48 posts tagged “travel”
Italy
Well as its near the end of 2009, I thought i should finish off posting pics of our trip to Europe last year.
I did manage to squeeze in a VW event or two, But first we zipped over to Italy.
But he wasnt answering so we went for a gelati and a little look around.
Not much else was going on in Rome so we bugged out.
Back in the UK, the next day was Bug Jam.
So it was up early and up the M1.
And chrome fuchs tuck, like art!
Out comes the Monkeys
So we departed our salubrious lodgings at Denham and headed on over to the trailer park in Monkey Mia.
Hoping wed get to see some chimps.
Again none turned up but we found the local amphibs were pretty friendly.
The old fella takin in the view at a nearby beach lookout.
Correct that is me, sans bucket.
Head on Up.
Typical view. Heaps of scrub and a bit of water.
Word was that over at Monkey Mia they had free feedings in the morning so we headed over there the next day.
No Monkeys were about when we got there and no free food, so we hit the local cafe.
The local caravan park.
I guess if you have to live over that, side of the track, Monkey Mia would be my pick.
Well the beach was acceptable.
Kalbarri
So we made it to Kalbari, problem is its now day 4 of our trip and we aint even half way,...mmmm.
We headed off to the store for some essentials and then to a cafe for some caffeine and some travel planning.
Consequently it was agreed by all that we and the Outlaw Barndoor were just not gonna make Exmouth and see all the bits in between and get back to perth intime. Negotiations continued, a solution was to edit Exmouth and Coral Bay from our itinery and head straight for Shark Bay and relax there.
Often we travel around frantically squeezing every activity and significant point of interest in, so it all ends up a bit of a blur. We get back home after the holiday and spend the next week recovering.
So it was a no brainer,... find a beach with a bar close by and spend several days wandering between the two.
After a couple great days at the bush camp we decided to head on up to Denham, which is kinda the capitol of Shark Bay. It got a bit hot on the way so we stopped into Shell beach for a quick dip.
Yeah it was standing room only!
First track.
Well finally it was departure day. So we got up early, packed the bus, grabbed the dog and headed north.
Straight to our first cafe for a brew....
Its about 1300 ks to Exmouth from Perth so we really cant muck around too much cos weve only got 2 and a bit weeks.
Theres plenty to see on the way. Geraldton,Kalbarri, Shark Bay with the
neccasery stop into pat the dolfins at Monkey Mia. We planned to do as
much wild camping as possible, now that the fire bans are over, so
should be a good trip.
Just north of Perth we drove down this track a way .
Next day we arrived in Geraldton, checked into the Batavia Backpackers and headed to the beach for a bit of body surfing on the reef.
More Barca.
So just down the road from the rooftop of La Pedrera was the extended construction site that is the Temple De La Sagrada Familia. Quite amazingly Antoni Gaudi started construction on this amazing gothic piece in 1882 and work still continues today. Ive heard all sorts of finish dates for this project, maybe 2020 but no ones holding their breath.
Judging by the biblical ques outside the front door, Id think financially the building company wouldnt want to finish, really and if you take a look around, construction seems to roll at a very moderate pace and coming from an Australian, that must be a pretty slow pace indeed. But all good things hey........I suppose.
Inside, nice cornice work there, Ant.
Hey when's lunch?
Ominous
Early days of construction
Few! what a day. I think I need a little lie down.
Albany and back.
A few more.
Crazy busy William Bay just outside of Albany. Couldn't understand why so many cars were parked nearby. Until of course I saw this and jumped in the exceptionally warm water here. Thats the roarin Southern Ocean just outside those rocks.
Unreal.
Now this is camping. Free camp kitchen at Fenhook Falls. Camp spots were pretty good but the fresh water in the river and natural pool was worth the drive in anyway.
Lets Roll
So as is the usual thing you do at the christmas hols we went for a drive.
Now cos its summer you gotta head south for the cool. There is a total fire ban so camp fires are generally out of the question, so logically the coast is the place to travel anywhere by.
We decided on the old south coastal town of Albany as the destination but we still werent sure which road to travel down to get there. The inland road is short, but its hot and can be a little boring even for us west ozzies. The other two roads are longer but do dip into the coast a fair bit so can be cooler.
Sometimes its a dilema when theres plenty of choice if your not too confident in your equipment or your ability to get where you want to go, you may have trouble taking the first tentative steps, indeed you may end up so confused you end up going nowhere, its a bit like those clowns in Canberra at the moment.
But alas im a confident sorta bloke when it comes to drivin my VW's around. My equipment is sound and my aim is good.
So it was to be the quick route straight down the inland road of the Albany Highway, through some magically barron land.
A road I havent travelled down since the 80's. The forcast said it would be pretty cool for those couple days so it was actually a no brainer to go the inland. I was keen to get rollin.
I pushed the Outlaw Barndoor outa my shed and rolled Burt inside to give him a tune and run a spanner over his old bolts. All looked good as usual so we grabed the pooch and headed out.
No siesta for this old fool. He can sleep at the wheel.
And into Albany.
Yep Albany rules.
Buenas Notches Barcelona
Seems Barcelona has turned into quite a tourist magnet, but its still a fantastic city. It was pretty warm while we were there so we usually only surfaced early in the morning and at night to find more good food and cool spots to do some nocturnal street drinking.
Barcelona bound
So it was a quick drive back to the chateau for a bite and some veno before we had to head out to the med coast and Barcelona...
So we made it into the centre of Barcelona, we found the approximate area just off the Ramblas were our hotel was, the problem was finding a parking spot. We drove round for ages aggravating the local traffic police with my distinctly ozzie driving style. In the end we decided to pay the $50 and park in a underground park facility.
Who said Spain was cheap!
We ended up metres from our hotel and imediately got bumped to the penthouse cos aparently there was plumbing problems with our povo pack room.
Who said the Spanish were cheap?
This was the view from our apartment window. Well at least we were high enough to catch the breeze as it was pretty warm in Barca when we got there and they were in the midst of an extended drought I am told.
This was the best view from the other window though.
Oh yeah and happy new year, lets try and make it better hey!
