Roadtrip to Kalbarri.

Last week we had the pleasure of boyfriend's mum visiting us here in Western Australia, and we hired a car to tour the vast bushy coastline to North for five days. We had really good time, beautiful views, delicious food and some sunny weather too. Here are some pictures from the roadtrip.

The Pinnacles Desert at sunset. The shadows were long and the atmosphere magical.

There were a lot of Pinnacles!

The colours changed with the setting sun.

And the evening sky was the darkest blue.

A rainy morning in Cervantes made the beach even more beautiful. After Cervantes we stopped in Jurien Bay for fish and chips, and Geraldton for the night and trip to the museum.

Pink Lake near Port Gregory. The colour was quite intense and comes from beta-carotene produced by halophilic alga Dunaliella salina.

Coastal cliffs of Kalbarri by the Indian Ocean - next stop Africa. I could stand here for ages watching the waves hit the rocks... if it wasn't raining! Also, we spotted a Sea Lion swimming in the sea.

What would holiday pics be without one with a huge Bougainvillea bush (notice the bike as a reference)?

We climbed up to a whale-watching tower, and I was handed a pair of binoculars and told to spot a whale. Usually I do what I'm told, so I managed to spot a group of migrating Humpback Whales spraying water out in the ocean!

Rainbow Jungle had a huge collection of all kinds of amazing exotic birds, Australian and otherwise. These birds were Lovebirds, and I think they were the cutest! I also learned a lot: not to walk under beams in the huge walk-in bird cage, and that the Rainbow Lorikeets that are so abundant in Perth were originally introduced into the area by animal activists releasing them from their cages... and now they're so numerous that they're considered as pests and they have taken over some of the native bird species.

My boyfriend managed to convince us that quadbiking would be a great way to see the nature... and he was absolutely right! It also was great fun!

The wildflowers were starting to flower, the spring is slowly coming! The quadbike in these pictures is the one I drove with boyfriend's mum on the passanger seat at the back.

The Little Red Hill, which truly held its name.

The view from our little apartment balcony in Kalbarri. I could've stayed there for so much longer!

The Murchison River runs through the Kalbarri National Park, and it was gorge-ious.

During the winter rains the river is much bigger, but now it was still and beautiful.

On the drive up north we saw a lot of different types of bushland, coastal vegetation, salt lakes, and some farmed land. All of the vegetation has to cope with the hot summers as well as the wind from the ocean. This is one of the wind-sculpted, leaning trees of Greenough.

And eventually we had to return to Perth. I don't think I've posted a pic of the city centre (CBD; central business district) before, so here goes!

After the trip to Kalbarri, I had to return back to work but it didn't prevent boyfriend and his mum enjoying Perth sightseeing, including some Aborginal art galleries and the Aquarium. For the evenings we managed to cram so delicious dinners as well as catching the final Harry Potter in 3D. And on the Saturday before her flight back home we went on a wine tasting cruise in Swan Valley, which was heaps of fun although the Water's Edge wines were too close to their name (watery).

This week has been a busy one at work, as on Sunday we're flying to Melbourne for a week as I'm attending a conference there. Really looking forward to it; seeing another part of Australia and the city which is meant to be the cultural centre of the continent!

Headed towards the summer.

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year for us here in down under. I guess it means the midwinter is here, with its breezy +20C days, but luckily already today the daylength is longer and maybe soon the summer will be here. The hibernation period is obviously now, as I slept 15 hours straight on Saturday and have had trouble waking up on time every morning. To celebrate the coldest and darkest time of the year, we went to the local swimming pools on Sunday to sit in the gloriously hot sauna!

Happy Midsummer to all of you in the Northern Hemisphere!

Out in the bush.

So last weekend we drove out to the bush and even spent the night in the car. I have never seen so many stars anywhere before! Here are some photos of the nature (copyright my boyfriend).

The Serpentine Falls. Not amazing, but the hiking trail in the surroundings seemed lovely.

Near the picnic area we encountered some wild kangaroos...

...which weren't quite so wild. They happily ate toast and apples from the silly tourists who would feed them.

Some proper bushland right after sunrise.

Some more bushland.

The bushland regularly burns, leading to some really interesting ecology and growth strategies (like seed germination in response to smoke), but there are also some bigger trees..

...that grow beautifully twisting and turning.

This plant is known as the blackboy, or the grasstree, and is probably a hundred years old as they grow very very slowly (1 cm/year).

More blackboys.

More trees.

And finally a sunset into the Indian Ocean.

Vroom vroom!

Happy Friday to everyone from Perth! We have hired a car for the weekend, and the plan is to take a map and go explore! Amazing! This weekend it should not rain, so even better! Finally something else than urban (and suburban) sceneries!

In other notable news, we are extending our stay in Perth by a couple of months, beautifully timing our stay to cover the whole Australian winter period. But why not, boss said he'd be happy to keep me a while longer and boyfriend will need still some more time to finish his thesis. And realistically, if I want to get a good paper out of this research, it will take a little longer.

Other than that, it has been a lot of work days, some rainy days, some beautiful days and a couple of weekend days in the park exploring the flora (fig trees are fun to sit in), as well as some delicious Italian food (we finally found a restaurant where it is a joy to eat). Unfortunately it is too easy to watch TV in the evenings (Big Bang Theory and MasterChef every night), so I've started going to Body Combat twice a week. It all has started to settle into regular everyday life - gasp!

Rottnest island in photos.

We visited Rottnest island last weekend, 20 km off the coast from Perth. Let the photos do the talking! (copyright my boyfriend)

Crazy red plants by salt lakes.

We hired a tandem bike and cycled around the 4x11 km island.

The little Lion and little Tiger enjoyed the beautiful bays, the Little Salmon Bay here.

