Action Week

Last week a friend from NZ came to visit.

A snowboarder from the ruined city of Christchurch, this young lady was no stranger to adventure, so I took it upon myself to organize some kind of Super Itinerary, positively bursting with desirable destinations and outdoorsy pursuits.

This had the dual benefits of showing Erin a few choice pieces of WA real estate, while providing me the chance to piss off from work and have some holiday-style fun myself.

I think we did ok.

In just  two weeks we cycled the Swan River, toured Freo, found a BYO jazz bar, watched The Nextmen at Villa, cruised to Rottnest and back, hit Margaret River, spent three days in the forest around Walpole, played volleyball, attended a festival in Perth and went mountain biking in the Ferguson Valley. All while consuming our body weight in red wine.

Maybe I should be a tour guide. We sure had a ball. Check some pics.

near gas bay, margs

oh my, the brakes have failed...

karri tree carry on

 

 

walpole farmhouse still life

cottesloe beachfront

breakin' bones

elephant rocks, denmark

Piedmont

view from the roof terrace of our b&b in neive

Owners are gloriously absent, sun is shining and we find ourselves in a harbour on the edge of the Italian Alps.

Time for a weekend in the country.

The Piedmont region of Italy is just a three hour drive from Imperia where our yacht is on the dock for a couple weeks, so Kasey and I folded ourselves into the appropriately named Nissan Micra and headed uphill.

Our destination was Alba, in the south of Piedmont and home to the Ferrero factory [Nutella anyone?] but a Saturday afternoon Alba proved pretty sleepy so we kept on truckin’.

lovely green green green after endless blue seas

A little further on thru rolling vine-covered hillsides and villages clinging precariously to the sides of mountains, we hit Barbaresco – known for its reds alongside the more famous Barolo and Nebbiolo wines.

Barbaresco was also kinda sleepy, but in a cute way and after some fresh pasta and an obligatory bottle of the local booze we headed even further into the green green hills, searching for…whatever.

It was just nice to cruise about and get away from the coast for a while and little villages such as Nieve and Tre Stelle provided a bit of ‘country tonic’ for us sailor kids, a chance to smell some grass fo a change.

So we cruised the leafy lanes, drank local wines in the sun (well, the ones we could afford), found  a super B&B overlooking the hills and generally had a rollicking time.

If you’re ever up that way, it’s a little south of Switzerland, slightly west of the Cote d’Azur and highly recommended.