Western Australia - Monterey, CA
Monterey, CA
1 Sep - 1 Oct
So after a truly memorable time on the East coast of a Australia and experiencing a very diverse range of wildlife, scenery and culture it was time to see how the West coast faired up. To remind our readers, the West coast was a very late inclusion into our itinerary after some serious thought into when we would be back here in the years to come. The flights across to Perth from Melbourne were more expensive than flights to Bali, and comparable to heading to Manila, Philippines, so it was a real gamble to head the 4 hrs flight across this vast and desolate land to find our peace and sanctuary.
Once again we were on a Jetstar flight with budget being the operative word, so no inflight entertainment, no food (free anyway), no leg room (what's that?). Landing into Perth we collected our luggage and headed straight in a cab to our hotel. We stayed at Albany Hotel which was quite nice, not too fancy, and certainly not too shabby. We hadn't been in a hotel room for ages so the double bed with TV in room was such a treat. Knowing that we would be on the road heading north the following day we had a pleasant dinner at the hotel and retired to our hotel room, showered, robed up and got some good rest. The following morning was an early'ish start with us catching a cab back to the airport to collect our campervan, another Hippie Camper which we originally named her Hippie 2. Our creative juices must have also been on sabbatical whilst we were away.
Our plan was pretty simple, head north as far as Exmouth, to hopefully swim with whale sharks before heading east inland to Karijini National Park for a few days before heading south again along route 95 back to Perth. We didn't have a set plan in terms of exactly how many days we would spend in each place on the way up to Exmouth 1265km north, but we had a few highlights we wanted to see along the way and also had been told by several people just how beautiful Exmouth and the surrounding area was so we didn't want to waste time in remote, one horse towns further south. Our first destination that Monday 2nd Sep was to a place called Pinnacles which is a series of rock formations set within a red sand background giving the place a extra-terrestrial feel at sunset. On our drive out of Perth and onto the open road following Highway 1, we quickly saw differences in scenery to the east coast of Australia and very quickly had a feeling that we were one of the very few people on these roads compared to the already quiet roads of the east coast. The further north we travelled this remoteness increased and it was the first place on our travels we were truly felt away from it all and left to our own devices. That is what we wanted to get out of the west coast, and boy did we get it in spades.
So after enjoying the sunset at Pinnacles we drove on a bit further north to a very small town called Cervantes which is named after a Spanish boat that ran aground there in the 1800's. I only know this because one morning I went running along the coast and came across a memorial/ tourist plaque giving you the history of the place and all the ships (over 6) in fact over the years that had sunk here, thanks to a hidden and very shallow reef a few hundred metres off the coast. We checked into a well equipped caravan park and treated ourselves to a powered site for 2 nights. Still not too sure why we stayed here for 2 nights, but we did make the most of our time whilst there. That night we cooked our meal in the camp kitchen and shared facilities with a group of guys and one girl who were also on day one or so of their west coast endeavour but they were wet behind the ears when it came to camp cooking, and the general macanashens of camper life. You had one bloke who was the most fired up to see every single metre of Australia in 2 weeks, you had his mates who simply wanted the easy life and only were interested in when their pasta was going to be ready, then there was the girl who probably knew more than the bloke but was being spoken over the whole time and eventually stopped trying to say anything. Whilst we were eating out meal we noticed that the lads had left their plastic bowl with spaghetti in on the hot plate they had used to boil the pasta. By the time they noticed, it was too late and their blue plastic bowl had melted somewhat onto the hot plate leaving a handy circular melted plastic look covering half the hot plate, nice!! If this was their first night together, what the rest of their time was like together, who knows. Waking up on our first morning in Cervantes the wind was whistling already and l was keen to play a round of golf in the afternoon, but decided to go for a coastal run to explore the area. Tara stayed in bed whilst I worked up a sweat and enjoyed a tough as nails 7 or 8km soft sand beach run. By the time I returned to the camper, the weather was closing in but Tara was adamant she wanted to go for a run. So we went out again but stayed on the roads and ran past a lobster shack (listed in our Lonely Planet) that we decided to go to for lunch. Expecting to get a real meal deal with the lobster because we were buying the food right at source, we were sorely mistaken and paid top whack for a fairly measly lobster tail on white bread with some side salad. Later in the day we visited a nearby lake called Lake Thailet where there were a set of the worlds oldest living single organism and had been around for hundreds of thousands of earth. They are called stramatolites and look a lot like dull coral in the shallows but we were assured that their existence was rare and meant something special. It was impressive to know how old these single organisms were but we have been more impressed by less over the years. By now it was chucking it down hammer & tongs so we decided to head back to the camp kitchen and try do some admin things. (Looking in Tara's diary to help me write up the detail, Tara has put "Bruce was in a bad mood for most of the day", well I don't remember why but I guess the diary doesn't lie.)
