The remainder of our journey was leading us to the big cheese of Western Australia, Perth. Winding our way west and north, along the southern coast of Australia, we started to venture into a gastronomical tour of WA cheeses, meads, wines and chocolates. We passed through many charming, hippie villages and true, blue Ozzie farming towns, where a pub and petrol station seemed to be all a town needed to make it's inhabitants content. We stayed in one these good old farming towns with my Aunt Anita, Wayne and Jacob. We were introduced to their wholesome, organic lifestyle by working a day on the family farm, picking broccoli, cauliflower and my favorite, kale. As we worked our way through the field, gazing out over green rolling hills full of adorable, little lambs, we felt at ease with this natural lifestyle. We had a small glimpse into the hard, rewarding work involved in owning your own farm.
The cold, wet winter of Southwest Australia transformed the dry red landscape into a lush, green, agriculturally rich area in this vast, empty continent. This was truly a green sanctuary and I was glad to been in it, I had been missing the green.
But our days with The Beast were winding to an end and we pushed on to Perth, in hope of buying our own vehicle to carry us, and Colin, our friend from the states further north, along the western coast.
Perth is a flat, sandy outpost that still has the feel of a wild west town. Perth's few skyscrapers didn't manage to hide it's working class roots, and the 'cashed up mining bogans' cruising the strip in their supped up 90's Holdens further confirmed this.
While staying with my cousin Anna, we managed to find our new wheels, a 1993 Toyota Tarago 4X4, royal lounge van, outfitted with curtains and 2 sunroofs, perfect for parking and sleeping anywhere. Anna showed us the nibbles in town and we once again explored a new city by walking all of it's streets.
On June 8th we handed over The Beast back over to it's real owner, Chris Tant. Handing the keys back to him, was like giving a poor child a gift on christmas, his smile was from ear to ear.
Julian and I, however, were not so happy to be in our own wheels, we felt like we had gotten out of a Ferrari, into a Kia Sportage.
Thank you Chris for entrusting your your precious to us, mere strangers, you helped us to have the experience of a lifetime!
