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West Side in a WICKED Campervan!
So we left the familiar East Coast and flew to Perth (with Quantas who give you food..heaven!) We were greated with a shuttle bus driver that nicely informed us that if we didn't get skin cancer from the sun we would be sure to eaten by sharks, swept out to sea in the current, or, finally, have our throats slit. Cheers mate, bring on Perth hey?!
So we stayed in Cottesloe where we met two girls, Lianne and Sarah who stalked us up the coast (just kidding ladies, we love you really!) Not much to report on this place, its so quiet its weird, coming from the east coast it was strangest thing. Seriously, two bars and shops that shut at 6 and don't open at weekends...whats that about?! The most exciting/traumatising thing was the breaking of the straightners! Really! Jen was doing her hair, Denise could smell burning then all of a sudden the b*****s fell apart, taking a chunk of Jens hair with it. There were no tears but not sure how Jen managed to hold them back. No worries though, we went straight into Perth to buy some more, pretty purple ones! We also went to Freemantle where we ate our way around all the cafes. Really nice town, unlike Perth town centre which is pants, other than the Nandos!
Then the day finally arrived...the picking up of the van!! Would it be the "muff divers" logo or not?! Luck was on our side and we were given...The Flintstones! Hell yeah we was! Barnay and family one side (with a pink surrounding!) and Fred on the other. And then, to make it even classier, the back said... "I may not be a Flintstone, but I can make your bedrock!" Who needs chat up lines when your vechicle says it all!
After the excitement of the paintwork passed it finally hit us we have a 17 year old converted work mans van with a few mdf borads put in for a bed and a pump sink with a cool box for a fridge and a gas ring to cook all meals. Beautiful. (See pics!)
So we were heading on up to Exmouth to do our PADI dive course. Took us two days solid driving to get up there, may have also taken this long becasue it took us three hours to find the main highway out of Perth. We were shocked at the sheer expanse of the Oz outback...seriously, this place goes on forever and marked towns on maps consist of petrol garages and a place to park your van. (Yep, we deliberatly stopped at Billabong, expecting a cool surfer town with lots of Brads, but no, we got a man with a beer gut in a petrol garage!)
So first night we weren't well prepared and ended up apying $20 to stay on a trailer trash site, where we discoved we had to be in bed by sundown, making a cup of tea on the gas stove took and hour and opening a tin of tuna was impossible! The morning brought further surprises, such as the fact that the back door didn't open so to get out in the morning you have to climb in the front and walk around to let the other one out. Nice in your pj's! Also, when filling up with petrol we noticed leaking from under the van so spent the first morning in a garage waiting for our burst water pipe to be fixed.
Second night we stayed in the actual outback. It was cool but a little scary and soooo hot! Honestly, we cant descrive the heat of this place. 40 degrees is standard. We did take precautions though with a knife and spanner near our pillows ready to fight off anyone that 'started'. We also left the driving seat free so while one of us tackled them with the knife, the other could drive drive drive!!! Mum and Dads, you'd be proud!
After that we decided not to pay out for any more sites (we need to save money) so it became a game every night...lets find a new place to sleep. Our favourites are beaches where there are toilets and showers, the best being the Marina in Exmouth, these toilets even had mirrors! We also discovered it was good making friends with resort workers, dive masters and our stalkers who offered showers, beds and places to park. Cheers all! When all else failed, we walked into hostels pretending we stayed there and used all their facilities. Pikeys! Sometimes our choices weren't good and we were woken at 6.30 one morning with a man banging on the side of the van threatening to call the police. As we couldn't open the back door we both just stared at him through the window winding him up even more. Anyway, we didn't really like that spot, he didn't have toilets.
After a couple of days solid driving and a stop at the beautiful Coral Bay (this place is amazing, the most beautiful beach in the middle of the outback), we arrived at Exmouth where we did our PADI Dive course. We soon befriended the locals who refered to us as the dirty gypsies and had bets where we would sleep at night. Our dive instructor even made a point of asking us infront of all our classmates every morning!
Diving was fantastic. Me and Jen were naturals (kind of). Being each other buddies we were responsible for each other, so neither of us new what to think when we were just about to jump in when Carl (the instructor) realised neither had our oxygen on. Opps! The swimming pool lessons were entertaining as we failed to master buoyancy, both of us frequently floating to the surface or hitting the bottom. But the real fun was when we got to go in the sea. First off Denise tried to grope the instructor thinking he wanted her to give him cramp release, when infact she was meant to do it on herself. Jenna turned round to hear Carl say "no Denise, thats my leg, get off!". Then, Jennas mask starts filling up, she attepts to clear it using the skills learnt, but fails, panics and starts rising to surface. Denise sees her buddy 'heading to the light' and the the fins of the class dissapearing below, so follows Jen to the surface where they are both greeted by the skipper. Do we panic? No. We sit on the surface and have a chat. Then to top it off, we get peed and shat on by some stupid woman who flushed the chain on the boat. We only realised when our friends on the baot started calling "keep your mouths shut!". They carried on the joke all day saying we smelt of pee, how nice! Another of our amazing skills is our ability to get lost under sea. Yes, seeing a stingray got us a little excited so we forgot to look at the compass and Carl had to come find us! Overall we loved diving, it was the best thing ever, in the words of Aladin "A whole new world".
On the journey back we stopped at Monkey Mia where dolphins come to the shore every morning. We saw a calf and loads of others that did tricks. It was fantastic to see animals in the wild like this. We also bumped into our stalkers again, and from then on we travelled down to Perth with them, the deal being, we drive them, they let us stay in the spare beds in the hostel rooms. We stopped at Shell Beach, the Stomatalites and Pinnacles (natural beauties that nearly killed us seeing them as it was midday sun in a desert and was so so hot.
The return journey was just as eventful. Jenna started one of our morning drives with the claim that she "couldn't find the break" as we was rolling to the main road! She also drove on the wrong side of the road even though they do drive on the left. She "got confused". This was topped off with Denise being pulled by police and breathalised, which wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't have our extra two in the back illegally. Sometimes its great being blonde girls, they let us go with a wave and a smile.
Finally, we cant go without mentioning the broken radio. The CD player was great, but with only 6 CDs, we are now fluent in the words of Justin, Pink, Killers and, wait for it, Accoustic Love Songs. What a combo.
Overall this has probably been the hardest thing so far. We have travelled 4,000km, survived with no electricity, 40 degree heat, not knowing where our next shower will be, severe PMT and being with each other 24/7. To say it put the friendship to the test is an understatement. But we did it and we've come out laughing! Our summary of the West..."We've chilled right to the core...touch me!"
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