I went to try find our world adapter charger unit but could not locate it anywhere. Eventually realising that I had left it in our hotel room in Perth, bugger. So with our phone that my cousin had lent us way back in Robina, near Gold Coast we managed to get the hotel to find the charger, but because we were leaving Cervantes the next day and didn't know how long we would be in each place heading north, we instructed the hotel to send the charger to a caravan park in Exmouth, sorted... for now. I also tried to push forward our insurance claim for our damaged camera but was getting frustrated with all the red tape bollocks. So I guess Tara's diary entry wasn't wrong. Whilst sitting in the camp kitchen we saw one of the cleaners for the caravan park scrubbing away with not much success at the hot plate with the burnt plastic tupperware from the amateurs the night before. I felt only slightly better seeing someone else also had a problem with.
The next morning we were up quite early and making our way to Kalbarri. The weather had cleared nicely and our camper neighbours kindly gave us a few snacks and items they would not be needing as they were heading south and their travels has come to an end. On the way up to Kalbarri we stopped in Geraldton for lunch. It's the second biggest city up the west coast and this was the exact reason why we did want to spent anymore time here that a couple hours. After a homemade sandwich we drove up to the top of a hill over-looking Geraldton to a WW1 war memorial. Surprisingly interesting considering where it is, we were half expecting the memorial to be a budget plaque. Continuing north we drove through Leusens National Park to have a look at the wild flowers. We were a few weeks out of season so didn't quite get the full effect of what this must be like when all these flowers are in full bloom. We drove into Kalbarri at around 17:00pm, giving us a chance to see this very pretty town in a full swathe of colourful sunbathed afternoon light. There's a small headland for boats to negotiate as they enter the little port and when the tide is up the waves make it nearly impossible to get through. We watched from a view point a few very experienced fishing boats wait just for that perfect moment between sets to make a dash for it and not get thrown onto the shallow rocks. We checked into our camp site and elected for an unpowered site having juiced up the two days previous. We walked along the shoreline watching fishermen casting from the beach whilst large pelicans watched and waited for their share of the winnings as if it was their right to get any of the fisherman's catch. After a long walk stretching our legs we went to get fish n chips for dinner electing to sit in the little restaurant watching customers coming in all shapes and sizes to make their orders. Remembering we don't often go out for dinner so the people watching aspect was half the fun.
Next morning Tara and I went for a run along the coastal Path which was pretty. The wind was up making it tough on the return journey but Tara did very well. Followed that with a hearty breakfast before doing the famous Bigurda Trail starting at Eagle Gorge. The walk is a 16km out and back coastal cliff edge trail with dodgy pathways in certain places due to natural erosion. The scenery is spectacular and is not over-crowded at all. We were inundated with sand flies the entire trail and it was hot, very hot. We had our hats, loads of sun block and happy as pigs in ****. Stopping ever so often to enjoy magnificent views across the Indian Ocean. Along the way we saw Humpback whales journeying north. We stopped at the trail head and enjoyed a wonderful packed lunch before staring the 2 hour walk back. Today was one of those highlights on the travel diary, doing the simplest of things, walking and enjoying the outdoors, fabulous.
The next day, Fri 6th Sep we made our way to Denham. It was a long travelling day today covering 375km of long straight, very straight roads. We stopped for lunch in the famous Billabong Roadhouse. We were dwarfed by some of the road trains also stopped at the fuel pumps. We did our usual sandwiches in the layby stretched our legs and cracked on. Tara got herself an ice cream to improve her mood, but it didn't do too much to improve matters. Some days Tara struggled being cooped up in the car for so long. She never, not once dozed off whilst I was driving and always kept me company on our long drives. I never had a problem on these long travel days, for me it was all part of the adventure. You just never knew what was around the next corner, even if that corner was 100km's away. That night we finally rolled into Denham, a very small town pretty much on the map solely for people stopping by on dir way to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia. We stocked up on supplies at Coles supermarket and went for a stroll along the promenade to stretch the legs after the long drive before making dinner at a very rickety BBQ area at the caravan park. After dinner we were sitting outside our camper enjoying the evening and next thing we see the trio of inexperienced travellers we saw back at Cervantes. The ones who left the plastic container on the hot plate. They had had an interesting few days since we last saw them and had journeyed more inland to get to this point. They seemed a bit more settled and a less frenetic.
The following day we were up early as we could manage to drive to Monkey Mia to see dolphins. Its one of the only places in the world where dolphins come to the shore of their own accord to be fed by staff working at Monkey Mia. Whilst we were queuing in the car to get into the car park, Tara opened the back door to get something from her bag. I did not realise that she had her **** hanging out the vehicle and as I rolled forward slowly, I saw a flash of black hair and then suddenly no Tara!! She had accident.y fallen out the back of the vehicle and straight onto the floor. She immediately jumped up and hopped into the front seat. The problem was that everyone in the queue had seen her fall and look like an idiot. As we parked up an elderly couple walked up to us to ask if Tara was ok, they must have thought I was such a nasty person letting her fall out like that. The actual morning itself was great and we could stand in the water to about knee deep waiting for dolphins to come to the shore for their breakfast. We saw about a dozen dolphin swim within metres of us and a few had little ones with them which was cute. Tara had the opportunity to feed a dolphin which was a great experience. We spent a couple hours at Monkey Mia enjoying a stroll along the beach, having a tea & coffee overlooking the beach. Later we drove back to Denham and wished we had booked to stay at Monkey Mia, I don't think we knew there was accommodation here otherwise would have definitely stayed here.
