General Chat

My apologies, Nolls!

yes there is a 'pink lake' there.

Magnificent scenery in the Cape Le Grand National Park, as well

lol Dermot :-D

We also visited Queenstown, and Arrowtown on our recent trip.

I would loved to have seen inside the Blisters' Lodges in both towns

And now back to the original establishment in Wiltshire.

It must have been a genius who decided to erect it so close to the A303 & then seek retrospective building regulations. The first 'drive-through' in the UK.

The wonderful thing is the landing, it is fantastic flying into Queenstown and as soon as we get there we collect a vehicle and head on out to Dunedin or Invercargill or elsewhere.. Some people like Arrowtown but it is to us rather twee it is made to look old if you know what I mean. They did this with another place called Cromwell, poor place got absolutely flooded because of the dam that was built.. so they produced a new one. Bit like a film set to me.

aww Persie, I was in NZ in (approx) 1980, and visited Queenstown. I've always wanted to visit again........ now I'm thinking I should keep the memories instead.

:-)

there is pretentious here as well.. think it is everywhere. I liked Queenstown (NZ) when I was a teenager but do not like it now.

Now Queenstown Tasmania could do with a kick in the backside.

there is a Pink Lake in the area near Esperance!

I like Esperance too ...been ages since we were there but I think that it has a pink lake , Yes?? :-S

Scozz, it's the locals themselves who don't want development. There is a Coles Supermarket and also an IGA, and as I say, a Subway shop.

The Town itself, although nice, is just another small country town.

Locally, as towns go, Donnybrook and Bridgetown are very similar.

For some reason Margaret River attracted, and still does attract fervent environmentalists and tree-huggers.

There are also many absent owners, mainly from Perth, who have their holiday homes there.

These are the same ones who praise the local produce, but complain about the farmers operating the farm equipment 'because of the noise'

Fortunately for us it is only a couple of hours away so quite convenient to visit and leave :-D

I know what you mean Allan, re pretentious.

We live near Byron Bay. It was a nice little town 30 years ago, now it is full of motels & developers. The real estate prices are horrendous. The developers buy whole streets of houses, knock them down & build "resorts".

We only go there when we have to....... including when we have visitors, who always want to go to the Bay........ after five minutes they always say "is this it?"

Our local council is against the "chains"........ no MacDonalds, KFC or the like, but we have Coles, Woolworths & many of the retail clothes stores (in the Bay, we only have the basics)........ what classifies a "chain"?

So do I Sylvia. It was the first time that I have visited.

Unfortunately, the entire foreshore was undergoing restoration and there was no access to the beach :-)

We will go back when the work has been completed later this year, but this time we'll travel via Albany and have a couple of days there as well

I like Esperance ........................


but it was 1975 when we visited there :-)

I forgot to mention that the structure (new one, not the old one) was originally going to be built in Margaret River, which is at least accessible to a larger tourist population, but the person got into financial strife.

I think that the locals may have become a bit vocal if it had gone ahead.

there have been several battles in the town recently regarding the development of fast food shops. There's already a Subway there :-S

Similarly, they objected to C^les opening a liquor shop as it could potentially affect local wineries, but another supermarket already has a bottle shop as do most of the hotels :-S

Pretentious Prats! the Houses are nearly as overpriced as the wine is :-|

So do I Scozz

and at nearly $5 million I wont be rushing off to buy it. Esperance itself, although a very nice town with magnificent scenery, is very isolated.

When we went earlier this year it took us a good seven hours to get there.

Not the sort of place to get many day visitors :-D

Some time ago you posted a thread about Stonehenge.

Not the original, but the replica in WA.

You probably know it's for sale..........

http://homes.ninemsn.com.au/outdoor/429336/this-wa-farm-comes-with-a-full-size-stonehenge-replica.slideshow

I still think it looks like Lego blocks. :-D