Here she is – the campervan we picked up in Perth to take us over 4000 km to Sydney over the next 19 days. When we arrived at the campervan, I was thrilled to see that the guy gave us the hi-top camper instead of the low top we had reserved (which should have been probably $10 more per day). The main perk of the hi-top is that you (well at least me) can stand up in the inside of the van, but it’s also nice because it has a microwave in the little kitchen. I have a feeling that I’m going to be saddened with our van now in New Zealand.

The first day leaving Perth, we didn’t drive a very long distance, just 4 hours south to the Margaret River wine region. Our first stop in the town was the grocery store to stock up our little fridge, and then on to the information center where we found a fabulous road atlas of Australia, sure to be useful for the rest of the journey. It was disappointing to realize when we headed out to do some wine tasting that many places close at 4, so we instead headed straight to Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, where we spent the night at Cantos Campground. No one should be surprised that the first meal I made in Polly was pasta, but in my defense, we’ve both been quite surprised with the cost of everything here, including groceries. One kg of chicken costs $16! (And since the Australian dollar is almost equal to the American dollar, that’s more than 6 times what I’d pay at home.) In the morning, we had breakfast at Cantos Beach, and I waded in the Indian Ocean for the first time. It didn’t really seem like it’d be a good beach for swimming even if the weather was a little bit warmer, the waves and the big rocks did not seem like a good combination.

Above: Cooking dinner; Below: Cantos Beach

Leaving the Margaret River region, we drove through gorgeous wooded forests to Albany. Along the way we stopped in Walpole and Denmark, which is known as the Valley of the Giants, home of the giant tingle trees. Up until the 60s or 70s you could park your car inside the tree and take a picture, but that’s not allowed anymore because they found it was bad for the roots. You can still walk through them though, and it was cool to see how the trees will partially burn in a forest fire and still continue to grow. One of the trees we walked through was covered in soot and charred bark on the bottom half of the tree. To promote their claim to fame, the Western Australia Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) built the Tree Top Walk, where you can walk 40 m above the ground on a metal walkway in the trees. Other than the couple people jumping on the walkway, it was fairly sturdy, although a little dizzying to walk and look down at the same time. It was fun to be able to look over the top of the trees, although a little less rain would have been preferable, and for the price, I would have liked to gone around again, but they were closed by then. We stopped in Denmark for another grocery run before heading off towards Albany to our campground for the evening.

Above: Giant Tingle Tree; Below: Tree Top Walk

Our campground for the night was at Torbay Inlet, a little spot in the woods where you could park and sleep (and it was free!). Not counting the mosquitos, walking out to the beach where the inlet met the ocean was beautiful. (Jaz was not happy about the number of times he got “bit”.)

Stopping in Albany in the morning, we drove up to the ANZAC memorial which overlooked the city and the bays. Albany is an old harbor town, which served as a port between England and Sydney back when Australia was first settled. The town reminded me of a lot of other little U.S. towns, so it didn’t really feel like we were in another country. We didn’t spend a lot of time sightseeing in Albany and we quickly headed off to Esperance, another 5 hour drive. We almost had a big problem, because we drove the whole way on the South Coast Hwy, and in the highway driving I’m used to, there are exits and such labeling where to buy gas. However, a highway in Australia is just a two lane road with little cross streets. So about 100 km away from Esperance, we realized we were going to need gas, but then there were no choices. Apparently there is only one spot to get gas between Albany and Esperance. Coming into Esperance, we were both crossing our fingers as the gas needle dipped below empty. We breathed a sigh of relief when we pulled into the first gas station, only for it to have no attendant, and none of our cards worked on the scan machine. So we got back in the van and slowly drove off in search of another gas station. Luckily we only had to go a couple more km before finding one and filling the tank again. Our good luck didn’t last though because we got to the caravan park for the night with all our electronics needing to be charged, the power didn’t work connecting to Polly. The caravan park was really nice though, and set the standard I think for all the future parks we are going to be staying at. (Of course when I called the campervan people in the morning, and tested the power cord again, it worked just fine, so I’m pretty sure the guy thought I was a moron. As long as it works at the next site though, that’s all that matters.) After reserving our spot at the campground, we headed off to check out the renowned beaches of Esperance before it got dark. Driving along the coastline, we stopped at West Beach, Fourth Beach, and lastly at Twilight Beach, where I played in the water for a bit while the sun set. We didn’t get back to the campground till after dark, but the camp kitchen made it nice to do dishes and cook dinner.