On the way back to Denham we visited a lagoon with a stream winding its way to the ocean. I went snorkelling here and it was quite unnerving to be honest. Being this remote and not seeing anyone else around I wasn't sure if indeed people actually swam here. The water looked so clear and the stream took you slowly along its merry way. It was too tempting not to try. Luckily apart from a few fish and birds, I didn't come across any really scary creepy crawlies but there was no way Tara was going in.
The following day we drove to Carnarvon. It was another relatively long day on the road but at least we stopped at a few interesting places including Eagles Bluff and Sandy Beach. Originally named, Sandy Beach is this incredible stretch of beach where the entire beach is made up purely of shells and nothing else. Billions and billions of little white shells for miles and miles. They go down to a depth of 13metres. Visually very impressive and truly unique. Further along the drive we pulled into Whale bone Drive which was a little dirt road taking you to a cul-de-sac on the beach. It was there we noticed a large rubbery figure beached, with seaweed strewn across what looked like its back. It turned out that this dead creature was a Dugong. It is a very rare animal so to get a chance to see the carcass of one and inspect it so close up was interesting. A Dugong has a tail like a small whale but with front legs of sorts instead of dorsal fins. Its head and mouth closer resemble that of a walrus. So truly an odd looking specimen indeed. It was an eerie moment on that beach, no one around, wind swirling around us with this weird outer worldly creature sitting in front of us dead! Yet another moment to remember from our travels.
We decided to treat ourselves and stay in a Big 4 Caravan Park and stayed on a powered site. I was back to borrowing chargers and using clever ways to charge things whilst waiting for our universal charger we left in Perth to make its way up to Exmouth. I treated us to a yummy spaghetti bolognaise.
The next day was my birthday and Tara had a lovely surprise lined up for me. After breakfast I drove us but Tara was directing me where we were going. After 15min of lefts and rights and one or two wrong turns we made it to my birthday surprise... Carnarvon Golf Course!! I was so made up. Tara had arranged a round of golf for me and had hired me a set of clubs and she was my caddie for the day. Tara had packed a lunch with snacks & goodies and we were one of the only people on the course, mainly because it was a Monday. Western Australia mainly has desert golf and sand based oil "greens". Play the ball as it lies, and you are pretty much in a sand trap for 18 holes. The holes are divided up by shrubbery along the fairways and the greens are black sand where you have to smooth out the line you want the ball to go using a rake before actually putting. As a golfer it was a fun and enjoyable experience and I love Tara so much for making my day so special. By the end of the 18holes, we were both knackered and hot so we went for a pub lunch in the town over-looking a marina. I treated myself to a few beers and got slightly tipsy before going for a stroll along disused train tracks to the coastline. We made our way back to the caravan park to freshen up for dinner, Tara had also booked dinner at the Gasgoine Hotel. We booked a cab there and had a fun evening eating and drinking far too much but had a blast doing it. I have vague memories of speaking to Vern for a long time into the wee hours of the morning, who knows what I must have been going on about.
The following morning (and not too early) we drove out of Carnarvon visiting the OTC satellite dish which is made out to be this amazing space observatory but in actual fact its a huge rusty satellite dish in the middle of nowhere with a one room museum displaying the dusty recollections of when this place was one popular, if it ever was. Carnarvon is an interesting enough town where you can spend a couple days before its time to move on. As we were now making our way to Coral Bay, nearly at the top of our journey north, the roads were more and more quiet, seeing only a handful of cars throughout the day. To prove this level of quiet and remoteness we stopped for lunch in a little lay-by but instead of setting up our chairs off the road and in the shade as you would normally, we set up right bang in the middle of the road. We could see for miles in either direction and slowly eating our sandwiches. Apart from the tumbleweed floating past, nothing else came! I even got naked to try russell up some interest. Only as we were packing up and starting to move on did a car come last waving as it did so. Everybody waves at you on the road, its a kind of road etiquette I suppose.