Boyfriend braved the Indian ocean and snorkelled for an hour a day, but I found it too cold! During my quick swim I was able to spot a variety of beautiful flora and fauna... I guess I have to go again when next summer rolls around!

One of the many wind-sculpted trees.

A quokka, the animal after which Rottnest (rat's nest) was named by the Dutch. These lovely creatures are roughly cat-sized, move like kangaroos and ultimately resemble tame rats. They come out at dusk, and there are a LOT of them.

Little Armstrong Bay, which we had for only two of us for the Saturday afternoon.

The Pink Lake, due to red algal growth.

Australian raven, the one with the crazy sheep-baby-baaahs.

Very fractal pines.

Salmon Bay.

Daily routines.

The life in Perth has stabilized into normal work-day rhythm. Wake up, shower, breakfast if time, pack lunch, run to bus stop, one hour on busses, into the office by nine, work, leave to go home at six, go grocery shopping on the way home, get home, cook and eat dinner, watch Big Bang Theory and MasterChef, feel tired, go to bed early. Nothing very exciting in the repetition of the same, but it actually all of it except the commute is enjoyable. Work has been really interesting, but this week seems to be a lot of waiting before I can actually get started in the lab!

During the past weekends we've learned the extreme price levels of beer, movie tickets, dinners and haircuts. We've met a lot of people in contexts that are not too travellery but your normal, "we live in this town and do the stuff we'd do at home" context. We've been having discussions about buying a car and doing weekend trips outside Perth, but I keep thinking a rental car would be easier. Next weekend we might do a trip to Rottnest Island, just to get out of the city and again to the beach. I bet the three months in Perth will be over as soon as I blink my eyes, and we're running out of time to do all the things we wanted!

Mini-break in Perth over the long Easter weekend

My boyfriend, or as Australians would put it, my de facto partner, arrived here on Friday! Yay! He's finally out of Europe, not exactly travelling, but he had an exciting overnight stop in HK, and now we had five wonderful days in Perth. We toured the central business district with tall skyscrapers, took a ferry to Fremantle, sat by the beach drinking wine, walked through King's Park and botanical gardens, went to the beach, and almost attended a local rock festival, a dawn service and a parade commemorating passed away ANZACs (Australia & New Zealand Armed Corps). And by almost attended I mean that we were either late (dawn service) or had a look and decided to enjoy the event from afar (parade from the tv, rock festival in the park outside).

We also went to the Fremantle Street Art Festival, which was the best city festivals I've ever been to (probably the only one? Hahah!). We saw comedy acts, mime, juggling, breakdance, trapeze artists, football tricks, magic tricks, and the world's most tattooed man on a 2-metre tall unicycle juggling a flaming torch, a machete and an apple which he proceeded to eat! Fantastic Freaks in Freo the ad said, and they weren't lying!

One of the best part about being in Australia has been the wonderfully diverse and different nature. The birds are green and yellow and pink, and the flowers are nothing like European ones, and the crows make sheep-like angry baby sounds, and the bushland with its dead-looking plants... we saw a document of the effect of the floods on the local ecosystems, and I would love to be there to see the deserts blossoming and thousands of pelicans gathering to nest on tiniest river islands. Also I'm yet to spot a kangaroo! I guess I have to settle with black swans on the Swan river, pink pigeons and green parrots on the campus, and thousands of green-yellow-red parrots gathering in the alienesque pines trees by the beach singing as loudly as a rock concert! I promise photos of the exciting nature!

The winter rains started then late on Tuesday evening, so the honeymoon with Perth is over and its all about work and thesis writing for us... until next weekend of course! There's the Royal Wedding on Friday, the May Day celebrations on Sunday... and hopefully weather warm enough to go for a swim!

New home in Western Australia.

I haven't written in a long time, and that is partially because there hasn't been anything to write about (eating lots and watching tv in Europe), and partially because the internet connection is not so freely available in Australia. I arrived to Perth well over a week ago, after an overnight stop in always lovely Hong Kong. Two days of flying wasn't too bad, especially as I flew the last section with the wonderful Qantas and the check-in lady asked me the best question ever; Would you like an exit row window seat?

Perth has been a lot of sunshine and science. My housemates work in the same lab with me, and although my contract started on Monday I attended department's own three-day conference and came to my office every day last week to sort things and think about my project. I have to say science has got me excited again, there is no other option now than stick with it!

Perth is very suburban and the distances are long. It takes me an hour to get to work by bus, but it goes via the city centre so shopping or entertainment on they way home is rather easy. All the paperwork in order to work in Australia has been ridiculously numerous, but in the end when you've signed and provided all the documentation it has been straightforward. Me and my boyfriend got our long-stay visas in three weeks, although I was warned about it taking up to four months. Live-in boyfriend is considered here as a permanent partner, so he's on my visa and can come and stay as long as I do. Handy! Opening bank account has never been this easy either - just passport and some money required, and no proof of address or employment like in other countries I've been to.

People are really friendly and talkative. I've got to several conversations with people on the bus and on the street. It's relaxed, sunny, there's very blue ocean and very blue Swan River (just next to the uni campus),... and you guessed it, very expensive too. Never had a pint of beer that costs 8 euros, and is considered normal price!

Back to the science now - have to get my background reading up to date! Luckily there is a long Easter & Anzac day weekend ahead to spend with my boyfriend who will finally join me here in the other side of the world on Friday! Hip-hip-hooray!

A fun map with travel photos!

I have created a map showing my journey this far. In addition to showing where I've been, it has some photos from all those places! Go and check it out here!

Sunshine and snow

The days in Europe have been sunny and relaxed. Days of decadent eating interspersed with days of healthy eating, a lot of exercise with Wii Fit (great fun!), long baths, movies, and finally a day of skiing: