Where on Earth is Warroora???!! My first week in (North) Western Australia

Days 110 - 118 - Sunday 3rd To Monday 11th April

So I landed in the merry olde land of Oz at midnight and after filling in my forms to say I wasn't carrying any vegetables I joined the massive immigration queue. I must of smiled sweetly at the officer as while others were sent to open their cases I went out into the cool night breeze of Perth. I was so excited that I actually had to put a cardi on. It was so refreshing after the sticky climate of Bali. Taxi to my hostel, the witches hat, no more cheap Asia taxi prices I was back in the Western World.
Wasn't the best welcome as even though I said I was arriving after 1am they thought I wasn't coming, someone had gone in my bottom bunk, the room was 100 degrees with no air con and the smell of smelly feet was over powering. Wasn't feeling the love of being in Oz :(

Things improved with a new day as I left the stinky dorm room and went out to explore the city of Perth. There might of been something to see if it hadn't been Sunday, everything was closed! Couldn't even get a nice cup of tea anywhere. I explored Elizabeth Quay which was a nice new development with views over the water and parks, with lots of families around. The tourist info was open and I ended up booking a 5 day tour to go North to Monkey Mia and then back to Perth on Friday departing the next morning. Feeling better that I had a plan I visited my first big supermarket in months and bought the worst humous ever for a picnic.
The evening picked up as Lord Moore took pity on the new arrival and instead of making me brave the train to Freemantle came to meet me in town. Chris, I'm sorry that you ate your dinner out of a plastic tray and we had to sit on the floor. Hopefully it brought back fond memories of your back packer days. Seeing a friendly face (and having my first good glass of wine in months) did me the power of good and I was feeling much more upbeat after my depressing arrival.

Monday morning 7am I was standing outside my hostel (and enjoying some cool breeze) itching to go watching the green parakeets flying around and screeching at each other. A nice local man came and chatted to me asking how long my holiday was (I do have a pretty big case 22kg at last check) and I was surprised to tell him I was coming up to 4 months of my total 7. Time has certainly flown by. Then I was picked up and taken to a mini bus outside the YHA hostel where I met Toby our Tour Leader and the rest of our group of 17 made up of 3 Brits, 3 Irish, and 11 Germans and Switz.
We drove for about 40 minutes outside of Perth and stopped the suburb of Hiilarys. This was my first taster of how lovely all service station / picnic stops are in Oz. Welcome Breaks you have a lot to learn. There was a park and a beach where people were already out for a swim.
We drove on to Yanchep National Park where I spotted my first sleepy Koala bears. They are so adorable how they just hang in the trees, but wouldn't want to get too close as they have some mighty claws on them. Also saw some kangaroos hopping around and lots of white tails of cockatoos, that are so noisy!! After that we went on to the sand dunes of Lancelin where I did my first (and probably last) sand boarding. It was good fun when you realised you couldn't really hurt yourself if you fell off and if you where happy for sand to get absolutely everywhere.
Our lunch stop was another pretty park on the beach. I was more excited that it was make your own sandwiches. Elise you were right I am happy to be in a land with proper cheese! Probably the best sandwich I have ever had, no greasy fried rice for me today.
Our first night stop was in Cervantes where I went to my first bottle shop and was shocked that 6 cans of rum and ginger beer cost me $28 ( £15). I think I am going to be pretty sober in Oz until I realised that a 750ml bottle of water is $4.50 (£2.42) so I might as well drink!!
We had an hour on the beach which was deserted except for our group ( a common scene for the week to come) and watched birds dive in the water for fish. Then we took our 'eskie' with our cold drinks and went to watch sunset at the Pinnacles. This makes Stonehenge look pretty poor as they are spectacular rock formations in every direction. Got some good photos and then watched a lovely sunset. It was a bit breezy and we watched a couple have their wedding photos taken before the bride was swept away in her big dress.
Toby cooked us Lasagne for dinner. Again I hadn't realised how much I had missed 'normal food', it was yummy!!

After a hearty breakfast of toast and Nutella (what a treat!) we made our way to Greenough Wildlife and Bird Park run by a passionate couple who take in all sorts of stray and sick animals. We were all given a bag of feed and after feeding the scary emu who just hit your hand with his beak so the pellets flew everywhere, a camel, horse and lama we got to the kangaroo enclosure. Oh my goodness they are unbelievably cute animals and I want to take one home to keep with Mia. They were really gentle eating out of our hands, but some had a bit of a dribble problem. They had lovely soft fur as well, it's really sad to think that they are the countries vermin and people shoot them. I also learned what a Galah was (I had no idea in Neighbours that they were referring to a stupid bird), saw both fresh water and salt water crocs - apparently fresh water are safe to swim with but I don't think I will test that theory, lots of birds, a baby goat rescued from the beach a few days before and then the highlight of my day, getting to hold baby Zoe the Joey in a little blanket pouch. I think she liked me, or I still had Nutella on my face that she wanted to lick off. Later I watched her hop around the sanctuary but she knew her mummy (the manageress), so cute. Less so were the snakes who were having their breakfast of white mice :(

After that we went onto Hutt River Province, the 2nd biggest country in Australia. Yes I have written that correctly. Declared independent in 1970 we met the eccentric Prince Leonard and his son, had our passports stamped and were shown with a uv light all the stuff that pops up on your passport. Mine was pretty good as it showed hidden temples in my visas for Cambodia and Laos. The place was near a town called Northampton, but they didn't seem very impressed when I said I was from near there in the UK. The museum consisted of things donated from all over the world and I was able to see HRH Prince Charles artwork. We went in the chapel and I was able to have my photo taken on the Princess Chair. I looked very regal with my fan, but this was just to keep the flies away as we had our first taster of them here and it was pretty horrendous. I can see now why people where the mossie net hats, where can I get one??!
On route to our evening stop at Kalbarri, we stopped to see the west coast apostles (the ones on the Great Ocean Road might not be there when Jo and I get there as they are quickly falling into the sea) and a natural bridge in the rocks. Kalbarri was another sleepy town, consisting of a supermarket and bottle shop. We had a lovely view of the sunset though over the sea that turns into the Murchison River. I experienced my first Aussie Bbq (may still be feeling guilty from eating a kangaroo mini burger). Hash browns on a bbq, who knew, delicious!!

Another 7am start the next morning into the Kalbarri National Park to explore before it got too hot and the flies were too annoying. We walked the Z Bend to the river. I now feel like Mick Dundee in the outback, the scenery was spectacular walking through the big jaggered rock formations. The river view was very picturesque. There wasn't much water but that's ok, it meant that there were fewer crocs!!!
Our lunch stop was at the Billabong Road House to get away from the flies and enjoy the aircon. It felt a bit wrong that we took our own packed lunch in but they didn't seem to mind. I particularly enjoyed looking at the photo wall of tattoos while I ate my sandwich.
Further on we had a stop at Shell Beach where the water was so shallow you could walk for a mile only up to your knees and to Eagles Bluff cliff to spot whales and sharks. It was so windy and wavy we unfortunately didn't spots anything but they were definitely out there. Never mind it was a great view. Our evening stop was in a town called Denham, apparently the most Westerly town in all of Aus, again complete with bottle shop. I learned that everyone else on the tour was booked until Monday to go all the way North to Exmouth while I was being picked up and driven back to Perth. They offered me to stay on and I used my rusty negotiation skills to stay on. It meant I wouldn't see Lord Moore again in the land down under, sorry Chris I do feel bad about missing the bbq!! Will see you back in Blighty.

Another early start (can't remember what a lie in feels like) and we were on route to Monkey Mia to see the bottle nose dolphins for their morning feed. These dolphins and their off Spring have been coming to the beach every morning for a small feed since the 1960s. It was very strictly controlled, we were not allowed on the beach until we were called and we were not allowed to have sunscreen on our legs to reduce the amount of oil going into the sea. Being short I didn't get a good spot for the first feeding but watched from the pier but for the second feeding I was lucky that our group was picked to go out and give one a fish and I was 30 cm away. Of all the 100s of photos I had been snapping all morning I finally got one that showed a dolphin so I was happy.
It was then back on the bus to see the stromatolites. No I'd never heard of them either, but they are the worlds oldest living organisms producing oxygen which has given life to everything on the planet. It's a shame they look like mouldy rocks but it was a nice to stretch our legs and enjoy the really clean air. Apparently the worlds cleanest air is in Tarkine Rainforrest in Tasmania so I will need to make sure I visit when I am there.
It was then a long drive to our nights accommodation, a working cattle ranch (the size of a small country - 500,000 square hectares at Warrorra (surely you've heard of it?!) we were welcomed by Daisy the cow and Murphy the 10 month puppy and I was taken on my first Y-ut truck down to the beach where we enjoyed a paddle put avoided the jelly fish blobs. On the way back our Y-ut had a flat tyre and it was a good 20 mins in the dark before someone came to find us. It was a bit eerie out in the vast expanse of nothing, but we saw some kangaroos hopping around and could see a lightning storm about 100km in the distance as the land was just so flat. Eventually we were rescued and went back to enjoy a delicious roast chicken dinner and marshmallows around the camp fire. The sky was so clear you could see every constellation and the Milky Way, amazing. Most of the group took their beds outside to sleep under the stars but I slept with my door wide open (mostly to encourage the giant crickets back outside again)