We arrived into Coral Bay mid-afternoon and had enough time to go for a snorkel once we had checked into our caravan park. Coral Bay is the reason you come to Western Australia. It's a tiny town at the end of a road off Highway 1 with stunning beaches, peaceful and welcoming. We spent 4 nights in Coral Bay enjoying fantastic snorkelling, walks along stunning beaches, cooking on the beach and other relaxing activities. We had driven a long way and really made the most of the time not being on the road. The one evening we even treated ourselves to dinner at the one decent restaurant near us with a few beers. On one of our beach walks we came across dozens of reef sharks swimming close to the shoreline. Coral Bay has a successful reef shark breeding program and there are certain parts where you are not allowed to swim, and for good reason. We ran up a sand dune to get a better look at the many sharks along the shoreline. We went to our favourite dinner spot on the beach where there is free BBQ facilities and we watched the sun set over the ocean whilst enjoying tasty meals, truly special stuff! On our last day in Coral Bay we went to the shopping mall, well its a clutch of surf shops and trinket stores calling themselves a mall. We bought a few t-shirts and a wonderful photography book of Coral Bay. Just as well we did buy this book because later in our trip the memory card we used to take pictures of this place got damaged and we lost these pictures along with a number of other shots in China and a few videos. We also found a little bakery selling bloody tasty pies which were right up as as being Australia's best pies. Just as well we only found this bakery on the last day in Coral Bay, otherwise our waistlines would have been somewhat different driving out.
On Sat 14th September we left this wonderful little spot and continued the short distance north to Exmouth which would be the most north we would venture. Exmouth is quite a bit bigger than Coral Bay, but still very small as far as your average town goes. It used to be a naval base and saw some action in WWII. It's major draw card is the whale shark dive tours you can book here as well as visiting Cape Range National Park which is a strip of land about 80km long running along the coast which is flanked by a ridge all the way down the length of the National Park. Cape Range NP sits within the Ningaloo coast and reef which is rich in bio-diverse life and far less visited than its more famous cousin, Great Barrier Reef.
We booked into Exmouth Caravan Park on a powered site and walked across the road to the Visitor Centre to enquire about whale shark tours. It was pretty late in the season so to be honest we were not getting our hopes up in even booking onto a tour. The sign board just outside the visitor centre said whale sharks were still in the area and tours were still going out so after much deliberation inside and chatting to the helpful staff we booked onto a tour with Ningaloo Whaleshark Swim Company. The next available spot was 2 days time giving us time to get a few bits n bobs ready for the day. Our world charger had not yet been delivered from Perth, surprise surprise so we were still using any electrical items sparingly but we managed to have a good Skype conversation with family that evening.
We had planned to spend almost a week in this area, like Coral Bay, it is a truly stunning part of the world with lots to see and do as well as being peaceful and unspoilt. Our first full day we drove into Cape Range NP and all the way to the south of the NP to Yardie Creek. We figured we might as well go as far down as we could go and work our way back up each day. We walked the short distance inland and up the ridge to follow Yardie Creek and got great views across the coastline of this magnificent place. Our entertainment for the day was whilst having our lunch under a shady tree in Yardie Creek we watched a gun ho 4x4 driver get himself and his family right royally stuck in the soft beach sand and had to get help from a passer-by. He eventually got out and had to return back to the tarmac which he did not look very happy about. That afternoon we went snorkelling in Sandy Bay before driving back to caravan park but we first visited the large lighthouse in Exmouth and watched a glorious sunset with a little glass of wine. This truly was a special time and place and as with most of our long journeys, the end destination was always worth the arduous trek to get there.
Monday 16th September would have to go down as one of the best days we had on our entire 331days world tour. Swimming with Whalesharks had been something had wanted to do since I was a teenager and today was the day that dream was about to be realised. We were picked up at 07:30 by the tour operators and driven in Cape Range NP and to the jetty point where their very colourful and Aboriginal painted boat was docked. There were 14 people booked on the tour and as we heading out the skipper gave us the low down of how the day was going to go and some very important do's and don'ts. Because of how heavily regulated these tours are they had strict rules about how and when you jumped in the water and for how long you could actually be in the water. There was also no guarantee that we would actually see any Whalesharks, especially given the lateness in the season as most of these animals would have migrated by now. To help us locate these giants of the sea, our tour company had a spotter plane searching the ocean ahead of us looking for where they might be. First though we went to an outer reef and did some rather choppy snorkelling in big swells. It didn't bother me but I think it freaked a few people out. We were about 3 to 4 metres above the reef and I was enjoying diving down to explore the canyons in the reef. After 15min or so we were called back to the boat but there was a bit of commotion with the other snorkelling group but we couldn't quite see what was going on. It was only after we were all back on the boat that the other snorkelling group saw a humpback whale and their leader decided to follow this humpback whale for a bit. Now that would have been something to swim with a humpback. Anyway, it was a good introduction to swimming in the deep water and at least we were better prepared when we had to do it for real in a few hours time.
