Welcome and Happy New Year.

I'm so happy to have a member from western Australia! I've been to Oz 4 or 5 times and next year we're planning on going again.

I won't get into too many questions now, as I'll save them for after we get back from South America, next month.

But a couple of quick questions.......

We're thinking about visiting the western part of Australia for the first time. How many days would you recommend in Perth? Keep in mind that we'll only be in Oz for 2 weeks and we'll want to get to Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns. Also, I've heard that the Margaret River is a great place to visit - though I know nothing about it. What's to see and do there? While I like to take long walks, we're definitely not into roughing it, so we're not looking to camp-out or to stay in hostels. How many days should we plan? How far from Perth is it? Do we need to take a plane? Train? etc.

A quick synopsis of the area would be most appreciated at this time as it might make a difference on how we book our flights to/from the states, which I'll be doing in a few weeks.

Many thanks, Candice NYC