Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

Apr 13/11 8:28pm We are in chilly Denmark today. Probably not the Denmark you know and love but a city of a few thousand on the southwestern corner of Australia. But the good news is that just a few campsites away from us are about 11 kangaroos grazing on the lawn. They are such fascinating creatures and it's too bad it took this long to spot some! We saw a few just before we got dinner going and then when we returned to the van they were almost right beside it but slowly moved further as we made more noise. We ventured into a town called Augusta yesterday, hoping for some surf and maybe a dolphin sighting. But the only water the surfboard has seen is more rain and we didn't see a dolphin but did see some stingrays and octopus from the edge of the river. Unfortunately we are finding the holiday parks to be well below the New Zealand standards we're used to. Finally tonight though they have an enclosed kitchen area which includes a fridge/freezer (the van comes with a mi...

Apr 11/11 9:05pm This is night number three inside a van. We picked up our hire after a lovely breakfast out with Theresa and Mick. They took us to a place in the Swan Valley in Perth. We all had eggs benedict or a variation thereof. We got repacked and sorted out by around noon or so and then headed south. We stopped for a sausage sizzle and then continued on. We got into a place called Bunbury to do some grocery shopping and then figured we had time to get in another 50kms or so before sunset. (They advise you don't drive after dusk here in case you hit a kangaroo. This is serious as we know of people who have hired cars and hit one and boy does it get expensive after that. So all the tourist info you pick up mentions not driving at night.) We spent the first night in a place called Busselton. The holiday park office had closed but she thought we were her other pre-booked late arrival so opened up for us. It was only shortly after 6pm. We were able to check in and cooked up som...

We just returned from a place where massive grasshoppers roam, we saw the biggest cockroaches we've ever seen, and it was the hottest city we've visited yet! It's called Exmouth and it's the main city near the Ningaloo Reef and they also have whale sharks that migrate through the area this time of year. We flew up last Sunday and just flew back to Perth today. It's about an hour and a half flight from Perth and I think the nearest city to it is about 150kms away. Our trip out of New Zealand was just fine except we learned the planes on domestic routes aren't as nice as the international planes. So we got stuck watching Burlesque en route from Sydney to Perth. But the flight attendant walked up and said, "Do you guys want some alcohol?" haha so that helped. We arrived to handwritten signs saying, "Welcome to Perf" and "2 Gypsy Gingers" - thanks to Theresa and her partner Mick. It was around 7pm and it was still so warm out! While i...