Sorry its taken so long to write - but its hard to stay away from the beach!!! I just spent 20 minutes filling you in and somehow managed to delete it... so typical!!! I'll try again but will have to summarize a bit... sigh...
I spent Christmas 4 hours south of Perth in an area called Margaret River. Its famous for its wine regions and great beaches -- both of which live up to their reputation! I stayed with Francesca's family - who completely spoiled me - who have an amazing house overlooking one of Australia's most famous surf beaches! We woke up to champagne and gifts on Christmas morning and 95degrees! It deffinately isn't the same without the snow, but I wasn't too homesick when we spent the day at the beach and eating great food! (They even cooked a turkey which made up for the one I missed on Thanksgiving!) The same went for New Years - being able to sit outside for dinner made it perfect! Eleven of us had dinner together before buying tickets to live music at a pub around the corner. I was there for a little over a week and we spent everyday going to the beach and drinking delicious wine - my type of vacation!
Since I've been back in Perth its been 95 everyday - the weather is amazing! I only have 4 weeks left until I leave for Sydney and its starting to hit me that its almost time to go!! I'm only working at the pub and they are taking very good care of me. Its really great to have days off when the weather is like this too! I'm trying to squeeze in a few more things before I leave. Luckily, I was able to get back to Rottnest Island last week - its 30 minutes from the coast and jsut like a deserted island. There are no cars, only a few houses, and beautiful beaches. There are also these animals called Quakas that are only found Rottnest and look like tiny kangaroos. They are so used to people that they come right up to you - obviously I loved this. Six of us went over on a friends boat and spent the night there!
The next weekend is Australia Day and I've taken the weekend off for the celebrations. We're headed about an hour north of Perth for a weekend away and will come back Monday to watch the fireworks in the city! I will keep you posted with my plans to come!
