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“our location of choice for this evening…. A car park” |
Alright folks!
So I arrived into Perth at about 11:30 pm after an eleven hour mission from cairns. I jumped into a taxi and headed for Joes house. It was crazy to see him and Amy the other side of the world! We all had a cup of tea and did some hard core catching up! The next day we were up pretty early to sort out the camper van and Joe and Amy had last minute house bits to wrap up. After a bit of trouble getting the van (the guy turned up very late) and stopping by to get Dave & Dee we were on our way north. Dave and Dee were joining us for the first few days so we drove in convoy heading towards Geraldton.
The further away from Perth the more and more desolate and barren it becomes. The roads are sooo straight and go on as far as the eye can see. It was pretty exciting at first. We all had the “real Australia” feeling! After 10 days of it though excitement tends to turn to monotony! But it’s a really good experience and you defiantly appreciate the size of this country and the mass of inhospitable land it holds! Right where was I…..
Ok, so after 6 hours of driving we arrived in Geraldton. It’s a nice little town with a small shopping street and a few pubs. We had a mooch around and made some dinner in the Van. The van was quite well equipped. Two hob stove, microwave, fridge and a sink.. oh yes, all the mod cons! That evening we chewed the fat in the local pub and then hit the sack… our location of choice for this evening…. A car park!
We were up early and on the road by 9. The basic plan for this part of the trip was to get to Monkey Mia as quick as possible (about 900k), so Geraldton was always going to be a quick stop over.
Monkey Mia is one of two of places (the other being Magnetic island) that have been my “must sees” on my Australia tour. I was told about it by Alex, a colleague at work in Manchester, who brought in picture for me to see. After that…. It was a must (as I am sure you can see from the pictures).
We arrived early afternoon and set up camp. D&D (Dave and Dee) were in the tent, we had the camper. We went for a dip in the sea – Damn it was cold… and very salty! I guess because it’s a bay… or so I am told. After lolling about we made some dinner and enjoyed a sociable evening with a few beers. Monkey Mia is miles from anywhere – it is literally at the end of the road… population – 8! These were the staff of the resort. The whole deal with Monkey Mia is that wild dolphins swim close to shore and basically frolic around in the shallows. Each day there are 3 feedings where you can stand in the water and they swim up and around you. The following morning we did just that. It’s pretty cool. There are rules of course about not touching them and to only stand so far in the water, but they do come close and its very impressive to be apart of it. Dave was even chosen to feed one… lucky guy! So we spent the morning watching a couple of feeds with itchy trigger fingers on the camera. After, it was time to get on the road and see a few more things on the road back to the main highway north. First stop was a small but really interesting aqua/aquarium place called Ocean Park. It was originally used to breed snapper but things didn’t work out so they turned it into a small tourist attraction. A nice guy took us around and showed us all the aquatic life they had. All of which had been caught in the bay (which is called shark bay by the way!). We were shocked to learn the amount of things that could actually kill us…I’m happy to be alive guys!! Next was a lovely lagoon, which we stopped at for a few pics and move on to shelly beach. Shelly beach is a stunning bright white beach which is made up of tiny shells. It was amazing…. But there was a down side! There were millions of flies! Buzzing all around you trying to get up your nose, in your ears and basically harass you to the point of madness. We lasted as long as we could, took some pretty sweet pics and then legged it back to the safety of the car!
It was this point that we waved goodbye to D&D as they were heading back towards Perth, stopping off for a night at the national park Kilbarri (we would be visiting here on the way back too). So we went separate ways… we turned left, they turned right. Our destination was Carnarvon.
We stopped at some cool picture spots on the way and arrived late afternoon after the leisurely drive. After checking into a caravan park we took a stroll around the town which was very nice and we just made it for the sunset in the bay. I actually think it is one of the best sunsets I have caught on camera – definitely a screensaver! On the way back to the camper we were drawn to the local chip shop! A hart meal was had by all. The next morning we went to the visitors centre and spent about 2 hrs trying to copy Joe’s pictures onto CD. The computers were pretty old school! We all got a bit agitated because of it so were happy to get on the road once it was complete. A short drive and we were at 1 mile jetty. We walked to the end spotting turtles and sting rays on the way. The next stop, again a short drive, was at a big satellite/radio type dish that was used in the moon landing to receive some sort of video or audio signal. If you have ever seen the film ‘The Dish’ (I know you have robin) you will know exactly what I am on about. Its disused now – but still a cool sight (I like that type of thing, find it interesting I do!). That was all the little things to do around Carnarvon so we hit the long road to coral bay… about 5 ours north.
Coral Bay… what a cool place. My favourite stop on the coast I think! We drove for ages through the same terrain and finally came across a little beauty! Basically at the end of the road you come across a small town with a beach on one side and a few caravan parks/campsites on the other. There is a bar and a small shopping centre with a bakery and that’s about it. The beach is gorgeous and the town very relaxed. There is a happy, warm, and chilled out atmosphere which we found very agreeable! We went straight to the shop to book the tour of coast, swimming with whale sharks. I have wanted to do this for a few years. I’ve always been into sharks, and pretty amazed by this monster of the sea. They are so placid and unaware of what’s around them that you can actually swim along with them in complete safety. Ace! It was $350!!WOW! It best be good! The only space was the day after next so we booked and spent the following day lolling about on the beach and dipping in and out for a snorkel. It was very cool, a lovely beach… but I’ve said that already! That evening we had a barby, played cards and had a few beers.. we were up early for the whale shark!
