Western Australia

Almost five years ago when my brother, Rand, moved to Perth in Western Australia for veterinary school I told Paul that we needed to go to Australia sometime while my brother was living there. What better excuse to travel to the other side of the world? Paul wasn't so sure. Then Rand met an Aussie girl, fell in love and they planned a wedding. That we could not miss! We called in some major favors from Grandparents and Aunts and managed to get the girls taken care of while Paul and I took the trip of a lifetime. The first half of our trip was spent in Western Australia. After 30 hours of travel, and 4 airports later we made it to Perth. We spent 1 night there and just got a peek at it's beauty. So contemporary and modern, the architecture was interesting to look at.  After a night in Perth we drove 4 hours south to the Margaret River wine region, where the wedding was to take place. I'm not sure they could have chosen a farther place in the world for a wedding, but it was spectacular. 

While bushwalking (so the Aussies say) we found this old train depot that reminded us of someone we love.  I later heard that the train owners daughter was named Kate, also. 

At the wedding rehearsal. Five Spongberg siblings minus one. We missed my brother Jay and his wife Jill who couldn't make it.

 At the beach in Dunsborough.

 During our time in Margaret River we visited old underground caves. This particular one was called Lake cave, named for the lake inside of it.

 These Kangaroo signs were all along the road. And speaking of roads, they drive on the left side!  Paul was our chauffeur and an excellent driver for being on the wrong side of the road. Our only mishaps were running into a barracade in front of the rental car agent at the airport 2 minutes after we got into the car (the rental agent kindly remarked "Your first side driving on the left, hey? It's going to take some getting used to, mate"), a blood curling scream let out by Jill (opps) after we took at wrong turn on a dirt road and nearly had a head on collision with a landrover with roobars (they would have won) and getting pulled over for speeding our last night there (with 7 of us in the car) by the nicest policewoman I have ever encountered. She even let us off with a warning after finding out that we were leaving the next day.  But really, he was a great driver :)

Barbecuing and playing cards on the patio in Dunsborough. The house my parents rented there was so chic. And one of the only things that seemed like a good value compared to prices in the USA. Everything else was SO expensive! The house was on the Indian Ocean and the beach there was only ankle deep for a few hundred yards. You could walk forever. That is, until the flies got you.  The "aussie salute" is the motion of waving your hands in front of your face to shoo away the aggressive flies. We heard they only come out for a couple of months out of the year and one of those months was when we were there.

 Our last day in Margaret River we went to a chocolate factory (delicious) and on a little kangaroo tour.  Our Australian cowboy tour guide took us around his property, fed us orange cake (not sure if this is an aussie thing or what?) made billy tea, chased the kangaroos and we got to see his beautiful horses.

 We loved Western Australia. The people were some of the nicest I have ever met. The life seems to be a bit slower paced and it was great to see where Randy had been living these past few years!