Above: Oh no!; Below: Twilight Beach

Leaving Esperance for Madura, we prepared for a long day of driving, the start of the two long days to cross the Nullarbor and vast expanse of nothing. After a gas stop in Norseman, we quickly realized gas was going to be quite a bit more expensive for this leg, because with only one gas station every 200 km, they can charge whatever they want, and most were charging 50 cents higher than the Perth prices. We made it to the car rest stop just east of Madura as the last bits of sun were fading, just in time to pick a spot to park, go to the bathroom (in a creepy little metal box that had a bird nesting in it) and get dinner started. Because we were going to be crossing the border into South Australia, we had to eat up or toss any of our fresh fruit or vegetables, so we ate all the leftover vegetables for dinner. Being out in the middle of nowhere meant the stars were out en mass, so we sat outside to look at them for awhile after dinner.

Today’s drive was another 7 hours but we’ve finished crossing the Nullarbor, and should be back in more populated areas from now on. Along the way, we stopped at the Nullarbor cliffs (not very spectacular) and the Head of Bight. The Head of Bight is known for its’ Southern Right whale population, but sadly they leave to migrate by the end of October, so we just saw the beautiful cliffs and extremely blue waters. Our final stop for the evening was Ceduna, we made it out of Western Australia into South Australia, so one state down, four to go!  Sorry for the long delay in a first post, hopefully wi-fi will be more prevalent as we go further east!

The forest lodge where I spent my time in Laos. It looks really nice but I had to fish a cockroach out of my bag within 15 minutes of arriving. It got better after that.

A nearby floating restaurant. I didn’t visit this one.

The floating restaurant built by the owners of my ecolodge. It was so easy spending hours here doing nothing but looking out at the river.

Kitty!

A dirt road I walked down when exploring a nearby village.

I think this cow was judging me. It stared at me for a suspiciously long time as I walked past.

Puppy!

Across the river from the ecolodge.

The swimming pool that made up part of the floating restaurant.

Kayaking on that river was really fun. You can’t really tell in the photo but the current was pretty strong; it nearly took me with it a few times.

Sunset as seen from the floating restaurant.

I probably took way too many pictures of this sunset.

Behind Vietnamese, Laotian food is probably the best type of cuisine I’ve sampled on this trip. Beats Thai food hands down.

Arty shot.

One of the things I did while I was here was tag along with the ecolodge owner for the presentation ceremony of a book donation scheme at a local school.

Books being handed out to the local kids.

The ceremony was unexpectedly elaborate, involving a fair bit of picture taking (not just by me) and congratulatory back slapping.

The cute kids at small local village I visited.

This bull looked badass and I had to take a picture of it. Apparently, one of the pastimes here is making bulls fight each other. Marginally better than Spanish bull fighting but not by much.

It’s difficult to tell in this shot but just after sunset, the moon was a deep shade of red for about 10 minutes.

We climbed to the top of this stupa. There was a pretty sweet view from up there.

This was the (unspeakably brilliant) entrance to the stupa shown in the last shot.

This Buddha was huge but there were loads of other cool statues here too.

Like this one. I’m pretty sure this dude is chowing down on a human head and has two massive snakes coming out of his arse.

That Luang. The national symbol of Laos and its most important religious monument.

That Luang again.

The sound this bug generated with its wings was ridiculously cool. I feel like it could be a decent base to a dance track if someone sampled it.

1.) Some people try and scam you on taxi fares. Not exactly a surprise, this sort of thing happens everywhere from England to Australia. They’re just much more brazen with it over here.

2.) It’s REALLY hot.

3.) …

I guess I can’t think of any more. It looks like I love Vietnam then!

1.) The constant horning from vehicles on the road. At first this unending assault on my ears was something I did not in the least appreciate. After a while though, it sort of grew on me and it felt like something was wrong if more than a few seconds went by without me hearing a car or motorbike horn.

Reasons people in Vietnam horn at each other:

• To say hello to their friends
• To let you know that they’re behind you
• To let you know that they’re going to be driving infront of you
• To let you know that they’re going to be driving behind you
• To let everyone know that they’re having a particularly lovely day
• Just for the fuck of it

2.) How kind, friendly and helpful the Vietnamese people are. I can’t tell you the number of times I was given unsolicited help by a local with them having no expectation of any sort of reward from me.

3.) The stunning natural wonders that Vietnam has been blessed with. In all my years of travelling, Halong Bay is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

4.) The food. These people must do some crazy black magic to make the beef here taste so good. The Vietnamese pizza I had in Hoi An is among the 10 best things I’ve ever eaten, even though the only thing it had in common with my beloved western pizza is cheese.

5.) How cheap it is. A litre of alcohol for 20 US cents is pretty good in my book!

6.) Sleeper trains. You can ride these in other countries but since I’ve never been on one before I’m putting it in. It condensed the Vietnamese experience into a low ceilinged, narrow walled metal can. Being in what felt like a bustling little town, surrounded by the rich vibrancy and endless vitality of the Vietnamese people, all the while speeding along poorly maintained half century old railway tracks was quite the experience!

7.) How easy it is to meet people despite a massive language barrier. Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly and welcoming in some of the other Asian countries I visited as well but I don’t know what it is about this place that makes it so easy to drink with the locals.