The Journey Before You

We visited Sydney just two weeks before flying back home. Since we were at the tail end of our trip and had pretty much seen everything we could possibly see, we enjoyed just relaxing and taking things slow. Dave suggested we get a hotel for a couple of nights so we would have time to really enjoy the city. No complaints there!

I looked over some brochures and found a ‘free’ guided tour of the city. Technically the tour guide works for tips only so if you’re nice at all you tip something. It was a great intro to the city and helped us get our bearings quickly. She was full of great tips to save us time and money too. Also, we met two other people from NC in our group!!! And they were Carolina fans. This was right after Carolina beat Kentucky so Dave was thrilled to meet someone to hash out the game with.

The second day we walked around the city and went sightseeing on our own. We visited museums, walked through the botanical gardens, visited a fish market where we ate sushi, and bought tickets for a symphony at the Opera House for the following evening. We were exhausted by the end of the day. While in Sydney the traffic patterns are crazy so we relied on public transportation and walking. It was a nice change.

The third day we got up early and caught the ferry to Manly and Shelly beaches. We loved it. The water was a little chilly, but we still snorkeled. Then we enjoyed some of the most amazing gelato I’ve ever had! Not even kidding. After that we headed to Bondi beach which was also great, but very different than the other beaches. We swam for a while there. Then showered at the beach bath house and got ready for our dinner date and symphony back in the heart of the city.

So you’re probably wondering (or maybe you’ve figured it out) what the best souvenir was. The amazing thing is little did we know when we were taking all these photos that new life had just begun inside of me! Yes, you read that right.

As I post this we celebrate our 8 year anniversary AND are 15 weeks pregnant!!

Baby Hammer is expected to arrive on December 19th.

Tasmania, Australia – part 1

I can’t believe we almost did not go to this island! Within a couple of days of arriving we were convinced it is the best kept secret of the world. Had the mountain rivers been full of giant trout like New Zealand then Dave would have continued to deem it so. It is without a doubt though an amazing place. From wines to deserted beaches to the freshest of produce and seafood to super friendly people—- I could go on and on. They had lots of free camp grounds too!

We arrived later than planned (long airport story), but we were upgraded to a big SUV so that was cool to have extra space. We had a bit of a rough start and got a parking ticket within the first hour of landing! Dave was not a happy camper. Then we couldn’t find any fuel so that delayed us some more, but as always it all worked out fine. We then headed south and went straight to a free campground since it was pretty late in the day. The next morning we began our exploring. We ended up being able to cook our entire breakfast, coffee included, on the BarB which was awesome. I love those things!

We quickly found out that not many people inhabit the island and aside from a couple of major cities, it is mostly made up of small towns. The weird thing is that most mainland Australians rarely decide to vacation there even though it is a very short flight away and so amazing. Turns out that many have assumptions about it being small without much to do, or that it is always cold- neither of which is true.

It seemed that we were the only ones on any beach we went to, and they were all breathtaking. One time we just stopped and Dave fished and caught a variety of fish! While he did that I collected fresh oysters and mussels. It was like a dream (except the oysters were spawning so that didn’t work out). When we headed back to the car we saw lots of blackberry bushes so we collected a small bag full. We had fresh berries for breakfast nearly every morning we were there! Berries grew everywhere! You have to be careful though not to pick ones near the road that they’ve sprayed.

Tasmania is apparently known for its incredible food and wine so we stopped at little places each day to check things out like cheese factories, wineries, chocolate factories, berry farms, etc. They have little roadside stands at the end of driveways with fruits and vegetables for sale. We bought a big bag of delicious apples for just $3! Tasmania used to be a huge apple producer, but then something happened with the export business and England so they nearly lost that trade. Thankfully they still grow the delicious apples and it’s starting to build back up.

We rode a ferry to Bruny Island the second night and camped on the beach. You could drive on the beach too so we drove along it the next morning. It had to be a couple miles or more long. There must have been a red algae bloom too because one section of the water looked blood red and the next morning the shore was covered in red.