The boat was travelling steadily south when when the call came in from the spotter plan to the skipper that a juvenile whaleshark had been spotted over an hour away. Without any hesitation we were on our way. Along the way there we were given a show in itself worthy of being a very special day. We saw humpback whales breaching at the same time as their calves, I was able to photograph a whale doing a perfect breach. We also had a huge pod of Spinner Dolphins ride the bow wave of our boat for over half an hour. I got some terrific footage of this and everyone was on a buzz watching this. So by the time we actually arrived at the site of the whaleshark we had already been spoilt and the main event hadn't even started yet. We were given the low down again by the skipper of how we had to do things and we were getting ourselves prepared to jump over-board and voluntarily swim with an 8m shark. The deal was we were split into 2 groups and one group at a time would go out and swim to our spotter in the water. Your adrenaline is pumping as you know it is only a matter of minutes before you head out. I had to pinch myself to think I was about to fulfil a 20year dream. Tara was also looking nervous and I couldn't quite believe how brave she was in having no hesitation to join me in this adventure. When it was our turn to go, the skipper's shouting "GO GO GO" and off we went, into the deep blue swimming madly towards our spotter keeping our eyes peeled for what was inevitably swimming towards us.
The term "out of the deep blue" could not have been more fitting for the first encounter with our whaleshark. Our heads were under water looking straight ahead when suddenly out of nowhere a dark shadowy mass appeared and formed into this magnificent creature. We actually nearly swam straight into its mouth as we had under-estimated how quickly the shark was swimming towards us. Tara only just managed to get her fins out the way of its head in time to watch its huge head and open mouth swim past us only metres away. We were on the left hand side dorsal fin and not many other people in our group had actually come this side so we had an exclusive view of this wonderful creature of the deep blue. We were swimming with an 8m male juvenile and his markings were distinctive white spots dotted uniformly along the length of its green body. Its tail was similar to that of a large aircraft effortlessly propelling it forward with its shape and design so perfect and fit for purpose. To keep up with the shark you had to swim and kick as hard as you could and you could only do this for a few minutes before falling back to be collected by the boat who by now had come around to collect us. That very first encounter was magical and to think we were doing this in the wild, with nothing artificial or set up (apart from some clever use of spotters planes). Once you were back on the boat to catch your breathe, everyone was reliving their own first encounters and the atmosphere was electric. That afternoon we went out 3 more times to swim alongside that shark and each time was a different but no less magical experience. A lasting memory for me will be the very last image of our shark as we were told to stop swimming and fall back I remember aligning myself behind the shark to watch its huge tail swishing effortlessly in the water pushing it forward. Watching this huge creature vanish into the deep blue as quickly as it appeared and just like that... Gone for another day!
Everyone was completely knackered on the boat and everyone was in an upbeat mood, but also reflective I would say. You don't get to do something like that everyday and certainly is a once in a lifetime experience. We had some lunch and coffee and started the long journey back to the jetty. Along the way we saw more humpback whales, relaxed on the front of the boat and finished off this truly amazing day with a glass of champagne provided by the tour company. We did a cool group photo on the boat before saying our goodbyes and heading back to camp. We decided that evening to continue the special by having something special to eat for dinner so went to the fishmongers and got a dozen tiger prawns for me and a nice piece of fish for Tara. That evening I did a lemon garlic butter sauce and we enjoyed a lovely bottle of wine under the stars talking about the day we had experienced. We actually didn't have the best night sleep that night and both admitted to dreaming prolifically all night, I wonder why?
The following day we relaxed as best we could and did a bit of snorkelling at Turquoise Bay enjoying views of Humpback whales breaching beyond the breakers. The day before our world charger was successfully delivered to the caravan site and we were able to charge all of our electrical items but somehow and still a mystery to this day accidentally misplaced the ******* thing that same day. Tara is adamant I left it plugged in at the wall where I was charging everything. I am of course adamant that I would not be that stupid and deny that version of events vehemently. Though thinking about it and having turned our campervan upside down twice looking for the ******* thing it still did not turn up. So chances are Tara is right, but if I admit that outright I'll never live it down. So in a nutshell before even leaving Exmouth we wee back to square one regarding our electrical items. After all that effor and co-ordination to get the bleeding thing to such a remote and northerly part of Australia to simply lose the same day, what a plonker!!
