Stag Night Down Under

We threw away most of the rambutans and bananas then had a small adventure trying to take the rental car back to the wrong airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur. Then we had another small adventure trying to find a desk to check in for our KLM flight to Perth which had turned into a Malaysian Airlines flight along the way.

Collected from Perth airport by Duncan, Dave, Sandra, Scott and Leanne. H was taken away for Tara’s Hen Night. I was taken away to Matt’s Stag Night at a house in the suburbs of Perth somewhere. It was a backyard full of people with beards, bellies and beer in hand. I fitted right in. There were some skinny girls around who seem to have forgotten to wear clothing but everyone pretended to ignore them so they were not too embarrassed at their wardrobe malfunction. Back to the Mercure Hotel very late to meet up with our ladies.

Sunday 3 January 2016 Warnbro, West Australia

Family Barbie

A quick drive around Perth and King’s Park then back to Duncan and Lesley’s place in Warnbro. Barbecue around the pool with extended family at Dave and Sandra’s rented house nearby.

Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 January 2016 Dunsborough, West Australia

Beach Barbie

A walk on the beach at the end of Duncan’s road then breakfast. H and I then set off south to Dunsborough. This is a small town on Geographe Bay near Cape Naturaliste. We had a hotel in town booked there but changed our minds and got a nice beach house instead. We had intended to visit some wineries and there are hundreds to choose from in the Margaret River area but decided that three days of drinking local wine on the deck or the beach with some prawns on the barbie was a better option. There are also a lot of show caves around but we only got down one at Ngilgi. Mainly because it was the nearest.

Thurday 7 January 2016 Perth, West Australia

Bush Barbie

A lazy morning, ironing shirts mostly, then a drive back to Perth to the mansion rented for the wedding guests. Or so we thought. We got some reports of a bush fire north of Bunbury that had closed the only two roads running to Perth. There was ash on our car that looked a bit like a light dusting of snow. The sky took on a strange colour and the sun shone orange through the smoke. Around Bunbury we had to take a small diversion of about 300 kilometres inland to get around the blaze. I could tell you that we had a death-defying race through giant walls of flame rescuing orphaned wallabies from the burning bush as we went but we actually couldn’t get all that close. It did make us too late for the pre-wedding festivities at a rented mansion and at Vines Resort and we crashed out very late at an expensive but very basic hotel near Perth Airport.

Friday 8 January 2016 Perth, West Australia

Tara & Matt’s Wedding

I took H to the mansion where the ladies were doing their thing and then drove out to another house near the Vines that Dave and Sandra were renting. Then Duncan, Dave and I went to cool off in the pool in the Vines Resort where we met up with Matt the Groom and Wes the Best Man. Back to the house to change into our finery and then we were picked up by a bus to go to the wedding venue at Caversham House.  It was an outdoor ceremony but we were saved from being fried by some clouds. Then an indoor reception with food, dance, drink etc. Not necessarily in that order. A good time was had by all.

Saturday 9 January 2016 Perth, West Australia

Hanging Out at the Mansion

We hung around the mansion pool most of the day with prawns on the barbie. The mansion is a huge relatively modern but slightly neglected house which is stuffed with the most amazingly naff gilded furniture and ornaments that it is possible to buy.

Sunday 10 January 2016 on flight Perth to Kuala Lumpur

Back in the Air

A disorganised tribe eventually gathered to play something called Supa Golf at the Swan Valley Oasis Resort. It was going to be a two hour wait for a tee time so we went to a winery instead and had some samples which didn’t need so much organising. Then we went for lunch at the Duckstein Brewery. German beer, German food. It was an interesting but slightly premature re-entry to Northern Europe. The Sheila and I then dashed to Perth Airport and checked our bags in for the Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam, Berlin trip. A quick purchase of long pants to replace the ones I had just checked in by mistake and off we went. The usual long-haul stuff followed, movies, drinks, food, sleep, duty-free shopping, movies, drinks, food, sleep, duty-free shopping etc..