First trip to Dunsborough

I apologise for the length of this post, but a lot happened!

This Saturday marked something I've been looking forward to for a long time; my first weekend away in the McKiernans' hometown of Dunsborough. I've loved living in Perth so far, but being in the city 24/7 can be a bit hectic, especially for a country girl! My excitement about getting away had been building throughout the week when I learnt that my excursion was to be extended from two to three days, as the Queen's birthday (Monday) is a national holiday in Australia. Cheers for an extra day in the bar Liz! Plans are in place to spend several long weekends and all the big holidays (including the two weeks we get off for christmas) down there and, after seeing it for myself, that's something I'm pretty excited about!

The distance from Perth to Dunsborough is 250km, or around one 180th of Australia's circumference. Not much of an accomplishment for a three hour journey...

We set off bright and early Saturday morning for a straightforward run down the freeway. This took us in land and the trip was a little boring and straight, but a roadside stop at Miami Bakehouse for coffee and cake and great playlists on Archie's stereo meant that we arrived in Dunsborough in high spirits. I'm loving being turned onto loads of new music here; I've finally made the decision to sack off going to the Hopman Cup in the city over New Years in favour of Southbound Festival in nearby Busselton; I love my tennis, but the combination of Tom Odell, London Grammar, Vampire Weekend and The Wombats plus many more was just too good to miss. Sorry Novak, our fateful meeting will have to wait 'til another time!

Driving through Dunsborough on the way to Jess' reminded me a little of Tintagel in more ways than one. The shops/cafés look quite similar, but more familiar than that was the number of absolute idiots stopping their cars in the middle of the road/fighting over parking spaces/walking around in the road with no concept of people trying to drive. Jess tells me this long weekend marks the start of summer and this is basically the norm for months now. Just like home then... The McKiernan house, naturally, is gorgeous and beautifully decorated with a mix of local and Cornish landscapes. The pool didn't look too inviting in the spring chill, but it'll do for christmas morning I suppose! I also met Johnny (short for John Lennon), the family dog, who is just adorable.

With the aim of filling our time, we donned our trainers, hopped in the car and parked up at Moses Rock on the coast road, all wrapped up for a very blustery hike along the dunes and down to Quinninup Falls. The weather has been uncharacteristically bad for this time of year and so much of the ground was flooded that it proved to be a very interesting walk. Puddles the size of lakes kept forcing us to take detours into the bushes and even then I managed to almost lose my shoe in some pretty grim black mud. We also saw a few lizards and my first snake (well, we decided it was either that or a mouse's tail); I followed Jess through the undergrowth with her Dad's words of "the first person startles the snakes, the second person gets bitten" ringing in my ears! The descent to the waterfall involved lots of sliding down dunes on our feet/arses and we arrived at the falls out of breath from exercise and laughing in equal measures. The waterfall was awesome and running pretty quickly considering that last time Jess saw it it was barely a trickle; also down to the wet winter. We sat ourselves down in the spray and ate our lunch with a few other, much more serious-looking walkers. There was even sea spuff threatening to blow into your face just like Trebarwith! The walk back was uphill and a little more taxing; you had to pretty much sprint to get the necessary grip to get up the dunes and an awful lot of falling over happened. You'd think we'd have been more successful at avoiding the bogs the second time round, but unfortunately there was just as much tottering over rocks and swearing with each misplaced step on the way back to the car.

First slip into the bog (about two minutes in)

A little worse for wear at Quinninup Falls

From there, we continued to drive south and Jess showed me tonnes of beautiful beaches and bays, most of which we've bookmarked for various occasions over the summer. The less sheltered areas boast some of the biggest waves in the world, but Point Picquet is really protected and good for beginner surfers. There's also a beach that's protected from sharks by a big reef, so that'll be useful; I'd rather get my legs skinned going over coral than gobbled up by a shark!