Wednesday 18th, we decided to move caravan parks and went to the much quieter caravan park very close to the lighthouse and much closer to the Cape Range NP. It was called Vlamingh Head Caravan Park and once we had checked in and been given our site number we continued our snorkelling of Cape Range NP and today we spent time at Oyster Stacks. An infamous site where you can only snorkel at high tide due to the level of the water and the coral close to the shore. I must admit before heading in, I did have a slightly ominous feeling and Tara decided not to snorkel this site. It was windy and quite choppy with a strong side current. Also there was no one else around. We had read quite a bit about how beautiful this site was and I sucked it up and headed in being very mindful of side wash and reef sharks. Within the first minute of me entering and looking around a lemon shark swam pretty much right in front of me apparently not being bothered too much by me. I sure as hell was bothered by him but decided to hold my nerve and continue snorkelling. It was mid- high tide and the coral was abundant and colourful and I was swimming in 6 ft canyons for a few hundred metres before realising I had swum as per usual a bit further out than I felt comfortable. It was at this point that I saw another reef shark and was able to watch it swim around for a bit before it moved on to find more food. Feeling slightly unnerved but loving the adrenaline buzz I continued and swam amongst schools of fish and saw a few large grouper fish skulking under coral clumps. After about an hour of so I made it back to shore with Tara sitting comfortably on the shore waiting for my next tale of mis-adventure. She was quite relieved not to have joined me this time. From here we had lunch and made our way to South Mandi for a walk along the beach. The 45min drive back to our caravan park was an adventure in itself. We were a bit late in getting back to be honest and one of the biggest no no's when driving in Australia is avoid driving at dusk and at night. Every morning when we were on the road we would see fresh road kill from the night before and dreaded to think what damage a kangaroo or other large wild life would do to a vehicle. Well we wouldn't have to wait much longer to find out! Along the main road leading out of the national park we were driving at the recommended 50km/hr and we were both keeping a watch for animals running or hopping horizontally towards the road. Next minute I did spot a large kangaroo hopping from left to right and clearly saw her as she hopped across the road, I had a sick feeling she had her Joey would be with her but could not immediately see it, mainly thanks to a large bush about 20metres to my left. Next thing and out of nowhere this little Joey hops square out into the road and across our camper. I didn't have enough time to break and was simply releasing my foot off the pedal when WHOLLOP a huge collision and event bigger bang as the Joey was hit square in at the right right of the camper. I was relieved at least that I did not try veer left or right to avoid hitting him and in turn run the risk of having a worse accident ourselves. I stopped the vehicle as soon as I could and jumped out to see the extent of the damage. Tara stayed in the vehicle white with fright not saying a word. Amazingly and apart from a few clumps of kangaroo hair as souvenirs there was a dent in the bumper from the impact. My very first thought was what a touch, no worries about losing deposit money from the campervan company. Then I walked back to the still Joey lying lifeless on the grass verge. My mind was racing thinking of what I had in the back of the camper to put the bugger out of his misery if needs be. As I approached I could see the whites of his eyes, still and vacant, lifeless. I checked for movement in the chest area, definitely no clear movement and no eye moment, I figured he had passed on to another life, probably kangaroo heaven where there are no Campervans or road trains to kill you you before you had a chance to live a good kangaroo life. Having said a brief eulogy and apology and kicked a bit of dirt to signify closure I walked back to the camper jumped in the driver's seat and proceeded forward keeping a keen eye out for straying roo's eager to meet an untimely death.
We made it back to our new caravan park and were relieved to have done so with no further incident. That evening we had dinner in the communal area and had a really good evening chatting with fellow travellers exchanging stories. We always enjoyed this aspect of travelling when you did come across like minded people who were not very showy and just enjoyed travelling for what it experiences it gave you and nothing more. One such couple we met this evening was Trevor and Jocelyn, a couple from Perth who had an interesting story to tell.
On our final day in this beautiful part of the world we enjoyed a trail walk doing the Mandi-Mandi walk as well as our final snorkel site called Lakeside. Again there was a strong side current and you had to keep vigilant for fear of being swept down shore. Here I saw turtles and other very interesting and colourful fish. That evening we enjoyed an entertaining evening at the communal kitchen area of our caravan park and Trevor and Jocelyn actually invited us to stay in their house when we return back to Perth. What struck me most about this gesture was that this couple had only met us the night before and here they were offering us free accommodation in their home. We took their contact details and told them how grateful we were. Before this night was done we were invited by another couple to join them in going to the beach at around midnight to a certain seclude spot in the hope of watching turtles come to shore to lay their eggs. It's not an offer you are given everyday and certainly what was there to lose. So we joined them and drove about 20min into the National Park to this beach where the one guy had been assured was the right place. It was full moon with the right wind conditions apparently and we walked onto the beach and started walking up and down the beach at midnight with an array of stars to bring tears to your eyes. We spent over an hour waiting, but thee was no sign of any turtles appearing. We enjoyed the idea and at about 01:30am headed back to the caravan park after a fruitless but entertaining outing.
Friday 20th, and it was time to move on this beautiful place and make our way inland towards Karijini National Park, some 1200km's away. It was a two day drive pretty much east. As we were heading out of the region we decided to visit shotgun canyon which was kind of on our to do list while in the area and thought while we were here we might as well visit. As we took the dirt road off the main road there was sign saying CAUTION, this road is a 4x4 road only. Well we handy come this far on our travels not be be up for a challenge, albeit a challenge that could leave us stuck somewhere in a hot gorge somewhere not being found for days! It was a 13km dirt track not fit for cattle but somehow we made it to the stopping point and enjoyed views from a ridge that gave you stunning views down the down itself. I must admit I was relieved to have returned back to the main road after our little excursion and finally be on our way east inland. An hour or so into the long drive we pulled into a lay-by somewhere to prepare a spot of lunch. During lunch we both got a bit frisky and one thing lead to another and we were in the back of the camper in the heat of passion. Well not for long unfortunately as next I heard a vehicle pulling into the same lay-by as us and I freaked out. Between Tara I fits of giggles and me scared of being found out the mood had decidedly vanished. The irony there is that you don't see other vehicles for many hours during the day and we get this due interruption at the most inopportune moment. So after a managing then at least finish lunch we continued our long push and stopped for the night at a free campsite not officially in any town or settlement. According to the map we were 95km from the nearest town called Parrapurdoo and there were only a few other vehicles in the campsite.
