I am now on the west coast of Australia, in what is probably the world's most isolated city: Perth (the closest comparable cities are Adelaide and Jakarta, both about 3000km away). It's nice enough, as cities go, and quite good shopping-wise (though as I'm a bloke I'm not much of an expert on that front). Luckily there are also some pretty good museums, of which the museum of Western Australia I found the most interesting as it had a fair amount of information on the local fauna (particularly the dangerous variety). They also have one of only two specimens of megamouth sharks (see link for fact sheet) on display, so that was definitely worth a detour.
I went to see my first ever game of Aussie rules football here when the Western Eagles (Perth) played the Kangaroos (north Melbourne) in the semi-finals of the Wizard cup. The game itself is certainly fast-paced with very few lulls, and so is certainly very watchable, however I did not find there to be as much skill and finesse as in (proper) football or rugby (union). Still it was enjoyable and what's more we (the Eagles) won by a comfortable margin.
From Perth I travelled up the coast about 250km to a sleepy little sea-side town of Cervantes (because it is one of Australia's newest towns it has decided upon a Spanish-theme gimmick, so all the roads are named after towns in Spain and the only restaurant is called the Quixote) which is the gateway to the Pinnacles national park. The park contains thousands of limestone spikes that jut out of the desert, forming spectacular shapes, and are incredibly beautiful (needless to say I snapped off an entire roll of film). As if they couldn't get any more spectacular I also witnessed the most amazing sunset there that turned the pinnacles from orange to red to pink, definitely the most beautiful thing I have seen in Oz so far (I can't wait to see the piccies when I get back home). From here I'll be continuing up the coast until I reach Broome, before heading inland.
I went to see my first ever game of Aussie rules football here when the Western Eagles (Perth) played the Kangaroos (north Melbourne) in the semi-finals of the Wizard cup. The game itself is certainly fast-paced with very few lulls, and so is certainly very watchable, however I did not find there to be as much skill and finesse as in (proper) football or rugby (union). Still it was enjoyable and what's more we (the Eagles) won by a comfortable margin.
From Perth I travelled up the coast about 250km to a sleepy little sea-side town of Cervantes (because it is one of Australia's newest towns it has decided upon a Spanish-theme gimmick, so all the roads are named after towns in Spain and the only restaurant is called the Quixote) which is the gateway to the Pinnacles national park. The park contains thousands of limestone spikes that jut out of the desert, forming spectacular shapes, and are incredibly beautiful (needless to say I snapped off an entire roll of film). As if they couldn't get any more spectacular I also witnessed the most amazing sunset there that turned the pinnacles from orange to red to pink, definitely the most beautiful thing I have seen in Oz so far (I can't wait to see the piccies when I get back home). From here I'll be continuing up the coast until I reach Broome, before heading inland.
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