Back at the McKiernans, we emptied our trainers of sand and showered in time for Jess to go to work at Malt, a bar in the middle of town. I felt a bit like a child being shipped from one parent to the other as Candice finished her shift and took me over to hers and Chris' place. I should probably clarify the link with Cornwall here for anyone who doesn't know: I know the girls through Chris, who's the son of the Boundy family who run the shop next to the café I've worked at for years. He met Candice while travelling over here years ago and they've been together ever since; both girls have spent summers in Cornwall over the years and we now have loads of mutual friends which is great. I got chatting to Jess this summer about my placement; turns out she goes to university in Perth and had a spare room to fill when her friend graduates. Hey presto! It's all worked out pretty perfectly. Chris was over in Cornwall for the first time in years when I came out here and only returned to WA last week, so we caught up with news of the Trebarwith lot and, most importantly, I met their gorgeous miniature bulldog Walter! I love dogs as it is and, although playing with him made me miss Murphy a lot, he is such a little character and I loved seeing all the awesome tricks Chris has taught him!

Dinner was at Clancy's on the outskirts of town and my second visit to the chain of Fish Pubs did not disappoint; I had a pulled lamb roll with chips and salad plus tasters of mussels and oysters from Candice's seafood platter. Heaven! My mission to taste all the Little Creatures Brewery offerings continued with a pint of "Pipsqueak" sweet cider. We headed to the bottle shop (you can't buy alcohol in a supermarket here) and the plan was to drink Crabbies and wait for Jess to finish work, but by half 10 we were all falling asleep in front of The Wedding Singer so Candice dropped me home. Good job we gave up, as the long weekend meant Jess didn't finish serving the drunkards until 2am!

Sunday began how every good Sunday should; a Terry McKiernan breakfast cooked on the barbecue. Candice, Chris and Ollie came over for it as it's such a tradition, yum! With full bellies myself, Maggs and Jess ventured down to Margaret River in the car to continue my education of the west coast. Number one thing to note about MR: It's a wine region. Vineyards and breweries everywhere. It's a given that many a tasting session and tour will be done when the weather improves!

The town was a bit touristy and really busy despite the rain, but we browsed a couple of cute boutiques and surf shops (So. Much. Temptation) before looking for a venue for lunch. The bakery that Maggs recommended was closed, so we went with our second choice of Sails. I had eggs benedict because breakfast is good at every meal. I really should stop eating. On the way back to Dunsborough, the tour continued with a visit to the chocolate factory for free samples and a smorgasboard of smells at the Natural Olive Oil soap factory before heading to Simmo's ice cream. Eating ice cream has taken up a hefty chunk of my time in Australia so far; I had burnt caramel with a salty swirl and oh my goodness it was good! There's a funny little play park there and an emu, which was deinitely after Jess' ice cream.

Jess and her new mate

Sunday night was a little strange, but great fun all the same. Jess went to work and Candice messaged me saying she wasn't coming over as she was shattered from the night before. So, I had dinner with Maggs and Terry then watched The Notebook. As you do! I bloody love that movie and Maggs and I both shed some tears throughout. Terry's only comments were that the cars were nice and those long boxers Ryan Gosling wears are pretty snazzy... typical man. I bet he cried really!

Another early start on Monday morning wasn't so bad because 1) I wasn't going to work and 2) we had a few more treats in store before I left for Perth. We went for a coffee with Candice before she started work, then Jess and I headed down to the beach on foot for another walk. We covered a few gorgeous little bays that are only accessible by footpath, so they were all really quiet and the sea was crystal clear as the sun made an appearance. Back home, Maggs cooked us some gorgeous slow-cooked lamb, cous cous and roasted veg, of course accompanied by wine! It was then time to head to Bunbury train station, around an hour's drive back towards Perth. I waved goodbye to my lovely hosts and hopped on the train having had a lovely weekend, but glad to be getting home for some well-earned sleep as I was knackered. Sleeping on the train was a no-go however as, just like in the UK, public transport is the domain of the scum of the earth. Sitting behind me were a couple of bogans (I really should make an Aussie dictionary; a bogan is like a chav) with a kid that screamed/kicked my seat the entire time. Add to that the fact that they had a domestic, with the girl shouting "I don't give a f*** if everyone's listening" at one point. It's hard not to listen when you're shouting your dirty mouth off, love. Not that I'd have said anything along those lines; she was bloody terrifying!

Hopping off the train in the city centre as the sun started going down was glorious; I walked down through the city to the jetty and got the ferry over the river to South Perth. A little stroll along the esplanade and I was home having had a lush break from city life, but ready for another week at the work house. Well done for surviving this epic post!