with turquoise water and white sand. Just behind Little Beach was an even smaller cove where Annina went swimming. I decided not to as it was pretty cold. It is autumn here now and we are in the south of Australia not that far away from Antarctica. We are now heading up north along the west coast and towards warmer weather!

Check out the full picture gallery here:

South West: 28. April 2010 - 04. May 2010

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/SouthWest

Days Like This!

Just as in Norway, with summer comes the festival season and Australia is no different. There are several music festivals to choose from, from one day events too weekly ones. The problem is that they are fairly expensive. However after looking on eBay I found some tickets for the "Days Like This!" festival that were cheaper than normal. "Days Like This!" is a one day event from 12:00 to 22:00. Me and Annina both wanted to go because she wanted to see one of her favorite bands called "The Cat Empire" and I wanted to see "Method Man and Redman". In addition there was a ton of other bands that are lesser known that we could explore.

Sadly I had to work the same day, so I could not go to the beginning of the festival. Luckily the artists I wanted to see and hear were playing in the end anyways so it was not a big problem. When I got there Annina had already been there a while and she showed me around the different stages. We listened to some of the different bands, DJ's and solo artists while waiting for the main events. From everything I heard so far I liked a hip hop group called "Ugly Duckling" the most.

At 19:10 "The Cat Empire" entered the main stage. I am a little bit familiar with them from before because Annina had played it for me in advance and I also copied it from her iPod and listened to it. They are very interesting to listen too because the style of music changes from song to song and I was looking forward to seeing  if they were good live as well. After they were finished I was very happy with what I had seen and heard. They played a great selection of songs and what was even more impressive was that it seemed like every member of the band knew how to play at least 3-4 different instruments. They even switched main singers! All in all it was a great concert and a band I think will become very big in the future.

After "The Cat Empire" it was time for the main event, which was "Method Man and Redman". My only connection to them from before is from the movie How High and listening to a few of their songs. I was wondering what kind of show it would be and if it would be really good, really bad or somewhere in between. My experience was very unique. Their style is interesting, from the clothes to the music and the talking in between. One thing was certain, they knew how to get the crowd to respond. It was a fair mix between tracks I had never heard about and well known songs, tributes to dead rappers and random weed jokes. All in all a very different experience, but not negative in any way.

Here are some more photos :)

Polish Christmas Festival

Last Sunday our Polish flatmate invited us (me and Matthias) to join him at the Polish Christmas Festival. It was a free event celebrating polish people and culture in Sydney. They had booths with different polish food, handcrafts and a bar with polish beers. There was also a stage where different polish musicians performed and danced with traditional cloths on.

Matthias tried polish sausage and I had dumplings. It was very tasty and different from the food we normally eat here in Australia. I normally meet very few polish people here in Australia, but this day it seemed as if everyone was gathered together, young and old.

Defqon.1

Saturday I got up early and took the Sydney subway to Penrith, a suburb in the outskirts of Sydney. In Penrith lies the Sydney International Regatta Centre, which this day was turned into a festival for the Hardstyle music genre. The one day festival started at 11 AM and ended 10 PM with over 15000 people attending.

It is hard to describe the festival in words. The Hardstyle genre attracts a very special kind of people, mostly young adults. There where all sorts of outfits, some very different from anything you will find anywhere else. The music itself is also unique, but something I like more and more.

The Regatta Centre is located on an island in a lake. The festival had 5 stages spread around, each featuring different kinds of music. The stages all had different designs and when the night came, different light, laser and smoke effects.

At these kind of events there tends to be a large amount of drugs. There was an impressive amount of security and police presence, but I still noticed that very many people where doing ecstasy. You could see the ground littered with the small plastic bags and a few people being carried of too the medical tent due too overdoses.

Non the less, the people where very friendly and there where no violence that I could see. I had a great time just walking around from stage to stage, taking pictures and listening to the music. I was thoroughly exhausted when I got back home at midnight, with my ears ringing and my head filled with memories.

I have included some pictures and videos I took, including the lineup for those interested. Sorry for the bad audio, my phone's video recording capability is limited.