Australia - Week 3

Here's a recap of our last week in Australia - 

We enjoyed a wonderful moonlight picnic overlooking the downtown Perth area. It was a great night, a little chilly, but fun!

 

The next day we packed up and headed south to Albany. There we met up with more family and friends of the Balls. We stayed on a ranch in a cute little house. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend. We had beach days, walks, tourist days (visiting two famous landmark sites), a bonfire, and climb up a massive mountian!

This is The Gap, the site where Antarctica split from Australia. It is a huge, deep gap into the rocky coast. Waves in this thing build continiously on top of themselves. Words cannot describe how amazing this was!

Below is The Bridge, water has worn away the rock foundation leaving a natural bridge. Over time the bridge will collapse.

We also visited The Blowholes. Waves slam against the rocky coast, sending a blast of air through the holes within the rocks.

The beaches were great! Sadly, we forgot the plug converter in Perth, and our camera died on the second day, so didn't get too many photos of the nice beaches. Despite this, we had a great time in the sun and surf! We even climbed up a rock and tried to stay on while the waves hit us - fun times! Our last night we went to the beach for a fire, so fun!!

We ended our Albany trip driving to Bluff Knoll, the second highest point in Western Australia. It was a 6k hike round trip. It was a tough climb - very steep and lots of steps! After sweating up the mountain for just over an hour we were rewarded with amazing views at the top! We were probably 70-80k inland, yet we could see the ocean from way up here! Down was much easier, but under the hot sun it was exhausting! It was a great hike, we're glad we got to do it.

Almost there... boy it's hot out!

The Climbing Group

 

Bluff Knoll

Back in Perth we enjoyed some beaches, ice cream, family time, and one last game of Catan (Beth won!). We had a great time in Perth and really enjoyed spending time with James and Katrina! Thanks for hosting us!

Perth Sunset

Last game...until next time!

Back in Thailand!

Bangkok welcomed us back with 100 degrees (F) and humid weather! April is the hottest month in Thailand - and whew it is hot! On some level it felt good to be back, heat and all. It was great to get a massage after all the travel and hiking - have to take advntage of the cheap massages while we can right? We visited some of our regular street food vendors - good to taste that familiar Thai food. 

Craziest thing - we met up with our friend from Breckenridge, Merecca! She was traveling through with a friend, the timing worked out and we spent an afternoon/evening with them. It was great to see her - and here in Thailand, wow! We hung out downtown and went bowling.

Now this is a tuk tuk!

 

 

Whats Next? 
We are headed out to Koh Tao tomorrow for a few days, then onto Koh Phanang, then finishing up our beach getaway at Khanom Beach on the mainland. Lots of fun in the sun to come... stay tuned for more details on our next blog!