Margaret river is a small town that lies about 300 km southwest of Perth and has the population of 4500 people. It was established in the 1890s and has been very well known for its wine production which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourist each year. This area is also famous for its world class surfing possibilities. What's on in Margaret River?
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Busselton is a small city situated in the Geographe bay which was named after one of Nicalos Baudins vessels– a French expeditioner who stepped on Australia's land in 1801 and named also Cape Naturaliste after his second vessel.Busselton was one of the earliest settlements in Oz settled by the Bussell family and became a really popular tourist destination.
After visiting Busselton, we continued down the road to Cape Naturaliste, which is a national park. After you get to the parking lot, you can either go by foot to the lookout of the cape where (only during September and November) there's hundreds of whales to see. We were there quite late for that unfortunately, but we spotted quite a few fur seals sunbathing on the rocks underneath the view point. They are really loud creatures. To get to the cape view, there's a sandy path in the bushes with snakes, lizards and other animals so be prepared for that.
Having spent three weeks in the camp in Kirup, the other travellers became our friends and since we were so far from home it was nice to feel a little familiar in a place.
Going into a shop and seeing Christmas decorations while it was 40 degrees outside was incredibly weird, I feel more like if it was June and I just started my summer holidays. So, what's Christmas in Australia like? Hidden in the forests Ferguson Valley in Western Australia lies hidden a small village with uncommon inhabitants. There is more than 5000 garden gnomes living in the forest, in all kinds of ways and styles surrounding you from everywhere. The collection started as a protest against a traffic circle that ha been built but over the years turned into a massive tourist attraction and grows every year. We took the road from Donnybrook which was about 30 km to get there. At one point, we could smell something burnt and then saw thaw all the trees were black halfway up. We had no idea how it could've happened and felt really sad for the people and animals who were affected by the fire. After talking to our friend in the Kirup Caravan park we found out that the Rangers and firefighters light up fires during winter on purpose to get rid of all dry leafs on the ground and that way minimise the risk of fire during the summer. Which is extremely high nearly everywhere around and we already saw some.
Gnomesville is a really cute place during the day, but would probably scare the living shit out of you during the night. Five thousand gnomes stare at you, some smile, some show you their ass and some just don't give a damn. Each tourist who comes here usually brings along a gnome our a whole lot of them for the family or rugby team or anything you can think of. It's a really nice walk and worth seeing, but I really had the feeling that the whole place turns alive at night and the gnomes have their little party there. An apple here, an apple there, shitloads of apples everywhere. Only leave bunches of three, otherwise they won't have space to grow. Take off only the apple and break it so that you leave the stem behind, because it's easier for them to heal that way. Just one apple, two apples and here you go, suddenly you have a whole branch of them in your hand. Should you try apple thinning?
After having slept a night in our car near Kings park in Perth, we started job hunting. That included looking for adds on gumtree and other internet sites and also calling the National Harvest Trail, because they are supposed to have some job offers and help you to figure out where to go. I honestly have no idea how someone can find a job in this way, I personally find it a bit useless.One of the farms that the National Harvest Trail suggested us to go to was not even looking for workers and looking for something on gumtree is a nightmare. We decided that it would be easier to just drive to the small farm and orchard areas and ask for jobs directly at the farms. How did that go?
I would recommend downloading The National Harvest Guide book, which is a map that shows where and when all the fruits and vegetables grow. It's not exactly the same every year, because it varies depending on the weather, but it worth it to plan your trip with this book if you want to work on the farms all way long. Whats the best time and place to be in Oz for picking?
It was a huge culture shock to come from Bali where everything looks chaotic to Perth where everything and everyone seem to have rules about everything. We stayed in the suburbs – Balcatta - with our couch surfing host. We only saw cars around and nearly no people and the surrounding gave me a very americanised impression. Concerning the public transport, it doesn't have a very good reputation but I think it works pretty well. Everything that's need to be is connected and the buses and trains depart often from each station.
Perth is the capital and largest city of Western Australia and has a population of about 2 million people. It's a very young city, not even 200 years old, which is why everything is so modern. Especially the central business district full of skyscrapers gives you a futuristic impression. Perth spreads out for tens of kilometres on all sides, which is why there is a number of local government areas consisting of a lot of suburbs. So, what are the airport customs like and what does buying a car cost you?
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