To think that we wondered if there was enough to see and do in this area; this corner of Oz, a maximum of 6 hours from Perth, has it all.The trip to Rottnest island had excellent snorkelling (Andy is recovering from the jellyfish sting), beautiful beaches and a sighting of something small bouncing across the road. Later on we came across the culprit, the quokka which is a kangaroo about coffee-table high, and of course unfeasibly cute. Life is good for the quokkas on traffic-free Rottnest and as a result they are pretty mellow; we saw one mere feet away which looked at us and then promptly dozed off, head dropping forward as if the batteries had gone flat.

Before leaving Perth we visited Kings Park and climbed the double-staircase DNA tower - at which point we got caught up in a bizarre university initiation rite. The tower shook violently as 30 18 year olds hurtled up it to collect the next item on their treasure hunt; unfortunately this had to be done in their underwear which was definitely not cute. Apparently the girls event is much worse!

So we're now touring round in a hired Toyota Corolla, all luxuries like power steering and brakes, aircon and a radio when there's a signal. Even this small corner of Oz is huge and we've spent a week getting this far. We've seen the huge karri and tingle trees; the latter are shedding their bark at this time of year to reveal golden trunks, and we went round the wobbly tree top walk in the tingle canopy; very spiritual. We've also seen and swam off some awesome beaches; white sand, clear water and spectacular fish, I got lucky and spotted a colossal manta ray and Andy has been surrounded by schools of something unknown but friendly. Even the birds here are something else; there are several which have iridescent feathers and we've seen lots of rainbow coloured parrots.Big scare of the week was a look at Calgardup cave; no lighting here, you get issued with a helmet and a torch and let loose. Excellent formations but very scary.

Albany is a big town and we've been lucky enough to find an excellent hostel. We've also driven at night for the first time; this is not advisable in the rural areas we've passed through. Why not? This became clear at around 5pm on our first day when a figure the size of Darth Vader appeared at the side of the road, before fortunately disappearing into the forest. The kangaroos come out at night and have no road sense; if one hops in your path or into the side of the car neither party will emerge in good health. The roadkill is evidence of what might happen, and we are also advised not to run over the wombats as they are very solid and wreck the sump. So it's daylight driving only and a good dose of what Andy is pleased to call due roos prudence.

We'll probably spend a few days in Albany before meandering back to Perth and then on to Hong Kong on the 11th; plenty more trees to admire and walks to do before then. Here the days are hot and sunny and the nights pleasantly cool; we gather England is hip deep in snowmen at the moment so we are in for a bit of a shock!

lots of love and see you soon