At long last, I’ve found myself back in Fremantle. Home again, home again, jiggedy jig! I spent my last day hiking through Porongurup National Park and my last night night away in Walpole on the southwest coast of Western Australia — in the heart of the giant Karri forests. Of all the places I’ve visited around Australia, it is still one of the most beautiful, although a bit cold this time of year. I actually found a quarter inch of ice on my windshield in the morning and couldn’t get it off (since we don’t have ice scrapers here). I had to resort to turning the car into the morning sun and running the defroster for a while.
The past few days in Fremantle have been quite hectic, with six weeks of mail to catch up on and serious cleaning and repacking to do. With about nine hours to go before my redeye flight to Auckland, New Zealand (via Sydney), I’m happy to say I’ve finished all my errands and made everything I’m traveling with fit into my backpack.
I will be spending the next three weeks in New Zealand and will write from there soon!