We headed to Tasman peninsula next to check out the convict trail since Tasmania developed from penal colonies. The landscape was vastly different! Huge jagged mountains, blow holes, and rough seas on one side. We explored as much as we could before camping on an awesome mountain side with a gorgeous sunset. Unfortunately, I got a terrible migraine through the night and into the next morning and we had to find a chiropractor a couple hours away back in Hobart to get me straightened out. Very different experience than going to one at home, but that’s another story. Anyway, he got me fixed up, but instead of heading back out to the Tasman Peninsula we decided to head north on the Great East Coast Drive. It sure lived up to its name and we stopped to take lots of pictures and walk on the beaches.

We stayed just outside of Coles Bay in Freycinet National Park and hiked the next morning early to Wineglass Bay. Good thing we went early because when we got back to the car the crowds were piling in. We didn’t know it at first, but we happened to be there over their labor day weekend so all the locals were vacationing too! After our difficult hike we felt we earned some ice cream so we stopped at a place that sold fresh fruit ice cream dipped in chocolate! It was so very good!

Next we continued north and were about to turn inland so Dave could check out a river that was supposed to be popular for catching trout, but we didn’t make it very far. The road was very narrow, curvy and ran along the edge of a rock wall and the other side of the road was a steep drop off. I finally pulled over at the next gap in the rock wall to let Dave take over because my nerves couldn’t take it anymore.

That’s the exact moment we met our new friend who had just somehow survived busting both tires on his passenger side! He literally had pulled over moments before us and said he had no idea what he would have done had we not come along. We don’t know either since there is no cell service out there and it would have been too dangerous to walk on that road. We spent the next few hours helping to get him situated. We told him that we’d just been reading in our Bible study about helping those in need and he was blown away by this. So our route changed again, but it was fine and we enjoyed the opportunity to help. I could write an entire blog post on that day alone, but I won’t! Don’t worry. Haha.

We drove on up to the Bay of Fires where there are boulders on the beach covered in a bright orange lichen. The beach was beautiful with crystal clear water. If it wasn’t so chilly and windy that day we would have swam in a pool made by the rocks. Then we started to head west towards Launceston.

 

(If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 here you go)

The problem with packing a lot, living out of a car, and traveling for an extended period of time is that you lose some things along the way. It’s just a part of the journey, so probably wise to mostly pack items that don’t mean all that much to you. Here is a running list of items we’ve lost so far; some hurt more than others.

• 2 or 3 pairs of socks. I’m not really sure how to report that because I lost half of two pairs, so I can still wear the two halves as a pair except that they are very different colors. This one hurt a bit as they were expensive Merrell hiking socks that I loved and only purchased recently prior to our backpacking trip to the Grand Tetons, but in the grand scheme of things they are just socks and can always be replaced. Besides, isn’t it the trend to wear mismatched socks right now?
• My cream colored down North Face jacket. Yes, I nearly cried on this one, BUT I remembered where I last had it and called the hostel. They had it and held it until we circled back around the south island of NZ to get it. So thankfully it was retrieved.
• My favorite atheletic blue New Balance shorts that fit perfectly. I would have gladly given away 3 or 4 other pairs of shorts I brought instead of losing those. These were left on the dive boat and did not make it to the lost and found box. Oh well. I think I can replace them pretty easily.
• My old black bathing suit cover. Also on the dive ship. It was time.
• Dave lost some lures that got hung while fishing.
• Our convenient little coffee maker which was just a plastic piece that sits on your cup and drips.
• I’m sure there are more things we haven’t even realized yet.

Insert hindsight cliche here:

Halfway into our trip now and it’s easy to see what we should have left at home as well as what we should have thought to bring. You begin to realize some of these early on in the trip. Not a big deal though since we didn’t really know what all we would need for this 5 and ½ month adventure. Here’s what we’d do differently:

I should have stuck with my usual superlight packing. I would have packed everything for cold weather that I packed since we used most of it in NZ , plus one warm weather outfit and a couple of bathing suits. Any additional warm weather clothing I could have purchased fairly inexpensively in Australia.

Left half or more of my shoes back home. We had expected to do a lot of water activities in NZ, but it was way too cold and expensive so I never even ended up using my awesome water shoes. And even if I had needed them I could have bought a cheapo pair in NZ. Also, everyone is pretty casual in both NZ and AU so no need for any dressy footwear.

For shoes I would have just packed flip flops, hiking boots, and my tevas. And maybe my comfy slippers.