Waking up, even without my glasses on I could appreciate what a lovely view it was from the bottom of my bed out onto the red rocks as the sun was coming up. Going outside I was glad I hadn't camped as either everyone had wet the bed or the condensation was really bad. On the road again for 7 we were heading for Coral Bay on the Ningaloo Reef. I should have booked a boat trip to see turtles, sharks and manta rays but I was quite happy to snorkel from the beach. The reef was right there you only had to walk out for 2 mins and then the reef fell away. Saw lots of fishes and some even come right into the shallows that must have been half a meter long.
In the afternoon we drove up to Exmouth, our home for 2 nights. I was excited purely because I am getting a bit sick of packing my bag up every night. If I thought all the other towns had been quiet then Exmouth was something else. We knew we had arrived when we drove past the giant prawn outside the visitors area.
Some people were leaving the trip here and not returning to Perth so we celebrated with some glasses of bubbles. Oh sparklingly wine oh how I have missed you.....!

The next morning I actually got up before breakfast and jogged to the beach, first jog in 6 months but I thought I better make use of my trainers as Kate kindly brought them to Bali. I saw 2 people who drove passed me on route to the 'golf club'. Dad you would be disappointed I think, there was not any grass in sight, just lots of red dust.
A few people in our group had booked a trip to go out and find and swim with whale sharks. I should have done it but the fact it was a small fortune and I wasn't excited to get in the water with something called both a shark and a whale I went with the others to the Cape Range National Park to snorkel with my hired fins and a mask. I wasn't disappointed. The amount of fish were amazing and I went through a school of about 200 yellow and white stripped ones. Then a turtle was spotted so we swam over to it. Even though I'd seen one on my dive in Bali it had been quite far away. This one was not bothered to let us get right up to it, as he was happily eating around the corals. Then he came up to the surface for some air and back down again. Amazing and beautiful creature. In the afternoon Toby took us to the other side of the bay where we walked down the beach and the current was so strong it brought us back up where we needed to swim in or we would end up in Africa (if we made it passed the sharks). We did this twice and both times I saw 100s of fish in all shapes in sizes. When I saw one with a big gash taken out of its back I quickly swam to the shore.
We had a meal out at Graces Dinner and settled in for our last night in Exmouth.

The next two days were a long old drive back to Perth. From start to finish we will have done at least 3,500 km. We had an overnight stay in an old convent in Northampton. It's a bit different from the one I drive though regularly. We arrived at 5pm and everything was closed, except the pub. Stretched my legs I visited the war memorial, everywhere we have been is getting ready for Anzac Day on The 25th of this month. Had my first Aussie fish and chips of Snapper and it was delicious, despite being from the BP petrol station. Might have to be a weekly treat here if they are that good. Enjoyed a glass of Sav Blanc at the local and actually won a game of pool.

Our last day, up and out for 7am just as a treat. I was glad to get out as it was easily the worst bed I have ever slept on, so much that in the middle of the night I had to sleep on the duvet (or as they call them here - Doonas?!) to stop the sinking mattress. Or did I not sleep well as the place is haunted??!! Unfortunately the rain has come for our journey back to Perth. For the last 2 days there really hasn't been anything to look at apart from the spectacular expansive of nothing but bush land and straight dusty roads. If you are lucky you might spot a kangaroo and we did have 2 eagles swoop down and pass the bus. Though there is nothing really to see I haven't found the journeys too bad, but maybe it is down to Toby's playlist and the fact that I have been writing up the blog :)

Tomorrow I will hire a car (bit apprehensive as I haven't driven for 4 months) and make my way down Albany to see Kellie who I met in Borneo. She has promised to take me on costal walks and enjoys wine so obviously I can't wait to get there :)