The next morning we were on our way mid-morning and had another long drive ahead of us. Before arriving at Karijini NP we stopped at a town called Tom Price which is a mining town and had a relative charm to it enough to stock up on supplies for Karijini and have a quick lunch before heading out. Because Karijini NP has no shops or restaurants, before you enter you need to get all food and fuel supplies, this includes water. One thing I will never forget trying to work out was how much water to take. I worked out that 15ltrs/day for all drinking and cleaning was sufficient if used sparingly. There were not even shower facilities within the various camps, though there was a shower at the maingate entrance. So we didn't have to worry about making that calculation at least, we intended to spend 5 days there so 75ltrs was what was taken onboard, if we needed anymore we would have to make a plan when we were out there, another something to consider was that entering the NP from the west, Tom Price was the last petrol station before entering and there was only another petrol station over 100km's on the other side of the NP so we had to consider how much driving around we would be doing if any.
All loaded up, food, water and fuel and off we went and managed to enter Karijini NP at around 14:30. We booked 5 nights at a campsite in Dales Gorge we figured would be good to base ourselves for a little while and drive to various places as we needed to. That afternoon we stretched our legs and went for a walk along one of the paths to Fern Pools for a refreshing swim in a beautifully clear deep rock pools before coming back to our campsite to start getting ready for dinner before darkness set in. We may have been quite organised but we didn't even have sufficient camp lighting to see where things were apart from the light inside the camper so we had to make sure we were set for dinner before sunset. That first evening was wonderful and I remember sharing a bottle of wine with Tara and spending hours star-gazing both of us seeing shooting stars. Our time at Karijini NP was just as special as our time at Coral Bay and Exmouth and for such different reasons. Here again we were in the middle of nowhere but inland someway and the scenery and quiet, tranquil surroundings was something out of this world. Karijini NP is famous for its gorges that run through the park and each day we visited a different gorge and found new rock pools to swim as well as creeks which was quite unnerving thinking about how many snakes we might have been swimming with. Though our surroundings and surreal settings was too good to miss the opportunity of swimming in these ancient and magical waters. The land has Aboriginal importance and there are rock paintings here with thousands of years of history with Aborigine ceremonies taking place here for many many years.
One of the most interesting walks we did was the Spider walk deep inside Weano Gorge. It was an absolute pigs ear to get to on rutted dirt roads fit for Satan's camel train. Truly murdurously bumpy road that told about two hours to get to, though as ince again proved so many times, an arduous journey often reaped the rewards. This day being no exception. We started the walk into Weano gorge and followed the path as it snaked its way narrower and narrower. At one point Tara was holding the camera around her neck and was trying to traverse a deepish pool with slippery edges and next minute WHOOSH in goes Tara up to her chest in the water though somehow managing to keep the camera out the water by almost strangling herself. I was about 10feet behind her and by the time I got to her she was completely drenched but camera was dry, RESULT!! all the walks we did at Karijini we were warned of flash flooding and there were numerous grim stories over the years of people getting caught out being too deep in one of the gorges and being swept away by a flash flood. Weano Gorge was perhaps the most dangerous for this because of how narrow the gorge went and how far you could travel along its path. The Spider Walk part was an adventure 100m or so winding, slippery traverse down into a deep rock pool that had to swum in. Very very cool day that only added to our wonderful time at Karijini NP. Unfortunately we had to make our way back along the bumpy road and got home just before sunset to get dinner done and ready for star-gazing. Something we also knew very well but couldn't really do too much about to be honest was thanks to our poor light situation whilst sitting outside the camper at night was how many snakes must have been very close by but we would not have been able to avoid if we walked into the path of one. Basically if you thought about it too much you would certainly freak the **** out of yourself so best not dwell on the fact that you did not any anti-snake serum so best just enjoy your surroundings as best as possible and get on with it. I do remember though saying to Tara on the way out of Karijini how freaky it was and how many snakes must have been just around us. Also we only had our flip flops on all day and night.
