15 Feb: Launceston (TAS) --> Perth (WA) --> Dunsborough (WA).

[NOTE: WA stands for Western Australia, the state here in Oz, not Washington State.]

Yet another day with an early start. A REALLY early start. Like 4:15am, Tassie time (translation: 1:15am, Western Australia time).

Our place for the weekend - stone's throw from
Geographe Bay
Given the timing of flights to Perth (our flight destination), +Marc and I needed to be on a 7am flight out of Launceston. It was a bit rough but once we got on the connecting flight from Melbourne, Marc slept and I got to catch up on some overdue emails, wine notes, etc. We arrived in Perth late morning and connected with our friends, Fiona, Andrew and their 7-year old son, Dylan.

The 5 of us had made plans to caravan down to a wine region known as Margaret River, which has similarities to Bordeaux. Andrew rented a house for all of us in a town called Dunsborough, which is right on the Geographe Bay and feeds into the Indian Ocean. Wow, we're a far ways away from home now! I have been to Asia in the past but hanging out on a beach on the Indian Ocean is pretty darned cool.

Marc hanging out on a sand bar in Geographe
Bay that leads into the Indian Ocean --
yep, we are REALLY FAR AWAY
We got down to the house and the beach was about 400m away on a private road. Very cool. It's clear that many families come here time and time again because it is safe, convenient and fun for everyone. Marc and I went down to the beach and the "sorta" sand bar (up to my stomach) went out about 200 meters. It was pretty amazing to look at the colors of the water and people just walking out what seemed to be a long ways away from the beach.

The 5 of us grabbed some dinner at a local Italian place, and then crashed. At that point, it was 9pm Western Australia time and we were pretty beat having been up for almost 20 hours (with a couple of cat naps on the flight out). Not a very exciting day, but a good day to set things up for our week plus in Western Australia.

BTW, Marc and I would like to thank everyone who have emailed privately, DM'd on FB, etc. about our posts, pics, and everything else related to the trip. We are so flattered that you are having fun following us along this adventure. We are very lucky people and hopefully our entries are somewhat reflective of that.