The real Australia!

The road suckers!
see all photos »

So, we headed up the West coast of Oz, not having a clue what to expect.  We were told numerous times about Road Trains - massive trucks with four or five trailers - which hurtle past you at some ridiculous speed (people have died by having their car sucked in by these beasts), and that we should get out of the way fast if they approach.  We were also warned about the remoteness of the west coast, and that we probably wouldn't see anything for miles and miles...

We hit the interstate and immediately discarded what we were told - this was a normal freeway - what was there to worry about.  That was until we got further up north.  The freeway ended and we were suddenly on the most deserted road ever!

These were the really large stumps...honest
see all photos »

Our first stop was the Pinnacles and we had no idea what to expect.  After driving for miles following the signs, we suddenly saw some very strange pointy rocks sticking out from the sand in the distance - we had reached the Pinnacles, and they were seriously impressive!  There were hundreds of them, and completely naturally formed by erosion etc.  Some were taller than Yaz and shockingly, some were like little stumps reaching no further than Yaz's shoulders.

After a rather long marvelling session we headed off again, this time in the direction of Kalbarri National Park, again, driving for miles and miles along desolate roads with just sand and shrubs to keep us entertained...It was even a novelty to see a car, or any vehicle for that matter, driving past.

...these were more Yaz's variety
see all photos »

On the first day I had driven for about 8 hours and was getting pretty tired by the evening so we found a campsite in Northampton - the middle of nowhere - and pulled in.  It was a very basic site, but it had water and electric points to plug up the van so we settled in.  Yaz made dinner on our little stove (I was amazed by what she could cook up in such a small space), and we relaxed a little before I passed out after a very tiring drive...

The following morning we woke up early and headed towards the National Park.  After a longer drive than we thought, and a bit of getting lost, we arrived at the National Park, and the bumpiest road in the world!  Picture a campervan with fridge, hob, pots and pans and plates in the back on a road so bumpy I wouldn't even take a 4x4 on it - and the road went on like this for about half an hour!

The sunsets were breath-taking
see all photos »

It was worth every bump though.  We arrived at Natures Window, one of the most unique rock formations within the park, and the views were breathtaking.  Yaz was overwhelmed, and even I had a little twitch of the 'soppies'!  Natures Window is a natural rock formation (although you wouldn't believe it) where the middle section has hollowed out due to erosion.  This in itself is impressive.  But if you stand in the right place and look through you get the most amazing views of a massive canyon with a river at the bottom.  This alone made our trip up the West Coast worth every bump and every Road Train.

Kalbarri National Park - Yaz's favourite place so far.....her photo session last hours...
see all photos »

That evening, after another fuel panic (we started getting used to these) we arrived at another campsite and set up for a very good night's sleep.

The next morning we headed towards Shark Bay and Monkey Mia.  This was as far north as we could go given the time constraints, but still we had no idea what to expect...  Monkey Mia is a resort where wild dolphins come right up to the beach and are fed twice daily by the resort staff.  It's all very heavily controlled so that the dolphins don't start to depend upon these feedings, but is also very touristy.  For this reason, although it sounds pretty cool, we were advised by many travellers not to bother going for the feedings.  So we headed in that direction, not for the dolphins, but for Shark Bay which was supposedly stunning.

She snapped.....
see all photos »

The road from Northampton to Shark Bay was even more remote than the day before.  So much so that we came the closest yet to almost running out completely of fuel before finding the next petrol station...Im sure we drove the last half a mile on vapour!  After some mild panicing, mostly on my part, we made it to Shark Bay and more importantly, a petrol station, but not before almost flattening a few kangaroos and a rather huge emu.

We reached Monkey Mia at about 1pm and on driving up to the resort were promptly advised that the dolphin feeding times had finished for the day.  Not too distraught, we asked if we could sit on their beach for the afternoon as we had driven for hours to get there. They agreed and even waived the entry fee as there was little or no chance that we would get to see any dolphins anyway.  How wrong they were...  As we sat eating our packed sandwiches on the beach, we saw the most amazing thing, a dolphin, in the shallowest water possible with a huge pelican swimming above it, periodically jabbing it with his huge beak!  People were just relaxing on the beach as if this was a normal site.  Needless to say I almost fell over myself running up to it.

....then finally relaxed :)
see all photos »

After lunch, and a bit of relaxing, we decided to try out some kayaking as there were so many dolphins around.  We jumped in and rowed out to sea.  It was amazing - dolphins came right up to the kayak, so close in fact that Yaz was unable to take a picture for fear of being eaten by one (that was her excuse anyway).  One actually came out of the water right next to us with a fish in it's mouth!  We could have literally reached out and taken the fish from it!  As if that wasn't a close enough encounter for me, after kayaking we decided to take a little dip in the sea, as I paddled around I turned to face the beach only to find several tourists taking photos of me.  Of course I smiled for the camera but soon realised that a litlle friendly dolphin was swimming around me, I stood up and watched in awe as it swam around my legs, softly brushing pass me.  At that moment I was in my element grinning away hoping that Yaz manged to get at least one snap, but unfortunately she was too busy jumping around in excitement!

Red Bluff point - took a while to get here but was definately worth it
see all photos »

Having thoroughly enjoyed our day at Monkey Mia, we decided it was time to head down south so packed up our van and continued our journey back onto the desert roads which we had become so accustomed to.