So after our wonderful 5 days, it was time for us to move on and find the next memorable destination. However we did not have anymore key places to visit in Western Australia and it was time for us to start our way back to Perth to catch our flights to New Zealand. One problem, the drive back to Perth was about 3 days driving inland on the famous Route 95. I say famous, I suppose replace the word famous for bladdy long! So with 3 long driving days ahead of us we puckered up and said our good byes to this gemstone of a location and fu¥€ed off as they say, though not before driving past Bruce Mountain and getting the obligatory photo next to the sign, tourists hey!! This first long day's driving we were almost in a tight spot having nowhere to spend the night and dusk was closing in after a long tiring day on the road. Having fresh memories from our kangaroo incident at Cape Range NP I was getting pretty anxious about a repeat though now even more remote than then. We even considered pulling into a side lay-by for the night but could not find any that were safely far enough away from the road. The road trains come barrelling through at break-neck speeds and we wouldn't even know what hit us. Eventually and by the pure Grace of the big man above we saw a small sign pointing to a caravan site off to the right. It was absolutely stuck out in the middle of nowhere about a hundred kilometres from Meekatharra. It was a type of small holding community that had a school, a small church, farm plots and a few other amenities. It was called Karalundi and we pulled in to what was a very quiet entrance and went and found the manager who pointed us in the right direction. We were on a powered site for the night having not charged anything for 5 days, items in the fridge were warmer than a ham sandwich between your armpit and starting to smell as such. What was a classic, was how we got chatting to a bitter & twisted, bigoted old man called Karl, 76yrs old who was from these parts and we listened to a few of his funny and racist stories of his life. He cracks me up thinking about it now. One of them was how his two sons were looking after a plot of land not too far from where we were and they had forgotten some important piece of machinery that they needed to get the job done and he was driving back to give it to them. His words went something like; "when I get my facking hands on those two useless pricks, I'm gonna twist their ears till **** comes out their nose". Real charmer but funny as hell. He must have taken a shine to us as he shared his beers with us that evening as we shared stories.
Next day was much the same in terms of long hours on the road though today we found refuge from about 16:00 at truck stop at Paynes Find. Enjoyed a few beers in their little tavern and got to sleep early. Following day was the final push into Perth and we were going to stay with Trevor & Jocelyn who we met up at Exmouth. We arrived at theirs in the afternoon and their welcoming into their home was like we were long lost family members with them making us feel so welcome and their beautiful house was warm and inviting. We were put up in one of the spacious ensuite rooms upstairs and made ourselves some silly veggie rice concoction which we enjoyed with a cup of tea settling into catch up with Trevor & Joc. That evening we went to Fremantle Prison to do the night tour. This was pretty cool and one I would definitely recommend when in Perth. Our flight to Auckland was booked for October 1st so we had 3 days in Perth to enjoy the sights and sounds of this very pleasant city. Trevor & Joc also volunteered to take us around to some of the must see sights Perth had to offer which was amazingly generous of the, to offer their time like that along with everything else they had done for us.
Coincidently the time we were in Perth AFL Grand final was taking place between Fremantle and the Hawthorns held at Fremantle. It was the first time the final had been held at Fremantle for so,etching like 25years so the whole city was alive with purple flashes along every street corner and building facade. We went into the city centre to try watch the game on the big screens and the atmosphere was great. Fremantle got their ***** kicked but it was still great to be out and about watching the usual drunken antics of those too drunk to spell their name before lunchtime. We found a great pub along the quay and continued the festivities there for a few hours meeting people that had joined our table. Being mindful of not getting back to the house too wandered we kept things in check but it was definitely an evening which could have gone either way in terms of going to a party with some people and possibly ending up waking up in some remote town outside of Perth. Boring but conscientious we thought. Besides these new strangers looked like the type that spiked your drink and would think nothing to sticking a hose pipe up your rear for the hell of it!! The next two days we spent with Trevor & Joc being taken around and about, including to Kings Park, a botanic gardens with a WWI & II Memorial. We took the two of our generous hosts to a smart Italian restaurant to say thanks for all they had done. Myself and Trevor had a good few beers and the whole evening was a great laugh.
On 30th Sep it was time to say our goodbyes and make our way to the airport to catch our flight to Melbourne and then onto Auckland. Saying goodbye to Trevor & Joc was actually emotional and I remember thinking how profound it was you could get close to people in such a short space of time and completely out of the blue. It was yet another reminder of how special our big trip was for putting yourself out there to experience everything that comes your way and be open for whatever may come. I look forward to returning the favour to our Perth friends, thanks so much guys.
We had an early evening flight leaving Perth arriving in Melbourne around midnight. Being money conscious all the way we had actually booked this flight so we could simply stay at the airport and catch 40winks on airport benches as our flight the next morning at 06:30am.
So that was that, over 2 and a half months spent adventuring in Australia doing both east and west coasts in some detail I would say. We were absolutely blown away by what we experienced and having the freedom of our Hippie campers was a new dimension not otherwise possible on Greyhound buses. From the wildlife, the scenery, the people, we could not have wished for a better time in this vast giant of a country and will one day return to explore other regions as well as visit some of the true pearls we were fortunate enough to spend time at.
Thank you Australia!