83 was not a a great year for Taragos

I've added all the photos from around the coast south of Perth and here they are here:

South of Perth, Sydney

The last time I was in touch plans were very different but I'll get to that in a bit. Kalgoorlie Boulder i really enjoyed. It was fairly lively which I suppose is to be expected from a mining town. There was plenty of history here to do with the mining as well. The super pit was amazing. This is the biggest gold mine in Australia which is expected to have gold till 2021 which was found by an Irishman Paddy Hannan. We saw a detonation here as well. Down the road is the mining museum which is an old unused mine. You're able to go down an old mine shaft here. We had a good night in Paddys Ale house here.

The van started giving us problems while we were here. We got a blockage in the radiator which would cost us at least $200 and maybe $600 if it needed replacing which was deemed unlikely. We had already paid for a service before this so we decided we'd sell it as we weren't going to get any money we plugged into the car. So we headed on the 600 km drive to Perth. Things were looking poor and we thought we might have to bring it to a scrapyard but on the Thursday before we left we got a buyer for $1,300. Happy days.

We left Perth for Sydney on Monday and didn't do a whole lot in Perth the last few days bar go out a couple of nights. And scouring the city for a place to watch the Dublin match. Only got some of the first half on the internet. We arrived in Sydney last night to wet miserable Irish weather. It didn't say this on the brochure. What could you do but head to the local, Tea Gardens for a couple of schooners. Rain all day today as well. Staying in a hostel on Bondi Beach at the moment. The plan is to find a house tomorrow and start looking for a job. 3 months of work and then we'll head for the East coast followed by the Melbourne to Uluru trip. Slan.

Left Perth next stop Sydney

Gday mates,

Long time no hear from me. Perth was excellent. Quieter than Sydney but I reckon it's alot better. Plenty of nightlife available as was seen to it's fullest when Carolines mates were here. The Bog being stayed at till 5 in the morning. It was previously known as La Bog. It's about as exclusive as La Tower in Temple Bar but was great sport. Northbridge is where all the nightlife and restaurants are while the other side of the city has the shopping area. Fremantle is lovely to walk around and there's a great bar in the corner of the market here that's great on a Saturday evening. For beaches it has Cottesloe and Scarborough. While not mad the Sunday Sesh is good here. We stayed out in Woodvale with my cousin Niamh. Had difficulty finding IT work so I made the decision to head onto Sydney as there's always labouring there. Have to say I thought Perth was good. I'll miss Subiaco and the Dockers although I'll miss their play a little less. While out at Hyden I heard one of the dockers Jeff Farmer who was suspended for fighting outside a nightclub was put out cold at a WAFL game. This is like a inter county player dropping down to play Junior B.

Anyway our first stop after Perth was Rockingham. From here we went out to Penguin Island where orphaned penguins are looked after. I have photos of the feeding. It was a nice walk around the island and we even spotted a dolphin.

Next stop after here was Bunbury where there's a huge jetty but there's a huge viewing aquarium at the end of it where you can spot the coral. Was nice but was over a 2 mile walk out to it.

Next stop was Margaret River. Fantastic spot here made better or just made when we won a $100 voucher with tokens from our first drink. Happy days. We also went on a wine tour from here the following day for a couple of nice Cabernet Sauvignon. You're fairly happy after the day which includes 4 wineries with 9 tastings at each, a brewery, chocolate factory and a cheese factory. They bring you to the chocolate factory after the 4 wineries which is not conducive to being decorous. What are you to do when 3 bowls of free chocolate are put in front of you. Actually I missed out on telling you that I also did the Swan Valley tour when in Perth which I would actually recommend more.

On to Augusta after this via a couple of surfing spots. The world championships in surfing is held here when it's not being held in Bundoran. We got a tour up to the top of a lighthouse here. Also here is where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern ocean on the most South westerly point of Australia. Our day ended up in Walpole in a lovely caravan park at the side of a lake which we missed till the following morning as we arrived in darkness.

The next day we did Valley of the Giants on the way to Denmark. This was a fantastic suspended bridge 40 metres up in the air that looks over the tree tops. Was amazing. Made up somewhat for chickening out of the Dave Evans millenium tree. This is 60 metres high and involves climbing vertically stakes driven into the tree. The photos I'm sure will show my wisdom.

Denmark was a lovely town but dead even on a bank holiday weekend. The pub was even closed. Did a nice tour of an Alpaca farm outside the town where we saw a Koala and my first time seeing a Highland Cow.

Onto to Albany now where we spent 2 days. Nice town but I have to say listening to the Dublin match in a phone box outside it was a highlight. Poxy Dirty Meath ..... Will have to watch it have a junior redaership to look after. Saw the last whaling station outside Albany. It was fairly brutal work. Very interesting. Also saw the blowholes although I actually stood on them. I fairly jumped when the wave eventually came. The waves came fairly irregularly so that's why you didn't notice and it was only a tiny gap.

We went to Wave Rock outside Hyden last night which was impressive and drove to Kalgoorlie today. Looks decent place. Is an old mining town. Will probably stay here 2 nights.

Next stop Is Uluru which is about 1500km away. Only a stones throw!! Then we'll be onto Coobers Pedy, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in about 2 weeks time. Caroline seems to have a job sorted in Sydney and hopefully I won't have too much hassle getting work. The priority now is to get to a Setanta affiliated outlet before Saturday week.

COME ON THE DUBS.