Bryans Big Trip

....... with my watch changed, it became the final day of my epic big journey. Over Europe now but still with several hours to go, the cabin crew started preparing for the breakfast service. Breakfast was served two and a half hours before landing at 02:00 (early even for me!) I said to hold that thought regarding dinner earlier in the flight ..... because we'd not had any choice in the back row, we were asked what we wanted for breakfast so that we had the choice this time, and were served before service had started to the rest of the cabin; a very nice (by airline food standards) cooked breakfast. We'd finished and cleared away before the rest of the service reached us.  Then it was a case of preparing for the landing; we landed at 04:37 (according to Flight Tracker) and after a 10 minute taxi were at our gate. Through passport control quickly, and luggage reclaim was painless; it's the first time when I've looked at the board for the carousel number, and there is onl...

I guess this day had to come, but it does seem to have come around very quickly.  Awake at my usual early time, I headed for my final Australian breakfast at 06:45, then returned to the room to complete the packing ready for my departure later today. Check out was at 11:00, so I left that to the last minute before storing my baggage in the hotel's secure room. It was then very much a case of 'hurry up and wait' for the rest of the day. I headed to the hotel's coffee shop for a large Latte and Lemon Meringue pie, and took my time with those. Then I headed out into the city of Perth for a bit of a wander around the main shopping areas; I resisted any temptations to buy souvenirs that turned out to be tat, and returned to the hotel at around 13:00. I found a comfortable seat, and filled the wait time with a few games of Sudoku. At 15:00 it was time to head for the airport, so I grabbed a taxi from the rank outside the hotel, and by 15:30 I was all checked in. I did questio...

And so, to my last full day here in Australia, and my last real day on my big trip; I guess the next couple of days kind of count, but it's basically all about travelling back home. That doesn't really have the same feeling of the couple of days travel I had to start the trip! If things go to plan, I should be home before lunchtime on Saturday. This morning I was awake well before the alarm, and found myself in breakfast at 06:45. It was a good breakfast, and I look forward to the same tomorrow. I then packed what I'll need for the day, and was at the pickup point 10 minutes early for the 08:15 pickup. A bus then took me to Hillarys Harbour on the west coast to catch the 10:00 ferry to Rottnest Island for the Grand Island Tour; I was there nice and early which game me the time to get a jumbo coffee (I hadn't realised they come in 'Jumbo') and explore the quayside. The ferry took 45 minutes to get over to the island, which then left me 45 minutes to find the star...

Today has been an unusual occurrence in my big trip; a day with no photos or videos. If this suggests a day of travel to you, then you'd be spot on!   Awake well before the alarm, and it was time to start rationalising. What needed to accompany me homewards and what didn't? The reason for this happening this morning was that after driving to Perth today I was returning the car, so I needed to be down to two manageable pieces of luggage. For the items at risk, I asked a basic question; when I get it home, what will I do with it? If the answer was that it'll live on a shelf or in a cupboard and not see the light of day, it didn't need to come home with me. I ended up taking a fairly weighty bag to the skip! Luggage rationalised and manageable, I loaded the car checked out and was on my way to Perth at 08:40 with a stop just a couple of minutes up the road for supplies for the journey at a supermarket. A pretty uneventful journey where I must admit to cursing at other driv...

Today was a very much more laid back day where I've only visited one place, but what a place to visit! Awake with the alarm, I was in absolutely no hurry to do anything this morning. I rose, and started working on the Week 20 video, which had been sadly neglected since Week 19 went live. I was surprised by how much footage I had to sort through, but the basic mix is there and up to date now ... I just need to select and add the music. Then I had a preliminary sort of the luggage and I started selecting things that I wouldn't need to take home with me, thereby saving a bit of weight in the luggage. I have an allowance of 30kg for the final flight, but the less weight I have to lug around when I change trains the better.  Then at 10:00 I finally put my rear into gear and set off on todays adventure. I had a few things noted down, but in reality the plan for today revolved around one thing, and the hike up to the Granite Skywalk in Porongurup National Park a half hour to the north...

Another good day today; in fact if felt more like a New Zealand day than and Australia one as I've had time to squeeze in everything I had planned for the day. The day started at the usual time as the alarm woke me at 06:00; it was a leisurely start to the day as the resort I was staying at didn't start serving breakfast until 08:30, so I was all packed and loaded before heading into breakfast for a quick getaway once I'd been fed. These plans don't always come to fruition; I ended up having a long chat with an Aussie couple in breakfast, then then a long chat with the resort manager when checking out, so ended up hitting the road at 09:50. Bill Bailey did a series late last year where he visited Western Australia, and I've been loosely following  in his footsteps. One of the things he did that looked good was a treetop walk, and that was my first aim for the day. Fifteen minutes into the drive, and I reacquainted myself with State Highway 1, which has been a regula...

Today has been a good day. Awake with the alarm, and the first job was to totally repack my luggage (as I've had to do each time I've done a load of laundry). That done, I had a light breakfast and checked out of the resort at 09:30. The plan was to head to the cafe on the beach for a coffee and muffin, but being a Sunday there was a massive queue waiting to order so I took my cameras to a lookout that provided a great view of the beach and coast. Returning to the car park, I could see that the cafe queue situation had worsened, so I abandoned the idea of a coffee, and headed onto the road southwards. The first planned stop today was at Mammoth Cave.  There is a limestone ridge running the length of the Leeuwin Naturaliste peninsula that's riddled with caves, many of which are open to the public. Into Mammoth Cave, and there was a self guided tour with a player and headphones guiding me around the various chambers. The commentary was very interesting, telling me that this l...