We forgot some very important items, well I should say I forgot them, which cost us a pretty penny. One was the spare SLR camera battery and charger which is probably still in the outlet in our kitchen 🙁  It was 3-4x the price to buy this in NZ. I was pretty mad at myself for forgetting such a crucial item. The other was our Capital One credit card which does not charge an international purchase fee. However, we were able to get the card info from Dave’s mom (THANK YOU) so we are at least able to use it for online bookings. We never use the card at home so it was easy to forget.

We would have also packed our car power inverter. We ended up buying another one in NZ. Now we have one that has a funny outlet. Hopefully we can use it for future travels.

Once we arrived in Australia we sorted our belongings and packed up 30lbs of clothing and other items to ship back home. It is so hot here we definitely do not need any cold weather gear. After a week we sent another box home, and we may send another one before it’s over with. Since we’ve been in Queensland we have practically lived in our swimsuits and for me a bathing suit cover which is a thin cotton dress I purchased while in Kaikoura, NZ.

I’ll probably just get rid of some of the rest of the clothes I brought rather than ship them home.

I ended up wearing a hole in my favorite jeans while in NZ. I was kind of bummed about this and pondered patching or tossing them, but then found replacements on ebay. After ordering a few extra pairs which will arrive at home while we’re away, I turned my jeans into shorts.

I maybe would have left our power toothbrush because we hardly kept it charged and it’s kind of bulky compared to a simple toothbrush, but we’re using it more now so I’m glad we brought it.

Now, behold everything I was able to tightly cram into my backpack. It’s somewhat embarrassing to look at how much I packed, but lesson learned. More on that in Packing Part 3

 

My sleeping bag. I love this sleeping bag. It’s rated 20 degrees and we definitely needed these while in NZ. Dave liked my bag so much that he had me order him one for our trip. It’s lightweight and compresses pretty small.

Shoes. Such a hard decision. We planned to do lots of water activities in NZ so I packed my Tevas and my closed toe water shoes. I love my slippers and they are convenient when camping. My Merrell hiking boots which are super comfy and supportive around my ankles- important for backpacking. My Naots ; love them- super comfy and can be casual or dressy. And flip flops.

Warm weather clothes: 5 bathing suits because they don’t take
up much space. Two pairs of athletic shorts; one pair I often wear as a bathing suit bottom. Capri workout leggings. Three tank tops. If you notice the colors can be mixed/matched creating more variety in outfits.

 

Two sundresses, a cardigan and a thin lightweight skirt.

 

 

 

 

Two pairs of shorts.

 

 

 

 

Two silk tanks. Lightweight, flowy. Dressy or casual. Love them.

 

 

My tiny Therm-a-Rest . Love this thing. It’s basically a small air mattress, but way more durable than an actual air mattress since it is made for camping– though it does have issue with ‘ballooning’ if you don’t use an air pump due to the moisture in your breath. Compresses to be very small and is lightweight.

Let’s see, some warm weather gear. My down jacket, paper thin long sleeved sun shirt. It is great because a nice under layer of warmth or sun cover that doesn’t make you hot. My under armour warm under layers white top and black bottom. It can get cold camping. My Outdoor Research hiking pants (not pictured).

My favorite pair of jeans on the right; 1969 curvy Gap boot cut. A pair of capri jeans. White linen pants. Grey fitted jeans- dressy or casual, they have a slight sheen. And a leather belt.

Paper thin cotton sudara jammy pants because it’s always nice to have some comfy pants to loaf around in especially when staying in hostels.

Enough Rodan and Fields to keep my face clean for five months, thank you Kat Price. And enough Lola.

Not pictured. A couple of Nik Ripken books, my travel Bible, a journal, couple more books, odds and ends camping stuff such as thin tin coffee mugs, toiletries, simple black dress, and who knows what else. But there it is. Bursting at the seams!

Now you can check out Part 3 to see what I would change.

 

Of all the things this trip has done for me, it has done the most for my faith. After two years of being more and more consumed by work, I was growing slowly and consistently away from intimacy with God. This trip has served as a complete rejuvenation and refocusing of my attention toward God. It has also fostered a renewed and refreshing depencency on Him.

I have felt convicted for some time about my lack of specifically and outrightly sharing my faith with others. We are called to do that and there is no excuse for disobediance. And why would we not want to share this joy with everyone we meet? On this trip I wanted to intentionally change that somehow.

