JUST CRUISIN' ALONG

Just like buses - you don't get a blog for ages, then 2 come along at once!  Afraid, life was just too busy after Christmas, touring around the South West - but you lot were busy too - a definite drop off in blog readers for several weeks.  But here we all are again - ready to report and read.

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The thing about all this south west corner of Australia is that it's just wall to wall ocean and beaches - and lots of rivers draining into the sea.  Ideal for the local tour operators to offer cruises up and down the local river to the inlet/ocean, with plenty of bird life, opportunities for local information from the skipper and various food and drink - from fish and chips to muffins.  So it seems churlish not to take advantage of such offerings - and we have.  See the list below - and not exhaustive for the area, as we have been on others in past years - most notably the WOW cruise in Walpole that everyone we meet tells us we have to go on - it was the best of all cruises, all down to Gary who runs it - see 10th February 2016 on the right.

• Whale watching - Geographe Bay - hot drinks and biscuits
•  See previous blog 29/11/18

• Augusta - Blackwood River - water - but BYO
•  See previous blog 24/12/18

• Swan River - Perth to Freo (Fremantle to you and me) - wine and full bar and cafe - posh.  And instead of wildlife we got to see $50m+ houses along the way.  Bit out of our league but some you wouldn't want anyway!

• Denmark - Wilson Inlet - fish and chips from local hotel delivered to boat - BYO.  This was a surprise trip for Niki on New Year's Eve.  She had flown down rather than be cramped up in the car for 4-5 hrs with her new hip - very sensible.

• Pemberton - Donnelly River - tea, coffee, famous home made muffins by the skipper

And a tram ride

Probably the most uncomfortable hour and a half of the whole trip!  

A real bone shaker.  And as it was full, Graham and I had to squeeze on to one seat - not great for his poor old legs and numb feet!

Message to cousin Allan in the US - so glad that Roy booked us on the comfortable seats for our all-day train trip in Colorado!!!!!  See here for the USA blog from 2017