Noth W.A Tour - Perth to Exmouth

The Pinnacles
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Due to budget restrictions we didnt use the jump on jump off option and did the 3,450km 5.5 day tour in one go. Needless to say it was very tiring but still glad we chose to see this lovely part of Western Oz.

Early start on the 22nd and spent 99% of the day sat in the mini-bus. The one major stop of the day was in a mustard yellow desert which is home to The Pinnacles - thousands of fascinating limestone pillars (some up to 4m tall) which rise out of the sand in various forms and look really weird stood in the middle of nowhere! Stayed in small coastal town of Kalbarri overnight.

Just chillin in the desert
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The next day we spent the morning in Kalbarri Nat Park. First we went to the Z Bend gorge where we walked the trail along the top before climbing down into the gorge from where we could really appreciate the beautiful burrowings and the deep shades of reds/oranges of the sandstone. Next we visited the Loop Gorge - a large loop in the Murchison River - which we viewed from the edge trail and along which we came to Natures Window which is a large sandstone window which frames a lovely view down into the gorge. Afterwards we spent 4hrs driving further north until we reached Hamelin Pool Nature Reserve, home of the mind-boggling stromatolites which are created by cyanobacteria - single celled organisms similar to the first life forms on earth 3.5 billion yrs ago!! Later we went to the interesting ocean park which is ran by young marine biologists who created the aquarium to study the local marine life. We got to see a large variety of sealife inc highly venemous sea snakes and a 2m nurse shark. That night we stayed in Denham.

How mad is this place?
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On the 24th we spent 2hrs in the morning at Monkey Mia in the Shark Bay World Heritage Region. We walked down on to the beach and stood on the shore with around 100 other people watching the beautiful bottlenose dolphin pod of between 10 and 12 playing in the shallows. They came within a couple of metres of us, lying on their sides to look at their spectators with a young calf energetically zipping around. The marine conservation rangers gave a talk and hand fed the dolphins. Later we went to Shell Beach with its almost bliding white crushed shell sand. It was extremely hot and we walked down to the shore where we could see the 103km beach curvingaway in either direction. Next we stopped at the pretty Manga Bay where we paddled in the surprisingly cold water. We decided against swimming upon hearing of the 10ft bull shark that had been seen recently! It was a further 7hrs from there until we reached our overnight accom in the lovely Coral Bay but we did stop at the tropic of capricorn sign and also saw massive termite mounds (around 5ft tall) and a mini dust cyclone.

Can you spot us both??
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The next day we had an experience that reinforced how fortunate we were to be travelling. We went on a glass bottom boat/snorkelling tour over the sensational Ningaloo Reef, which starts just 10m off the beach in crystal-clear waters. The glass screens were filled with views of the fascinatingly shaped coral and the large variety of fosh species below. Despite us swearing we'd not swim in Oz at all due to the dangerous marine life, we both jumped in with our snorkelling gear and explored the absolutely amazing underwater environment. We saw lots of different coral, some brian-like, others like a forest of bare trees and some like huge leafy cabages. Of course there were masses of wildly coloured fish that swarmed inquisitively around us. We were both in sheer awe when we swam right alongside a large turtle, such a beautiful and graceful animal, and it was an experience that we'll always remember. Gladly we didnt see a shark but some others on the tour did!! In the afternoon we drove up to Exmouth and got to do some more snorkelling in Turquoise Bay where for some reason there was a lot of dead jelly-fish in the shallows. Although not comparable to Coral Bay we did see lots of sea life and at one point Andy was encircled by around 60 dartfish, spangled emporers and mullet fish! Again someone in the droup spotted a reef shark! On the way back to Exmouth we saw lots of kangaroos grazing by the roadside.

Just meditating!
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The last day and a half of the tour was a tedious journey back south on highway 1 to Perth, we only stopped for wee/fag breaks! The route seemed to be one never ending straight road - in fact one section of the highway is at 135km the 2nd longest stretch of rd in the world! - quite a boring fact but one unbelievably long straight rd! Got back to Perth around Midday on the 27th and discovered that our trip to Tasmania lost us even more money ... we managed to get a $110 speeding fine to add to the cost of the hire car!