God worked in me, in us, first. We were reading the Bible individually, usually daily, and not really discussing it. We decided it would be a great opportunity to do a daily Bible study together. Dave chose the book of Matthew as that is what he was reading at the time and we have been committed since. It was a bit awkward at first which is kind of sad since we used to read it together all the time when we first met, but we quickly got into the swing of things and began looking forward to it each day.

I also brought along a few other books which I did not start really reading until a month or so into our trip. Two by Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Obediance and The Insanity of God, and one called I Am N by Voice of the Martyrs. I cannot say enough about the first two books. Both are life changing and challenging, and speak directly to the command to share the gospel especially in hard places.

My prayer on this trip has been to practice sharing my faith with others and that God would provide opportunities to do so. When you ask to be open to God’s will, you better get steeped in the Word, keep your eyes open and hang on. He provided many opportunities to share the gospel. Some we outright failed, some we blundered, some we felt we did something right, but all were great opportunities to practice and can be redeemed by Him. You have to start somewhere and it’s easy to look back and see what else we could have done or what more we could have said and how.

There was the time we encountered a homeless man and were able to serve him by sharing our resources. Then there was the young hitchhiker we picked up. And another man who flattened both tires on one side of his car and seconds later we happened to pull over at the same area. He was amazed that two complete strangers would spend several hours helping him. We told him we had just read in the Bible about helping those in need. He was so impressed with this he immediately told someone at the tire shop we arrived at not long afterwards. He just could not believe that there are people like this in the world. Then there was the Asian lady who gave me a pedicure in Thailand who works 12 hours/day 7 days a week. The American dive guide in Thailand who was still recovering from a painful divorce.

I think my favorite was the time we were invited to camp in someone’s backyard after accidentally attempting to camp on private property. We accepted the invitation and spent half of the next day hanging out with him. He shared his loss of hope, his grief and bouts with depression and drugs. We began to share the hope of Jesus and I tell you what, there is no high like sharing Jesus with someone especially when they are open to it.

Another great thing is that we traded contact info with several of these folks and can continue these conversations.

Looking back at how God has blessed this trip and His intricate involvement in our lives is humbling to my core. It brings me to tears. Just before this trip I was deeply and freshly reminded of His personal love for me, and throughout this trip He has been faithful to keep reminding me. It is so easy to resort to forgetting or doubting, and get down on myself or start trying to take control of everything again.

Shortly after arriving in Perth I was particularly struggling with those nagging anxious thoughts that creep up when you’re trying to fall asleep reminding me of every socially awkward experience or shameful choice I’ve ever made. We were both suffering from the weariness of travel that can make you snappy and bitter. In short I was feeling worn down emotionally and physically. We had also toured a prison and felt the weight of evil in that place. Thankfully, the church we attended the next morning was overflowing with a message of love, from the worship leader to the compassionate grace filled message reminding me to run into my Father’s arms, and how he views me as his child. It was just what I needed that morning to soothe my soul. It was one of those times when you feel like God himself is speaking to you. It is hard for me to even convey the depth of it in words, but God knew very much that I needed a strong reminder that morning of His love for me. And yes, I was crying throughout the service.

Just a couple of Sundays ago near Melbourne we attended a great little church and the passages preached on were two parables from Matthew- ones we had just recently studied ourselves. Then that night there happened to be a performance in Melbourne based on the gospel of Matthew. It was originally scheduled for a month earlier, but had been rained out and rescheduled for the night we were in town. I love when God confirms His presence and involvement in our lives.

There was the Sunday morning in Strathmore listening to a passionate longterm overseas missionary share his experience and then offer individual prayer. My heart burned inside of me to go up. I hesitated for a moment, then saw the open space between a few other people up there which I saw as my spot so I pushed past my inhibitions and went up. Then I heard several others follow suit. I can’t quite describe what it is like to have someone lay hands on you and pray a blessing over you and perhaps a prophesy if you will, and to confirm the path you’re on. His words still ring in my ears. I kind of feel like Mary did with all these experiences- “storing all these things up in my heart.”

I have absolutely LOVED attending a different church every Sunday allover New Zealand, Australia and one in Indonesia. All the brothers and sisters in Christ we have met are so welcoming and loving. It’s as if we already know one another just like family is when you haven’t seen each other in a while. The most mind blowing concept of it all is the awareness that even if we never meet again on this side of eternity, we will be reunited in heaven forever. I just can’t wrap my mind around how very awesome that is. It has been so encouraging to my faith to meet believers literally allover the world. We have also met and heard from longterm missionaries which is so inspiring. Not many people know it, but I wanted deeply to be a missionary from an early age. It just hasn’t played out how I thought it would.

