The South West

Alex and his girlfreind Tracy are the Irish couple that I traveled down south with. Both really nice. Phil, from England, joined us as well. Also a good guy, who sounds more scottish than he does English. We had a good group. Alex had bought an old campervan that he and Tracy slept in at night while Phil and I slept in sleeping bags and tents. Our first stop was Margaret River, where we visited several wineries and did some tasting. The south west of Australia is very unique because it gets a lot of rain and the climate is tempertate which makes it a good spot for wineries and farms. We often drove through green rolling hills with grazing cows and sheep and it looked more like Ireland than how you would picture Australia. From Margaret river we drove south and east along the coast, making some stops, and reached the small town of Pemberton, which is along the Southern Ocean. That night Phil and I went into the only pub in town which had some very friendly clientel. As we walked in, most of the people in the pub came up and introduced themselves to us. We met some fun Irish girls and a good local Aussie named Wade. The next day we headed into the Karri forest, which is home to tall, thick trees, like the forests where the ewoks lived. Our last stop, Albany, was a town located right along some enclosed bays off the Southern Ocean, and had some nice coastal spots such as Torondup National Park.