Summer in Oz - hot hot hot!

We've been keeping busy, making the most of the Summer weather and fairly damning lack of swell. Even a few trips down south didn't turn up the goods. Instead, we've been getting some regular dosings of island time...

Rottnest

Main mode of transport on the Island

reliving our youth

Walking out to Penguin Island. 700m from the mainland. Felt like survivors from a shipwreck with all of our flotsam.

Into another world

Click through for more goodness in the flickr set.

I've also been busy...check out my art blog

 

Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies!!

 

A friend in our backyard!

Today we said goodbye to Jo and James dropped her at the airport to wing her way back home. Our awesome foursome is down to three. We miss you, Jo!

We had a jam packed day! We got off to a slow start after early airport trips and morning naps but then didn't get home until after 9pm.

We went snorkelling at Shark's Cove which was well worth it. Today I used a different pair of broken flippers that served me much better! This is what we saw:

Kristy

 

 

Just floating around

 

Even quite shallow, the fish were plentiful. Some were so brazen they almost collided with you.

Me

There were people scuba diving as well as snorkelling but there was still plenty of room to explore.

Grumpy!!

 

After snorkelling adventures, we had lunch at Ted's Bakery again before setting out to Maunawili Trail and Waterfall.

 

It was really muddy and we had to watch each step on the trail. 

The journey also involved river crossings! 

Maunawili

We topped the day off by heading over to Rhonda and Aaron's place for a BBQ and spa. We got to meet their lovely friends, Jesse and Sean, who live on the North Shore and own the rental accommodation Rhonda and Aaron were staying in. They had a cute cat called Tuesday :* I needed to pat her a lot.

Along with steak, chicken, vegetable kebabs and salad, we had ahi poki, a raw, marinated tuna and then... pineapple and chocolate haupia cream pie for dessert!
Mahalo!

Costa Brava

We did a snorkelling and kayak tour north from Barcelona to the Costa Brava before flying out. One final dip in the Mediterranean. Here is a video. Sorry that I don't have the resources at my disposal to make it a snappier production. Only just realised that this was sitting as a draft and not published!! Travesty!

 

The only photo taken of us that actually worked out :P

In the cave!!

Not quite as clear as the Aegean, I don't think.

The soft option

A few days back we hired out foam boards. We tried to get the bus to Anglet but a guy gave us some bum directions, and by the time we had walked to the local beach we realised that he had misunderstood us and the bus stop was in fact, now twice as far in the opposite direction. So we went out at Cote de Basque instead. The conditions were pretty terrible other than that the sun was shining. Perhaps the smallest day we've had and the tide was super low, so it was shallow - hence the soft boards.

We had a BLAST!

Slow down - Mary Poppins

Someone else's board.

James is a special boy.

Yes, we have matching suits. We're very cute.

Poisson

There was a lot of waiting but it was very pleasant. :) We have been doing things other than surfing. Eating, mainly.

Ios

The intrepid explorers, ready for Ios

The last island in our Greek tour was Ios, the “party” island. Whilst the whole island is generally geared towards getting absolutely blotto and forgetting where you left your pants, we discovered some great alternatives.

Luka and Stella – two most excellent chicks.

We signed up for a kayak tour around the bay, which was actually pretty awesome. Heading off nice and late (so that the boozers could sleep it off...) at around 2:00pm, we struck out across the bay for our first stop. Lunch. A big fire was rocked up, and we munched on fresh salad, weird Greek “bread” and sausages cooked by some Aussie dude... needless to say, the snags were charcoal, but really nice.

Cute little wall stuck on the side of a cliff

Next stop was a cliff jump, from an 8m precipice.

Swimming out to the launch zone

Scrambling up, we realised just how high 8m is.

Gonna jump, Jimmy?

Not bloody likely!!

Hannah strapped on her figs and showed us all how it's done... Creating

quite possibly the LOUDEST back-flop ever. That's my girl!! We've got a rad video of Hannah exploding ONTO the water. I'll try and get it up later.

Everyone who was jumping had a jump, then we moved onto the next bay for some snorkelling and sunbathing.

There isn't heaps to see, since the Greeks decided to a whole lot of fishing after the war. A whole lot of fishing using dynamite. Apparently anything that might have been there was well and truly blasted to a billion tiny bits of sand, which does make for some interesting landscapes underwater.

We finished up the day with an Extreme Hell Ride biscuit run behind a powerboat, blasting around. Everyone rolled up a little slow and sore this morning!!

The Other Hannah takes the plunge

We're in Athens again now, we've said goodbye to the Islands, and will start our next leg to France very soon! Tomorrow, the Acropolis!!

Santorini at 30km/hour

We had a very big day today. We had actually planned to do the laundry, but being Sunday, none of the washer-women were working. And so our adventure began...

We hired a quad bike which was an adventure in itself. This was NOT a decision made lightly. We'd seen people blasting around on scooters and mopeds on the last 2 islands and it wasn't until today that we felt it might be an ok idea. Not only are we driving on the 'wrong' side of the road here, but Greeks do some funny things on the roads.

 

We had helmets unlike half the loons (read: Aussie tourists) that drive around in their boardies and nothing else. The guy at the rental shop was trying to talk us into a 180cc bike and we were both saying, 'No, no! 50cc.' We got our 50cc for 15 Euros for the whole day - or bring it back in the morning - it doesn't matter...

Turns out he was right. The first hill we got to and we were being overtaken by everything on the island. I could have run faster. Girls on mopeds were going faster than we were. But we did get to see a lot of the island and at a very leisurely pace.

This is what we saw:

We drove to the southern tip of the Island to visit the famous 'Red Beach' - volcanic cliffs of red rock.

We'd hoped to visit the nearby archaeological site of Akrotiri, but it turns out its been closed to the public for four years.

 

So we puttered our way to the mid-east section of the island and had lunch in Perissa.

Perissa is known for its black beach.

They have walkways because the pebbles get so hot.

The water is still super clear. A lot nicer than that red beach. :/

We found that our crocs float.

 

The site of Anceint Thira was right next to Perissa but this wasn't accessible either. We didn't see the quad making the 500m ascent to the top of the mountain. So we made our way back to Fira, where we are staying. Today didn't seem to be the day for history and culture. But we did find:

and... 

Lots of grape vines here but they don't train them on trellising in rows like we do and they look a lot less nourished.

The views were breathtaking. It's so mountainous here!

Crazy Greek signs.

From the middle of the Island we went up to Oia (Ee-ya). A short 8km trip from Fira on the NW coast. But we took the low ocean road which was the long way around... across to the east coast and alll the way up and around.

Taverna by day.

Iced coffees out of the sun in Oia, overhanging the caldera, with Fira in the background.

 

There is a strange haze over the land here, the moon already up.

We didn't get to the 'White Beach'. But really, how could that compare when we have places like Yallingup and Esperance?? ;)

 

Weeeeeee!! We took the high road to Fira home. And I mean high!

vvvvvroom!

This completed our unintended circumnavigation of Santorini.