Before we left for this trip I wondered if I was somehow being disobedient to God by leaving my job and going on a 5 month vacation of sorts. But now I know that this was somehow all part of His plan. He can use all things for His glory and purpose. And I am excited to see how he continues to grow and use us for His kingdom when we return home. I’m sure there are so many more moments I could share about on here. I’m just so thankful that He has restored my joy in Him and brought me back to seeing Him in all things big and small, given me a new perspective on persecution, and an eagerness to share the gospel.

We arrived in Cairns late afternoon on December 29th. The humidity hit us instantly and reminded me of home in late August. I loved it. We took a shuttle to the hostel we booked for the next two nights. It was a great little hostel and felt more like we had our own apartment. They also had a pool and hammocks everywhere so it felt like we were in a tropical oasis. We just chilled out the first evening. The next day we rode the shuttle into town and explored the town center on the waterway.

They had this amazing very large crystal clear salt water swimming pool which they call a lagoon. I loved it. They also had free grills to use throughout the waterfront, free showers, etc. And there must have been an icecream or gelato shop every couple of stores. We checked in at that dive shop and confirmed everything for the next morning. Thankfully, Dave had the foresight to book a dive trip months before we arrived. The dive companies there were booked solid for the next several weeks.

ProDive picked us up early the next morning and once our group was all together we were transported to the dive boat where we would live the next three days. I read in Fodors about taking ginger pills for motion sickness which I’d never heard of, but we tried it and I loved it. Worked great and no fatigue!

We didn’t bring an underwater camera so I don’t have photos to share of the actual dives, but we did see millions of fishies. We also saw several sea turtles and a few reef sharks. We also experienced night diving for the first time for both of us. That was very cool! The first night we went guided with the dive master and the second night we were on our own so to speak, but we did go in small groups. The second night we saw two huge sea turtles sleeping under rocks.

We met some great folks from all over including New Zealand, England, Ireland, and the good ol’ US of A. The food was absolutely wonderful. Basically the schedule was hour dive, eat, nap or chill and repeat three of four times each day. There were 11 scheduled dives, but Dave and I chose to skip one and to snorkel two others because it can be hard on your ears. We were both glad we chose to snorkel the last two because it was a pretty shallow area and most of the fish were closer to the surface so we saw more than we would have diving. The first day was tight, but the next two were more relaxed.

The dive shop folks even invite you out to get together for an informal dinner in town after the trip which was awesome because we had more time to be chatty. We even ended up meeting up with some of the folks the next day to do a hike north of Cairns. I loved the whole experience. And because of the trip we ended up booking a flight to Thailand to check out the diving there since it was strongly recommended. ProDive staff were very professional, patient and funny. I would definitely go with them again. Great experience! Also, even though it is the rainy season in Queensland, the weather was perfect throughout or dive trip. God’s creation is amazing to see!

Some of the most breathtakingly beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen lie between Perth and Esperance. Granted the water is pretty chilly, probably about 70F, but feels great if it’s hot outside. The crazy thing is that we were never originally planning to go to western Australia, but I’m so glad we did. The weather was perfect for camping. We’re not much for big cities, especially not Dave, so we did not spend much time in Perth itself, however I think I could have stayed much longer. It’s definitely a city I would return to. There is a huge river that the city is built around called Swan River and it is surrounded by lots of parks.

As we made our way south from Perth we drove along the coast as much as we could. Dave suggested we turn off in a town called Busselton which turned out to be awesome. We’d both forgotten that we’d seen it in the airline travel magazine on the plane, but it was a place recommended to go snorkeling because they have the longest pier in the world. They call it a jetty, but it’s a pier nearly 2 k long. We grabbed our snorkeling gear and made the long walk to the end. We jumped in the brisk water and saw some of the most beautiful and unusual coral around the old jetty/pier posts. There were lots of fish too, but they were deeper down so we couldn’t see them as well. We stayed in for about 30 or so minutes then got some ice cream. There was a huge netted off area on the beach and a sign that read it was to keep “large marine life” (aka sharks) out. Thankfully we did not see any while snorkeling!

