Perth - or bust!

You wouldn't dream of it... I just wrote a huge long story about my journey west and lost the whole lot thanks to Yahoo or my computer... One or the other had a moment and as I was saving it it disappeared never to be seen again... So perhaps the abridged version is best from here - for sanity reasons.

Greg arrived in Sydney (from Perth) on Friday and we set off on Sunday heading south on the coastal road towards Melbourne. First night was at Mollymook, the second at Cann River and the third was at Tarwin Lower. Earlier on the third day we had spotted a wedgetail eagle sitting on a dead tree and it had kindly obliged me by sitting there calmly while I took many photos, changed lenses and took more. It then flew away giving an incredible display of it's wing span and size. We also saw 2 dead wombats, 3 dead kangaroos, a dead fox and a dead bunny. Later that day we headed towards Cape Liptrap (yes, it's real name..) in search of somewhere to stay (as per the road sign). We got there and neither of us saw anything that resembled a building let alone accommodation for the night.

So it was back into the car after a quick walk to check out the lighthouse and a very careful drive back out along the corrugated shingle road. Being dusk we knew we may well meet some wildlife, but nothing prepared us for the deer and fawn, wombat, kangaroo, owl, fox, and bunny that we were to encounter. In this instance all were live and well. The wombat was on the side of the road and I stopped the car fitted the flash onto my big camera as I knew the wee camera flash wouldn't suffce. By the time I'd done that the wombat had had enough thinking time and decided to waddle off into the night. I didn't even try with the rest of the creatures.

Next day we got to Phillip Island and went to a place called Nobbies Point ( I thought that was a great name). There are seals and penguins there - although none to be seen while we were there. On our way back though we had to stop the car and let an echidna dawdle it's way across the road in front of us. This time I did manage a few photos and even had time to swap cameras while the silly thing stay rolled tightly in a ball after I had shooed it off the road. Very cute though.

Finally into Melbourne that afternoon and found a hotel for the night.

7am next morning I was woken by Greg telling me he was leaving. And by 'leaving' he meant stranding me in Melbourne with no cash, no transport and no accommodation. I'd been paying stuff on my credit card and he'd give me the cash so I had daily spending money. So with my rude awakening, I had to make a plan. I decided to fly out and head for London. I phoned my friend Dave who lives in Melbourne and he picked me up, I stayed their the night and then headed for the airport next morning.

I'd managed to change my flight easily (and for free as I'd payed for an expensive ticket in order to upgrade using my airmiles) but when I got to Perth, I was 14 hrs early for my flight. I phoned them again and changed it to leave in 3 hours. I then phoned them back and said I'd like to stop over in Singapore. I recommend Singapore Air very highly so far.

I'm not so sure this is as abridged as it could have been but certainly shorter then the previous attempt.