It was bloody cancelled! What! We got there at 7:30 and told that it was too windy for the tour to go ahead! Gutted! It sucked! But we did get the $350 back and because it was a pretty penny it helped a little to know we still had that money! And looking back, if I had spent that money it would have made things harder to set myself up in Perth. C’est la vie I guess. So what were we going to do with that day now?.. we decided to get straight into the van and head north to Exmouth. We could stay there an extra day or somewhere on the way back perhaps. It gave us option folks!
So… about 2 or 3 hours later we rocked into Exmouth… and about 5 minutes later rocked out again. It just didn’t look that great. There was nothing going on, it looked like a bit of a ghost town really. So instead we kept on busting round the top of the peninsular through the national park. We checked out the lonely planet to see what it recommended. Yardie Creak was the end of the road but sounded pretty cool. We entered the park through a manned gate and payed the entrance fee. An hour along the road we came to a huge sand dune. It was amazing. We climbed up to the top and ran about like kids, pretty damn fun. I took some cool pictures – check them out! Then we drove as far as we could go. There are loads of camping zones dotted along the road. You can basically take your pick and set up for the night. We arrived mid afternoon so we had lots of time to check out the area. We went far a walk along the creak, doing a bit of rock scrambling and reaching a very pretty look out point. We took in the scenery for a while and then headed back for some food and drink. We were miles from anywhere with our own beach to explore and national park to play in! It was a quite surreal feeling to be so far from anywhere.
The next day it was all about heading back! We decided to get a huge day of driving done so we could spend 2 nights at Kalbarri. So, we left at 7:00 and drove for a monster 9 hours! We split it up 3 ways so it actually wasn’t too bad, but I still think it’s the longest drive I have ever done… maybe to the Alps with school but that was a bit different!
Kalbarri is another national park with a very nice little town set by the sea. We checked into a pretty cool campsite and went for a mooch. Because we had a little extra cash thanks to the whale shark failure we wanted to find some activity to do. We saw pretty reasonable flights over the national park and decided to book one for the next day! After a little deliberation we went for the 45 min flight, with creek and coast action!
That night we went for a couple of jars in the sunset and chatted about old times and new!! Ahhh how nice. Our time was coming to an end – it was sad! But we still had some cool things to do so head up!
The next day we went to see the pelican feeding like you do and then to the tiny air strip for our flight. It was very cool. We were in one of those tiny light planes which feel like you are never going to take off and get blown about by the wind and after the initial nail biting it was awesome to see the terrain from the air. We swooped around the creek and out down the coast before heading back to the runway. We had running commentary from the pilot, informing us with lots of interesting facts about the area, of which I have forgotten all! Later that day we went to see
That evening we decided to go out for a meal! To treat ourselves and have a civilised, sociable time with some wine and good company! I had steak – and it rocked, to accompany the meal we chose a soft, cabernet Shiraz which was easy on the finish – Divine!
The next day we had to get on the road, we had one night left and the pinnacles to see! We drove to about 3 hrs north of Perth to a place called Cervantes where we visited yet another national park. The Pinnacles we pretty impressive. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Basically they are columns of rock which have formed form millions and millions of years of erosion. As the ground level reduced, the stronger, harder more compacted rock didn’t and from this the columns were left to stand tall. The most impressive part is that there are fields and fields of them, which is an awesome view. You get to drive on a track amongst them stopping where ever you feel like to get the top pics! Don’t tell the car hire company though, as we were not insured! That night we cooked up a storm and fought off some weird flying bug things that attacked from behind! It was fun.
We were up early and headed back to Perth. The West Coast adventure had come to an end! But before I said goodbye to joe and amy – we had one last blast! And what a blast! Anyway, no need to go on about that, lets just say I only use the hostel bed for 2 hours! we bumbled our way through the next day. I found myself a hostel to stay in and then we went for a goodbye meal with Dee and Dave. Eventually the time had come to say goodbye to Joe and Amy! It was awesome to see them and travel the west with each other. It’s crazy to see people you know really well on the other side of the world - some very good memories!
It was Easter the following Sunday which I had forgotten about! And I went for some beers with Dave. We chatted and he said that there was a spare room in his house, if I wanted it. $60 a week!! I jumped at the chance. It was a bit of a distance from town but that was fine – I needed to save money! I went to an agency the next day and within an hour I had a job. So… I now work for the Australian government, department of health, child and adolescent community health division! My role…. Asset Stock take assistant!
I have to go around child health centres, noting down all the equipment and then bringing them back to the office to add to a database. Not too bad really! Especially for 22 bucks an hour!
So that’s me folks… living and working again…. Boo!
Last weekend I went on a whistle stop tour south of Perth. We visited wave rock, (a huge rock shaped like a wave) and then the Land of the Giants where huge 50 meter high trees grow and there is a canopy walk along a metal track which winds its way through the forest! Pretty cool!
I have 4 days to go until I leave for SE Asia. I can’t wait. I have loved Australia, but I really want to see something different, and from what I hear, Asia is the place! Whoop! I finished work last week – so I have this week free to sort all my things out and prepare.
Next time I add to the blog will be in asia. And only a few weeks from home. I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Catch you soon people
Tra XXX
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