We headed down to the wine region of margaret River which was very much like Napa Valley. I visited two wineries then we went to a Chocolate Factory- very wisely placed in the middle of a wine region if you ask me. We saw chocolates being made, had an incredible hot chocolate and sampled some other chocolates while there. I met the nicest lady about my age at the first winery and since I was the only one there we chatted for a while. She showed me a map of the area and suggested must see places on the route which I was super thankful for. She told me about a beach where the sting rays come right up to the shore.

We explored one of the local caves. There were several but we decided to just tour one of them.

We stopped in Albany which was uneventful. We did check out a WWI and WWII memorial which was pretty amazing. We also attended a church there which was the most different church either of us had ever attended. Very structured and strong message on the providence of God. We met some very nice folks there. We also did our laundry while in Albany before heading on.

We stopped at several beautiful beaches. One was Hamelin Bay where the rays were and we saw a shark circling the area. Very cool. Dave believes he saw the pro golfer Stuart Appleby walk by us and then heard someone with him call him Stuart so we’re pretty sure it was him.

 

We drove up to a mountain called Castle Rock and hiked a few miles. It was hard, but worth it. Along the way we saw elderly folks, pregnant women and young children hiking so we figured we need to suck it up and keep moving! Ha! At the top is a steel walkway bolted into a giant boulder. You have to crawl around then use handles bolted into another rock to climb up a ways, then climb up a ladder before you get up to the walkway. The walkway itself has a grated bottom so you can see straight down below your feet; a bit unnerving for someone a bit afraid of heights like myself. It was really windy too. We snapped some photos before heading back down the mountain. We also went to a national forest with giant trees and did the treetop sky walk thing. Pretty cool. If you know us at all, you know we have a thing for big trees.

We stopped at a very small out of the way beach town called Bremer Bay. Again, very gorgeous beaches. Crystal clear water and very white powdery sand beaches. Unfortunately it was chilly the day we went there so we didn’t swim.

On our way to Esperance we camped near a beach and snorkeled there in the morning. When we arrived in Esperance we drove the loop around the area and checked out the many beaches there. One beach ran along a high cliff and we saw two people hang gliding. It looked so awesome. They also have a pink lake there, but it was barely even pink and did not compare to the one we saw the week earlier. We stopped by a glass artist gallery too.

What happened that night was the most interesting part and one I won’t ever forget. We thought we’d found a camping spot out in “the bush” or backwoods middle of nowhere. Well, we no sooner got settled into our tent for the night than we saw flashlights and heard voices. Tuns out we were on someone’s land and they had been robbed recently. They said we’re lucky they didn’t shoot us! (which we thought was kind of odd since you can’t have guns in AU, but we found out you can have certain types if you live on a farm). Anyway, there were two guys and one of them offered to let us camp on his land so we agreed. I know, I know, sounds crazy since we literally just met, but it was dark and we didn’t know where else to go especially after that scare. We had peace about it.

He turned out to be the nicest guy and we ended up hanging out with him for half the next day! There is so much more I could say about the event, but rather not on here. Just know that it turned out to be a blessing in so many ways.

We decided we would head back to Perth for Australia Day which is kind of like their Independence Day so we drove the direct route back which saved many hours. It was nice to see the outback and turned out it was a lot hotter than the coast. There were lots of grain fields as far as you could see dotted with a few trees here and there. We ended up driving not far off the road and camped. It was like camping in the desert. The stars were so bright! And it was such a quiet peaceful night.

The next morning we checked out this giant granite rock called The Wave because of it’s shape. Not really much to see, but we hiked around a bit then continued on to Perth. Once we got there we went to the beach because it was over 100*F and we snorkeled. It was perfect. We were going to camp our last night there, but since it was so warm we decided to get a room. Also, we needed to get our things organized and packed for the flight the next morning. We stayed in a hostel not far from the riverside park where there was going to be a huge fireworks display. Unfortunately a couple flying a small plane as part of the pre fireworks show lost control and crashed into the river that afternoon. Understandably they cancelled the fireworks display.

Overall I absolutely loved Perth and the surrounding area and would definitely go back there if the opportunity ever presents itself. Gorgeous city and beaches and friendly people. There are also national parks close to the city that we didn’t get to explore. If you get the chance, go to Perth!